"that leaves the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God"
Solomon expands our understanding of the action of the adulteress or the strange woman. He tells us that she does two things that are not seen as a big deal in our day but were huge things in that day and huge things in the eyes of God then and now. First, she forsakes the person she pledged herself to when she was young. Second, she ignores the compact and agreement that she made with God. Solomon is trying to get young men, especially, to remember that if they are with a woman who is not their wife, then she is someone else's wife and he is involved in helping or causing her to ignore the agreement she made with God and thereby increasing her guilt and shame at judgment day. There are willing men and women who do these two things, but they are not small things.
leave the companion of her youth: Two words are key in this insight.
The first word is the word leave, which is the Hebrew word azab, which means forsake, loose, leave. It has the idea of abandoning, forsaking. There is in the marriage vows a commitment to support the other person through the doing of your duties. A wife has a responsibility to fulfill her side of the marriage arrangement. A husband has the responsibility to fulfill his side of the marriage arrangement. The other person is counting on you to meet the deep emotional, mental, spiritual, and physical needs that only you can meet. If you do not meet them, then they are crippled in their ability to make it through life. Too often today people believe that “if I am not having my needs met by my spouse, then that gives me justification for leaving my spouse; they aren't meeting my needs; or I don't love them anymore.” Nowhere in the Bible does it give the “I'm not getting mine” excuse for leaving. Nowhere does God give people the "I'm not in love any more; you can get out” coupon. When you got married, it came with certain privileges and with certain duties. You bonded with another young person to meet their needs so that together you could carve out a righteous and successful life.
The second word is the word companion, which is the Hebrew word alluph, which means tame, companion, cattle, friend, gentle, intimate friend. The idea here is clearly that this is someone that you pledged to be side-by-side with, to be gentle with, to build an intimacy and friendship with. When that is shattered by your actions, it destroys so much. Here is a picture of a pledge of gentleness and teamwork, and then one person comes at this team with a sword and spear seeking great damage to the other person and the team. All because they are selfish. All because they think they can have more if they break away from this team and chase after a different team.
The second insight into the life of the adulteress is that she made a commitment to God that she would stay by her husband. The fact that she is with someone other than her husband means that she is breaking her promise to God. This should not be taken lightly; God does not take it lightly. The word forgetis the Hebrew word sakahwhich is forget, ignore, wither. The essential idea is that she places this commitment to God in the back of her mind and does not think about this promise.
One of Solomon's points is that wisdom will cause you to see all the consequences of your action if you engage in an adulteress affair. If you participate even with a willing woman, then you are helping her break her vow to God. This is a problem for her and for you. It also brings up the fact that she has found it easy to break a promise, so any promise that she makes to you she could also break.
People in our permissive culture have ample opportunity to commit adultery. It is available everywhere, but why would you want to slap God in the face like that? Why would you want to wound the person who was willing to die on the cross for you to save you from your sins? This is sinning with a high hand.
Until tomorrow,
Gil Stieglitz