God And The Marriage Metaphor

Mike Hosey, Elder (and daughter Emily)

God has often couched His relationship with His people in terms of a marital bond. This language is found in a great many places throughout the Old Testament.  For instance, Ezekiel 16:8-14, describes the covenant between God and his people as a marriage covenant.  And in the book of Hosea (Hosea 1:1-3 and Hosea 3:1) the marriage of the prophet and his harlot wife serve as a parallel of God's love for Israel despite her adultery. God calls Himself the husband of Israel in Jeremiah 31:32. And in Jeremiah 3:6-10, God's people are even described as adulterous! This marriage concept isn't alien to the New Testament either. Ephesians 5:22-33 and Revelation 19:7-9 describe the church as the bride or wife of Christ. And of course, Jesus describes Himself in Matthew 9:15 as the bridegroom. This metaphor seems to tie in well to God's repeated expressions that he is the only God and that there is no other. When God reminds us in scripture that He is the only God, He wants us to understand that He is the only provider for us, and that He is the only one worthy of our affections.

If you have an earthly spouse, this is the same kind of relationship that you would expect out of him or her. You do not expect your spouse to go to others in order to meet any kind of intimate need. You instinctively know that if your spouse were to do that, then the  bond with you would weaken, and the bond with the other provider might strengthen.

God wants our exclusionary commitment. Think about it. When God spoke of his oneness to His people, all the nations around them were given to multiple gods.  When they wanted or needed rainfall, they called on the rain god.  When they wanted to conquer their enemies, they called on the war god...   But God knew that His people's allegiance to false gods would provide them with false benefit. He also knew it would weaken their commitment to him.  Furthermore, it would weaken their commitment to one another as His chosen people! It would be inevitable that one group would develop allegiance to one god, and another group another. Just like when one spouse attains extramarital intimacy, it weakens the commitment to the first spouse, as well as brings fractured allegiances to that family unit.

The marriage concept is important because God expects faithfulness from us, just as we would expect faithfulness from a spouse.