EBD: Adultery
SMITH: ADULTERY
ISBE: ADULTERY
BAKER: Adultery
BRIDGEWAY: ADULTERY
Adultery
Adultery [nave]
ADULTERY.Gen. 20:3; 2 Sam. 12:14; Job 24:15-17 v. 18.; Job 31:1, 9-12; Prov. 2:16, 18, 19 v. 17.; Prov. 5:3, 4 vs. 5-22.; Prov. 6:24-29, 32, 33; Prov. 7:5-23; Prov. 9:13-18; Prov. 22:14; Prov. 23:27, 28; Prov. 29:3; Prov. 30:18-20; Prov. 31:3; Isa. 57:3, 4; Jer. 3:1; Jer. 5:7, 8; Jer. 7:9, 10; Jer. 23:10; Ezek. 18:5, 6, 9; Hos. 4:1, 2, 11; Matt. 5:28, 32 Mark 10:11, 12; Luke 16:18. Matt. 15:19 Mark 7:21. Matt. 19:9 Mark 10:11. Mark 10:19 Jas. 2:11. Acts 15:20 v. 29.; Rom. 1:28, 29, 32; Rom. 7:3; 1 Cor. 5:9, 10; 1 Cor. 6:15, 16, 18; 1 Cor. 10:8; 2 Cor. 12:21; Gal. 5:19, 21; 1 Tim. 1:9, 10; 2 Tim. 3:6; 1 Pet. 4:3, 4; 2 Pet. 2:9, 10, 14; Jude 7; Rev. 2:20-22; Rev. 9:21 See: Homosexuality; Lasciviousness; Rape; Sensuality; Prostitute; Prostitution.
Forbidden
Ex. 20:14 Deut. 5:18; Matt. 5:27; 19:18; Luke 18:20; Rom. 13:9; Jas. 2:11. Lev. 18:20; Lev. 19:29; Deut. 23:17; Acts 15:20; Rom. 13:13; 1 Cor. 5:11 vs. 9,10.; 1 Cor. 6:13, 15, 18; 1 Cor. 10:8; Eph. 4:17, 19, 20; Eph. 5:3, 11, 12; Col. 3:5; 1 Thess. 4:3-5, 7
Forgiveness of
Instances of: Judg. 19:1-4.John 8:10, 11
Penalties for
Gen. 20:7; Gen. 26:11; Gen. 38:24; Ex. 22:16, 17; Lev. 19:20-22; Lev. 20:10-12; Lev. 21:9; Num. 5:11-30; Deut. 22:13-29; Deut. 27:20, 22, 23; 2 Sam. 12:10-12; Jer. 29:22, 23; Ezek. 16:38, 40, 41; Ezek. 23:45, 47, 48; Mal. 3:5; John 8:4, 5; 1 Cor. 5:1-13; 1 Cor. 6:9, 10; 1 Cor. 10:8; Gal. 5:19, 21; Eph. 5:5, 6; Heb. 13:4; Rev. 18:9, 10; Rev. 21:8; Rev. 22:15
Figurative
Jer. 3:2; Ezek. 16:15, 16; Hos. 1.
See: Prostitution; Idolatry.
Instances of
Sodomites, Gen. 19:5-8.
Lot, Gen. 19:31-38.
Shechem, Gen. 34:2.
Reuben, Gen. 35:22.
Judah, Gen. 38:1-24.
Potiphar's wife, Gen. 39:7-12.
The Levite's concubine, Judg. 19:2.
The men of Gibeah, Judg. 19:22-25.
Gilead, Judg. 11:1.
Samson, Judg. 16:1.
Sons of Eli, 1 Sam. 2:22.
David, 2 Sam. 11:1-5.
Amnon, 2 Sam. 13:1-20.
Absalom, 2 Sam. 16:22.
Israelites, Ex. 32:6, 25; Jer. 29:23; Ezek. 22:9-11; 33:26; Hos. 7:4.
Herod, Matt. 14:3, 4; Mark 6:17, 18; Luke 3:19.
Samaritan woman, John 4:17, 18.
The woman brought to Jesus in the temple, John 8:4-11.
Corinthians, 1 Cor. 5:1-5.
Heathen, Eph. 4:17-19; 1 Pet. 4:3.
Adultery [ebd]
conjugal infidelity. An adulterer was a man who had illicit intercourse with a married or a betrothed woman, and such a woman was an adulteress. Intercourse between a married man and an unmarried woman was fornication. Adultery was regarded as a great social wrong, as well as a great sin.
The Mosaic law (Num. 5:11-31) prescribed that the suspected wife should be tried by the ordeal of the "water of jealousy." There is, however, no recorded instance of the application of this law. In subsequent times the Rabbis made various regulations with the view of discovering the guilty party, and of bringing about a divorce. It has been inferred from John 8:1-11 that this sin became very common during the age preceding the destruction of Jerusalem.
Idolatry, covetousness, and apostasy are spoken of as adultery spiritually (Jer. 3:6, 8, 9; Ezek. 16:32; Hos. 1:2:3; Rev. 2:22). An apostate church is an adulteress (Isa. 1:21; Ezek. 23:4, 7, 37), and the Jews are styled "an adulterous generation" (Matt. 12:39). (Comp. Rev. 12.)
ADULTERY [smith]
(Exodus 20:14) The parties to this crime, according to Jewish law, were a married woman and a man who was not her husband. The Mosaic penalty was that both the guilty parties should be stoned, and it applied as well to the betrothed as to the married woman, provided she were free. (22:22-24) A bondwoman so offending was to be scourged, and the man was to make a trespass offering. (Leviticus 19:20-22) At a later time, and when owing, to Gentile example, the marriage tie became a looser bond of union, public feeling in regard to adultery changed, and the penalty of death was seldom or never inflicted. The famous trial by the waters of jealousy, (Numbers 5:11-29) was probably an ancient custom, which Moses found deeply seated --(But this ordeal was wholly in favor of the innocent, and exactly opposite to most ordeals. For the water which the accused drank was perfectly harmless, and only by a miracle could it produce a bad effect; while in most ordeals the accused must suffer what naturally produces death, and be proved innocent only by a miracle. Symbolically adultery is used to express unfaithfulness to covenant vows to God, who is represented as the husband of his people.)ADULTERY [isbe]
ADULTERY - a-dul'-ter-i: In Scripture designates sexual intercourse of a man, whether married or unmarried, with a married woman.1. Its Punishment:
It is categorically prohibited in the Decalogue (seventh commandment, Ex 20:14; Dt 5:18): "Thou shalt not commit adultery." In more specific language we read: "And thou shalt not he carnally with thy neighbor's wife, to defile thyself with her" (Lev 18:20). The penalty is death for both guilty parties: "And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death" (Lev 20:10). The manner of death is not particularized; according to the rabbis (Siphra' at the place; Sanhedhrin 52b) it is strangulation. It would seem that in the days of Jesus the manner of death was interpreted to mean stoning ("Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such," Jn 8:5, said of the woman taken in adultery). Nevertheless, it may be said that in the case in question the woman may have been a virgin betrothed unto a husband, the law (in Dt 22:23 f) providing that such a person together with her paramour be stoned to death (contrast Dt 22:22, where a woman married to a husband is spoken of and the manner of death is again left general). Ezek 16:40 (compare 23:47) equally mentions stoning as the penalty of the adulteress; but it couples to her sin also that of shedding blood; hence, the rabbinic interpretation is not necessarily disputed by the prophet. Of course it may also be assumed that a difference of custom may have obtained at different times and that the progress was in the line of leniency, strangulation being regarded as a more humane form of execution than stoning.
2. Trial by Ordeal:
The guilty persons become amenable to the death penalty only when taken "in the very act" (Jn 8:4). The difficulty of obtaining direct legal evidence is adverted to by the rabbis (see Makkoth 7a). In the case of a mere suspicion on the part of the husband, not substantiated by legal evidence, the woman is compelled by the law (Nu 5:11-30) to submit to an ordeal, or God's judgment, which consists in her drinking the water of bitterness, that is, water from the holy basin mingled with dust from the floor of the sanctuary and with the washed-off ink of a writing containing the oath which the woman has been made to repeat. The water is named bitter with reference to its effects in the case of the woman's guilt; on the other hand, when no ill effects follow, the woman is proved innocent and the husband's jealousy unsubstantiated. According to the Mishna (SoTah 9) this ordeal of the woman suspected of adultery was abolished by Johanan ben Zaccai (after 70 AD), on the ground that the men of his generation were not above the suspicion of impurity.
See article BITTER, BITTERNESS.
3. A Heinous Crime:
Adultery was regarded as a heinous crime (Job 31:11). The prophets and teachers in Israel repeatedly upbraid the men and women of their generations for their looseness in morals which did not shrink from adulterous connections. Naturally where luxurious habits of life were indulged in, particularly in the large cities, a tone of levity set in: in the dark of the evening, men, with their features masked, waited at their neighbors' doors (Job 24:15; 31:9; compare Prov 7), and women forgetful of their God's covenant broke faith with the husbands of their youth (Prov 2:17). The prophet Nathan confronted David after his sin with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, with his stern rebuke ("Thou art the man," 2 Sam 12:7); the penitential psalm (Ps 51)--"Miserere"--was sung by the royal bard as a prayer for divine pardon. Promiscuous intercourse with their neighbors' wives is laid by Jeremiah at the door of the false prophets of his day (Jer 23:10,14; 29:23).
4. Penal and Moral Distinctions:
While penal law takes only cognizance of adulterous relations, it is needless to say that the moral law discountenances all manner of illicit intercourse and all manner of unchastity in man and woman. While the phrases "harlotry," "commit harlotry," in Scripture denote the breach of wedlock (on the part of a woman), in the rabbinical writings a clear distinction is made on the legal side between adultery and fornication. The latter is condemned morally in no uncertain terms; the seventh commandment is made to include all manner of fornication. The eye and the heart are the two intermediaries of sin (Palestinian Talmud, Berakhoth 6b). A sinful thought is as wicked as a sinful act (Niddah 13b and elsewhere). Job makes a covenant with his eyes lest he look upon a virgin (31:1). And so Jesus who came "not to destroy, but to fulfill" (Mt 5:17), in full agreement with the ethical and religious teaching of Judaism, makes the intent of the seventh commandment explicit when he declares that "every one that looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already In his heart" (Mt 5:28). And in the spirit of Hosea (4:15) and Johanan ben Zaccai (see above) Jesus has but scorn for those that are ready judicially to condemn though they be themselves not free from sin! "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her" (Jn 8:7). Whereas society is in need of the death penalty to secure the inviolability of the home life, Jesus bids the erring woman go her way and sin no more. How readily His word might be taken by the unspiritual to imply the condoning of woman's peccability is evidenced by the fact that the whole section (Jn 7:53 through 8:11) is omitted by "most ancient authorities" (see Augustine's remark).
5. A Ground of Divorce:
Adultery as a ground of divorce. --The meaning of the expression "some unseemly thing" (Dt 24:1) being unclear, there was great variety of opinion among the rabbis as to the grounds upon which a husband may divorce his wife. While the school of Hillel legally at least allowed any trivial reason as a ground for divorce, the stricter interpretation which limited it to adultery alone obtained in the school of Shammai. Jesus coincided with the stricter view (see Mt 5:32; 19:9, and commentaries). From a moral point of view, divorce was discountenanced by the rabbis likewise, save of course for that one ground which indeed makes the continued relations between husband and wife a moral impossibility.
See also CRIMES; DIVORCE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT; DIVORCE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT.
Max L. Margolis
Adultery [baker]
[N] [E] [S]See Immorality, Sexual
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[N] indicates this entry was also found in Nave's Topical Bible
[E] indicates this entry was also found in Easton's Bible Dictionary
[S] indicates this entry was also found in Smith's Bible Dictionary
ADULTERY [bridgeway]
The teaching of the Bible is that sexual relations are lawful only between husband and wife. A sexual relation between two people who are not married is usually called fornication; a sexual relation between a married person and someone other than that person’s marriage partner is usually called adultery (Exod 20:14; Rom 12:9,20; Gal 5:19; 1 Thess 4:3-4; see also FORNICATION).Old Testament regulations
According to the law of Moses, the punishment for adultery was death by stoning (Lev 20:10; John 8:3-5). Where there was a suspicion of adultery but no clear evidence, Israelite law set out a special procedure by which a priest could determine the case (Num 5:11-31).
The engaged as well as the married were considered adulterers if they had sexual relations with third parties. Again the penalty was death. The one exception was the case of a woman who had been raped (Deut 22:22-27).
Adultery was a sin against one’s own marriage partner (Mal 2:11,14; cf. Hosea 2:2), as well as against the marriage partner of the new lover (Exod 20:14,17; 2 Sam 12:9; Prov 6:32-35). Unfaithfulness was at the centre of all adultery. The Old Testament prophets repeatedly spoke of Israel’s unfaithfulness to God as spiritual adultery, or spiritual prostitution (Jer 5:7; 23:10; Ezek 16:30-38; 23:4-5,11; Hosea 9:1; see PROSTITUTION).
New Testament teachings
Like the Old Testament, the New Testament looks upon marriage as a permanent union. Therefore, the person who divorced and remarried was considered guilty of adultery (Mark 10:2-12; Luke 16:18; Rom 7:2-4). The exception that Jesus allowed concerned the case where persistent adulterous behaviour by one partner had already virtually destroyed the marriage (Matt 5:32; 19:7-9; see also DIVORCE). Jesus said that even the desire to have unlawful sexual relations was a form of adultery. Therefore, the best way to avoid adulterous acts was to avoid adulterous thoughts (Matt 5:27-30; 15:19; cf. Exod 20:17; James 1:14-15).
Paul pointed out that Christians in particular should avoid all immoral sexual relations, since their bodies are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and they themselves belong to Christ. For the Christian, there is a sense in which sexual sin is spiritual prostitution (1 Cor 6:13-20).
Although the New Testament announces God’s judgment on those who are immoral and adulterous (Heb 13:4; 2 Peter 2:14), it also shows that God is ready to forgive those who, in sorrow for their sin, turn to him for mercy (1 Cor 6:9-11). Jesus rebuked the self-righteous who condemned adulterers but who could not see their own sin. At the same time he gave sympathetic support to those who acknowledged their sin and repented of it (Matt 9:11-13; Luke 18:9-14; John 8:3-11; cf. Rom 2:22).
Christians may rightly condemn adultery, but, remembering their own weaknesses, they should also forgive those who repent of their adultery. More than that, they should give them understanding and support as they try to re-establish their lives (2 Cor 2:7; Gal 6:1-2; Eph 1:7; 4:32).
