Hosea
and Gomer
(Marrying
an unchaste woman was permitted in the Old Covenant, but not in the
New Covenant)
Hosea: Marriage of a Whore Permitted (Dt. 24:2) in Old Covenant
Hosea's ministry circumstances demonstrated Israel's whoredom, and God's forgiveness. Israelites, due to the hardness of their heart, were permitted by the commandment of Moses to marry an unclean woman, including a divorcee. Therefore, Hosea was not breaking a commandment by marrying Gomer even though a wise man normally would prefer a chaste woman. However, his act of marrying Gomer should not be confused with the condonation of accepting a defiled, former clean wife, which was forbidden (Dt. 24.4).
Deuteronomy 24:4 “Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.”
Nevertheless, Jesus the Christ reproved the matter of the law and marital defilement. Marrying a defiled woman or a whore is not tolerated in the New Testament.
Adultery Destroys Opportunity for Marital Restoration in the New Testament
God joined two sexually clean people in the process of Genesis 2:18-24 and 4:1, not an unchaste woman with a clean man. Only an act of adultery or fornication (work of the flesh, including rape: Gal. 5:19) can tear apart (defile) that once clean unity of marriage, and it cannot be restored, leaving the former husband with the responsibility not to live in an unclean relationship. He simply should live single and not partake in the guilt of uncleanness due to the tragedy.
God can not approve of a man accepting a defiled woman or a whore for a wife today (New Testament times).
1
Cor. 6.15: “Know ye not that your bodies are the members of
Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make
them the members of an harlot? God forbid. 16 What? know ye not that
he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall
be one flesh.”
Sanctity of marriage is required. The Apostle Paul makes the sexual and physical cleanliness virtue clear by denouncing the uniting with a harlot.
Links and reminders:
Linkowski11 Marital Defilement Error