God married to sisters?

Post Reply
User avatar
KyleB
Posts: 116
Joined: Fri Jan 07, 2011 2:04 am
Location: Creswell, OR

God married to sisters?

Post by KyleB » Sat Dec 22, 2012 3:38 am

Jeremiah 3 and Ezekiel 23, God portrays Himself as married to sisters (Judah and Israel). Why do you think He chose to do so in light of Leviticus 18:18, which seems to forbid one man taking as wives two sisters? I'm not taking issue with polygamy in general, as it seems that was not forbidden in the OT, but sister-wives were.

God made the laws that He gave to Moses, and God gave the words to the prophets, so He could have portrayed Himself any way He wished. Why place Himself in this seemingly questionable illustration?

User avatar
Bud
Posts: 112
Joined: Tue Jun 26, 2012 3:51 pm
Location: Aloha, Oregon

Re: God married to sisters?

Post by Bud » Sat Dec 22, 2012 12:39 pm

Hi again Kyle,
God made the laws that He gave to Moses, and God gave the words to the prophets, so He could have portrayed Himself any way He wished. Why place Himself in this seemingly questionable illustration?

God knew it was only a metaphor. It is the act of having sex with two women who are sisters that the above marriage implies amongst mankind that makes it sinful. God in a metaphor married to two sisters has no such problem.

God bless,
Malachi 3:16 Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard [it,] and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem His name. (NASB) :)

User avatar
jeremiah
Posts: 339
Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2011 6:58 pm
Location: Mount Carroll, IL
Contact:

Re: God married to sisters?

Post by jeremiah » Mon Dec 24, 2012 10:18 am

hello kyle,

I think Bud hit the nail on the head in pointing out that it is not necessary to import all that may be related to a particular concepts when using them in metaphors and analogies. On the other hand, if you think that may leave the the question still unanswered, consider the characters of God's portrayal. Judah was actually the son of Jacob. And Jacob, who lived prior to mt. Sinai actually was married to two sisters. so the whole nation of israel was brought forth from a union that later became forbidden. So i think it can become clear that God is only focused on the fidelity requirement of a marriage in the passages you cited. It may seem like God has placed himself in a questionable illustration. But by the same token,couldn't his title as father also be seen as questionable?

thoughts?

grace and peace...
Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: for thou renderest to every man according to his work.

User avatar
KyleB
Posts: 116
Joined: Fri Jan 07, 2011 2:04 am
Location: Creswell, OR

Re: God married to sisters?

Post by KyleB » Tue Dec 25, 2012 1:29 am

Thanks for the thoughts guys.

I hope that it didn't come across that I thought God was wrong to portray Himself this way. I always assume that God is right and I need to figure out why if I don't understand. I was just curious why God (being infinitely creative) would have chosen this particular metaphor, when He could have used any other metaphor that His infinite mind could think of to apply to the situation that would have been less questionable.

Your ideas are helpful, similar to some thoughts I had already. I was just putting the feelers out to see if there was some obvious super-clear explanation that I was overlooking.

BTW, nice pic of the fam Jeremiah.

User avatar
kaufmannphillips
Posts: 585
Joined: Sun Dec 21, 2008 8:00 pm

Re: God married to sisters?

Post by kaufmannphillips » Tue Dec 25, 2012 5:58 pm

:arrow: The "sisters" bit represents the relation between the Northern and Southern kingdoms (Israel and Judah). This aspect of the metaphor is significant. Both are accorded a comparable status; the base relation is not freewoman-and-maidservant, or native-and-foreigner. And the relation is familial; it is not merely neighbor-and-neighbor, or even friend-and-friend.

:arrow: A critical scholar might suggest that the ban on sister-wives postdates Ezekiel and Jeremiah. Another possibility would be that the ban postdates the convention of referring to the two kingdoms as "sisters"; if the convention were well-established, it might have persisted even after the ban. Either possibility might involve a later dating of the Pentateuch than traditionalists might prefer, though one could imagine the ban to be a late insertion into the text.

Alternately, one could argue that the statute against sister-wives was not well-known until a later date; in the traditional narrative, at least some of the laws were not always practiced prior to the exile (and see 2 Kings 22f.). This might not fully resolve Kyle's question of why God would articulate this metaphor, but it could explain a lack of concern on the parts of the prophets and their audiences.

:arrow: Maybe God's behavior in the metaphor had the aura of being "old school," like Jacob. Ancient of Days, you know.

Post Reply

Return to “Major and Minor Prophets”