SEPARATING THE ADULT FROM ADULTERY
the fact that in Israel the crime of adultery was seen to be com mitted not just against one’s spouse, but—most significantly— against God . The Torah directly alludes to this in the case of Joseph, who—while fending off the attempted adulterous advances of Potiphar ’s wife—declares,“He[Potiphar ] has withheld nothing from me except yourself, since you are his wife. How then could! do this most wicked thing and sin before God ?” Evidence of the same theme is found in Avimelech ’s avoidance of an adulterous relationship with Sarah. God says to Avimelech in a dream:“I kept you from sinning against me.”* Inasmuch, then, as God was se¢n to be party to a marriage,” a betrayal of the marital bond represented not only a painful breach of promise to one’s spouse, but to God as well. No longer a crime against a fellow human being alone, adultery became a repudiation of God as well.
The implication of this reality for the Israelite legal code was dramatic. Like the laws of other societies of the time, the Torah advocated that the adulterer and the adulteress be put to death.” Unlike those laws, however—which placed the ultimate decision as to the nature of the punishment in the hands of the injured husband, who could opt for forgiveness—Israelite law mandated communal rather than private action. This was because a husband was seen{0 have no prerogative to forgive or to judge as to the appropriat punitive measures for a crime that—besides victimizing him—was also viewed as a moral transgression against God . Whether tht husband called for action or not, the adultery nevertheless demanded redress, and the courts had to act in accordance with their procedures.” The Book of Proverbs expresses this demand for 2 societally imposed penalty with poetic clarity:“Can a man rake embers into his bosom without burning his clothes? Can a man walk on live coals without scorching his feet? It is the same with one who
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