When Adam was created he searched for some time during the sixth day for the perfect companion. After naming all the animals and not finding one that was a true match for him. Yahweh caused a great sleep to fall on Adam and Yahweh took a rib from Adam and created woman to be his mate from Adam's rib. Eve was created from Adam's flesh so that they would be the same flesh and that they would be united as one. Following Yahweh's command Adam and Eve had many sons and daughters with the scriptures pointing out three of the most significant sons.
Many families today are a mirror image of this family but we find that the world has polluted the natural family. Perhaps the first pollution was the multiply wife and concubine community that existed among the patriarchs. Although many point to the relationships of the patriarchs to say that polygamy is fine Yahweh never condoned it as an acceptable practice.
"Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." (Genesis 2:24)
The word for cleave here in the Hebrew is "dabaq" (daw-bak'); a primitive root; properly, to impinge, i.e. cling or adhere; figuratively, to catch by pursuit according to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance. "Dabaq" shows that there is a strong adhesion that man and wife are one flesh. One flesh is "basar echad" with "echad" been the same as when Yahweh in Deuteronomy 6:4 says, "Hear, O Israel: Yahweh our Elohim is one Yahweh." This is a glaring picture of what a family is to be! There is nothing that would cause Yahweh to be in conflict and there should be nothing that splits a family. Unfortunately though because of the hardness of the hearts of men and women there are still divorces. I think most would agree that 98% of the time a divorce is caused by one spouse loosing confidence in the other spouse. Yahshua spoke of this whole situation.
Matthew 19:3 "The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? 4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, 5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? 6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore Yahweh hath joined together, let not man put asunder. 7 They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? 8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery. 10 His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry. 11 But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given."
Hardness of hearts, lack of love is one of the reasons that confidence is lost. Sometimes it is justified, i.e. the spouse has an affair, sometimes it is unjustified, i.e. the spouse burnt the eggs once too many times. The Scriptures teach that Yahweh's mercy endureth forever so should our hearts toward our spouse. The heart of a person has to be forgiving to the infinite degree. The hardest thing with a divorce is how the children are treated often thinking that it was their fault for their parents divorce. This guilt in many cases if not helped ends up blowing up when the child gets their first tastes of self determination. It is the saddest thing to see children put through a divorce.
Above all a marriage has to be preserved. When looking at the issue of divorce, it maybe allowed under the most grievous of situations such as adultery but even then divorce should be the final straw hopefully one never considered. There are many unwilling divorces and those who didn't know any better, some say they should stay unmarried for the rest of their lives. If you are in this situation the question you should ask is can you remain celibate? Paul is clear that if you can stay celibate and serve Yahweh with your whole life that is what he would recommended. If you can't handle celibacy then one simple question seems to be the goal of marriage. Are you marrying to produce children for Yahweh's service or is it for a lesser goal? This ideal goes back to Adam and Eve; their marriage was through Eve being made of Adam. Their main purpose was to fill the earth with children that would serve Yahweh. The goal of marriage is not to form a corporation but to have children that will follow Yahweh all the days of their lives. If the goal isn't towards children for Yahweh then it seems that friendship not intimate relations are what the true believer should look for in a relationship.
Satan has put many snares in the road of the scriptural family. Many of the believers are put in situations which they have no control over but we are never tested beyond what we can handle.
There are many real life situations that I could share with about this volatile subject but the world is not as monochromatic as some would like you think. Yahshua the Messiah through his life has given us many examples of traditions that have been added which go against the letter and the meaning of the law. Yahshua presented many situations which clearly applied Yahweh's law with love and mercy. We too must not look down on those who are making strides to keep Yahweh's law but those that are about to stumble must be helped out of the pit to the point of giving one's life. Unfortunately, too often Yahweh's word is used as a sword to the point that faith is lost. Encourage your brethren in righteousness and instruct with love the truth of what sin your brother is committing or about to commit. If we put our lives on the line for our brother then we too will be helped when we are about to stumble. Let's pray that we are spared spiritual death and that we are strong enough to resist evil. Halleluyah!
