²² And the rib or part of his side which the Lord God had taken from the man He built up and made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. ²³ Then Adam said, This [creature] is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of a man.  ²⁴ Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall become united and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. ~ Genesis 2:22-24, AMPC

³ And Pharisees came to Him and put Him to the test by asking, Is it lawful and right to dismiss and repudiate and divorce one’s wife for any and every cause? ⁴ He replied, Have you never read that He Who made them from the beginning made them male and female, ⁵ And said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be united firmly (joined inseparably) to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh? ⁶ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder (separate). ⁷ They said to Him, Why then did Moses command [us] to give a certificate of divorce and thus to dismiss and repudiate a wife? ⁸ He said to them, Because of the hardness (stubbornness and perversity) of your hearts Moses permitted you to dismiss and repudiate and divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been so [ordained]. ⁹ I say to you: whoever dismisses (repudiates, divorces) his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

¹⁰ The disciples said to Him, If the case of a man with his wife is like this, it is neither profitable nor advisable to marry. ¹¹ But He said to them, Not all men can accept this saying, but it is for those to whom [the capacity to receive] it has been given. ¹² For there are eunuchs who have been born incapable of marriage; and there are eunuchs who have been made so by men; and there are eunuchs who have made themselves incapable of marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let him who is able to accept this accept it. ~ Matthew 19:3-12, AMPC

² And some Pharisees came up, and, in order to test Him and try to find a weakness in Him, asked, Is it lawful for a man to dismiss and repudiate and divorce his wife? ³ He answered them, What did Moses command you? ⁴ They replied, Moses allowed a man to write a bill of divorce and to put her away. ⁵ But Jesus said to them, Because of your hardness of heart [your condition of insensibility to the call of God] he wrote you this precept in your Law. ⁶ But from the beginning of creation God made them male and female. ⁷ For this reason a man shall leave [behind] his father and his mother and be joined to his wife and cleave closely to her permanently, ⁸ And the two shall become one flesh, so that they are no longer two, but one flesh. ⁹ What therefore God has united (joined together), let not man separate or divide.

¹⁰ And indoors the disciples questioned Him again about this subject. ¹¹ And He said to them, Whoever dismisses (repudiates and divorces) his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; ¹² And if a woman dismisses (repudiates and divorces) her husband and marries another, she commits adultery. ~ Mark 10:2-12, AMPC

According to Hebrew thought, basar — the Hebrew word for “flesh” — refers not only to the physical body but also to the whole person. In other words, the Hebrew word for “flesh” (basar) not only can mean either the flesh for the body or the body itself, but also the Hebrew word for “flesh” (basar) can mean “person.”  

Since the human soul and spirit are housed in the human body, which also is called “the flesh,” this truth makes the idea of becoming “one flesh” mean so much more than “married” men and women experiencing a Physical Unity — the oneness that is achieved when male and female marriage partners fit perfectly together, sexually speaking. Additionally, becoming “one flesh” means that “married” men and women also experience a Unity of Spirit — the oneness that is achieved when male and female marriage partners’ spirits (hearts) become “one flesh” (one person) in YeHoVaH who is SPIRIT. Lastly, becoming “one flesh” also means that “married” men and women experience a Unity of Emotions — the oneness that is achieved when male and female marriage partners’ emotions (their individual soul’s voice) become “one voice” so as to “fill out” or complete both the married male and the married female in every respect.

In other words, this one-flesh oneness that YeHoVaH mentions in Genesis 2:24  is the soulish-kind of marriage. This kind of marriage only happens when male and female – two living souls – are united into one “whole” person via their living souls’ emotions, as well as via their living souls’ minds and their living souls’ wills.

Just think about what we learn in Genesis 2:22. We learn that Eve came out of Adam! So, all YeHoVaH has done — via His institution of marriage – was to reunite them. He made them ONE again.

For sure, the only way a male and a female can experience the above-stated three unities is if YeHoVaH unites them, and Genesis 2:22-24 verses clearly state that He is the One who joins them together in marriage. Once again, it was YeHoVaH who took the woman (Eve) out of the man (Adam), and then He reunited them — made them ONE again — via His institution of marriage. This Divine Truth is why a signed and recorded marriage certificate doesn’t necessarily mean a couple is married in YeHoVaH’s eyes.  

Without a doubt, the above explanations of what becoming “one flesh” truly means are why YeHoVah declares that the married couples who are “one flesh” in Him only can be fully/completely separated by DEATH! Any other kinds of separations, whether legal or otherwise, as in local governments’ (man-approved) separations and divorces for ANY reasons (mainly for irreconcilable differences; no-fault divorces); or as in spousal rejections, disownments, renouncements, or abandonments (spousal repudiations); and so on, just mean that these separated or earthly divorced married couples have been put asunder — have had their souls’ emotions, wills, and minds forcefully ripped into separate pieces. Being ripped into separate pieces is the very thing that YeHoVaH never wanted His married “one flesh” couples to experience. This put asunder Divine Truth is why YeHoVaH declares that ONLY a physical DEATH can completely/absolutely/wholly separate couples He has joined together. If couples He has married are divorced according to their earthly laws that each state has established, then these couples are in pieces – not entirely detached/disconnected. 

Additionally, couples who divorce for reasons other than the ones YeHoVaH gives in His Word as exceptions to remaining married (one flesh) until death should know that even divorcing someone for adultery — the MAIN reason one-flesh married men can use for divorcing their wives — also causes male and female’s united souls and spirits to be ripped into pieces. No doubt this inevitable ripping is why YeHoVaH says that those whom He has joined together only can be properly separated by death. This ripping, no doubt, is why the Mosaic Law couldn’t allow a Jewish woman with a certificate of divorce to remarry UNTIL her former husband had died. To remarry before her former spouse died would have put that woman in an adulterous relationship.

As I mention in this article and in a different blog entry, (“For Richer or Poorer…For Better or Worse”), there are scriptural exceptions to Father God’s Command to stay married until death separates a couple He joined together. Those exceptions are Matthew 19:9 (physical adultery; sexual intercourse with someone other than one’s husband or wife); and 1 Corinthians 7:15 abandonment—being deserted by an unbelieving spouse. However, even with these two scriptural exceptions, Father God makes it clear that He hates divorce (cf. Malachi 2:16, Matthew 19:6, Mark 10:11-12, 1 Corinthians 7:12-13). Furthermore, the fact that YeHoVaH prefers that His Children work on their marriages instead of getting a divorce, for any reason YeHoVaH makes allowance for, is suggested in 1 Peter 3:1-6.

Concerning divorce, even though YeHoVaH makes allowances so that His Sons and Daughters can get a divorce, Yeshua teaches that the man who “…dismisses (repudiates and divorces) his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; And if a woman dismisses (repudiates and divorces) her husband and marries another, she commits adultery” (Mark 10:11-12, AMPC). In essence, Yeshua is saying that the certificate of divorce only allows for the divorce. Under the Law, because a married man and a married woman would remain bound to their spouses until their spouses die, neither the former wife nor for husband can remarry. Apostle Paul touches on this last statement. In another one of my blog entries, (“Your Old Man Is DEAD”), I discuss how the apostle Paul uses his marriage analogy (metaphor or comparison) that is in Romans 7:1-6 to explain how, even though the Law isn’t dead, that a reborn and saved believer is dead to the Law that YeHoVaH gave to Moses because that Law can no longer keep a new creature in Yeshua married to It. This Divine Truth is why a dead to the Law believer in Yeshua can remarry — can become His Bride.

What is important to note here about apostle Paul’s marriage analogy is that, in accordance with the Mosaic Law, a woman who was married could not divorce her husband. She was bound to her husband by the Law, even if he decided to divorce her for the legal reason of sexual infidelity. Now, even if she were divorced because she had sexual intercourse with a man who wasn’t her husband, though she would be legally divorced she also would be legally forbidden to marry another man, as long as her first husband was living. The bottom line here is that only DEATH could cancel the power and authority that the Jewish marriage Law had to bind a couple for life. Thus, apostle Paul makes it clear that when the legally divorced Jewish woman’s husband dies, then and only then would she no longer be bound to her former husband. At the time of his death, the Law no longer had the power or the authority to keep her bound to a dead ex-spouse.

Now, what shouldn’t be overlooked in apostle Paul’s marriage analogy is the fact that, according to the Mosaic Law, it is YeHoVaH who doesn’t give the legally divorced woman permission to remarry. The primary reason why He doesn’t give her permission is because if she got married to a second husband who also ends up divorcing her or who dies before she does, by Law, there would be no way for her to return to her first husband should he decide that he would take her back. Secondly, if she married a second husband while her first husband was still alive then marriage number two would make her an adulteress. In Matthew 19:9, the main difference between Paul’s teaching and Yeshua’s is it is a man who legally divorces his wife and then remarries while his divorced wife is still alive.

In the apostle Paul’s marriage analogy found in Romans 7:1-6, he makes it clear that the Torah only has authority/dominion over the wife, as long as her first husband still lives. When he dies, she is free from the very Law that otherwise not only would have prevented her from divorcing her husband but also would have prevented her, as a LEGAL divorcee, from marrying someone else while her first husband was still alive. Paul also points out that If she remarried before her first husband died, she would be committing adultery. Once again, the main difference between Paul’s teaching and Yeshua’s is that in Mark 10:11-12 Yeshua teaches that BOTH the divorced man and the divorced woman should not remarry while his or her former spouse is still alive, because if either remarries then he or she will be committing adultery against his or her divorced spouse.

There are several biblical passages that specifically deal with the Mosaic Law, as it pertains to divorce and a forbidden remarriage. Three of those passages are as follows: Deuteronomy 24:1-4, Matthew 5:31-32, and Romans 7:3.  

No matter how people interpret Scripture, there can be no denying that YeHoVaH hates divorce (see Malachi 2:16, Matthew 19:6, Mark 10:11-12, and 1 Corinthians 7:12-13)! This Divine Truth should be very important to today’s believers, especially since believers and non-believers, when facing difficult or tumultuous marital circumstances, are not only too eager to dump their spouses but also very eager to feel that their divorce is justified. Believers, thus, need to know that, even though many of them will be tempted to divorce their spouses for many reasons, they must not rebel against YeHoVaH’s Commands pertaining to His institution of marriage. If believers do rebel, especially in this Rapture season, they very well could end up also walking away from their own salvation (that is to say, they could fall away from the faith and end up eternally separated from Father God).

As I also have said, in yet another blog entry, (“Body, Soul, and Spirit: The Tripartite Being”), human souls and spirits are eternal, because they come from out of the eternal Father’s Soul and Spirit. Indeed, a rabbinical tradition that is based on the Babylonian Talmud teaches that YeHoVaH created souls AND spirits. Rabbinical tradition also teaches that the “unborn” souls and spirits, that is, those souls and spirits that are waiting for YeHoVaH to unite them for the first time with their earthly bodies, live in the seventh heaven (Araboth — the holiest of the seven Heavens; YeHoVaH’s Home, and the place where His Throne of Glory is located). Lastly, rabbinical tradition teaches that the righteous souls and spirits that have been separated from their bodies also live in the Seventh Heaven (see Chagigah 12b).

The above Divine Truth is why we say someone is an “old soul,” even though he or she is a very young person. The point here is that it does not matter when human beings are born into existence — when people begin to live within time — because human beings already existed as eternal souls (minds) and eternal spirits (hearts). There are several biblical passages that prove this point. One familiar passage is Jeremiah 1:5.

Finally, there are far too many married believers in Yeshua who fail to grasp the enormous tragedy they participate in when they allow life’s sooner-or-later difficulties to tear asunder (break into pieces) their souls and spirits — in essence, their whole lives. Too many rely on their own or others’ interpretations of the Scriptures instead of relying on the Holy Spirit’s Revelations. True! Humans, without the aid of the Holy Spirit, only can interpret what they think YeHoVaH is saying in His Word.  Fortunately, YeHoVaH gave us the Holy Spirit to teach us, and the Holy Spirit is the only One who can REVEAL all truths and all mysteries.

One biblical truth that’s also a mystery the Holy Spirit revealed to me is that married couples’ eternal souls and eternal spirits that became one flesh when YeHoVaH joined them together will get their souls and spirits ripped into pieces when they follow their local government’s separation and divorce laws and become legally separated or legally divorced. Ultimately, in some cases, their separations and/or divorces will cause their torn asunder one-flesh souls and spirits to be eternally separated — they’ll never be reunited with their soulmates’ souls and spirits. Then too, if their separations or divorces also cause their united with YeHoVaH souls and spirits to fall away from the faith, these souls and spirits may never return to the Seventh Heaven. Selah . . . . . .