For you are a holy people to YHWH your God. YHWH your God has chosen you to be His own treasure, out of all the people on the face of the earth. Deuteronomy 7:6 Chosen – Have you chosen one to marry? Have you selected a partner for life? YHWH has. The Hebrew verb bahar…
“What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.” Matthew 19:6 Joined Together – Every translation I checked has the same wording, “joined together.” But that doesn’t quite capture the overtones of this very unusual Greek verb (syzeugnymi). The verb literally means “yoked together.” It is found only twice in the LXX (Ezekiel 1:11 and…
“No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other.” Matthew 6:24 Serve – Yeshua is pretty clear about divided loyalty. No one, man or woman, can serve two masters. The Greek word used here is douleuo, a…
Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. Genesis 2:24 Therefore – “Therefore” means that as a result of something previously explained, the following happens. Therefore, “therefore” is a very important word. Without it we will not know why a man (iysh)…
Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, immorality, impurity, sensuality, . . Galatians 5:19 Adultery – Yesterday we looked at this same verse. Only yesterday the verse did not contain the word “adultery.” That’s because the current best scholarly edition of the Greek text from the oldest manuscripts does not have…
The often-repeated truism about marriage is the once the honeymoon is over, life comes back to normal and the bloom is off the romance. There is good reason behind this expectation. The romance of courtship fades under the pressures of jobs, house, friends, children, etc. We stop putting our best selves forward. The mysterious beckoning…
“but you shall go to my country and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” Genesis 24:4 Take A Wife – This is not the way we do things. Abraham seeks a wife for his son. While we would call this an arranged marriage, as we will soon see, it’s not…
Put me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm. For love is as strong as death, jealousy is as severe as Sheol; its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD. Song of Solomon 8:6 Ownership Seal – In one of the finest love poems from the…
This article gives more detail on the Hebrew view of ‘ezer. I originally wrote it in 2006, but with the last week of Today’s Words focused on ‘ezer, I wanted to repost on my new website. Balancing Act: Reflections on the Curse of Genesis 3 God’s curse after the Fall deserves another look. Typically, our…
You husbands, likewise, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with a weaker vessel, since she is a woman; and grant her honor as a fellow-heir of the grace of life; 1 Peter 3:7 Life Together Fellow-heir – No one wants a marriage that doesn’t work. When we walk down the aisle, when…
