The Husband Must Die
In this article we will study the death of Yeshua as the “Husband” of Israel. Most believers understand the death of Yeshua as the ransom (Ex 30:11-16, Mark 10:45) payment that brings us atonement. Countless more however have no insights on the death of Yeshua as the Husband that had to die (Deut 24:1-4, Rom 7:1-4) in order to “remarry” the House of Israel (Rev 19:9) that He previously divorced.
Yahweh Split Israel into two Nations, the House of Israel and the House of Judah (1 Kings 12:20). In this article we will examine the death of Yeshua, in regards to the House of Israel. We will study how the Torah deals with marriage, divorce, and remarriage, and we will connect these Torah principles with the House of Israel.
The Law of Marriage
Yahweh Marries Israel at Mount Sinai on Shavuot (Ex 19:7&8; Ex 24:7&8; Ta'anith 26b). Yahweh divides Israel into two camps, the House of Israel and the House of Judah (1 Kings 11:29-32). The House of Israel begins to change the Feast days of Yahweh (1 Kings 12:32), ordain non Levites into the priesthood (1 Kings 12:31) and they began to incorporate idol worship as a method to worship Yahweh (1 Kings 12:28). For these things they become an unfaithful bride, and consequently Yahweh divorces the House of Israel (Jer 3:1-8)
Rom 7:1-4 Brothers and sisters, all of you understand the law (Torah) of Moses. So surely you know that the law rules over people only while they are alive. For example, a woman must stay married to her husband as long as he is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law of marriage. But if she marries another man while her husband is still alive, the law says she is guilty of adultery. But if her husband dies she is free from the law of marriage. Then if she marries another man, she is not guilty of adultery.
The Key to understanding the death of Yeshua for the House of Israel is called the Law of Marriage (Deut 24:1-4).
Rom 7:4 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law [of Marriage] through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.
This scripture tells us that because of Yeshua’s death and resurrection believers are dead to the Law of Marriage. We are not dead to the Law (of Moses) which is the Torah; we must read this in context to understand what is being taught by Paul.
The next thing we must realize is Paul expected the Roman congregation to have knowledge that comes from studying the Torah. He writes “Brothers and sisters, all of you understand the law (Torah) of Moses” (Rom 7:1). In this passage Paul is teaching from the Torah where Yahweh gives very detailed instructions on marriage and divorce.
Deut 24:1-4 When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give [it] in her hand, and send her out of his house. And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's [wife]. And [if] the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth [it] in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her [to be] his wife; Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled;
Moses lists these three things that must done in order for the divorce to be legitimate according to Torah. Write the divorce document, deliver it to the wife and send her out of His House. As we will soon discover Yahweh did all three of these things to the House of Israel.
The majority of Protestant Christians miss many of the concepts Paul is teaching because they have not been taught the importance of studying the Torah. Without a “Hebraic Lens” as we study Scripture we cannot fathom the depths of Yeshua coming for “the lost sheep of the House of Israel” (Matt 15:24).
Israel says “I Do”
In Ex 19:1-8 Yahweh brings the people to the base of Mount Sinai to marry the people. What we see in these passages is a marriage ceremony. Yahweh speaks and writes the terms of the Covenant which are in essence “worship Me and obey Me” the people say “we will do all Yahweh says,” this is viewed as a marriage contract (i.e., Ketuba, Zohar vol 1, p. 8&9).
Ex 24:3 Moses told the people all Yahweh's words and laws (i.e., instructions) for living. Then all of the people answered out loud together, "We will do all the things Yahweh has said.
Ex 24:7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it so the people could hear him. And they said, "We will do everything that Yahweh has said; we will obey.“
The mixed multitude (Hebrews and non-Hebrews) became married to Yahweh and became known from this time on as the children of Israel. In the opinion of the early sages the date of the wedding and subsequent anniversary is Shavuot/Pentecost (Zohar vol 1, p. 8&9). Additionally, there is a traditional concept that the wedding ring of the bride is the Holy 7th day Sabbath. This “ring” is an outward visible sign between Yahweh and the children of Israel forever, that they are His people (Shab. 119a; B. Ḳ. 32a, b; Gen. R. x.; Beẓah 16a; Ta'an. 27b).
Israel becomes Two Houses
In 1 Kings 12:1-17, King Solomon imposed heavy taxation upon the children of Israel in order to build the Temple. Yahweh used this to cause a split in the tribes of Israel which persists to this day. Ten of the twelve tribes separated from the other two tribes (i.e., Judah, Benjamin). The ten tribes left crowned a King for themselves, and his name was Jeroboam. The tribes that remained were loyal to the Davidic dynasty under the reign of King Rehoboam, son of Solomon, son of David. The ten tribes who split were called the Northern Kingdom, the House of Israel and also Ephraim. The other two tribes became known as the Southern Kingdom or the House of Judah.
The House of Israel is Divorced
In 1 Kings 12:25-33 the newly crowned King Jeroboam began to do things that would change the course of history even to this present day. He began to change the Feast days of Yahweh, ordain non Levites into the Priesthood and incorporate idol worship as a method to worship Yahweh.
In Hos 1:1-8 Yahweh said to Hosea, “marry a prostitute” because the people (i.e., the House of Israel) were acting like a prostitute. Yahweh’s relationship with the children of Israel is like a natural marriage. In a spiritual marriage or natural one the Husband and wife are called to remain faithful. In the example of the House of Israel as a wife, she became a prostitute. Hosea has three children with this prostitute (who is a picture of the House of Israel) and they become prophetic signs that will teach us about the House of Israel.
The first child is named “Jezreel” which means “God scatters seed.” “Lo-Ruhamah” is the next child and her name means “no mercy.” Then “Lo-Ami” is born whose name means “not my people.” In the first chapter of Hosea, through these children’s names, we see how Yahweh will divorce the House of Israel.
Hos 2:2 "Plead with your mother. Accuse her, because she is no longer my wife, and I am no longer her husband. Tell her to stop acting like a prostitute, to stop behaving like an unfaithful wife.
Hos 2:7 Then she will say, I will go back to my first husband, because life was better then for me, than it is now.
Scripture records another prophecy about this divorce from the pen of Jeremiah.
Jer 3:1 "If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, should her first husband come back to her again? If he went back to her, wouldn't the land become completely unclean?
Jer 3:6-8 When King Josiah was ruling Judah, Yahweh said to me, "Did you see what unfaithful Israel did? She was like a prostitute with her idols on every hill and under every green tree. I said to myself, 'Israel will come back to me after she does this evil,' but she didn't come back. And Israel's wicked sister Judah saw what she did. Judah saw that I divorced unfaithful Israel because of her adultery, but that didn't make Israel's wicked sister Judah afraid. She also went out and acted like a prostitute!
This passage tells us again that Yahweh divorced the House of Israel. We need to mention here that although the House of Judah also acted like a prostitute, Yahweh never mentions divorce of her. Yahweh gave David an unconditional covenant to establish the House of Judah and place one of his sons on the throne forever (2 Sam 7:13-16, 1Chr 17:11-14) whereas the House of Israel and King Jeroboam’s dynasty was contingent upon obeying Torah (1 Kings 11:37&38).
Spiritual Adultery
How is adultery defined?
In the eyes of Yahweh, according to Scripture, adultery is; worshiping the God of Israel by mixing the “WAY” or method He is worshiped (i.e., Lev 23) with the “way” the nations worship their gods (i.e., pagan sun worship holidays). This is done by changing Torah Holy days (i.e., the Feasts of Yahweh) for pagan holidays.
As a result of constant backsliding and spiritual prostitution, Yahweh eventually takes away the Sabbath and the Feasts from the House of Israel
Jer 3:20 But like a woman who is unfaithful to her husband, family of Israel, you have been unfaithful to me," says Yahweh.
When the mixed multitude from many nations became “married” to Yahweh, those people became members of the children of Israel. In like manner the opposite is also true, when Yahweh divorced the House of Israel; they lost their identity as Israel (i.e., Jacob) and became once again, a mixed multitude from many nations. In Gen 48:19 Jacob speaks a prophecy about Joseph’s son Ephraim saying “may he become a multitude of nations.” This phrase transliterated in Hebrew is “melo ha goyim” and can be translated as fullness of the gentiles. For this prophecy to become a reality Yahweh had to divorce the House of Israel (i.e., Ephraim). As a result of this divorce they became the “fullness of the gentiles” (Rom 11:25&26) that Paul wrote about in the letter to the Romans.
Yeshua comes for
the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel
Yeshua said he came for the lost sheep of the House of Israel (Matt 15:24). These lost sheep Yeshua is speaking of are the descendants of the House of Israel who were scattered into all the earth in 722 BCE. They were the same ones that Yahweh had married and then divorced. The divorce left them with the status of “a mixed multitude from the nations” or “the fullness of the gentiles.” Yeshua came to bring them back into the marriage covenant which they had continually dishonored. In order for Him to remarry these “Lost Sheep,” He came as Yahweh in the flesh and died as the first husband (Deut 24:1-4, Rom 7:1-4). This may seem hard to comprehend at first, but once you understand this part of the love story between The Father and His firstborn, dearly loved son, Ephraim (Jer 31:9&20), the scriptures will come alive and be more meaningful than ever before. Yeshua’s death to make available the remarriage is a part of the love story between Yahweh and the children of Israel, that many are unacquainted with.
In conclusion
Yahweh married the children of Israel at the base of the mountain (Ex 19:7&8, Ex 24:7&8). Yahweh splits Israel into two Kingdoms or Houses. One of the Houses; the House of Israel plays the harlot and the Husband Yahweh writes them a divorce certificate (Jer 3:6-8) and sends them out of His house (i.e., the land of Israel). Yahweh then becomes a man, Yeshua the Messiah, to die in order to release the House of Israel from the Law of marriage spoken of by Moses and Paul (Duet 24:1-4, Rom7:1-4). This enables the remarriage (i.e., the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, Rev 19:9) to take place when Yeshua comes back for His bride, and the land not be defiled (Duet 24:4).
Many pastors teach and preach about the marriage supper of the lamb. Pastors that teach and preach about this subject, lack the missing thread that pulls the whole fabric of scripture together as one unit. The missing thread is:
· the marriage ceremony on Shavuot/Pentecost with the whole House of Israel
· the splitting of the tribes into two Houses (the House of Israel and the House of Judah)
· the divorce of the House of Israel for spiritual adultery
· the “Law of marriage and divorce” which requires the death of the First Husband so that the woman is free to remarry
· the coming of Yahweh in the flesh as the first husband, Yeshua the Messiah
· the death of the first husband Yeshua, to release the wife from the “Law of Marriage”
· the remarriage of the House of Israel with the Husband Yeshua, which is the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
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