In beginning this third posting in this series I want to add some additional thoughts regarding the case of king Herod and his marriage to Herodias, the woman who was previously married to Herod's brother Philip. The reason why a study of Herod's case of adultery is pertinent is because his case is put forth as an example of people "living in adultery" when they have entered a marriage for unlawful reasons. The question then is this: "did Herod commit a single act of adultery in marrying Herodias, or was he in a continual state of sinning, or 'living in adultery,' as long as he was married to her?" Further, when John the Baptist said to Herod "it is not lawful for you to have her" as a wife, was he speaking of the law that forbade incest or that forbade adulterous marriage?
Kevin Pendergrass has written extensively on this subject, having numerous articles on all aspects of this subject. I can say that his views are sound and generally represent my thinking. In one of those articles titled "WHY HEROD WAS WRONG" (see here) he wrote (emphasis mine):
"In Matthew 14:4, Mark 6:18 and Luke 3:19-20, Herod was rebuked by John because Herod had married his brother’s wife, among other sins he committed (Lk. 3:19-20). The current understanding of the Jewish law at that time allowed for subsequent marriages and multiple wives (Deut. 24:1-4; 21:15-17; Judg. 8:30-32; 1 Sam. 1:2-3; 2 Sam. 12:7-8; etc.), even though polygamy was no longer a common practice by this time."
These are important facts to consider in the discussion of the particular violations of the Mosaic law that John the Baptist was alluding to when he said "it is not lawful for you to have her (as wife)." If Jewish law allowed for divorce, even when fornication was not the cause, then John would not be charging that the divorce and remarriage of either Herod or Herodias was illegal. Therefore, we must agree with Pendergrass and say that the violation of the law that John referred to was the law that forbade a man from marrying his brother"s wife.
Wrote Pendergrass:
"One of the condemnations that fell under this category was taking your brother’s wife in marriage:
“You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness” (Lev. 18:16).
“If a man takes his brother’s wife, it is an unclean thing. He has uncovered his brother’s nakedness They shall be childless” (Lev. 20:21).
The “taking” of someone encompasses the idea of marriage (See also: Lev. 20:14, 21; same word is used for “take”). This law began after Israel was led out of Egyptian bondage. Prior to the writing of Leviticus, there are no Old Testament passages that condemn incest. In the whole book of Genesis, incest is a common practice. Abraham married his half-sister (Genesis 20:12), and both Isaac and Jacob married kinsmen (Genesis 22:20ff; 24:4; 24:43). Of course, all of Shem, Ham, and Japheth’s children, Jacob, all of Adam and Eve’s grandchildren, Isaac, Esau, etc. would have been in incestuous relationships. The people of the Patriarchal Period, therefore, were not under the specific regulations of the Mosaic Code.
While Herod the Great and Herod Antipas were Idumeans (Edomites), Herod Antipas (being the client King of the Jews) would have been subjected to the Jewish law. The Idumeans were subjugated by the Jews and forced to convert to Judaism around the time of the Maccabean wars. Herod Antipas was Tetrarch of Galilee, the part of the kingdom assigned to him. Thus, Herod Antipas clearly and publicly violated the very law he was supposed to be upholding and following as a Jewish king when he took his brother’s wife in marriage.
Here is the chronology of Herod and Herodias’s marriage: Herodias was the granddaughter of Herod the Great through his son Aristobulus IV through his wife Miriamne I, Herod’s 2nd wife. Philip (Herod II) was the son of Herod the Great through Miriamne II, Herod’s 3rd wife. So Philip and Herodias were uncle and niece. While the Law did not prohibit an uncle from marrying his niece (e.g., Judges 1:12-13), it did prohibit a nephew from marrying his aunt (Lev. 18:12-14), and it prohibited a man from marrying his brother’s wife (Lev. 18:16; 20:21). [It should be noted that there is an exception to this found in Deuteronomy 25:5, but this wasn’t applicable to the Herod-Philip-Herodias case].
Some have attempted to argue that, even though divorced by the law of the land, Herodias was still married to Philip in “God’s eyes” because John used the phrase “your brother’s wife” when referring to Herodias (Mk. 6:18)."
It is possible that the present tense "your brother's wife" may be another example of what is called the "historical" present tense. But, more on that shortly. Pendergrass continues:
"There are a couple of explanations to this objection and each would fit the context of Scripture (perhaps even both). According to Josephus, Herodias had divorced Philip (Josephus, Antiquities 18.5.3 136). Some have argued that Herod was wrong because he married Herodias who had unlawfully divorced Philip instead of Philip divorcing Herodias upon Jewish law.
Under Jewish law, a man could divorce a woman, but a woman could not divorce a man (Deut. 24:1-4; Rom. 7:1-4). However, the Greco-Roman culture had influenced society where women were divorcing their husbands. Instead of the man (Phillip) treating his wife treacherously, the woman (Herodias) treated her husband treacherously by unlawfully divorcing him to marry Herod. Therefore, this could possibly be what John was referring to (Mal. 2:14-17).
The second explanation would have to do in understanding how the phrase, “your brother’s wife” can be used. This phrase can just as easily be understood as a former wife. This is one of the common usages in the Bible when speaking of a former spouse (See: 2 Samuel 12:9; Deut. 25:5; Mark 12:19; Lk. 20:28; Acts 5:10-11; etc.). Often times in the Bible, the words husband and wife are in reference to former husbands and wives. In fact, this is even the common way of speaking today.
We often refer to someone’s former husband and wife as simply their husband or wife. We don’t mean to imply they are still married, we are only recognizing the fact that they once were. Furthermore, the Levitical law to which John was referring uses the phrase “brother’s wife” to include the brother’s former wife (Lev. 20:21; As do other passages when speaking of former spouses; Deut. 25:5).
Under the heading "WHAT REPENTANCE DEMANDED" Pendergrass wrote:
"We have to be careful with self-imposed repentance. That is, we have to be careful when we teach what we believe one has to do in order to repent, especially if the Bible doesn’t say it. Some assume that because John told Herod that it wasn’t lawful for him to take/have his brother’s wife, then that meant he had to repent by divorcing her. However, we must consider the context and other passages of Scripture. Consider the same type of wording when it came to David taking Bathsheba to be his wife. The Bible says that David sinned because he:
“…killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife…” (2 Sam. 12:9). “…because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife” (2 Sam. 12:10).
The sin that took place with David is that he unlawfully took Bathsheba to be his wife. He lied, cheated and killed in order to have Bethsheba. The sin that took place with Herod is that he unlawfully took Herodias to be his wife. Since repentance didn’t demand that David divorce Bathsheba, it shouldn’t be automatically assumed that repentance demanded that Herod divorce Herodias."
Pendergrass wrote:
"If a man took his brother’s wife in marriage, it was a sin but the Bible assumes the couple would naturally continue in their marriage. Consider Leviticus 20:21:
“If there is a man who takes his brother’s wife, it is abhorrent; he has uncovered his brother’s nakedness. They will be childless.”
While it was a sin to marry your brother’s wife, it simply says that they would suffer the consequence of being childless in their marriage.
Whether the rebuking was due to Herod unlawfully taking Herodias because she unlawfully divorced Phillip (thus violating the Jewish divorce law), or whether it was due to the incestuous union (or perhaps a combination of both; Lk. 3:19-20), nothing in this context would prove that repentance demanded divorce (Deut. 24:1-4). Of course, even if one did attempt to argue that repentance demanded a divorce, it would not have been on the basis of a subsequent marriage since the law allowed for such (Deut. 24:1-4). Rather it would be on the basis of an incestuous union."
Recall that the major argument of those who teach that a marriage entered into without scriptural grounds creates a situation where the parties in such a marriage continue to sin or to "live in adultery" while the marriage is in place; And, in regard to the case of Herod and Herodias, it is argued that John the Baptist's repeatedly saying to Herod "it is not lawful for you to have her," using the present tense, proves it. The argument is made that John's use of the present tense "is" denotes continuous action, and thus Herod's adultery was not an initial act in marrying Herodias, but was a continuous state. John, it is argued, would have said "it was not lawful for you" had he in mind only a past act.
It is further argued that John's call to Herod to repent involved him divorcing Herodias. Pendergrass answers, in regard to the latter argument, that the scriptures do not teach such. The scriptures teach that marriages that were entered illegally were still binding marriages and should not be dissolved. The sin was in the initial act, not in the continuing union. As regards the first argument, about the use of the present tense "is," I stated in the previous posting that such is no conclusive argument because there is such a thing as an "historical present." In cases where an historical present is used, it is the past that is referred to even though a present tense verb is used.
Richard Nordquist (see here) says this about the English "historical present" (emphasis mine):
"In English grammar, the historical present is the use of a verb phrase in the present tense to refer to an event that took place in the past. In narratives, the historical present may be used to create an effect of immediacy. Also called the historic present, dramatic present, and narrative present."
When John said to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife," he was stating what was the present law, not what was the supposed present ongoing sin. Take the case of a person who, in the past, committed the criminal offence of speeding. He stands before the judge and the judge says "the law is (present tense) 55 miles per hour and you were (past tense) going 75." Or, "it is not lawful for you to go over 55." Now, certainly the judge could have said "the law was 55 and you were..." But, the message is the same.
Herod had violated the law in marrying Herodias because it was incest, not because he had married a divorced woman, because, as already observed, such was "lawful" by the Mosaic law. Granted, it was against the teaching of Jesus, but that teaching would come later.
John was not saying that the marriage was to be annulled. As stated previously, the law of Moses allowed such adulterous marriages. So, the sin that John is condemning is not the adultery, but the incest, the kind specifically forbidden in the OT. It was not till Jesus gave correction to the Mosaic law, after John's imprisonment and death, that such marriages would be styled as adulterous in their inception. Had John been condemning Herod for an adulterous marriage, rather than for incest, he would not have singled out Herod, for there were many Jewish men, at the time, in marriages begun by an act of adultery.
The Case of the Woman at the Well
"Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly." (John 4:16-18 kjv)
When Jesus talked with the Samaritan woman he told her she had had five husbands. Unless all of them died she must have been divorced at times. Each time she remarried it was considered marriage by the Lord for he told her she had had five husbands. They would not have been husbands if she were not married to them. Jesus said the man she was presently living with was not her husband. Why? Because she had never been married to him. Jesus did not tell her she had only been married one time, to the first husband. Thus, in the "eyes of the Lord" this woman was married five times. Our teaching that one cannot remarry is not in harmony with what Jesus taught.
Wrote Kevin Pendergrass in "Marriage Is Dissolved By Divorce" (see here):
"Jesus also taught that marriage can be dissolved. In John 4:17-18, Jesus recognized that the woman at the well had been married to 5 husbands and was currently living with someone she wasn’t even married to.
“The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”
Due to the fact that she was currently living with a man to whom she was not married would certainly give way to the fact that her past 5 husbands didn’t just all die naturally. As she admitted, her moral living was not above par. He didn’t tell her that she was “still married in the eyes of God to her first husband.” In fact, He acknowledged that these men had been her husbands and that she currently had no husband.
If marriage was not dissolved through divorce, then Jesus would have told the woman to return to her original spouse, or He would have told her to return to the last man to whom she was scripturally married. However, that wasn’t what Jesus said. Instead, Jesus acknowledged that the woman had been married 5 times. Jesus taught that the woman had no husband (Jn. 4:17). Divorce, even unlawfully, dissolves marriage according to Jesus."
That is the way I see the case of the woman at the well and I do not believe that those who promote the idea that a marriage entered without scriptural grounds becomes a case of "living in adultery" have any proof of their position from either the case of Herod or from the case of the woman at the well.
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