Wednesday 20 May 2015

parshanut torah comment - What does adultery mean in the 7th commandment?



Exodus 20:14, the 7th 'commandment' of the Decalogue.


Does it mean only having sex with someone else' wife or having sex outside marriage?


What is the actual Hebrew word and what possible interpretations could there be?



Answer



The Hebrew word here is ne'ifa, and it doesn't occur all that often. The standard interpretation means "intercourse between a married woman and a man not her husband." The Talmud observes that just like commandment #6, #7 can warrant the death penalty in theory.


The word is not zonah, which means "stray." That word can either mean prostitution, or a married woman straying from her husband. (When Leviticus prohibits a Kohen from marrying a Zonah, the Talmud says that means a married woman has who cheated with anyone -- even though she's now widowed.) "Don't do zanah" would be directed at a woman only. "Don't do ne'ifa" applies to men and women.


Commentaries such as Sforno (cited above) suggest that the Ten Commandments also signify categories that encompass the entirety of the commandments; thus, the specific commandment was "don't do ne'ifa", but the philosophical category from that illustration is intended to cover all prohibited sexual relations.


While there's this illustrative-category thing, the direct meaning of the seventh commandment is most definitely not prohibiting sex out of marriage. That prohibition would be either Deuteronomy 23:18, according to some; or of post-Biblical nature according to others. (See link for more.)


No comments:

Post a Comment

readings - Appending 内 to a company name is read ない or うち?

For example, if I say マイクロソフト内のパートナーシップは強いです, is the 内 here read as うち or ない? Answer 「内」 in the form: 「Proper Noun + 内」 is always read 「ない...