Hebrew Word Study – Seduce –  Patah   פתה  Pei Taw Hei

Isaiah 50:1: “Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.”  

Matthew 19:8: “He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.”

Prior to Moses instituting the bill of divorcement a man would just abandon his wife if he grew tired of her. Marriage had become something of a business transaction. Not that there was no love element in a marriage, but love was looked upon as something  that would develop as a man and woman lived together.  They would learn to love one another. However, if that love did not develop a man could end the marriage simply by returning the dowry. There were no real grounds for leaving a wife and she was often abandoned on the slightest pretext.  This literally put the woman on the level of a slave. Although Hebrew marriages were noted for relationships where the woman was honored and loved, this was not always the case and as time progressed, pagan influence entered the Hebrew camp.  Hebrew women began suffering the same fate as pagan women when love did not develop between the couples.  The woman ended up being just a piece of property and without male protection she would become destitute. The woman had no legal recourse and was left to fend for herself if her father did not allow her to return. A woman could not own land or engage in any legal occupation. More often than not she would be driven into prostitution to just survive.  

Moses instituted the bill or law of divorcement not as a means to end a marriage but to protect the woman and give her some legal rights.  Jesus was asked if a man could divorce his wife for any reason.  The going belief of that day was that you did not need any grounds for divorce. In the school of Hillel it was taught that if a wife burned a man’s dinner he could divorce her. If the man no longer found his wife attractive, he could divorce her.  Jesus said that the bill of divorcement was introduced because of the hardness of one’s heart. It was never God’s intention for a man to put away his wife, but as it would happen anyways, Moses had to institute certain laws to protect the innocent. 

The picture of marriage is a picture of the relationship we have with God. In Isaiah 50 God is the Husband and Father, Israel is the mother and the Jews were the children.  In Christianity we can say that God is the Husband and Father, the church is the mother and we as members of the church are the children.  

It is interesting that God says: “Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement,” Why does He not simply say: “Where is the bill of divorcement?” Why “your mother’s divorcement.”  The reason is most likely because the woman and/or mother could not divorce herself from her husband.  Only a man could seek a divorce. So, too, we do not divorce ourselves from God. Only God can end our marriage to Him and He is telling us in Isaiah 50:1 that He would never do that.  

On the other hand we may want to divorce ourselves from God.  If Hosea’s wife had that option of divorce she would have taken it. But she did not have that option so she just left and ran off with another lover.  Hosea had every right to divorce her, in fact he could have had her put to death for adultery if he so choose.  Yet, he loved his wife who ended up in slavery and he purchased her back.  Even this did not restore a love relationship.  In Hosea the second chapter we learn that Hosea dreamed of the day that he would take his wife out to a trysting place, a place where he would allure her and speak comfortably to her. Hosea 2:14: “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.” The word allure in Hebrew is patah which is in a piel participial form and should read as seduction.  And the word speak is davar which is speaking from the heart and comfortably in Hebrew lev which is the word for heart.  

What God is saying is that if we do cheat on Him, run off with other gods as fame, wealth or other selfish pursuits God will not divorce us, He will not serve us with papers to end our marriage to Him, even though He has every right to do so. Instead, what He will do is take us out to a special place, a trysting place.  A place where we once knew that special love for each other.  Rather than condemn us for our unfaithfulness, He will instead try to patah – seduce us by speaking His heart to our heart. 

As you read further in Hosea you will learn that God will speak His heart to your heart with the hope that you will respond to Him and love Him in return.  You will not longer call him Ba’ali my master, but Ishi my husband.  He will not seek to divorce you but to draw you back into that love relationship that you once knew and shared with Him. 

He is ready to forgive any infidelity and restore you to the role of His beloved.   

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