King Benjamin declared unto his son Mosiah, just previous to his becoming king over the people in the land of Zarahemla, that "if this highly favored people of the Lord should fall into transgression, and become a wicked and an adulterous people, that the Lord will deliver them up . . ." (Mosiah 1:13).
According to Donna Nielsen, a knowledge of the biblical marriage imagery can greatly enrich our understanding of how God relates to us through covenants. Nielsen notes that after accepting the covenant terms of marriage, a Jewish bride was unfaithful if she loved anyone or anything more than her covenant partner. Such unfaithfulness was viewed as spiritual adultery. The word for "adultery" in Hebrew (Strong 5003) also has the figurative understanding of "apostasy." A "wicked and an adulterous generation" described a covenant group who were false-hearted and unfaithful in deed and thought. [Donna B. Nielsen, Beloved Bridegroom: Finding Christ in Ancient Jewish Marriage and Family Customs, pp. 2, 120]