Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #6 of Genesis 34, and we are reading Genesis 34:3-7:

And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel. And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to wife. And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter: now his sons were with his cattle in the field: and Jacob held his peace until they were come. And Hamor the father of Shechem went out unto Jacob to commune with him. And the sons of Jacob came out of the field when they heard it: and the men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob's daughter; which thing ought not to be done.

I will stop reading there.  In our last study, we went to one of the related passages  in Dueteronomy22, and we were going through that account and looking at the spiritual meaning.  Let us go there now.  It says in Deuteronomy 22:13-17:

If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her, And give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid: Then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel’s virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate: And the damsel’s father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her; And, lo, he hath given occasions of speech against her, saying, I found not thy daughter a maid; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter’s virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city.

So let us go over this once more before we move on.  The man married a woman, and he went in unto her, which means they had relations in the marriage bed, and then he hated her, and he gave “occasions of speech” against her.  Remember, the word “speech” is the Hebrew word “daw-bawr',” and that is the Hebrew word for “word.”  So he gave “occasions of word” against her, and the Word of God is the Law of God, so he was speaking against her, saying she had violated the Law.  Then he said in Deuteronomy 22:14: “I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid.”

Then it says in Deuteronomy 22:15-17:

Then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel’s virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate: And the damsel’s father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her; And, lo, he hath given occasions of speech against her, saying, I found not thy daughter a maid; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter’s virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city.

We speculated (and I think it is firm speculation) that the “cloth” is the sheet from the marriage bed, and after the marriage night the mother of the damsel would go in, change the sheets for fresh sheets, and she would take the old sheets, and those sheets would have a blood stain if her daughter were a virgin.  Then she would save those sheets for such a situation as this, when a husband would say, “I took this woman, but she was not a virgin.”  Then they could produce the sheets, and that is what the father and mother did here as they spread the cloth before the elders of the city.

So this was a Law that would have practical implications for many centuries.  God had moved Moses to write this, and Israel had this Law throughout its history during the period of the judges, the period of the kings, and up until the time of Christ.  This Law was on the books, and there was divorce permitted in Israel for matters of “uncleanness,” and that is what Jacob said when he said his daughter was “defiled,” which means to be made “unclean.”  So this would be a protection against false accusations, as there could be deceitful men.  We know that is a fair assumption, and a man who just does not want to be married to his wife any longer would charge her with this accusation, perhaps without realizing that the mother had retained the sheets.

Now that is just the historical and literal application, a moral teaching of the Law, but we know that God always has a deeper spiritual meaning.  And that is what we were talking about last time as we recognized that the “man” is a picture of the Law of God, and the Law of God has taken a wife, and that wife is all mankind.  In that marriage relationship, the Law has found uncleanness in His bride. We saw in Romans 7 that mankind is married to the Law, and then through the death of Christ, the elect are married “to another,” who is Jesus Himself.

Here, it fits that the man takes a wife, and it is the Law of God married to mankind.  Again, there could be elements of application to national Israel, as God did enter into a marriage relationship with them, as well as a carry-over application to the corporate body of the New Testament churches. 

So the Law is giving “occasions of speech” or “occasions of word” against her.  And that is what the Law of God does constantly, does it not?  The purpose of the Law is to bring forth the knowledge of sin, and to show that man fails to keep the Law.  So this is the Law speaking: “I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid.”

Then the father and mother produce the proof, which is the cloth, and that changes everything.  If there was evidence that she was a maid, historically, then the man was a liar.  And the man would be punished, and we will read of that punishment.  Again, of course, God is not a liar.  The Law is not a liar, so we have to understand the transition that is also taking place here in a spiritual way.

First, let us look at this word “cloth.”  The father and mother produce a token of their daughter’s virginity, and that token of virginity is the “cloth” that they spread before the elders of the city.  The word “cloth” is Strong’s #8071, and it does not really point to sheets, as far as I can see.  We will look at several verses, so let us go to Genesis 37 where this word is translated as “clothes” in Genesis 37:34:

And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.

Men would not typically wear “sheets.”  They wear shirts or garments fitting of the age in which they live. 

It also says in Genesis 44:13:

Then they rent their clothes…

And this was referring to the sons of Jacob.

It says in Joshua 7:6:

And Joshua rent his clothes…

Again, these are garments worn by men, and not “sheets.”

Also, let us go to Genesis 45:22:

To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment.

The word “raiment” is our word.

We also read in Exodus 19:10:

And JEHOVAH said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes,

Another verse is in Deuteronomy 8:4:

Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.

Again, and again, it refers to the clothes that men wear, and not to “sheets.”  It is not translated anywhere as “sheets,” but there may be a couple of instances where a bed sheet could be in view, and one of those places is in Exodus 12:34-35:

And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneadingtroughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment:

The word “raiment” in verse 35, and the word “clothes” in verse 34 are the word we are looking at.  I said they could be “sheets” in verse 34 because they bound their kneadingtroughs in their clothes upon their shoulders.  They would probably want to get the biggest material they could find to wrap everything in, so that could be referring to sheets, but it is still translated as “clothes.” 

Another verse is in Judges 8 where “sheets” may be in view.  It says in Judges 8:25:

And they answered, We will willingly give them. And they spread a garment, and did cast therein every man the earrings of his prey.

But it may not have been a sheet because this was after a battle, although when they were in their tents at night, they could have had a covering of some kind.  But, again, it is not translated that way, but it is translated as “garment.”

Actually, when we look at this word, we come to a different conclusion than a bed sheet that would provide the token of the damsel’s virginity.  We wonder why God would direct us in a different direction than what seems to be in view here.  So let us look at a few other verses.

It says in Genesis 9:23:

And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.

They took a garment on their shoulders, and they walked backward, and they covered Noah’s nakedness.  We have discussed that before, and we saw that it relates to Matthew 25 where the Lord was speaking of Judgment Day and His coming to judge the inhabitants of the earth, and we read in Matthew 25:34-36:

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

Each of these references point to the body of Christ, the elect, whom the Lord likens to Himself.  While the elect were still in their sin condition, they were “children of wrath, even as others,” but then the elect became saved, and they went forth carrying the Gospel message, and they found these “naked ones,” and clothed them.  And that is what is in view with the historical parable in Genesis 9 where two of Noah’s sons walked backward with a raiment to cover Noah’s nakedness.  Then when Noah woke up, he blessed those two sons, just as we read in Matthew 25 that they who clothe the naked are blessed, and those who fail to do so are cursed.

That is the idea, and we find this is consistent with Deuteronomy 10:18:

He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.

Of course the spiritual picture is that food and raiment have to do with the bread of the Gospel, or the covering of sin that the Gospel provides in God’s magnificent salvation plan.  And “raiment” is our word, and that is where we are led when we look up this word.  It leads us to the idea of covering over sin.  The righteousness of Christ is like a garment that covers the spiritual nakedness of the elect sinner.  The Bible says, “…but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.”

So that does fit spiritually with Deuteronomy 22 because the accusation is against the wife, and the accusation of the Law has come against one of God’s elect (someone chosen before the foundation of the world to obtain the salvation of God), but Christ has paid for their sins.  So when the time comes that the Law makes an accusation and says there is sin in this person I am married to…and even for God’s elect, can the Law make that accusation?  Yes, in the sense that even after salvation we still sin, and we do wrong, and the Law can rise up and seek to condemn us: “I have found sin in this person.” 

But here comes the father and mother.  Of course the father would be God, and the mother would be the Law of God, spiritually, who has brought forth the child through being born again.  We are born through the hearing of the Word: “For faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”  We drank the milk of the Word as the Word nursed us and brought us up.  So our father and mother come forward.  The Godhead says, “Not so!  What is being brought is an accusation against our daughter is a true virgin.  She is pure.  She is righteous.”  So they bring forth the token of their daughter’s virginity, and that is the “cloth,” or the “righteousness” that the Lord Jesus Christ has provided for her, which is the covering for sin.  So you cannot see any imperfection.  You cannot see any uncleanness.  You cannot see any spot or blemish of any kind, and the Law cannot condemn such a one.  “Here, let us spread forth the clothing.  Let us spread forth the raiment of the righteousness that the Lord Jesus has provided for this sinner, the damsel who had been married to the Law.”  We will see that there is going to be a change, as it says in Deuteronomy 22:18-19:

And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him; And they shall amerce him in an hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days.

Lord willing, when we get together in our next Bible study, we will look at this transition.  What now happens to the man, historically, who brought a false accusation?  If he represents the Law of God, how can the Law of God be chastised and fined, and so forth?  We will look at that, Lord willing, in our next Bible study in the book of Genesis.