Adultery and Fornication

Program Notes: Adultery and Fornication

Many people, myself included, assert that the word adultery in the Old Testament means race-mixing. And while I would still assert that this is true, it is not to be told from the definitions of the word as they are given in Strong's Concordance or in Gesenuis' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon. For that reason, and for the way in which the word is used in some Biblical contexts, it is easy for a scoffer or a doubter to refute the assertion that the word is used to describe race-mixing. So here we shall do a study of this word, and some other words which are necessary to gain an understanding of the difference between adultery and fornication.  

Adultery in the Bible:

Common marital & extra-marital relations:

Exodus 20:14 14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Leviticus 20:10 10 And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. 

Deuteronomy 5:18 18 Neither shalt thou commit adultery. 

Proverbs 6:32 32 But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul. 

Jeremiah 29:23 23 Because they have committed villany in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbours' wives, and have spoken lying words in my name, which I have not commanded them; even I know, and am a witness, saith the LORD. 

Matthew 19:18 18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, 

Mark 10:19 9 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother. 

Luke 18:20 20 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother. 

Romans 13:9-10 9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. 

The concept of neighbor used here will be discussed later, there are many other things which must be covered first. Now in this same manner we see the word adultery used in the New Testament, as an illicit relationship of one man with another's wife, in the following verses: 

Matthew 5:27-32 27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: 28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman [γυνή is usually a woman of age, assumed to be or to have been married] to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. ... 31 It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: 32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery. 

Matthew 19:9 9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery. 

Mark 7:20-21 20 And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders... 

Mark 10:11-12 11 And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. 12 And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery. 

So we see that the word adultery is indeed used of married people who sleep with others, even others of their own tribe or race. Therefore adultery is not always race-mixing in the Old Testament. In the New Testament it is often distinguished from the word fornication For these reasons it is difficult to convince the average Christian that it can also mean race-mixing, and therefore now we will do a study of passages where it appears in that context also. 

Adultery is also clearly connected to harlots, harlotry and whoredom, or idolatry as a euphemism for those things. These passages will make it evident that the word adultery means more than simply sleeping with thy neighbor's wife, as we have seen the words used in the aforementioned passages. It will also become clear that idolatry is something a little more than merely the worship of a false god: 

Jeremiah 3:8-9 8 And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also. 9 And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks. 

The word whoredom is: 2184 זנות zenuwth 1) fornication, harlotry

The phrase played the harlot is from a related term: 2181 זנת zanah 1) to commit fornication, be a harlot, play the harlot 1a) 1a1) to be a harlot, act as a harlot, commit fornication 1a2) to commit adultery 1a3) to be a cult prostitute 1a4) to be unfaithful (to God) (fig.) 1b) to play the harlot 1c) 1c1) to cause to commit adultery 1c2) to force into prostitution 1c3) to commit fornication 

There is a paper on Christogenea entitled Broken Cisterns, and it has two parts. In the first part, it is fully demonstrated that the ancient pagan religions, much like the modern ones, had nothing to do with spirituality as judeo-Christians perceive such today, but that they had everything to do with sex, and indeed, sex with anyone. I cannot quote it fully, since the topic consumes all 2700+ words of part one alone, but here I will give a synopsis:

Herodotus writes about Baal worship that the temples had a high chamber contain little but a couch, and each night a woman was chosen from among the natives, who thought she was going to couple with the god, which turned out to be a baal priest or someone who paid the baal priest. Tertullian and other writers support this.

• Herodotus also describes the worship of Ashtaroth, or Astarte, known to the Greeks as Aphrodite, to the Babylonians as Ishtar but to the Assyrians as Mylitta. In Babylon, every native woman was compelled to visit the temple of Ishtar at least once in her adult lifetime, and sit until she sleeps with the first man who throws her any amount of money, and by law he cannot be refused. Strabo corroborates this story, and so does the Epistle of Jeremiah in the Apocrypha, which is also called Baruch, Chapter 5.
• Throughout Greek literature all of the pagan cults are said to have engaged in cult prostitution, usually for the benefit of the temple, and often slaves who worked as prostitutes were owned by the temple. 
• The worship of Baal (or Bel or later Adonis), Astarte (or Aphrodite) Bacchus (who is also called Dionysus), Pan and the Satyrs, and many other cults all had to do with sex, and nothing to do with any truly noble worship of anything but the act of sex. Paganism is the worship of the flesh, period. Any Christian writer who claims anything else for any of these ancient pagan religions is an outright liar.

Jeremiah 7:9 Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; 

Once we realize that the pagan religions are all about sex, it is clear to see that pagan worship necessarily includes race-mixing. Therefore we can understand in the context the message of Malachi 2:11: “Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the LORD which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god.” Judah married a Canaanite, someone of another race. 

Jeremiah 5:7 7 How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses. 

Jeremiah 23:14 14 I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah. [Adultery is strengthening the hands of evildoers, because it increases the number of evildoers!] 

Ezekiel 23:36-45 “36 The LORD said moreover unto me; Son of man, wilt thou judge Aholah and Aholibah? yea, declare unto them their abominations; 37 That they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands, and with their idols have they committed adultery, and have also caused their sons, whom they bare unto me, to pass for them through the fire, to devour them. [That is not only describing abortion, but it is also what happens when your sons marry those of other races, or die in foreign wars!] 38 Moreover this they have done unto me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my sabbaths. 39 For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and, lo, thus have they done in the midst of mine house. 40 And furthermore, that ye have sent for men to come from far, unto whom a messenger was sent; and, lo, they came: for whom thou didst wash thyself, paintedst thy eyes, and deckedst thyself with ornaments, 41 And satest upon a stately bed, and a table prepared before it, whereupon thou hast set mine incense and mine oil. 42 And a voice of a multitude being at ease was with her: and with the men of the common sort were brought Sabeans from the wilderness, which put bracelets upon their hands, and beautiful crowns upon their heads. 43 Then said I unto her that was old in adulteries, Will they now commit whoredoms with her, and she with them? 44 Yet they went in unto her, as they go in unto a woman that playeth the harlot: so went they in unto Aholah and unto Aholibah, the lewd women. 45 And the righteous men, they shall judge them after the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of women that shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands.” Here Ezekiel has portrayed a clear example of idolatry, adultery, whoredom, harlotry and lewdness with men of another race, in this case Sabeans. Can this be spiritualized? 

Hosea 2:2 2 Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts; 

Hosea 4:2 “2 By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.” I have demonstrated in another paper on Christogenea, that the Hebrew for blood in Hosea 4:2 is twice in the plural, and it denotes blood mingling with blood, and is to be understood properly as the Septuagint reads the end of the verse: “and adultery abound in the land, and they mingle blood with blood”. Here adultery is clearly race-mixing. 

Hosea 4:13-14 13 They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery. 14 I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit adultery: for themselves are separated with whores, and they sacrifice with harlots: therefore the people that doth not understand shall fall. 

How can unmarried daughters commit whoredom – not adultery – while married women are doing the same thing and it is called adultery, and not whoredom? Let us first prove that marriage happens with sexual intercourse, and not at an altar, simply by reading parts of Genesis Chapter 29: 

Genesis 29:16-31 16 And Laban had two daughters: the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. 17 Leah was tender eyed; but Rachel was beautiful and well favored. 18 And Jacob loved Rachel; and said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter. 19 And Laban said, It is better that I give her to thee, than that I should give her to another man: abide with me. 20 And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her. 21 And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in unto her. 22 And Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast. 23 And it came to pass in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him; and he [he meaning Jacob] went in unto her. 24 And Laban gave unto his daughter Leah Zilpah his maid for an handmaid. 25 And it came to pass, that in the morning, behold, it was Leah: and he said to Laban, What is this thou hast done unto me? did not I serve with thee for Rachel? wherefore then hast thou beguiled me? 26 And Laban said, It must not be so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn. 27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years. 28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also. 29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid. 30 And he went in also unto Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years. 31 And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren.  

Here we see that Jacob was stuck. He was stuck because as soon as he had intercourse with Leah they were married, and Laban also knew that, which is why he tricked Jacob in that manner. If Jacob's having intercourse is NOT marriage, then why was Jacob stuck with Leah? Anyone who disputes this is deceiving himself – stuck in the deceipt of false romish church teachings. For that reason we see in Exodus 22:16: And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife. If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins. If the father will not give the seducer his daughter for a wife, that is fine, but the father is then stuck with that daughter, because nobody else can lawfully take her to wife! 

Now we can read Hosea 4:13-14 again: “13 They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery. 14 I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit adultery: for themselves are separated with whores, and they sacrifice with harlots: therefore the people that doth not understand shall fall.” 

Now if lawful marriage happens upon intercourse, as it has been proven from Genesis Chapter 29, how can unmarried daughters commit whoredom – not adultery – while married women are doing the same thing and it is called adultery, and not whoredom? Only because Hosea is actually describing sex acts with those of other races. Otherwise the acts of the daughters would be acts of marriage, at least initially, and fall under the law given in Exodus 22:16 which we have just read above. The spouses may be committing fornication and adultery, but apparently it is adultery first. 

Yet the following verses shall show even further that, very often in context, adultery is the same as whoredom, or fornication: 

Ezekiel 16:32-33 32 But as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband! 33 They give gifts to all whores: but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hirest them, that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom. 

Jeremiah 13:27 27 I have seen thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredom, and thine abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean? when shall it once be? [Pagan nature worship is the act of having sex outdoors like animals!] 

Now we have clearly seen that the word adultery is used primarily to describe the violation of the sanctity of marriage between a man and a wife, but it is just as often used to describe the violation of allegiance to Yahweh our God, and that is also called idolatry, and also whoredom, or fornication. 

Here is the explanation of the source of all confusion concerning these two words, why they are often distinguished, and why they are often equated. Mainstream sects and their commentators fail to recognize that all ancient pagan religions required universal sexual acts, which includes the compulsion to mix with those of other races, the mingling of “bloods with bloods” as it is described in Hosea. 

The violation of the sanctity of marriage between a man and a wife is indeed adultery. However an Israelite's violation of the covenant with Yahweh is also adultery, because we are all married to Him as a nation. Therefore, since He knows no other people (Amos 3:2), when we join ourselves to other people we commit not only fornication, but also adultery as a violation of our covenant marriage with Yahweh. Neither can Yahweh join Himself to any other people but Israel, or He Himself would be committing adultery! This is proven in the words of our Saviour, found at Luke 16:16-18: “16 The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it. 17 And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail. 18 Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.” Here over two sentences Christ is not changing the topic. Rather, He is telling us that although these non-Israelites are forcing their way into the Kingdom, they will NOT be invited to His wedding, which is only for the genetic children of Israel! If He marries any other people who are not of Israel, He admits that to be an act of adultery! So with these words, our interpretation here is true, and we too must marry only true White Israelites, or we shall be found to be committing adultery, and also, as we shall see, fornication! This is how it is said in Malachi that Judah, because he married a Canaanite, had married the daughter of a strange god, but Esau, who also married Canaanites, Paul at Hebrews 12:16 called a “fornicator or profane person”. 

Therefore in contexts where man's perspective is involved, fornication and adultery are two different things. Also, discussing men, adultery and idolatry are distinguished, by which it is shown that adultery or fornication are not really idolatry, as so many fools may insist.. Examples are found in Matthew, Romans and Galatians: 

Matthew 15:19-20 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: 20 These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man. 

Galatians 5:19-20 19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies... 

Romans 2:22 22 Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? 

Yet it can also be shown that from Yahweh our God's perspective, fornication is indeed also adultery, since our intermingling with other races is a violation of the sanctity of our marriage vows to Him. This will be made evident here from Revelation 2:21-23, and then from a discussion of what is called the “way of Balaam”: 

Revelation 2:21-23 21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. 22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. 23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. 

Here, fornication is adultery, because the fornication is race-mixing, and race-mixing is a violation of the Covenant, which insists – in both the Old Testament and the New – that Israel be a separate people! 

The way of Balaam: 

While the story of Balaam's hire to curse Israel, and Yahweh's making sure that while Balaam indeed tried, all he could manage to do was to bless Israel, is told in the Book of Joshua, it is also evident in many scriptures that the Book of Joshua does not present the entire story! So here it is from Scripture: 

Joshua 24:9-10 9 Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel, and sent 

and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you: 10 But I [Yahweh] would not hearken unto Balaam; therefore he blessed you still: so I delivered you out of his hand. 

Nehemiah 13:1-2 1 On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people; and therein was found written, that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God for ever; {they...: Heb. there was read} {audience: Heb. ears} 2 Because they met not the children of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them, that he should curse them: howbeit our God turned the curse into a blessing. 

Micah 6:5 5 O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of the LORD. 

1 Corinthians 10:7-8 7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. 8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. 

2 Peter 2:14-15 14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children: {adultery: Gr. an adulteress} 15 Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 

Jude 1:11 11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward... [In other words, they are all race-mixed!] 

Revelation 2:14 14 But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. 

So here it is fully evident, that the joining of Israel to Baal-Peor was sexual in every way! 

Now it is time for some word study. The Old Testament word for adultery throughout these passages were all translated from the same group of very close words, na'aph, na'aphuph, and ni'uph. 

5003 ןאף na'aph 1) to commit adultery 1a) 1a1) to commit adultery 1a1a) usually of man 1a1a1) always with wife of another 1a1b) adultery (of women) (participle) 1a2) idolatrous worship (fig.) 1b) 1b1) to commit adultery 1b1a) of man 1b1b) adultery (of women) (participle) 1b2) idolatrous worship (fig.) 

5004 ןאוף ni'uph 1) adultery 1a) idolatrous worship (fig.) 

5005 ןאפוף na'aphuwph 1) adultery 

The New Testament words translated adultery likewise all came from a closely-related group of Greek words:  

3429 μοιχάω 1) to have unlawful intercourse with another's wife, to commit adultery with 

3430 μοιχεία 1) adultery 

3431 μοιχεύω 1) to commit adultery 1a) to be an adulterer 1b) to commit adultery with, have unlawful intercourse with another's wife 1c) of the wife: to suffer adultery, be debauched 1d) A Hebrew idiom, the word is used of those who at a woman's solicitation are drawn away to idolatry, i.e. to the eating of things sacrificed to idols 

3428 μοιχαλίς 1) an adulteress 2) as the intimate alliance of God with the people of Israel was likened to a marriage, those who relapse into idolatry are said to commit adultery or play the harlot 2a) fig. equiv. to faithless to God, unclean, apostate 

All of these Greek words find their root in the same Greek word, μοιχός. Now I, myself searching for an explanation in haste, have often said that the word μοιχός means mixed. However μοιχός is actually a noun that means an adulterer, however that in turn finds its root in a verb, μείγνυμι, which means to mix. 

Strabo clearly uses μοιχός twice of race mixers in his Geography, at 16.4.25, where he states of certain tribes that the penalty for an adulterer is death, but among them only the person of the other race is considered the adulterer. The verb μείγνυμι is used of sexual intercourse often in Greek, for example in Pindar's Pythian Odes at 3:14, or in the elegaic poet Theognis in lines 183-192, where he complains that for the sake of money women would marry a base man and pass on a noble man. Diodorus uses an adjective of μείγνυμι, μιγάς to describe slaves of mixed blood, in his Library of History at 25.2.2. 

Now returning to the Hebrew, na'aph (adultery) and the words related to it are also very similar - and I would assert that they are even related - to another group of words which are represented by Strong's #'s 4998 and 4999, a verb and a noun. These are both pronounced na'ah and mean to be at home, a home, or figuratively a pasture. It is evident therefore that na'ah is a home, and na'aph is a violation of that home. 

The common Hebrew words for fornication, or harlotry, are Strong's # 2181, zanah, which is defined by Strong as to commit adultery, and a derivative word 8457, taznuth. Yet they are translated in the KJV not as adultery, but as harlotry or whoredom. This is interesting, since zanah comes from another word, found at #'s 2177 and 2178, which are both zan, and mean a form, sort or kind. Other related words, found at Strong's #'s 2183, 2184 and 2185, all mean to commit adultery or harlotry. So while all of the Old Testament occurrences of the word adultery in the King James version come from the word na'aph, zanah is also related by Strong, to both the idea of adultery and the idea of kind, or sort, which of people can only mean race to us. All of the connotations of the definitions of words related to zanah would require a separate study much deeper than I can offer in this one program tonight. 

Now, I have reason to believe that this word na'ah is also the ultimate root of the Latin word natio, a tribe, nation or race. I also believe that this word is the ultimate root of the English word near, for which the Old English is neah, almost exactly like the Hebrew word na'ah for home, from which we also get neigh and then neighbor. And this leads me to further discuss that word, neighbor. 

The Greek word translated neighbor is usually from the adjective, with the article, τὸν πλησίον, which literally means one who is near, and nothing else. Yet by itself it really does not distinguish between relationship and geographical proximity. The Hebrew does, and so does the context of scripture where it is often found. Here I will quote from Appendix C of the annotated version of my Paul translation: 

The Nominative form πλησίος which is both an adverb and a preposition, means “near, close to...” (L & S) and itself is a derivative of the adverb πέλας which is “near, hard by, close...” (L & S). Either word, πέλας or πλησίος, used as a Substantive, was used to denote “one’s neighbor”, and L & S gives examples of this from secular writers who used either ὁ πλησίος or ὁ πέλας. Yet in secular Greek there are other words used by contemporary authors and also in the N.T. And are translated “neighbor”: γείτων (1069), which is explicitly “one of the same land, a neighbour...” (L & S) and is found at Luke 14:12; 15:6, 9; and John 9:8, and περίοικος (4040) which is “dwelling round...οἱ περίοικοι neighbours...” (L & S) and found at Luke 1:58. 

While it can surely be demonstrated, that in Palestine and throughout the οἰκουμένη (the Greco-Roman world), one’s neighbor was most often, and was expected to be, of one’s own tribe, that this is the true meaning of τὸν πλησίον in the New Testament is evident in other ways, besides the use of γείτων or περίοικος where it was appropriate. 

First, at Acts 7:27, an account of Exod. 2:11-14, one Israelite is referred to as τὸν πλησίον (A.V. “Neighbor”) in relation to another Israelite, but certainly not in reference to the dead Egyptian - yet Moses, as evidenced in the Exodus account, could not have known that these men lived in proximity to one another, as we understand the term “neighbor” today. He only could have known that the men had a tribal relationship. Now some may think this conjectural, but it surely is the circumstance. 

Again, at Matt. 5:43, Yahshua is credited with the words “Thou shalt love thy neighbor (τὸν πλησίον), and hate thine enemy”, what meaning would the saying have, if one’s enemy, as is often the case, lived in the house next door? See the note at Rom. 13:10. So here it should be evident that τὸν πλησίον is “one near” to you, but not necessarily geographically. Rather, one near in relationship is more likely the case. The Hebrew word in the original, which is found at Lev. 19:18, is Strong’s Hebrew #7453, “from 7462; an associate (more or less close)” and Strong lists the A.V. translations of the word “brother, companion, fellow, friend, husband, lover, neighbor, X (an-) other” and so it should certainly be evident now that τὸν πλησίον is not simply “one who lives nearby” etc. The root of 7453, 7462, is defined by Strong: “a primitive root; to tend a flock, i.e. pasture it; intransitive to graze (literally or figuratively); generally to rule; by extension to associate with (as a friend)...” and so it seems to me that one’s πλησίον can only be a fellow sheep! For the bounds of proper Christian association are set at II Cor. 6:11-18, and no government of man, sponsoring “urban renewal” and forced racial integration, can change that! 

-End of quote from my annotated translation of Paul's letters. 

So we see that if one is of your flock, he is a neighbor. But if one is not of your flock, he cannot be a neighbor. A wolf who moves into the sheepfold can never be a sheep! The word na'ah means a home, and the word na'aph, or adultery, is an intrusion upon one's home. However in addition, since all the members of the flock are your brethren, if you have relations with someone who is not of the flock, you are a fornicator to men, but also an adulterer to Yahweh, violating the terms of His covenant which he made with the flock. 

Harlotry, or whoredom, are described in the Greek with the words πορνεία and πόρνη, which are nouns, and πορνεύω which is a verb. These describe fornication or prostitution. Fornication describes any and all forms of illicit or unlawful sexual act. The act of race-mixing is among these, and that is substantiated not only by Paul's use of the word, as we see in 1 Corinthians Chapter 10 and at Revelation 2:14 speaking of that same incident which Paul intended, but also in Jude 7, where fornication is clearly described as the pursuit of “strange”, or different, flesh. 

The apostles, in Acts Chapter 15, added the commandment to the assemblies, not to commit fornication. They did this to ensure the understanding that race-mixing was forbidden among Christians. While the word for adultery in Greek was ultimately derived from a verb meaning to mix, it was used of any sex outside of marriage (although as we have seen in Strabo it was also used of race-mixing). So it is clear that to avoid confusion over the meaning of this word, the apostles added a command not to fornicate, and among both Hebrews and Greeks, that included the idea not only of prostitution, but of having sex with “different flesh”, meaning marriages with the other races.