“LEAVING AND CLEAVING”

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” (Genesis 2:24-25) [ESV]

The creation account here in Genesis 2:24-25 now focuses on the beginning of human history. Adam is given the responsibility to care for the earth under God’s sovereignty, but not alone. Without female companionship, he would not be able to realize fully his humanity.

Take a moment to read and study these comments from Illumina’s Comprehensive Commentary.

Genesis 2:23 Woman–in Hebrew, the feminine form of the word man (Hebrew ‘ish) is the word for woman (Hebrew ‘ishshah). The creation of woman prompts the man to burst into a song of thanksgiving.

Genesis 2:24 “Therefore shall a man leave . . .” Obviously the first couple did not leave their parents. This verse appears to be a lesson taught by the story itself. Therefore–or “for this reason,” (NIV) or “This is why” (NEB, JB) expresses the words of the writer, who observes from this divine model that marriage has been a God-ordained relationship from the beginning. Christ cited this verse (Matthew 19:3-9) as the basis for his teaching, which upholds monogamy and stands against divorce. Another important paradigm is discernible in 2:24 (Kidner): marriage (“leaving”) leads to “cleaving,” which culminates in the sexual union, being one flesh (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:16). To cleave to God in Deuteronomy 10:20 is descriptive of the ideal relationship between God and man. So, too, it characterizes the closeness between a husband and wife. (End of commentary)

God made Adam a wife.  First, He let Adam name all the animals. It looks like Eve was kind of an afterthought.  But she wasn’t an afterthought.  What Adam was doing was realizing “There is two of everything except me!”  He was realizing “Something is missing in my life!”

In (v. 21) it says, “So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.”

(v. 23) “Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”” is one of the classic reactions in Scripture.  Can you imagine?  Adam is here in the Garden of Eden.  He’s never seen a woman before.  All of a sudden coming through the bushes he sees this gorgeous specimen of femininity. Can you imagine Adam saying, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh …” The exact Hebrew description of this word “This at last ...” is an exclamation and literally Adam, when he saw Eve for the very first time said, “Wow!”  Illumina’s Commentary says that Adam jubilantly celebrated and bursted into a song of thanksgiving. I wonder what the song was?

One of the key verses in the Bible is (v. 24) in regards to marriage. God’s blueprint for marriage - 29 words and the foundation for every good marriage is found in this.  God designed marriage.  It was His idea.  The key is found in, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife …”  (v. 24)

In this verse, God says in marriage in order to have a marriage that really works there are some things you have to leave and there are some things you have to cleave to. What would you say that they are?

Think About It

1.     If you could have a picture of just one scene in this story, what would it be?

2.     What does this story say to you about the nature of men and women?

3.     Look at (v. 20) What do you think God meant when He referred to Eve as a “suitable helper?”

4.     What do you think is the key message in this passage? Why?

5.     If married, what are you most grateful for in your marriage and what would you like to focus on for growth?

6.     If single, how does this story make you feel?

7.    On a scale of 1 (totally alone) to 10 (totally connected and supported), how do you feel now?