Genesis 2:24

Genesis 2:24

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

1. “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife…”

a. Jesus quoted this verse in his discussion with the Pharisees over the matter of divorce.

1). Matthew 19:4-6 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,

And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?

Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

2). Jesus added the words, “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” This shows that God “married” Adam and Eve.

b. As previously noted, these Scriptures show Adam the ruler of the earth making the ground rules for marriage. In the marriage relationship, the man would leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife. Rabbinic tradition has an interesting comment concerning this phrase.

1). Stone Edition of the Chumash: “The Torah does not mean that a man should not continue to serve or homor his parents. It implies only a physical separation; that his attachment to his wife should be so strong that he will move out of his parents house and establish a new home with her.”

2. “…and they shall be one flesh.”

a. This of course is speaking of the marriage act, sexual intercourse, which as the context reveals is reserved only for the marriage bed of husband and wife. Notice the Apostle Paul’s language in his discussion of fornication.

1). 1 Corinthians 6:15, 16 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.

What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.

b. Notice also the wording of the passage describing the behavior of Israel at Shittim and the resulting death of 24,000 men.

1). Numbers 25:1-9 And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab.

And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods.

And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.

And the Lord said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the Lord against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel.

And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baalpeor.

And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand;

And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.

And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.