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ADULTERY |
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ADULTERY #3 THE MOICH- GROUP IN THE OLD TESTAMENT We encounter some difficulty when we cite examples from the Septuagint to demonstrate the progressiveness of adultery because God's people were often addressed under collective nouns such as daughter, wife, household or by some personal name. So, there are several examples whose tenses express continuous action which cannot be used. When, for example, Jeremiah (3:8) says, "The household of Israel was committing adultery", it is easy for those who reject the truth on this subject to construe the verb as referring distributively to the members of the household. That is, (as they would say) each of the members committed adultery once only, but taken together, all of them "were committing adultery". And so, we must lay aside some of the passages that use the durative tense verbs and verbals because they are open to this objection. We are then left with a number of instances which describe (1) adulteries (plural) committed by individuals and (2) Instances where the context is decisive. SOME EXAMPLES Solomon talks about the way of an adulteress (moichalis). A way is something habitual. "Such is the way of an adulterous woman, who having washed herself from what she has done, says she has done nothing amiss." Prov. 30:20. Compare Job 24:15 ff for the habits of the adulterer. In Ezek. 23:43 there is a reference to the unlawful alliances made by God's people, and the writer's choice of words clearly suggests repeated acts of adultery (political as well as sexual) by the bride of God. "Then said I unto her that was "old" (Heb. - baleh - "worn out") in adulteries, Will they not commit whoredoms with her, and she with them?" To be 'worn out' in adulteries would obviously necessitate repeated acts of adultery by the same person. And, it must be remembered that the charge in Hos. 2:4 was spoken not only to Israel but also to Gomer, the harlot wife of the prophet. "Let her put away her adulteries (Heb. text) from between her breasts." Such language needs no explanation. Jeremiah 36:23 (in the KJV -- 29:23) uses a durative tense (imperfect) to describe various acts of adultery committed by two priests named Ahab and Zedekiah. "...and they used to commit adultery (emoichonto) with the wives of their fellow-citizens". The context together with the imperfect tense makes the repetition of their adultery clear. Jeremiah (9:2) protests that "...they all are committing adultery". He does not say that they all have committed adultery. They are now in the process. Nor, does he say, "they each commit adultery" (once only) but rather "they all are committing adultery" habitually. Jeremiah 5:7 is very descriptive. "I have fed them, and they 'kept committing adultery' (emoichonto), and kept lodging in the houses of whores. They became mare-crazy studs, each man (hekastos) kept neighing (echremetizon -durative) after his neighbor's wife." Now, we turn to the participles. Hosea 7:4 uses the present participle, "moicheuontes". They are all "adultery-committing-people", those who habitually commit adultery. If the adultery referred to had been committed only once, then we should have expected an aorist participle, "moicheusantes": "They are all 'people who have committed adultery"'. In Ezekiel 16:32, the prophet speaks of a typical adulteress. She takes money and provisions from her husband, and gives them to "all" her lovers. The present participle (durative) is used, and the sin she commits is continuous. See also the Student's Hebrew Lexicon by Davies-Mitchell, page 392, for comments on the Hebrew word in the Piel, adultery "as a habit". CONCLUSION We have seen in previous articles that the Greek language assigned a durative meaning to the nouns "adulterer" and "adulteress". That same truth obtains in the Old Testament. We have not retraced that ground in this article, but it is true all the same. Where "adulterer" or "adulteress" is used in the LXX, it is understood as one who habitually commits adultery. So with the Hebrew. And, the durative tenses of the Septuagint, when read without prejudice, show not the slightest divergence from the normal usage described in our two previous articles. As a matter of fact, as to the continuance of the action of adultery, there is no difference from our own English language. It should be remembered that the language of the Septuagint is translation Greek and uninspired. Our purpose here, as in the two previous articles, has been to show how men used the terms, keeping in mind that the Holy Spirit used the language of the people to reveal the mind of God. Next, we shall look at the moich- family in the New Testament. |