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23 April 2013

The Polygamist Papers

See HERE!


An Introduction to Polygamous Culture and Its Principles, Pitfalls, and Ethics

Authored by Hondo Solomon
Foreword by Yadayahu Ben Yisrael
Edition: 2
The Polygamist Papers: An Introduction to Polygamous Culture and Its Principles, Pitfalls, and Ethics was drafted to ensure readers a clear and accurate understanding of polygamy's motives and practice in a modern context.

Its concise format is sourced from hundreds of discussions with polygynous men and women-including concubines and mistresses-even adult children raised in polygynous families; several families across the United States that I lived with while constructing the manuscript; and census data from the African, Indian and North American continents.

This pamphlet is the first in a series of works on polygamous family economics published by The Full Court Press. Its focus is on polygynous households consisting of one man and multiple women. The text has several purposes, namely (a) demonstrating how
plural marriage operates on the microeconomic level, (b) highlighting the cross-cultural and international scope of polygamy, © revealing the communitarian ethic inherent within polygynous families, and most importantly, (d) uproots the mythology surrounding both
polygamy and polyandry.

Polygynous family networks provide a grand opportunity to build an economic power base from their respective estates and requires a righteous spirit, sound mind, and a pure heart for success.


Publication Date:
Mar 22 2013
ISBN/EAN13:
0615755879 / 9780615755878
Page Count:
46
Binding Type:
US Trade Paper
Trim Size:
8" x 10"
Language:
English
Color:
Black and White
Related Categories:
Family & Relationships / Marriage

29 January 2013

Wives submitting to their husbands



The following article comes from reason4living.com.  You may read the original article HERE. What follows is the article with my edits (to restore true scriptural names, etc)




There are a lot of misconceptions about submission and submissive people.  Before we can intelligently consider what scripture has to say on the subject of submissive wives we need to clear these misconceptions out of our way.  Let me begin with a few simple statements about the nature of submission:
  • Only a strong person can be submissive.
  • Submissiveness is not timidity, it is not servility, it is not subservience, it is not docility, it is not degrading, it is not a sign of weakness.
  • Submission is a sign of strength, not of weakness and a greater degree of submission requires a greater degree of strength of personal character.
Submission is an act of the will — it is the result of a choice, a decision.  The act of submission can only come from a choice that a person makes.  Submission cannot be enforced upon a person.  Either a person submits of their own free will or they do not submit at all.  Submission is a gift that one person chooses to give to another person.  By contrast oppression is the act of extracting something from a person against their will.  Submission and oppression are, therefore, opposite qualities of a relationship and not even remotely similar.
The submission of a good wife is a glorious thing that is intended to help her and her husband to have a contented life together.  Problems in life and in marriage are more or less inevitable but when a woman is submissive to her man it is much more likely that those problems can be resolved harmoniously, without unpleasant quarrelling and without bitterness and resentment.  Those people who look down on submission as if it were something demeaning, degrading or humiliating are merely showing that they have no understanding of what submission is and that they are quite ignorant of its power.
If you are a Yisraelite wife who has been feeling uncomfortable with the scriptural demand that you submit to your husband then, I hope, these statements have perked up your interest and given you a glimpse of the bright cheerfulness ahead.  Being submissive to your husband does not mean, as so many ignorant detractors of submission seem to think, that you should be an empty-headed bimbo, or that you should have no opinions of your own, or that you should be like a doormat.
If you are a Yisraelite husband I hope that you will take care to understand the nature of submission and be careful to understand your responsibilities in response to your wife's submission to you.  A submissive wife is not a justification for an abusive husband.   יהוה commands men to love their wives with the same kind of love that He [יהוה] gave to his people, Yisrael ... that's a pretty tough assignment to give a mortal man and it doesn't include the possibility of abuse.
Usually when I am asked to comment regarding the submission of wives, I find myself in a debate where somebody is trying to prove from scripture that women do not really have to submit to their husbands or obey them.  In this article I will attempt to demonstrate the error in such thinking.  The argument is not especially difficult but it does tend to focus on the negative side of life rather a lot and consequently doesn't make submission sound very desirable.  So, before I get into the detailed passage-by-passage arguments I would like to try and explain why a wife who is submissive towards her husband is such a glorious and powerful component of an earthly family and of the Yisraelite family at large.  The Besorah message is, after all, “good news” and hence a reason for delighted cheerfulness and joy, but in these focused theological debates it sometimes seems that the Yisraelite life is all long faces and dour clothes and instructions towards restrictive behaviour.
A submissive wife is one whose heart is inclined towards satisfying her husband and who has made a choice to be led by her husband, to accept his authority and to be his helper in the broad scriptural sense of that word.  She does not seek to please her husband because she is afraid of his rebuke or rejection or punishment, but because she delights to please him and finds satisfaction in doing so.
For a man, a submissive wife is a pleasure to be around because she helps him to feel peaceful and contented, she is a reliable helper who can be depended upon.  He can trust her with his deepest desires and fears because he is not afraid of her scorn or her rejection or her anger.  He can relax with her because he knows that even when he makes mistakes, she will be working with him to put them right and minimize the consequences rather than using them to prove a point or as an excuse for rejecting him in some way.  A man who has a submissive wife acquires a greater sense of self respect because he knows that she respects his authority in her life and she is not in any way trying to belittle him.
A submissive wife is one who makes a choice not to resist her husband's will.  That is not to say that she cannot disagree with him or that she cannot express an opinion.  Indeed the submissive wife is, by definition, a strong woman and will usually therefore have her own opinions and these may often be different to the opinions of her husband.  Can she express them?  Of course she can, and indeed it might often be wrong for her not to express them since she is, after all, supposed to be her husband's helper, not his doormat.  Expressing her opinions and giving advice and suggestions will often be a valuable part of the help that she gives her husband.
Let us see how this works in life by using an analogy of a road for life and junctions in the road for each of life's decision points of choices.  The married man and woman set off walking along the road of life and at each junction they choose which road to take next.  Sooner or later they will arrive at a junction where they each desire to take a different road and hence there is a disagreement:
In the disharmonious family there is a quarrel, there is cajoling or bullying, there is intimidation and bitter words.  The quarrel might last for the rest of their lives with neither giving ground and thus they never move on or, finally, either the husband and wife continue along one road together with one of them feeling resentful and both of them feeling bruised and wary of the other, or if they could not even obtain an unpleasant agreement then the marriage might simply fall apart and they separate, each taking a different road.  None of these outcomes is pleasant or desirable. 
When a submissive woman finds that her wishes conflict with those of her husband she has little or nothing to fear.  If her husband is respectful then they will discuss the matter together agreeably, frankly and cheerfully and through the discussion they might reach either a compromise or one of them might change their mind completely and accept the other person's wishes.  If this happens then they can continue along the road they have now agreed upon with no sense of bitterness and without having expressed any angry words.  However, agreement might not be reached so then what?  If they cannot reach agreement then the submissive wife needs only to obey her husband and accept his wishes graciously.  Having done this there are now only a few possible outcomes, all of which have positive aspects and none of which is particularly terrible.  In the first possible outcome they will take the road the husband selects and, in due course they will discover that they have chosen a good route through life and both will be happy.  In the second possible outcome they will take the road the husband selects but, in due course, they discover that it was not such a good choice after all.  All they do is turn around, go back to the junction and take a different road; there has been no need for argument, nobody has felt disrespected or belittled and they have not bruised one another.  Although the husband's choice turned out to be a bad one, they have discovered the mistake together, discovered it quickly, and swiftly got back onto a better road and, in the process, they have strengthened their bond by having been able to disagree with dignity and mutual respect.  They are not stuck in a perpetual argument at the junction, they have not separated and the process of finding a mutually acceptable road has not weakened their marriage.
If the submissive woman has a husband who is not respectful and who is inclined to abuse her gift of submissive then still she has little to fear.  The worst possible outcome is that they will travel a bad road together until the next junction.  Although the road might be bad it is good to remember the positive aspects of the situation: They have still remained together, they have kept alive the possibility of improving their relationship as they make their way through the troubles of life, they have not wasted time and damaged one another in a bitter quarrel and they are not still standing at the junction locked in argument.  They have moved on, and therefore given themselves the hope of another choice later.  This, remember, is the worst possible outcome.  Even with a selfish husband it is still possible that he will acknowledge that the road is bad and that they will turn back to take another route.
I have mentioned this example of a road journey to try and illustrate that submission can bring real and worthwhile benefits to a marriage.  The scripture also indicates that the act of submission by a woman is able to influence a bad man to change his ways but even if he doesn't change, her choice of submission will still allow her to avoid the worst of the possible problems that a bad marriage and husband might bring.

The key text concerning the submission of wives to their husbands

Wives, submit to your husbands as to  יהוה .  For the husband is the head of the wife as Messiah is the head of the assembly, his body, of which he is the Saviour.  Now as the assembly submits to Messiah, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Messiah loved the assembly and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant assembly, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but kadosh and blameless.  In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies.  He who loves his wife loves himself.  After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Messiah does the assemblies-- for we are members of his body.  "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become basar echad." This is a profound mystery -- but I am talking about Messiah and the assemblies.
However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
Taken from Rav Sha'ul's letter to the congregation at Ephesus, chapter 5, verses 22 to 33.

Submission in the Yisraelite world

Submission of one person to another is described in various forms in the Netzarim faith.  There is the submission of wives to husbands, of slaves to masters, of Yisraelites to one another, of Yisraelites to the Beit Din, and Yisraelites to  יהוה.  If my own experience is anything to rely on, then it seems that we Yisraelites do not much like the idea of submission and, if we think about it at all, then we do so on order to reduce its application to our day to day lives.  In this document I hope to redress the balance slightly.

We don't really like the idea though ...

In the “Western World” of the twenty-first century, the form of submission that is perhaps most frequently contested is that of wives to husbands.  It has been pointed out on several occasions and by various people that the scriptures do not say that wives are to obey their husbands — only that they are to submit to them.  Now, each of the clauses in the preceding sentence is true; the problem comes with the word “only” that is used to connect the two clauses.  The women (and many men) who want to limit the authority of a husband over his wife are seriously mistaken if they think that a husband can expect less compliance from a submissive wife than from an obedient one; the truth is quite the reverse.  Obedience is easy.  Submission is hard.  Obedience demands little.  Submission demands much.  It is not possible for a wife to submit to her husband without also being prepared to obey him; a submissive wife is also an obedient wife.

The meanings of the words "submit" and "obey"

If I obey then I do what those who have authority over me tell me to do.  There must be an explicit command given before I can obey it and consequently if no command is given then it is not possible for me to be either obedient or disobedient.  Obedience does not of itself require me to be cheerful, willing, co-operative or contented.  I can be surly, rude, bitter and unhelpful and still be obedient.  I do not have to be willing to be merely obedient because mere obedience can be forced upon me.  For these reasons, obedience is easy when compared to full submission.
In order to submit to a person who has authority over me, I do not need to wait for an explicit command but instead I can attempt to anticipate the commands and thus avoid the need for them to be given.  Anticipating the commands does not mean that I can substitute my own agenda or my own will but rather that I am trying to imagine what the person in authority will want me to do next; I am trying to make my will conform to theirs.  Attempting to anticipate the commands does not allow me to disobey any command that has been explicitly given — those I am still required to obey.  If I am to be truly submissive I must also learn to be contented, cheerful, willing and co-operative even if I do not like doing what is required of me.  Finally submission is a choice that I must continuously make.  It can be seen therefore that submission is far more demanding than merely obedience and requires much more of me than does mere obedience.
It is also worth repeating that submission is NEVER enforced upon a person.  Submission is the opposite of oppression.  In fact submission is a gift that one person gives to another.  In a marriage, submission is the wife's gift to her husband.  If the husband is wise he will treasure that gift and handle it very carefully because his own happiness depends on it.  Submission is a gift that must be renewed each day or even each moment.

Trying to wriggle out of the obligation to obey

It has been claimed that a wife need only obey her husband when her husband's will conforms to the will of  יהוה and that is right for a wife to disobey her husband when what he commands is wrong.  At first sight this argument seems to be very reasonable but unfortunately it leads into chaos and emptiness and also leaves the wives in a very cruel “no-win” situation.  It is true that all husbands are fallen and sinful and it follows that they will make mistakes and that they might desire and command what they ought not desire and command.  It is also true, but more frequently overlooked, that all wives are fallen and sinful and it follows that they will make mistakes and that they might desire what they ought not desire.   יהוה knew both of these facts when he arranged for scripture to be written and yet he still gave wives the instruction to submit to their husbands.  He knew that husbands would wield the authority that he gave them imperfectly and he knew that wives would respond to that authority imperfectly.  It is a terrible wrong for husbands to abuse their authority but it is no less terribly wrong for wives to reject or usurp their husband's authority.
Some of the people who claim that wives have the right to selectively submit to their husbands have put much emphasis on three B'rit Chadassha passages - Acts 5:1-10, Acts 4:19 (and a similar passage in Acts 5:29) and Ephesians 5:21.  It is worth looking at these to see what they add to the debate.

A passage to consider:  Acts 5, v1-10

The first passage concerns Ananias and his wife Sapphira who sold a field, brought the money to the Apostles feet and were promptly struck dead.  It has been said that this proves that a wife who does something sinful because her husband commanded it, will be punished by יהוה and that therefore it is right for a wife to obey her husband only when she thinks his will is in accordance with יהוה's will.  The fact that anyone can draw such a conclusion from this passage reveals only how desperate they are to avoid having to admit that wives must obey their husbands.  Even a simple reading of the passage will show quite clearly that Ananias and Sapphira were in the deceit together.  There is nothing at all in the passage to suggest that Sapphira was ordered to do something that she thought wrong; indeed there is nothing to suggest that she was ordered at all.  Verse 2 reads as follows:
“But with his wife's agreement he kept part of the money for himself ...” Verse 2 as presented in the Good News Bible.
“And with his wife's knowledge and connivance he kept back and wrongfully appropriated some of the proceeds ...”  Verse 2 as presented in the Amplified Bible
It is very clear, then, that Sapphira was not forced by her errant husband to do something that she did not wish to do; she was not obeying an order that she thought wrong but rather she was aiding and abetting a plan of which she approved.  We cannot conclude from the story that Sapphira was an innocent and unwilling partner in wrongdoing and, consequently, this passage is irrelevant to the present discussion.

A second passage to consider:  Acts 4 verse 19

This passage concerns the instructions given by the Sanhedrin to Kepha and Yochannan, and the reply, repeated below, that was given by the talmidim:
“You yourselves judge which is right in  יהוה's sight — to obey you or to obey  יהוה.” 
Let us first state an obvious but important point: This is not a conflict between a husband and a wife but between two groups of male Yisraelites.  The relationship between the parties is therefore very different to that between a husband and a wife [footnote 1].  We also need to ask whether the Sanhedrin had any authority over Kepha and Yochannan.  Both parties were claiming to represent  יהוה — but which of them had the better claim?  The two talmidim had received their commission personally and physically from the mouth of Yahushua himself. They did not simply refuse to obey the Sanhedrin (though they implied that they were going to) rather they threw the whole command back at the Sanhedrin by telling the Sanhedrin members “judge for yourselves” and thereby questioned the Sanhedrin's authority to issue the order at all.  Implicit in the disciples' response is the notion that the Sanhedrin knew, or at least ought to have known, that it was acting beyond its powers.  In a modern setting the disciples might have said “If you stop and think for one moment you will realize that your own laws and rules prohibit you from giving this order.”
Also it is worth remembering that when this conversation took place Jerusalem was within the Roman empire; the final authority was not the Sanhedrin but the Roman governor and the Romans did allow a certain amount of religious freedom.
For the reasons given above this passage does not give any support to the notion that wives should only selectively obey their husbands.

The third passage to consider:  Ephesians 5:21

The third passage “Submit to one another because of your reverence for Messiah” is apparently given to believers in general.  Consequently the form of submission referred to in this text is slightly different to that spoken of in other texts.  Because this command applies to all relationships (including those between equals) it is not feasible for it to always imply unconditional or automatic obedience.  Obedience to one another cannot be forced on equals since it would be impossible to know who should obey who!  The other aspects of submission remain valid however.  Thus although this passage does show that obedience is not always a part of submission it does not give occasion for wives to disobey their husbands because a husband and wife are not equal in role or function.
Very important side note: The inequality of role and function for a husband and a wife are biologically obvious but this does not imply inequality in value.  The desire and tendency to award a value to everything is itself a symptom of our very fallen nature.  Personally I would rate a wife as one of the most valuable assets in the universe and the scriptures lend much support to the notion that having a wife is something that a man ought to treasure and value highly.
It can be seen therefore, these passages do not by themselves give a wife any grounds for disobeying her husband.  To know whether there are times when a wife can legitimately disobey her husband it is necessary to look directly at the nature of sin.

The nature of sin

Without going into all the arguments and texts, the B'rit Chadassha teaches that sin is, not living up to the standard of Torah, and, in part, the doing of what you believe to be wrong; Sha'ul in his teachings uses the example of food.  Thus if you believe that it is morally wrong for you to eat a particular food — cabbage for instance — then you sin every time you eat cabbage even though יהוה has not prohibited the eating of cabbage.  It is your belief that condemns you.  Consequently if a wife really believes that it would be morally wrong to obey her husband then she will sin by obeying him and she should therefore disobey him.  However, this is a very uncomfortable, unloving and unbiblical position ...

A very unkind “No-win” situation

If we say that a wife can choose whether or not to obey her husband then we will often place her in a very difficult position.  If she disobeys her husband in order to supposedly obey יהוה then she has automatically disobeyed  יהוה.  This means that whatever she does will be wrong and this seems to me to be an extremely unloving and burdensome position to put anyone into.   יהוה's instructions that a wife should obey her husband are far kinder and more loving because she can always obey יהוה by obeying her husband.  If her husband tells her to do something that יהוה disapproves of then it is her husband (not her) who will have to give an account of it to  יהוה.  The woman cannot be held accountable for the matter because her responsibility (the bit that יהוה will ask her to account for) is to obey her husband.

An obedient wife does right even when she does wrong...

If the married woman believes that is more important to obey יהוה by submitting to and obeying her husband then she can do this with complete confidence.  Sarah obeyed Avraham and went to live with both the king of Egypt [Footnote 2] and with Abimelech the king of Gerar [Footnote 3].  There is no indication that Sarah was held responsible by יהוה or made to suffer for these events even though יהוה was offended by them.  Now, keeping these two events in mind, let us see what the Sholiach Kepha wrote on the subject of submission of wives to husbands:
In the same way [Footnote 4] you wives must submit to your husbands, so that if any of them do not believe יהוה's word, your conduct will win them over to believe.  It will not be necessary for you to say a word, because they will see how pure and reverent your conduct is.  You should not use outward aids to make yourself beautiful such as the way you do your hair, or the jewellery you put on, or the dresses you wear.  Instead your beauty should consist of your true inner self, the ageless beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of the greatest value in יהוה's sight.  For the devout women of the past who placed their hope in יהוה used to make themselves beautiful by submitting to their husbands.  Sarah was like that; she obeyed Avraham and called him her master.  You are now her daughters if you do good and are not afraid of anything.
Kepha Aleph 3:1-7

So Sarah, the woman who obeyed her husband even when what he told her to do was morally wrong, is held up as an example of how Yisraelite wives should be.  Yisraelite women married to non-Yisraelite men (a situation that can only occur when there is conversion after marriage) are told to submit to them and, by implication, obey them.  It is almost inconceivable (to me at least) that Kepha should be incapable of imagining the possible conflicts of morality between a believing wife and an unbelieving husband but nonetheless Kepha doesn't make any special provision for such a situation.  Yet even in the same passage Kepha tells wives that they are to “do good”.  At first glance this seems grossly unfair; the wife is to obey her husband even when what he tells her to do is wrong, yet she is also to “do good”.  This apparent paradox is easily removed if we remember that a person can only be held responsible for sin when they have a free choice in the matter.  If Kepha is assuming that the wife has no choice except to obey her husband then he is also assuming that she cannot sin in what she obediently does.  In such circumstances, her only possible sin is that of disobeying her husband.  Notice also that Kepha describes this sort of conduct as being of “the greatest value in  יהוה's sight”.  In other words, this is what יהוה expects and desires from a married woman and it is not the same as what he expects and desires from a married man.
A wife's obedience to a misguided, errant or ungodly husband does not mean that any harmful consequences of his wrong actions will be avoided, but this should not concern a Yisraelite (man or woman, in this or any similar situation) too much.  Our obedience leaves room (a) for us to grow individually in the fruits of the spirit and (b) for יהוה to act miraculously:

A couple of examples of men obeying יהוה by submitting to sinful men

Yahushua obeyed his father, was arrested illegally, tried unfairly, judged wrongly, executed without having committed a crime, suffered horribly and died.  His obedience provided the means by which we are saved.
Sha'ul of Tarsus was also treated unfairly and wrongly and he also endured great physical suffering (read 2 Corinthians 11:23-31 for Sha'ul's own description of his troubles).  Nonetheless Sha'ul did not seek to oppose the Governing authorities by forbidden means but instead entrusted his case to the one who always judges fairly.  His obedience allowed the Besorah to be spread to the entire world.
We as mere mortals are not expected to understand all of what is happening in the world around us [Footnote 5].  We cannot see what יהוה will do one second into the future and we are only rarely aware of what he did one second in the past.  We are only capable of living moment by moment and it is in the present moment that we must obey — trusting always in יהוה's promise that all things work together for good for those who love יהוה  (Romiyah 8).

Where did love go?

I would be surprised if some readers were not by now asking what has happened to the Elohim of love and remarking that all of this seems a little harsh.  To such a charge I would reply that in some ways it is very harsh.  We are called to be obedient unto death.  יהוה has provided a moral law that is totally unyielding.  We do not judge the moral or written law — it is the standard against which we are judged.  If there are mitigating circumstances surrounding my failure to reach the required standard then our El, who is just, will know them and take them into account.  The fact that I cannot attain the required standard on the occasions when there are no mitigating circumstances is precisely why the Ben יהוה had to be crucified on my behalf:  That is how harsh the Torah of יהוה is and how loving and merciful our El is — it his by His law that we are condemned and by his grace and sacrifice that we are saved.  Love does not set aside the requirement for obedience but on the cross at Calvary love does deal with the consequences of disobedience.
However, near the beginning of this discussion I gave an example of a husband and wife taking a journey through life and I tried to demonstrate that, in fact, where a wife has a submissive attitude and is therefore willing to obey her husband, the outcome can never be as bad as worst that can happen where there is no obedience or submission.  The requirement for a woman to submit to her husband and to obey him is harsh in the sense that it is not optional but it is the harshness imposed by a loving El who knows that this strict approach will always avoid the worst of the possible outcomes and always provide the possibilities for a couple to grow together, mature, gain wisdom and learn to love one another more effectively.
The alternative, if you recall in my example, was that the couple might find themselves trudging together with bitterness and resentment, might be stuck at the same junction indefinitely and locked in unproductive argument, or they might simply separate altogether.  The path of submission and attendant obedience is something our loving abba has ordained for us so that we can enjoy marriage even with conflicts and disagreements.  The requirement for wives to be submissive and obedient seems harsh to those who have not understood the concepts, who have not understood its rich benefits to both husband and wife, and who have not recognized the awfulness of the alternatives.

A summary reminder: What is submission?

As already mentioned, submission is a gift that one person gives to another.  Now I would like to briefly reiterate and expand upon some misconceptions about a submissive person.
Misconception: A submissive person is weak.
This is very wrong.  In fact a very weak person cannot submit.  Only a very strong person can submit fully.  Remember, submission is a gift that must be given freely.  It is impossible to force a person to submit because that is a contradiction in terms.  A weak person can be manipulated and forced to obey but then that is no longer submission but oppression.
Misconception: A submissive person has no control.
Actually nobody is ever fully in control of their own lives because nobody can control all of their circumstances.  Submission is an act of the will; a submissive person makes a positive choice to submit to another person.  Consequently a submissive person has at least as much in control as any other person, possibly more since many people never make definite positive choices but merely drift from one excuse to another.
Misconception: Submission is degrading.
In fact submission is a very beautiful and enormously valuable gift that only a strong person can give.  Nobody is degraded by giving, or wanting to give, beautiful and valuable gifts to another person.  Submission is a gift that benefits the giver even if the receiver is incapable of treating the gift and the giver with the appropriate respect and care.
Misconception: A submissive person is abused.
Well, it is true that a submissive person could be abused by a stupid person who does not appreciate the value of the gift.  However, anybody can be abused, submissive or not, so this irrelevant.

FOOTNOTES
1. A husband and wife are bound together until separated by death; they are not free to separate from one another.  The husband and one wife are made one in a fashion that does not exist between any other two of יהוה's people.  The dispute between the talmidim and the Sanhedrin is also a dispute between "equals" to the extent that all the parties to the conflict are men.  A different situation arises between a married couple simply because "the husband is the head of the wife as Messiah is the head of the assembly" (cf Ephesians 5:23 and 1 Corinthians 11:3) — in other words the husband is responsible for, and will be held accountable before יהוה for, his wife.  By itself this is no easier than the original situation and it certainly does not allow the wife to act according to her own will.  She now has a choice between doing what she believes her husband wants her to do and doing what she believes יהוה wants her to do.  Her own desires don't get much chance to surface.   יהוה in his written word has told her to submit to, and hence to obey, her husband.  It follows therefore that by obeying her husband she is obeying יהוה .  Nonetheless it might be that after prayerful consideration she will conclude that she must disobey her husband and if she really believes that this is יהוה's will then she must do it.
2. B'reisheet 12:10-20
3. B'reisheet 20
4. The previous passage should also be read — it discusses the idea of doing what is right by submitting even though it might lead to unpleasantness and suffering.
5. Mishle, chapter 20, verse 24: יהוה has determined our path; how then can anyone understand the direction his own life is taking?

17 January 2013

Major Announcement!

From Ramyk Ben Yah
Shalom Yisrael and Friends, This short note is to alert you that i have found MAJOR errors in the lunar calendar, which if not fixed immediately will result in us missing all annual moadem including Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits and ALL annual feasts. If you desire for me to send you my basic findings in PDF format, you need to let me know immediately at theramyk@gmail.com IT IS A VITAL TIME FRIENDS..indeed. you need to e mail your private e mail if you want a free PDF copy!

02 December 2012

24 November 2012

More Sex

Perhaps the most ridiculous argument of all made by anti-polygamists is that "Polygamists only want more sex."  This statement is fundamentally flawed because ALL marriage includes an element of sex.  One could easily say to a single man marrying his first wife that he is only doing so because he "wants more sex."  Indeed, one would hope that he is blessed with more sex in his marriage than he had as a single man.  Can anyone making this argument present a case that it is normal for a couple, either mono or poly, to marry with no intention to be fruitful and multiply?  Yah forbid.  A sexless marriage not only is a drudgery, it borders on being a curse.

    Secondly, supposing a married man only "wanted more sex."  I could give millions of examples of men who have done just that.  Either they have hired a prostitute or have had secret relations with another single woman with no intention to form a family with her or, worst of all, have carried on an adulterous relationship with another man's wife.  Having "more sex" comes easily in our society.  Taking the responsibility of a family doesn't.  There are millions of bastards conceived out of wedlock because of men and women wanting "more sex."  A man who is a servant of the Most High wants the blessings of family.  He covets finding a "good thing" and raising godly seed.  He feels that it is his calling to expand the kingdom of YHWH by being fruitful and multiplying.  He takes wives for the blessings while considering the awesome responsibility that comes with expanding a family.  He seeks to follow the examples of our forefathers - Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Gideon, David and Solomon.   He recognizes that "in the beginning" set a precedent for the patriarchal family and trembles in fear of YHWH as he seeks to fulfill that divine mission.

Lastly, making such a statement not only shows ignorance of the Torah, it insults YHWH's anointed throughout the ages.  At the least, it makes men that YHWH favored nothing but self-satisfying perverts.  It also questions the origins of not only the people of Israel (brought forth by a man with four wives), but the origins of the Messiah Yahushua Himself who comes from that lineage and promises to take each believer as a wife unto Himself.

I pray that anyone making such a foolish statement would repent and think things through.  And I pray that many servants of YHWH find many wives and have plenty of "more sex" and build YHWH's kingdom through raising godly seed.

02 November 2012

Traditional Marriage teaching by the RAMYK


Who is allowed to define the term "traditional marriage?"  The RAMYK answers that question in this teaching series.


20 October 2012

Tackling Not So "Traditional Marriage"


Tackling Not So "Traditional Marriage"

By The RAMYK-Rabbi Apostle Moshe Yoseph Koniuchowsky
Moon 8 Day 4 5972 Since Creation-October 2012

PLEASE PASS THIS TEACHING ON IN ITS ENTIRETY TO ANY CHURCH OR MESSIANIC LEADER YOU KNOW, PERSONALLY OR ONLINE, OR SOMEONE YOU WOULD LIKE TO WITNESS TO, AS THE HOUR TO FIND AND TRAIN FOR TRIBAL KINGDOM LIVING IS QUICKLY DRAWING TO A CLOSE.
  
QUESTION-VERY IMPORTANT! Who gets the final word and who gets to define TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE? Dr. James Dobson, Focus on the Family, Perry Stone, Joel Osteen, Evangelicals, Messianics or FATHER YHWH in heaven? WHOSE DEFINITION IS FINAL AND PURE? And, how do those definitions differ? If one reviews Hebrews chapter 11, we find many heroes of the Judeo-Christian faith. What kind of marriages did they have? Traditional or non-traditional? And if traditional, how did that tradition differ from what we today call traditional?
Now nowhere in Scripture does YHWH, the Creator and Savior of all men, state that kosher or traditional marriage is between "ONE" MAN AND "ONE" WOMAN! THIS IS MERELY ANOTHER ONE OF THOSE FOSSILIZED CUSTOMS WE HAVE INHERITED FROM PAGANS. Yirmeyahu-Jeremiah 16:19.
  
Despite evangelical pounding and non-stop usage of this unbiblical phrase to somehow make it seem that this is what Scripture actually records, YHWH's words are quite different. So different in fact that traditional marriage is only defined as between HETEROSEXUAL GENDERS, not ever even remotely as limited to "ONE" MAN AND "ONE" WOMAN from each gender.
As you are about to discover, perhaps surprisingly, church and state definitions, along with that of western society regarding traditional marriage, is an invention of the deprivation of man's minds, against the Creator. The now widely accepted definition of traditional marriage as between one man and one woman exclusively, is not only a deception from pagan non-Hebraic cultures, but an outright twisting of YHWH's Words in both the Tanach ("Old Testament") and the Brit Chadasha ("New Testament"). We call that a BIG LIE. Just because the churches have repeated a lie for some 2,000 years and just because the modern Messianic movement has repeated it without stopping to question it or line it up with what Torah actually says, DOES NOT GIVE MANKIND THE PERMISSION OR AUTHORITY to redefine marriage as traditionally between "one" man and 'one" woman.
  
So does Scripture define traditional marriage? Yes it does. And as we are about to find out that traditional marriage is defined not by man, but by YHWH's Word alone. And in YHWH's Word, we find that what makes a marriage traditional is not whether it is monogamous or polygynous, but rather, whether its homo or heterosexual based and whether it does or does not violate other Torah prohibitions, like marrying your own sister or daughter etc. We will now correct the "traditional marriage" lie not with the words of Dr. James Dobson or Dr. Charles Stanley, but with the words of Doctor Abba YHWH (Primary Physician) and the referrals of the Great Jewish Specialist Physician, Yahushua ben Yah!
  
Beresheeth-Genesis 1:27-So the Word of Elohim [1] created man in His own image, in the image of Elohim He created him; male and female He created them.

Now notice the first reference to TRADITIONAL BIBLICAL marriage! MALE AND FEMALE, or in Hebrew, ZACHAR VE-NEKAYVAH.

Are there any references to the "limitation" lie of ONE male and ONE female? Make sure you answer this HONESTLY and without presumptions!

Those words are RELIGIOUS INSERTIONS MY FRIENDS, learned from the PAGAN NATIONS!! YHWH blesses patriarchy (the original design where a male oversees a female) and yet does not limit how many ONE FLESH COVENANTS can exist between a man and a woman! Only that the true ORIGINAL TRADITIONAL PATRIARCHAL MARRIAGE MODEL, MUST INCLUDE A MAN AND A WOMAN, not a man and man or a woman and woman, or any form of Polyamory. Now let's look at Beresheeth-Genesis 2:21-25:

21 And YHWH Elohim caused a deep sleep to fall upon Ahdahm and he slept: and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place;
22 And with the rib that YHWH Elohim had taken from man, He made a woman, and brought her to the man.
23 And Ahdahm said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Isha, because she was taken out of Ish.
24 Therefore shall a man leave his abba and his eema, and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be basar echad.
25 And they were both naked, the ish and his isha, and were not ashamed.
  
Here again traditional marriage is seen as between "A" MAN AND "A" WOMAN, referring to GENDER, not to numerical considerations! As we see throughout Scripture, from Gideon, and Caleb to Moses and to Yahushua Himself (Jeremiah 31:31-35, Ezekiel 37, Matthew 25:1) a MAN, JUST LIKE OUR MESSIAH THE TRUE AND PERFECT SECOND ADAM, is allowed to make MANY ONE FLESH COVENANTS with any eligible woman. That's exactly what Yahushua has done with us, as we ALL became eligible by His atoning blood! It is most important to note that the first Adam was not perfect and cannot teach us the original pattern for "traditional marriage." THE SECOND ADAM THE PERFECT MASTER FROM HEAVEN, shows us by His shared love, that this is love and traditional marriage in its purest and most SELFLESS form, but indeed the most challenging. A task for the second not the first Adam. YHWH does not define traditional marriage based on numerical considerations, but based on gender alone and the availability of the eligible females. THAT VERY PHRASE "TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE" WHILE SOUNDING QUITE PIOUS, IS A S.A.TANIC TRAP, AS THAT PHRASE APPEARS NOWHERE IN SCRIPTURE and it should alert you to an awaiting snare from the mindset of the gentiles!

THE OVERRIDING POINT IS THAT TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE IS WHAT YAHUSHUA SAYS IT IS, not what the Pope or the Methodists, TBN or anyone else says it is. It is time for ALL true bible believers to make a full and MOST HUMBLE TESHUVAH-RETURN-REPENTANCE back to true traditional marriage, which can be either mono or plural heterosexual.

True traditional marriage is all about gender and the eligibility of the perspective female. Now religion is truly such an opiate of the people, that some will fall back on Yahushua's very own Words in Matthew 19, actually believing that they will somehow find the "one man" "one woman" assertions of the modern Messianic movement and Christianity. [The original Messianic Nazarenes were not fooled by today's Messianic pagan versions of traditional marriage] That somehow they will find justification for their inherited lies about traditional marriage by pinpointing the Word "ONE" as in "ONE" man married to only "ONE" woman. But as we are all about to see, they are sadly mistaken, as Yahushua's Words, the very Giver of the Torah, cannot contradict the same Words He gave originally to Moshe/Moses. Let's look at Matthew 19 very carefully:

3 The Prushim also came to Him, tempting Him, and saying to Him, Is it permitted in Torah for a man to put away his wife for any and every cause?
4 And He answered and said to them, Have you not read, that He who made them in Beresheeth made them male and female,
5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave abba and eema, and shall cleave to his wife: and the two shall be one flesh? [2]
6 Therefore they are no more two, but basar echad. What therefore YHWH has joined together, let not man put asunder.
7 They said to Him, Why did Moshe then command to give a Get, and to put her away?
8 He said to them, Moshe because of the hardness of your levavot allowed you to put away your wives: but from the beginning and from eternity [3] it was not so.    
9 And I say to you, Whoever shall divorce his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, commits adultery: and whoever marries her who has not yet been divorced [4] does commit adultery.    
10 His talmidim said to Him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not tov to marry.
11 But He said to them, All men cannot receive your saying, except those to whom it is given.    

Now as we examine things in verse 3, the Pharisees were not seeking truth, but a mere prolonged self justifying argument. Just like many of you!

THE TOPIC IN VERSE 3 OF MATTITYAHU-MATTHEW 19 IS WHAT IS AND IS NOT PERMITTED REGARDING DIVORCE. The subject matter is not monogamy or polygyny! The church and the evangelic anti-Torah Messianics have made it such, sometimes to cover their own sinful divorces. But that is not the question, topic or the trap. The Pharisaic trap is over the issue of divorce. In verse 4 Yahushua asks a rhetorical question regarding "traditional marriage," reaffirming the very same thing that Yahushua said earlier to Moshe/Moses before He came to earth as our Savior! IN BERESHETH/THE BEGINNING/IN THE FIRST BOOK OF TORAH, YHWH MADE "TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE," AS THAT BETWEEN ANY MALE AND ANY ELIGIBLE FEMALE, ZACHAR VE-NEKAYVAH.

Now where in verse 4 of Mattityahu 19 does Yahushua the SON OF YHWH, state that monogamy or polygyny is ok or not ok? Nowhere! That's not the topic/subject/discussion matter. He is not redefining traditional marriage but confirming traditional marriage as defined by heterosexual unions between the eligible. These heterosexual unions CANNOT AND MUST NOT BE BROKEN BY DIVORCE.The subject at hand is divorce, NOT WHAT CONSTITUTES "TRADITIONAL" marriage, which every Jew and every Hebrew from all backgrounds, knew back then, can either be the heterosexual monogamous or the heterosexual polygynous model! If they did not know that they were not Jews or Israelites but pagans, who actually were the ones that did redefine marriage, as they blindly continue to do today!

YAHUSHUA'S QUESTION TO ALL HIS FOLLOWERS TODAY IS THIS: DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE IS? IN THE BEGINNING IT WAS MALE AND FEMALE, as it remains to this very hour. NOW PLEASE CAREFULLY NOTE THAT AT NO POINT DOES YAHUSHUA FALL INTO THE TRAP OF THE CHURCH AND THE MODERN EVANGELICAL MESSIANIC MOVEMENT BY ADDING A WORD TO CREATE A SELF JUSTIFYING LIE.

THE LIE IS THE INSERTION OF THE WORD "ONE" BEFORE MAN AND "ONE" BEFORE WOMAN, TO MAKE IT LOOK LIKE A NUMERICAL PROHIBITION RATHER THAN A GENDER PROHIBITION.

Obviously that was added so as to justify their lascivious lifestyle of divorce on demand, a practice of many spiritual leaders today. These same leaders condemn a righteous practice, as they want the sex in a new marriage, rather than the eternal obligations associated with more than one covenant partner, which is far more expensive, burdensome and less economical. And by twisting Scripture and making polygyny the issue, placing it on trial, they are able to vilify polygynists, who obey YHWH in all their covenant responsibilities and at the same time justify their own sinful and lustful serial monogamy. And like the Pharisees, many today in the body of Yahushua, have fallen prey to the same self righteous justification, putting others on trial for living kosher, in an attempt to justify a litany of lustful marriages, divorces and remarriages, as ways to start having fresh and exciting flesh sex, usually with a younger woman, in a new marriage, or worse yet, outside of it entirely. YHWH's ways are better; nullifying the very need for divorce, if men and women of humility would simply follow His instructions, as opposed to laying out the same trap as our Pharisaical forefathers, through their hard hearts and misguided attempts at self justification.

I hope that no one reading this is content in living in and believing a lie in such a vital area as what exactly constitutes a traditional marriage. Now recall that the issue being addressed in Matthew chapter 19 is divorce and when it is permitted and when it is not. Heterosexual monogamy as well as heterosexual plural marriage are both seen as traditional, as both meet the gender criteria.

Now verse 5 of Matthew 19 does not support or define traditional marriage as monogamy or plural. What verse 5 does do is undergird "traditional marriage" as whenever a man leaves parents to go take an eligible wife. NOW LISTEN CAREFULLY. Every time this process occurs, A NEW ONE FLESH COVENANT is established by ANY TWO, NOT LIMITED TO ONE SET OF TWO! YHWH does not limit the amount of times this process is allowed to occur, nor the subsequent number of covenants that are allowed to be sealed for time and eternity. The point being that all the ONE FLESH UNIONS between a male and an eligible female are for time and eternity AND MUST NEVER BE ANNULLED OR LEAD TO A DIVORCE. There is one exception to this steadfast rule as seen in Yahushua's Words in verse 8 of Matthew 19. Moses-Moshe Rabainu allowed DIVORCE because of mankind's hard hearts. When a man divorces his wife for mere feelings or hurt emotions, or failed expectations of some sort, is what YHWH HIMSELF DEFINES AS "THE FORESAKNG OF THE WIFE OF HIS YOUTH" AND THE "DEALING TREACHEROUSLY" with her. See Malachi 2:14-16 in its PROPER CONTEXT!

In those verses IN CONTEXT, YHWH says He hates DIVORCE; NOT POLYGYNY, because it is a treacherous act against a man's wife or any of his wives. Polygyny is not what YHWH says He hates; but divorce HE HATES.

We read:

14 Yet you say, Why? Because YHWH has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously: yet she is your companion, and the wife of your brit. [5] 
15 And did not He make them echad? And the rest of the ruachim are His also. [6] And why echad? That he might seek a zera from Elohim. [7] Therefore take heed to your ruach, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.
16 For YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, says that He hates divorce: [8] like the one who covers his sin with his garment, says YHWH tzevaoth: therefore guard your ruach, that you deal not treacherously with her.

Notice that many SPIRITS-RUACHIM OR PEOPLES can form one flesh covenants not limited to "one" man and "one" woman to establish the echad-one flesh principle. That can be established by any 2, male and female, from among the eligible RUACHIM-SPIRITS! And none should seek divorce which He hates!

How ironic that much of the misled Messianic movement and church system treasure the divorce option, which YHWH HATES and turns around and condemns or HATES POLYGYNY, which YHWH blesses and considers kosher within the realm of His permissive and even His perfect will. Any male and female that YHWH has joined in marriage let no man separate or put asunder. Please note the "plural reference" in the term "putting away your WIVES." in verse 8 of Matthew 19. Please note that in Malachi 2:16, YHWH declares that DIVORCE and not polygyny is like a garment or a cloak by humans, to conceal or hide a man's sins. Polygyny is never referred to as a sin that men use as a garment or cloak.

And just in case you're still confused as to whether Matthew 19 is about divorce, or the alleged "one" man "one" woman "traditional" marriage model, in verse 9 Yahushua says divorce is NEVER ALLOWED OR PERMITTED BY YHWH, EXCEPT IN THE MATTER OF A WOMAN'S ADULTERY OR A MAN'S FORNICATION. These verses then have absolutely nothing to do with limiting "traditional marriage" to 'one" man and "one" woman, nor is it any kind of clarification that marriage is traditionally defined as "one" man and "one" woman. Rather, that DIVORCE IS WHAT YHWH HATES, not polygyny and that ANY "TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE" AS DEFINED BY BOTH TORAH AND BY THE LIVING TORAH YAHUSHUA, cannot be broken for any reason other than sexual unfaithfulness [By the way, an absent or disappearing spouse, is one that has become sexually unfaithful and is a sure fire grounds for divorce; this can include physically absent, as well as sexually absent from covenant duties].

Also the terms used here in verse 9 for fornication and adultery, are used interchangeably by Yahushua, rather than Torah gender specifics, to refer to general marriage infidelity by both genders. He is not driving home that married women commit adultery when unfaithful and married men commit fornication by having sex with a married woman or a single woman and then refusing to marry her. They understood the Torah technicalities; He merely summarizes this with broad terms that had become equivalent to sexual sin and indiscretion, to show them that infidelity alone was the only grounds for divorce.

Having more than one covenant wife does not qualify as marital unfaithfulness, for if it were, both Torah and Ha Adon Yahushua, the Living Torah, would no doubt have stated such an important issue in no uncertain terms, not to mention, they would not practice it either; and yet they (YHWH and His Son-Himself in flesh) are in a love covenant with ALL OF US SIMULTANEOUSLY and it is called the highest form known as agape love; unconditional pure and shared without condition.

Moreover Matthew 19 verse 9 teaches us that even with the limited divorce allowance; no one can marry AN UNDIVORCED WOMAN, meaning a woman must be eligible for marriage.

In conclusion then, what makes marriage traditional is what YHWH and Yahushua have to tell us, as we are HIS DISCIPLES; HE IS NOT OURS. We follow His Word; He is not bound to follow our perceptions or feelings, or learned gentile traditions. Those who continue to perpetuate the LIE and the myth that YHWH's Word defines marriage as only between "ONE" MAN AND "ONE" WOMAN alone, at the exclusion of a man with several covenant wives, (the very practice of YHWH Himself), have bought into a lie and a dysfunctional disorder of the highest degree, even a lie that exceeds the so called "rapture" lie. A DARK FOSSILIZED CUSTOM, ABOVE ALL OTHER SUCH LEARNED AND INHERITED CUSTOMS, that directly affect our Israelite lifestyles and our abilities to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. We have bought the lie while Allah in his Koran, has put in the truth about "traditional" marriage, thus allowing Islam to suffocate both YHWH'S TRUTH and His desired blessings for the myriads for Jacob's seed. Islam has thus filled the void created by our collective ignorance and pride and our emotional responses to the truth of plural marriage, yet it remains just as "traditional" as heterosexual monogamy.

Thankfully however, as Rav Sholiach Shaul states, the 'WORD OF YHWH, UNLIKE THE OPINIONS OF MERE MEN,' CANNOT BE CHAINED and therein do we greatly take hope and therein do we greatly rejoice, despite our struggles with unbiblical traditions and opinions of men! It is high time that those of us, who are committed to truth, return and make repentance, so as to adopt the Creator's view and His Son's view on what exactly defines a "traditional marriage" for both time and eternity! Again, the words "ONE" before man and woman are human inserts. All those who add them and who proclaim their insertion as somehow inspired, will have to give an account one day soon for lack of truth and abundance in the tents of Shem! Selah! 

[1] Aramaic Targum; Onkelos.
[2]YHWH's will for marriages and Yisrael's two-house restoration. See Ephesians 5:31-32.
[3] Shem Tov reference.
[4] Aramaic Peshitta uses the word "shbikta" meaning undivorced, or not yet put away. This lines up with Torah more so than the Greek versions of the Renewed Covenant, which seem to forbid any kind of remarriage. The Aramaic allows for remarriage, as does Torah, but not until a full and legal divorce of any prior marriage has taken place. This prevents remarriage before a prior marriage has been dissolved. See Matthew 5:32.
[5] Rampant divorce in both houses of Yisrael was another reason for our exile.
[6] Aramaic Peshitta.
[7] That Yisrael would collectively be His son.
[8] DSS, LXX: "For if you hate and divorce" says YHWH Elohim of Yisrael.