The adulteress shall surely be put to death (Lev 20)

'Or do you not know, brothers — for I am speaking to those who know the law — that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.' (Romans 7:1-3)

In the OT Israel is often depicted as the unfaithful wife of God. They were married to one another through the Mosaic covenant. However, Israel broke the covenant countless times by committing adultery by worshipping other gods. God kept taking Israel back despite the requirements of his own law that the adulteress shall be put to death (with the man/god she committed adultery with).

God's promise and his law were in conflict, and there seemed no way in which he could fail to be true to one or the other. He kept on passing over the former sins of his wife but he couldn't keep on doing that forever without denying the truthfulness of the very thing that bound them together.

But what if instead of the adulteress dying, the faithful husband died? Then the adulteress could have relationships with other men without penalty, because the covenant that brings the curse no longer exists.

PS. Sorry once again Chris for breaking my own promise. It is still top of my mind, but I wanted to get down my random thoughts on Romans 7.