The Law of Jealousy

 God instituted marriage before He instituted the government or the church.  The welfare of our society and the welfare of the world are all based on strength of our marriages and families. The family is the building block of our culture. Marriage must be a relationship of trust between a man and a woman. If there is no trust, the relationship is weak, and the effectiveness of the family is greatly hindered. I believe that is why God instituted the law of jealousy, as a part of the Old Testament Law. (Numbers 5:29,30) If there was jealousy in the marriage, God commanded them to go to the priest and have the wife drink the bitter water that brings a curse to prove whether she had been unfaithful to her husband or not. If she was guilty, her belly would swell, and she would be unable to have children. This law shows us how important trust is for a marriage relationship.

Let me say first that I am not sure why God had this law for the wife, but nothing for the husband who was suspected of being unfaithful. However, I know that trust in marriage must be mutual. It must go both ways. The husband who is unfaithful is just as guilty as a wife who is unfaithful. I believe there is a principle we are to learn from this law. If we are to have the strongest possible marriage relationship, we must never do anything that would make our husband or wife even think we were being unfaithful to him or her. We should always show our spouse our unfailing love to show them we are totally committed to them, and we would never sin by being unfaithful in word, in action, or in our heart and mind. When we do that, and we faithfully share our joyful love for them so they can see it daily, our marriage will be unbreakable. Our world today needs to hear this message about marriage from the One who ordained it. He knows how marriage works best, and we need to follow His lead to fruitful and steadfast relationships.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Numbers 6-8.