Marriage Connections
Are Both Legal
And Personal
Some people make the assumption that Abraham’s relationship with Hagar did not constitute adultery because the biblical text refers to her as his wife.
And the presentation of Hagar to Abraham even has an official tone, like a wedding ceremony:
“Sara…gave Hagar to her husband Abraham to be his wife.” Genesis 16:3
So, Sara’s suggesting the arrangement in the first place followed by her official presentation of Hagar makes it sound like a genuine marriage.
But was it really?
A superficial reading might imply this but a thorough consideration of the text suggests otherwise.
There are actually several things to consider: adultery, marriage and divorce.
Adultery
Some suggest that adulterous “do’s and don’ts” were neither defined nor explained to Abraham so we can’t accuse him of adultery. We can’t hold him responsible for information he didn’t have.
But nowhere in the Bible is a technical definition of adultery provided. We have the word and we know the definition but Abraham had the word, and the definition long before we did.
The first biblical mention of the word didn’t occur until the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:14) but it surely was understood long before that. After this it is used no more than 37 times (KJV). Some versions have less.
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That means, of course, that our definition of adultery is insinuated from the text and the primary text is found in Genesis chapter two where the first wedding is recorded. [Read more…] about Abraham Committed Adultery Got Divorced
wasn’t released in South Africa until 3 Dec, three weeks following the first public viewing of the film elsewhere, this review comes a little late. Fortunately, the real message of the film isn’t dated – yet – so a good look is still relevant.
