Devotional: Matthew 5:28

Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar and Nevim Arith Hayomim:
Matthew 5:28: “But I say unto you, that whosoever looks upon a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her in his heart.”
“The beginning of wisdom is to say: ‘I don’t know.”  Data – Star Trek Next Generation
I am going to practice a little wisdom as defined by Data in Star Trek who paraphrased Socrates and say that when it comes to Matthew 5:28 and Matthew 19:9 I really do not know.  However, for your consideration, let me offer an opinion and only an opinion and I will be more than willing to admit I am wrong if shown my error.
When I look at this verse and Matthew 19:9 in the Aramaic (Western Aramaic), which many believe the Book of Matthew was first written, I find something interesting.  In Matthew 5:28 Jesus said in his native language, the Old Galilean which is a Western Aramaic dialect, That whosoever  looks upon a woman to lust after her “immediately” commits adultery in his heart.
We jump to Matthew 19:9 which I believe is simply a restatement of Matthew 5:28 where Jesus says that if a man divorces his wife and marries another he commits adultery and if a divorced woman marries another man that man also commits adultery.  In the Aramaic text the word used for divorce or put away, is not shirta which is the Aramaic word for divorce, but shivika which is the Aramaic word for undivorced.   In other words Jesus was saying that if a man marries a woman without divorcing his first wife he is committing adultery, and if a man marries an undivorced woman he is also committing adultery.
Considering the way the laws of the East lowered the status of women, which literally put them on the level of animals or chattel, this verse makes perfect sense.  We see much of this mindset in the Middle East today.   Laws were enacted, as Moses did, to protect those woman who were abandoned by their husbands who sought to pursue another wife.  As women lacked the rights to own property or businesses, they were left destitute with their only recourse being relatives or friends to support them or in extreme cases prostitution. Thus, under law a man had to sign a legal document to provide financially for the woman he was to abandon.   If the man were rich enough he would not divorce the woman, but just put her up in a house of her own and support her as he saw fit and not as the court would deem and have himself a couple wives or more.
We catch a glimpse of this arrangement in the story of Rachel and Leah.  Jacob loved Rachel but Leah was only a marriage of convenience, yet because of the laws she could not share her heart with any other man and lived a life not knowing the love of a man and hence not experiencing a natural illustration of God’s loving and caring nature which is why God created the marriage relationship.
So here is my opinion, based purely on my six year search for the heart of God.  Jesus was cleverly addressing two separate issues at the same time, actually three.  He was speaking to a legal issued based upon the laws of mankind, and he was also speaking to a spiritual issue based upon the laws that he wrote into the heart of man.  We see how man’s law of divorce applies to protect a woman financially, but Jesus is also addressing a woman’s heart.   God created a woman such that she could only give her heart to one man at a time, just as we can only give our hearts to one (G)god at a time.  No man can serve two masters, Jesus said (Matthew 6:24).    You can define adultery with as many laws as you want which clearly define a line where adultery is committed.  A date, holding hands, a kiss – does that constitute adultery?   At what point do you cross the line into adultery?  Jesus said that man can make laws to determine that line, but in God’s eyes you cross that line, not in a physical act but with your heart.
If you are married to a woman, but you give your heart to another, just a simple display of affection (a love note, a simple text message) will break the heart of that wife as much as if he actually slept with that woman.  A woman might even forgive her husband if he is seduced by a woman and drawn into a moment of passion, but if he actually gives his heart to that woman, his wife’s heart will remain broken. It works the other way around too,  I might add.
God can easily forgive a moment of passion when we fall into a sin, but if we give our hearts to that sin or god, it will leave God with a broken heart.   I believe this is the third message Jesus was giving.  The first is man’s laws which are meant to protect a woman from being destitute.  The second is  God’s law of adultery which is meant to protect a woman’s heart. The third message is God’s act in creating the relationship between one man and one woman which is to show us that He too has  a heart that is easily broken.
So the Aramaic gives the most logical rendering of this passage, if you even look upon a woman to lust, you immediately commit adultery because you have given your heart to someone else and left your first love with a broken heart.   In God’s eyes adultery is not a physical act, it is when you accept someone’s heart and take on the responsibility to protect that heart with your heart, and then cast that person’s heart on the junk heap to satisfy your own selfish desires.
And how often have we committed adultery with God’s heart which He has entrusted to us?