Exo 20:14 - "You shall not commit adultery."
Deut 5:18 - "You shall have commit adultery."
Apart from its metaphorical usage, adultery in the Old Testament always refers to sexual intercourse with the spouse or betrothed of another person, and always carries connotations of promiscuity and unfaithfulness. Marriage—constituted the moment God gave the woman to the man and they "became one flesh"—is the fore-runner of all other human relationships. Its importance, and the expectation of fidelity within it, can be seen in the frequency with which marriage is used in the Old Testament as an analogy of Israel's relationship with Yahweh and adultery as a metaphor for Israel's covenant infidelity.1 Holiness, to which Israel is called with such passion, is composed of a cluster of different qualities. None of them better facilitates developing the other qualities of holiness than faithfulness. Perhaps it is because of this that adultery is singled out for attention in the Decalogue even though other sexual improprieties are viewed with equal aversion in the Old Testament. Likewise, faithfulness is the rock on which rests every other element of a healthy marriage; compromise it and every thing else is immediately risked.
Low Chai Hok
©Alberith, 2013