Marriage Covenants Day 8

Chapter 8

Judah has been unfaithful. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves by marrying women who worship a foreign god. 12 As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the Lord remove him from the tents of Jacob—even though he brings an offering to the Lord Almighty.

(Mal 2:11-12)

From the beginning of man’s existence, God decided it was not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him. (Gen 2:18). Therefore, He made, for Adam, a companion suitable for him and joined them in a ‘covenant’ which we call ‘marriage’. In that covenant agreement, the two become one, forming a lifelong bond.

This covenant remains a medium of blessing and cursing to man and it will remain forever. Who we marry; who our fathers married; how we carry out our marriages; and, how our fathers conduct their marriages will determine the flow of blessings or curses in our lives.

God warned Israel not to marry any daughters of the nations they were to conquer. This is because their wives would entice the Israelite men to worship other gods. But God also knew they would be marrying into the curses that were already in operation in those nations.

When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations the Hittites, Gigacities, Amorites, Canaanites, Hivites Perizzites, and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you2 and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy. 3 Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, 4 for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods, and the Lord’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you. (Deu 7:1-4).

Curses were introduced to many families when fathers married women with strange gods which they covenanted with and brought into the family. The oneness of the marriage covenant gives legal access to the gods of the wives into the family. Ultimately, the family was introduced to witchcraft, sorcery, divination, and other types of worship/spiritual interaction which were forbidden by God. By this, fathers defiled their authority to bless and instead passed curses to their children.

Biblical Cases: Marriage Covenants

King Solomon

Solomon is one of the most notable kings in Israel’s history – he was full of wisdom, wealth, and fame. His greatest weakness was women and his harem comprised of 700 royal wives, all prominent princesses, and 300 concubines, each devoted to their god.

Even his vast wisdom and understanding of all mysteries around him, could not help him after he crossed over the forbidden line. Personally, Solomon was doomed to fail but I wonder if He understood the consequences he left on his own family and generations to follow.

1 Ki 11:1-2, 4a&9 NIV

King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites. 2 They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites,

“You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love.

As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart to other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.

The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.

King Ahab

The second king we want to look at is also a very high-profile king in Israel’s history. King Ahab married Jezebel. She was the daughter of Ethbaal, king of Sidon, and was successful in converting Ahab and the nation of Israel to the gods of their fathers.

From her influence, Israel abandoned the worship of the God of Abraham and surrendered their allegiance to her deities, Baal and Asherah.

1 Ki 16:31-33

And it came to pass, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians; and he went and served Baal and worshiped him.

32 Then he set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. 33 And Ahab made a wooden image. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

1 Ki 21:25-26

But there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the Lord because Jezebel his wife [a]stirred him up. 26 And he behaved very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites had done, whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.

King Jehoshaphat

The third and final king is Jehoshaphat. He was a mighty man of God, noted for bringing reforms and restoration of teaching the Book of the Law of the LORD to the nation of Judah which is to the south of Israel.

2Ch 17:3-5

Now the Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the former ways of his father David; he did not seek Baal but sought the God of his father, and walked in His commandments, and not according to the acts of Israel. Therefore the Lord established the kingdom in his hand, and all Judah gave presents to Jehoshaphat, and he had great riches and honor in abundance.

2 Ch 18:1

Now Jehoshaphat had great riches and honor in abundance, and by marriage, he allied himself with Ahab.

Unfortunately, King Jehoshaphat allied with King Ahab and ratified it with the marriage of their children. What did this mean?

King Jehoshaphat agreed for his firstborn son and heir-apparent, Jehoram, to marry King Ahab’s daughter, Athaliah. A marriage for political alliance but Righteous Judah would now have a contaminated see called Athaliah who would eventually seduce Judah to worship Baal.

How did their lives end?

Today what the 3 Kings did may not seem like such a big deal but that is not the way God looked at it. This is evident by how God chose to deal with each of them.

King Solomon’skingdom was divided in the hands of his son and all the vast wealth of Solomon was plundered by the Egyptians.

1Ki 11:11

Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.

King’s entire generation was wiped out because of his wickedness, idolatrous ways, and empowering his wife, Jezebel to run the nation of Israel.

1Ki 21:21-24

‘Behold, I will bring calamity on you. I will take away your posterity and will cut off from Ahab every male in Israel, both bonded and free. 22 I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, because of the provocation with which you have provoked Me to anger, and made Israel sin.’ 23 And concerning Jezebel the Lord also spoke, saying, ‘The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.’ 24 The dogs shall eat whoever belongs to Ahab and dies in the city, and the birds of the air shall eat whoever dies in the field.”

King Jehoshaphat had 7 sons and he gave them great gifts of silver and gold, precious things with fortified cities in Judah. But after Jehoram had succeeded him, all his other sons were killed by Jehoram who did evil in the sight of the Lord.

2 Ch 21:4

Now when Jehoram [a]was established over the kingdom of his father, he strengthened himself and killed all his brothers with the sword, and also others of the princes of Israel.

King Jehoram received a message from the prophet Elijah…

2 Ch 21:12-15

Thus says the Lord God of your father David: ‘Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father, or in the ways of Asa king of Judah, but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel and have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the harlot, like the harlotry of house of Ahab, and also have killed your brothers, those of your father’s household, who were better than yourself, behold, the Lord will strike your people, with a serious affliction; your children, your wives, and all your possessions; and you will become very sick with a disease of your intestines until your intestines come out because of the sickness day by day.

This was Jehoram’s legacy…He was 32 years old when he became king. He reigned in Jerusalem eight years, and no one was sorry when he departed. (2 Ch 21:20)

Mother’s Influence

Consider your mother. Who is she and what gods did she bring into your father’s house? Examine the tools your mother and or grandmother used to exert influence over the family. Then look at the gods they were serving. This should begin to show you what you are dealing with.

Jezebel in the house

From my years of experience in deliverance, I can confidently tell you that the problem of many people’s marriages is the spirit of Jezebel and curses from mothers or women brought by their fathers. Daughters and sons of Jezebel always portray their mother’s spirit; that is the spirit of rebellion, seduction, and control/manipulation. They fail in marriages because they desire to control their spouses excessively. They resort to witchcraft because they are desperate for control like their mother ‘Jezebel’.

Some families are under judgment already because they married the sons and daughters of Jezebel. There are women who unless they receive deliverance, will cause every man they mate to lose everything he has and become destitute while she prospers.

If your mother was a priestess, a practitioner of deep witchcraft, a manipulative character, a known witch in the village, or a medium, then know for certain that a curse is hovering over you. Begin serious prayer, seek your deliverance, and the deliverance of your father’s house because the whole family was defiled because of the grandmother or great-grandmother.

Ahab in the house

Through witchcraft manipulation, many men today adopt behaviors that cause their wives and children to disrespect them. They hand over the responsibility of the homes to their wives and choose to give their lives to pleasure, living as “playboys” even in old age. Most of these men were boys raised by dominant mothers who were themselves possessed by the spirit of Jezebel. The sons never really mature, and they grow up submitting to women like their mothers. These are men under the spirit of Ahab.

They are always undecided and are not able to make decisions. They will seldom help their wives. Even when the women struggle with sick children, these men would be most comfortable watching a ball game. They usually do not keep friendships and will tend to run away from any issues of accountability. In addition, they learn to manipulate other men and will use friends for their benefit.

In many cases, men living under this bondage will also be involved in incest: sleeping with their sisters, cousin, and even their daughters. Their inner driver for pleasure also opens doors for other seducing spirits that drive them far from the platform of manhood. Many of those men who practice homosexuality have Ahab somewhere hidden in their lives.

If you are such a man, pray and seek deliverance. If your husband or your father are such men, that is the cause of your problems. Begin to pray seriously against the spirit of Jezebel and Ahab which is against your marriage and children.

Tears of marriage in my father’s house:

Here is another dilemma, people cry, pray, and do everything but God does not answer them because He is against them in whatever they are doing, as a result of tears caused in their covenant marriage.

Mal 2:13-14

Another thing you do: You flood the Lord’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer looks with favor on your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. 14 You ask, “Why?” It is because the Lord is the witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.

The word of God says they broke the covenant with the wife of their youth. The Lord had purposed them to be one so that they could produce godly offspring, but they forsook the wife of their covenant, the offspring cannot be considered godly but accursed. By forsaking their covenant, our fathers brought a curse upon themselves and their children.

Worse still, the children born in spiritually illegal relationships are born under a curse. Many are struggling because they are products of broken covenants. While the father is off enjoying life with his new wife, the wife of his youth is in tears day and night with her children.

Think about this for a moment. For men, your suffering may very well be due to the woman whom you worked with, then forsook and you are now with another. She stood by you, persevered, and endured all sorts of challenges but when you got a breakthrough, you decided that you do not need her anymore. You denied the wife of your youth the joy of her sweat, toil, and labor of love. And now her tears are fighting against you and destroying whatever you are trying to do.

Now what you have accumulated has perished. God is standing as a witness between you and that woman. You are doing this not only for yourself but also for your children. A curse comes on them because of tears in your marriage covenant. God hates divorce. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. Everyone reaps what he sows. You and your children cannot enjoy a good life if you have caused the tears of that woman who was faithful to you during all those difficult years.

The Husband’s Position of Authority

Wives should consider this not as a suggestion but as a strong warning from the Lord. Wives submit to their husbands as to the Lord. For the Husband is the head of the wife as also Christ is head of the church, and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their husbands in everything. Eph 5:22-24.

Fathers who fail to walk in their authority leave a vacancy often taken over by the wives. Where the man is not given due respect by the wife, the blessings of God are withheld. God destined the blessing to rest in the household where the man is given respect as the head of the family. Most women do not know that by not submitting to their husbands, they are releasing a curse on their household including upon their children. By submitting to their husbands, they are positioning themselves to be blessed as the woman’s blessing was ordained in her husband.

Case: Sarah(not her real name)

I want to support this with a testimony from a sister who came to us for help, Her challenge was a failure to conceive children after seven years of marriage. This woman had been praying and fasting periodically while exhausting all other options during those years. By the time that she came to us the shame and pressure to conceive from the family was too much for her to bear. She wanted to get out of the marriage.

While we were praying the Lord told me to rebuke the spirit of rebellion in her that she had inherited from her mother. It baffled me because she was very humble and loving to her husband. At first, I hesitated while trying to make sense of it. We were dealing with barrenness. How was it connected with rebellion? We continued to pray and were getting nowhere so I ventured to discuss the leading of God with Sarah. She was confused. As far as she knew, she was a humble and obedient wife and servant of God.

The doors began to open when I asked her about the kind of wife her mother was. She reported that her mother was very industrious, active, and very creative. How did she relate to her husband? Did she control the home? She kept quiet as if something had hit her, then she answered, “Well, you know, men are bad, our father was very lazy and not supporting the family so our mother did everything for us”

I asked, “Did your mother respect him?” “How can you respect such an irresponsible man?” she shouted with a lot of anger. After a silence of about 10 minutes, I calmly asked, “So, as children, you never respected your father? She looked at me with tears flowing from her eyes and said, “Pastor, I did not know that was wrong. So you think that is the cause of my problems?” Then I asked her, exactly what she used to do that she thought was disrespectful to her father. She said that all of them as children took instructions only from their mother because she was the only one taking care of their needs. Her two elder sisters, above 35 years of age, had never married, two brothers each with master’s degrees had never been able to secure jobs and the younger sister had resorted to prostitution. Then she said, “Pastor, ever since we married, my husband lost all sense of responsibility over the home, so I do everything. I love him so much, but it is hard to respect such a man”

We repented and rebuked the spirit of rebellion. Then she went and repented to her father. Four months later, she conceived. But Sarah is dealing with a pregnancy that is fraught with complications. Time after time she forgets and acts disrespectfully towards her husband, and then complications set in. She called me one night, after being rushed to the hospital for fear of a miscarriage. When I reached the hospital, she told me to ask her husband to forgive her. She came home that night feeling sleepy and tired and did what she thought was a blunder. Her husband came home later and she told him he had to serve himself dinner. As the husband was eating, the Holy Spirit told her she had disrespected him. She did not act to repent quickly. She got an attack there and then started bleeding. I called the husband and asked him to pray for her. Thank God she recovered, and the pregnancy was saved.

The rebellious spirits of mothers affect their husbands and children because their husbands will be under a curse. If your mother was such a woman, know for certain that, that is the cause of problems in your life and marriage.