Journal: Tyndale Bulletin
Volume: TYNBUL 47:1 (NA 1996)
Article: Three Weddings And A Divorce: God’s Covenant With Israel, Judah And The Church
Author: David Instone Brewer

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TynBul 47:1 (1996) p. 1

Three Weddings And A Divorce:
God’s Covenant With Israel, Judah
And The Church

David Instone Brewer

Summary

God is described in the Old Testament as married to Israel and Judah, and in the New Testament the church is described as the Bride of Christ. The marriage to Israel ended in divorce and the marriage to Judah suffered a period of separation. Paul suggests that this marriage ended when Christ died, in order that Christ would be free to marry the Church with a better marriage covenant. These marriage covenants are detailed by several authors in the Old and New Testaments. These several accounts are consistent with each other and demonstrate that God subjects himself to his own law in the matter of marriage and divorce.

I. Introduction

Several authors throughout both the Old and New Testaments make mention of marriage covenants which God contracted between himself and his bride, whether that bride be Israel, Judah or the Church. Our aim here is to examine whether or not the several authors and the two Testaments speak at variance about this matter. It will be shown that in both Testaments God is described as someone who subjects himself to his own law with regard to regulations concerning marriage, separation, divorce and remarriage. He is depicted both by the later prophets and by Paul in ways that are in full accord with the law of Moses.

The area of marriage and divorce is a particularly difficult area for demonstrating consistency between the two testaments, because the traditional Christian teaching is that the Old Testament law is completely at variance with the New Testament law. The law of Moses clearly allows divorce and

TynBul 47:1 (1996) p. 2

remarriage, but the gospels, as traditionally interpreted, appear to outlaw both.1 I would argue that the law did not change, but that Christ affirmed the Old Testament grounds for divorce.

This paper will not explore this issue. The gospels and their interpretation will be deliberately neglected. The subject for this paper is God’s own marriage covenants, which are not mentioned in the gospels or in other passages which are adduced by either side of that debate. However, it is expected that an examination of God’s own behaviour with regard to marriage and divorce may enlighten those more contentious passages.

I will suggest that Paul and Isaiah 40-55 are both keen to demonstrate that God fulfils his own law, which was given to Moses, to the letter, even when it appears to be to his disadvantage to do so. It will be shown that scripture declares with one voice that God obeys his own...

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