Insights from the Old Testament

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-If you’d like to follow along in your Bibles...

…you can certainly turn back to Genesis 2.

(Although we will be jumping around a lot this evening)

We’re going to pick back up in...

…that last OT subsection...

…that Pastor Scott began...

…the last time we were here.

Loosely following the outline of our book...

(Show Book)

…he had entitled it:

“Insights From the Old Testament”

He had spent the majority of his time...

…in the wisdom literature.

-Well, this evening...

(again, following the outline of the book)

…we’re going to spend our time...

…surveying various OT marriage relationships...

…and gleaning principles and applications from them.

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-Let me say up front, that...

…we’ve been weaving some of this...

…into previous studies already...

So, some of this might be a little repetitive.

-But, (as pastor David often says)...

…it all bears repeating!

Amen?

-Alright… Let’s pray and ask for the Lord’s help.

Pray

-We’ve looked at the very first marriage...

…many times over already.

So, what’s one more time going to hurt?

-In all seriousness...

…given its foundational nature...

…it would probably be worth our time...

…to begin here yet again.

Let’s review the fundamentals:

Genesis 2:20–24 (ESV)

20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.

Why did he need help?

Help doing what?

Genesis 1:28 (ESV)

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

The Lord Provides:

21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.

22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.

23 Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”

Then He gave the institutional command:

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

And the only thing that we’re EXPLICITLY told...

…about the nature of their union...

…prior to the Fall, is...

Genesis 2:25 (ESV)

25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

Kostenberger says of this, that...

God, Marriage, and Family: Rebuilding the Biblical Foundation Adam and Eve

One assumes that the two, prior to the fall, enjoyed a season of marital bliss never again experienced in human history

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-Now, we spent a whole sermon already...

…seeing how the reversal of God’s design for marriage roles...

…was responsible for the Fall.

Eve had gone beyond her role as a helper...

…and had acted independently of Adam.

In fact, she had led him!

He had followed her!

Adam had failed to...

Lead

Shepherd

Guard

Protect her.

He had even tried to make her take the fall...

…when God had called HIM to account...

…as the head of the family.

Sin destroys families, brethren.

Distortion of God’s design...

…has terrible unintended consequences.

-Remember the judgments that were pronounced upon them...

Those judgments which afflict us...

…to this very day.

Genesis 3:16 (ESV)

16 To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.”

It’s going to be difficult to fill the earth and be a helpmeet now

Genesis 3:17–19 ESV

17 And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

It’s going to be difficult to protect, provide, and lead now.

And, in the end, they both would...

…suffer the pangs and hevel...

…of bodily death!

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-Now, the first marriage after that...

…from which there is much to glean...

…is that of Abraham and Sarah.

We’ve talked about it before...

…but remember what happened...

…as they were sojourning in Egypt:

Try to imagine this was you...

(But do be careful with anachronism)

Genesis 12:10–20 (ESV)

10 Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.

11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance,

12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live.

13 Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.”

14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.

15 And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.

16 And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

17 But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.

18 So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?

19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her, and go.”

Later in Negeb:

Genesis 20 (ESV)

1 From there Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negeb… And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.

3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife.”

4 Now Abimelech had not approached her. So he said, “Lord, will you kill an innocent people?

5 Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.”

6 Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her.

7 Now then, return the man’s wife... And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you see, that you did this thing?”

11 Abraham said, “I did it because I thought, ‘There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’ . . .

13 And when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘This is the kindness you must do me: at every place to which we come, say of me, “He is my brother.” ’ ”

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Ladies, the Scripture commands you to submit to your husbands...

…in a much bigger way than you’re probably comfortable with...

But, your highest authority...

…is God Himself!

Don’t ever Disobey God...

…in order to obey your husband.

And, husbands...

…don’t you dare put your wives...

…in a position where she has to choose between...

Obeying you

Obeying Christ!

...Especially for your own selfish reasons.

Don’t you dare do that!

He is her Lord… AND yours!

You have no right to demand of her...

…what her Lord has forbidden!

You had better make sure...

…you lead her in a way that obeys him!

-We have one more example...

…from these two, that...

…we’ve covered before already...

…but is worth covering again (briefly).

Remember that it began with...

…the futility and failure of infertility.

Then Abram and Sarai, were neither...

Fulfilling the Creation Mandate

Producing offspring through which...

…the Curse had been promised to be reversed.

This time, Sarah was the one...

…to propose a pragmatic but disobedient...

…solution to the problem at hand.

Her solution was for Abraham to...

…join himself in union to someone else!

For her to appoint her slave...

…to be Abraham’s suitable helper...

…in Sarah’s stead.

Genesis 16:2 says this:

Genesis 16:2 (ESV)

2 And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.”

And, like it happened in the Garden...

...Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

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Again, we see disobedient, sinful, pragmatism.

And everyone involved suffered.

Sarah became jealous and envious of Hagar and Ishmael

Hagar and Ishmael were mistreated and Cast Away

Abraham had to give up a son....

…that he had come to love very dearly.

What’s the application for us...

…in our marriages and families today?

We must...

Hold firmly to God’s Word

Be firmly committed to God’s Will and Ways

Not give in to fear and unbelief

Not seek pragmatic compromises.

All that these will do...

…is leave us hurting more in the end.

The antidote:

Proverbs 3:5–8 ESV

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. 7 Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. 8 It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.

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-Now, the Marriages of the next two generations...

… are worth our consideration as well.

There’s actually something commendable...

…in the way that...

Isaac loved and was committed to Rebekah

Jacob loved and was committed to Rachel (Not Leah)

(He worked 14 years to get her)

That steadfast resolve is commendable!

We ought to emulate it!

We already looked at the situation of...

…Jacob, Leah, and Rachel...

…as a negative example of the effects of polygamy.

But, we also see in Jacob and Rachel’s union...

…how infertility can strain...

…even the strongest of natural affections.

Genesis 30:1–2 (ESV)

1 When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!”

2 Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”

Then...

She proposes...

Jacob accepts...

…a now familiar solution:

Genesis 30:3–4 (ESV)

3 Then she said, “Here is my servant Bilhah; go in to her, so that she may give birth on my behalf, that even I may have children through her.”

4 So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went in to her.

But, of course, Like Sarah...

…she didn’t accept these children...

…as her own.

And once again, sinful pragmatism...

…didn’t deliver the solution it promised.

God delivered the solution years later:

Genesis 30:22–23 ESV

22 Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb. 23 She conceived and bore a son and said, “God has taken away my reproach.”

There is so much to learn from this.

Children can become an idol to you

Pride and envy can become your motivation for wanting them

We must be obedient to what is clear...

…and entrust the unknown to God

3. We must resist the urge to...

…make ethical compromises...

…in order to obtain even good gifts of God!

IVF (if you use more than one embryo)

Surrogacy (The old-fashioned way)

Buying Children

Pressuring Women to give up their children to you

(Adoption of orphans is glorious)

(Forcing them to become orphans so you can adopt them...

…is wicked)

These are all dangerous, faithless compromises.

We can entrust the seemingly impossible to God.

Peter says this...

…in the context of suffering.

The principle is universal...

…and applicable here:

1 Peter 4:19 (ESV)

19 Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

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That’s a principle...

…we had better live out in our marriages and families.

-Now, Kostenberger makes mention of...

…the Marriage of Samson and Delilah.

You all know the story.

There are many, many lessons for us to learn from it.

1.)The Marriage was forbidden

She was an unbeliever (gentile).

He defied the command of God...

…in order to obtain her.

2.) Samson followed the lust of the eyes and flesh

His interest in her was purely physical.

3.) He despised the instruction of his parents in marrying her.

Proverbs 1:8–10 ESV

8 Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching, 9 for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck. 10 My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.

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Samson was strong and powerful...

And Arrogant!

Or, we might say… Self-confident!

And his self-confidence (pride)...

…led to his destruction.

The antidote is clear in the Proverbs:

Fear the Lord

Content yourself in him.

Obey his Commandments

Heed the wisdom of your parents.

-Now to a very POSITIVE example:

Ruth and Boaz.

Ruth (a gentile proselyte to Judaism)...

…was widowed at a young age...

…and when faced with affliction and loss...

…turned to the God of Abraham in faithful dependence...

…rather than turning back to the gods of her fathers.

God (through his Law) provided for her sustenance as a widow.

Eventually, because Boaz...

Feared the Lord

Obeyed his commandments (Levirate Marriage - Kinsman Redeemer principle)

He valued a woman of virtue, even though she...

Was poor

Was destitute

Was a Moabite

She had nothing to offer him...

…He took her and redeemed her as his wife...

…and produced offspring through which...

Israel’s Regal dynasty would come (King David)

Blessing would return to the world (King Jesus)

Brethren, it is SOOOOO important...

…that we hold fast to the Word of God.

That we delight ourselves in its precepts and commands.

That we trust in its wisdom and beauty.

It won’t guarantee us a smooth life...

…free from the consequences of the fall...

But, it will ensure that our afflictions...

…will be accomplishing something beautiful...

…in the end.

-Brethren, we could sum up...

…everything we’ve learned from these OT marriages...

…like this:

Psalm 37:3–7 (ESV)

3 Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.

4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.

6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.

7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him...

End here with a gospel application and do part 3 next week?