Read Exodus 20:14 at Bible Gateway.
Hebrew paragraph division
Exo 20:14 {s} You shall not commit adultery
Hebrew roots
You shall not commit adultery. Exo 20:14
Adultery is Strong’s H5003 נאף na’aph, a primitive root meaning, “to commit adultery.” The ancient pictographs are nun + aleph + pey.
nun נ, ן = the seed, thus continue, heir, son
aleph א = the ox head, thus strength, power, leader
pey פ, ף = the mouth, thus open, blow, scatter, edge
The story being told of adultery is the seed (nun) of strong (aleph) lust or craving (pey as the ravenous open mouth that is not satisfied). One of the hard sayings of Yeshua is His teaching on adultery, found in Mat 5:27-32: whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery in his heart. But by it we learn that just as the act of murder is a fruit that first must come from a seed of hatred in the heart, the act of adultery is a fruit that first must come from a seed of lust in the heart.
Yeshua’s teaching on adultery
You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
Furthermore it has been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery. Mat 5:27-32
Yeshua’s teaching on adultery forms a reverse parallelism.
1a.1) Mat 5:27 You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery;’
1a.2) Mat 5:28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart;
1b) Mat 5:29 If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell;
2b) Mat 5:30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell;
2a.1) Mat 5:31 Furthermore it has been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce;’
2a.2) Mat 5:32 But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.
The reverse parallelism makes it clear that Yeshua links divorce with adultery, since God designed things from the beginning to be one man united with one woman for life.
What about the B pair? Is Yeshua really teaching us to maim ourselves? He is teaching us to cut off the root cause of sin. The greater Sermon on the Mount chiastic structure, of which the above is a part, reveals that the true root cause of sin is found in the heart, just as obedience which does not proceed from the heart is not true obedience.
7th commandment study index
I remember reading about Adultery and learning that it is the only sin where the soul of the other person enters in. This results in a change in the individual hence explaining why your mate doesn’t act the same. It made perfect sense. Because many times you hear people involved in adultery saying I do not even recognize the person I am married to anymore…this is why God included this commandment in his word!