The third person in a marriage
When God brought Eve to Adam, Adam said:
… she shall be called ‘woman’ (ishshah), for she was taken out of man (iysh). (Genesis 2:23)
There is splendid symbolism in the Hebrew words ‘iysh (man)’ and ‘ishshah’ (woman).
Here the Hebrew words for man and woman are written in such a way that the common letters appear under each other.
If the words man and woman are then placed on top of each other, so that the two common letters fall on top of each other, as an image of the unity in marriage, a ‘third person’ then appears to be present in the combination of letters.
The first and the third letters of these four letters in a row are the common letters for ‘man’ and ‘woman’.
The second and the fourth letters, which are not shared, form God’s Name, i.e. Yahh, which is translated as Lord.
God’s Name (the second and the fourth letters) surround the shared third letter of ‘man’ and ‘woman’ in this combination. In this way God binds man and woman together in marriage as it were.
A few texts with God’s Name (Yahh):
The LORD (Yahh) is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. He is my God (El), and I will praise him, my father’s God (Elohiym), and I will exalt him. (Exodus 15:2)
Sing to God (Elohiym), sing in praise of his name, extol him who rides on the clouds; rejoice before him – his name is the LORD (Yahh). (Psalmen 68:4)
Who is like you, LORD (Yehovah) God (Elohiym) Almighty? You, LORD (Yahh), are mighty, and your faithfulness surrounds you. (Psalmen 89:8)
The Name ‘Yahh’ also appears in Hallelujah, which is the combination of two Hebrew words, ‘halal’ and ‘Yahh’, and that therefore means: Praise the Lord, therefore, as in (among other texts):
Hallelujah (halal + Yahh). Praise the LORD. Praise (halal) the name of the LORD (Yehovah); praise (halal) him, you servants of the LORD (Yehovah) … (Psalmen 135:1)
A second symbol of the third person in marriage:
A second symbol of God as the third person in a marriage is found in the text in Ecclesiastes:
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. (Ecclesiastes 4:12)
See a separate study for the explanation of a cord of three strands.
When a cord like this is pulled, internal tension is created and the strands are pressed against each other, because they are wound around each other.
When there is tension in a marriage the three partners will be more strongly pressed against each other.
However, if one of the strands weakens, the cord risks breaking.
The strand that weakens will automatically lose the intense contact with the other strands.
If one of the partners in a marriage loses contact with God, his or her relationship with the other partner will suffer as a result.
A husband and wife who acts without love towards his or her partner will discover that his or her personal relationship with God will weaken too.
However God, ‘as a strand’ in the marriage cord, will never weaken.
He always yearns for that ‘cord’, as a cord of three strands, to be in harmony, and, if there is tension between the partners in a marriage, for them to seek the solution with Him.
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The third person in a marriage.