If you are like me, you have heard ten thousand times that Jesus/Yeshua died for our sin, the sin of the world, etc…
But did you know, Scripture teaches that He had to die for another reason?
Me neither. It never dawned on me, but it is clearly there.
He HAD to die because His covenant bride had played the harlot and His Divine righteousness demanded that He divorce her. His own law demanded that He could not remarry her except “she be released from the law concerning the husband.”
Follow me here as we look at what Scripture has to say!
Deuteronomy 24:1-4 says,
“When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out from his house, 2 and she leaves his house and goes and becomes another man’s wife, 3 and if the latter husband turns against her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her to be his wife, 4 then her former husband who sent her away is not allowed to take her again to be his wife, since she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance.
Yahweh’s covenant with Israel at Mt. Sinai was a marriage covenant. The five books of Torah are a ketuba contract. We were betrothed. (There is a really good verse, in the Torah I believe, that proves this, but I can’t find it right now.) Later, in several places, we are told that Yahweh divorced His people for harlotry.
Jeremiah 3:1, 8 says,
God says, “If a husband divorces his wife
And she goes from him
And belongs to another man,
Will he still return to her?
Will not that land be completely polluted?
But you are a harlot with many lovers;
Yet you turn to Me,” declares the Lord…. And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and given her a writ of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and was a harlot also.
And Isaiah 50:1 says,
Thus says the Lord,
“Where is the certificate of divorce
By which I have sent your mother away?
Or to whom of My creditors did I sell you?
Behold, you were sold for your iniquities,
And for your transgressions your mother was sent away.
Israel was betrothed and Yahweh had divorced her because she ran after other lovers. She played the harlot. Much of the book of Hosea is about Yahweh longing for Israel after He had divorced her. He says,
…“Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
Bring her into the wilderness
And speak kindly to her.
15 “Then I will give her her vineyards from there,
And the valley of Achor as a door of hope.
And she will sing there as in the days of her youth,
As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.
16 “It will come about in that day,” declares the Lord,
“That you will call Me Ishi (husband)
And will no longer call Me Baali (Master).
17 “For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, So that they will be mentioned by their names no more…. “I will betroth you to Me forever;
Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice,
In lovingkindness and in compassion,
20 And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness.
Then you will know the Lord…. “I will sow her for Myself in the land. I will also have compassion on her who had not obtained compassion, And I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’
And they will say, ‘You are my God!’”
Yahweh’s own Law says He could not remarry a bride that had gone a whoring, to whom He had given a writ of divorce. The only way for her to be released from that law was for the husband to die.
For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. 3 So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man.
4 Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. Romans 7
Therefore, as this passage alludes, Yeshua fulfilled a multifaceted role. He was the atoning sacrifice, but also, the husband who died that we might be released from the Law of the writ of divorce to become the Bride of Messiah, the risen King and be restored to the Covenant at Sinai… a reNewed Covenant. (Compare Jeremiah 31:31-34 and Hebrews 8:8-12)
What wonders the plan of our Father!!
Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! 34 For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? 35 Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? 36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen. Romans 11:33-36
Shalom, Pete
natsab 
It’s interesting that God (Yahweh) could divorce his own creation. It seems to me that either you are God or your not. There’s no choice in the matter, as the Covenant might suggest. By the way, it says in the Book of John that no man has ever seen God. So what does that make Yahweh who appeared to his Chosen People many times?
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It is not that Yahweh arbitrarily divorced His creation. He had to because His law demanded that He put away the adulterous bride. He could have rightly destroyed her, (stoning for the adulteress AND the adulterer) but that WOULD have destroyed His creation (and He would have been justified). Rather, in His mercy, He divorced her, but as the metaphor painted I Hosea rightly shows, Yahweh is a romantic lover at heart. He longed for her. What to do?
The half verse you pulled from John 1 goes on to say that Yeshua is the revelation of Yahweh. Interestingly, James 4:12 indicates that Yeshua was the Lawgiver and most all students of Scripture see Him as the Person Abraham spoke with on multiple occasions. Many proofs demonstrating He is the only begotten of the Father, fully God, fully man.
Shalom Aleichem!
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OMG! I never saw it this way before! Do you see this as the sole application for Deut. 24:1-4?
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Certainly, this isn’t the SOLE reason for this law, it is just very interesting to see how Yahweh has a ‘conundrum’ and solves it in a most creative manner. He is bound by His own law as Torah reveals His character. He is eternally existent and Israel was going to continue throughout the generations until the end of time… So, a husband and a bride, neither of whom could die meant a law that stood between Yahweh and the adulterous bride of His covenant. Now what?
Solution, the husband volunteers to die in order to release the wife from the commandment and thus free her so He could legally pursue her. Yeshua, God in the flesh, was the bridegroom who would die for His bride.
All of Yah’s laws are multifaceted. Just interesting to see another side of a diamond that is always presented as one-dimensional. ‘He died for our sin…’ Actually, it was much more than that, and I’m sure there are other reasons that were fulfilled in that single act on Calvary.
Shalom.
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very interesting! thanks for sharing
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Thanks, Tim. So much depth to Scripture, even more to our Father and His plan.
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Yesterday a dear friend sent me an email with a question:
“His covenant bride divorced Him? Or was His covenant bride divorced from Him?”
I wrote back:
“I’ll have to think about that. I definitely understand the difference in wording and I know He issued a certificate or some translations say ‘writ’ of divorce, but was that retaliatory because we chose to go astray forcing His hand? Hmmm… Post the question and I” post the response… Worth mulling publicly.”
Now that I’ve re-read and pondered, without the actual question having been posted, I want to make a small correction.. Multiple times in the blog I mention that Yahweh divorced His bride, which is correct. It is the first time in the piece where I write, “He HAD to die because His covenant bride had divorced Him and He could not remarry her” that I need to make an adjustment.
Indeed, all I can find is that every time in Scripture that the topic of Divorce comes up, it is the groom who is given the right and the authority to divorce. That would then assume that Israel, the Bride, though she played the harlot, did not have the authority to terminate her relationship with Yahweh. Rather, Yahweh’s righteousness demanded that He act because “she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her.”
So, I am changing that sentence to reflect the right of Yahweh to issue the writ of divorce and His reason why…
“He HAD to die because His covenant bride had played the harlot and His Divine righteousness demanded that He divorce her. His own law demanded that He could not remarry her except “she be released from the law concerning the husband.”
Good question, Sis Connie. I appreciate you catching even the small things that make big differences.
Shalom!
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I came to the same conclusion a couple of years ago! Always amazes me how Yaweh reveals His purpose to His children even tho they are scattered (I’m in Canada). Thanks for confirmation!
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Thankyou for this wonderful study Pete , it has really been timely for me as I am preparing a talk for A Shavuot gathering this weekend , I have it on my heart to redirect the Bride to the ancient paths , to get away from the birth of the church theology , to the redemption of Yahs unfaithful bride israel …the bride has always been Israel hasn’t it and we are a part of her ….Your study this morning has helped the missing pieces of why Yeshua had to did ..to fulfill all righteousness concerning Torah of whom laws of marriage and remarriage are a part …would you say Matt 3:15 is applicable to this situation …Also would you agree that Yeshua also took on the brides punishment for unfaithfulness as in numbers 5:14-30….it’s very interesting to note that this chapter is read in the Synagogue to day as part of the second day of Shavuot services …..I went to the Schul yesterday and read in the art scroll for Shavuot the beautiful poetry written for these services during the Middle Ages ….as part of the Ketubah that can be read at Shavuot ….they are so amazing , drawing on words from Proverbs and Song of Songs ….yesterday I was thinking as the Torah scrolls were brought out from the ark and processed around the congregation who kiss there finger tips then touch the scrolls ..of the words kiss the Son lest He be angry Psalm 2:11-12 …they are kissing the Son who is the word that became flesh …..and my friend turned to me at that moment and said that she had just asked “Yeshua ….Where are you!?” And He had replied “I am in the word !” So beautiful to be there in the ancient paths during this season of Shavuot , when the Megillah ha Rut is read ……Judah and Ephraim building bridges ! …..Isaiah 11:13! Looking forward to seeing you all again at the congress !
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So if Yahwey is bound by His own law ……How Could King David have possibly have a Moabitess Great , great , Grandmother???…as a Moabite was not permitted to enter the temple even unto the 10 th generation ….. Still pondering over this conundrum !
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