The Choice
Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. Genesis 2:24
Therefore – “Therefore” means that as a result of something previously explained, the following happens. Therefore, “therefore” is a very important word J. Without it we will not know why a man (iysh) should forsake (that’s what it really says) his parents and cling (cleave) to his ishshah. So, let’s back up. Adam offers the name “woman” because the woman comes out of the man. She is bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh. Notice that he does not say “blood of my blood.” That much is already established in the creation of Man. But now Adam sees that she is the perfect complement to him, the one he was designed to embrace as equal under God. She comes from him.
As a result, he is to go back to her. His destiny in this relationship is to re-establish the unity that they were when she was not yet separate from him. She comes out of him. He is to bring back that unity so that they are once again “one flesh.” That’s what the “therefore” is for.
“Therefore” is the Hebrew word ‘al-ken. It has a very interesting pictograph. It is the picture of looking toward the open palm of life. In other words, to move from one truth to another is to move toward life. In Scripture, “therefore” is the step from one revealed insight of God’s creation to another revealed insight. Since knowledge is always connected with obedience, to see the insight is to act upon it. ‘Al-ken is not restricted to our notion of logical conclusion or rational analysis. ‘Al-ken is about what we are to do as a result of what we understand. It’s two components mean “what is foundational, what is correct that leads to action.”
As a result of understanding that man and woman are in fact two elements of the same original union, we are to bring about the restoration of that union by an exclusive relationship that reunites the single entity. That is the purpose of marriage. It is not lust abatement, economic leverage or passionate possession. It is re-union. It is homecoming. It is two becoming one again.
The two critical verbs in this paramount declaration concerning marriage are equally informative. The first is azav. It means “to leave, abandon, forsake or loose.” The consonant picture is the idea of a leader cut off from the house. The second verb is davaq (to cling, cleave, join with). This pictograph shows us a tent door to a house behind. That, of course, is the picture of a new home, one that is in the future, over the horizon. So, these two verbs actually paint the same picture as the word description of the verse itself. A man is cut off from leading in one house and finds a new house in his future. That new house is the place of the ‘ezer, the place where he is re-united with himself in union with the one who was made for him.
Perhaps husbands need to spend some time thinking about the biblical view of “one flesh;” a view that is not based in the Greek overtones of sex. Perhaps husbands need to discover what they are missing. Perhaps they need to realize that reunion is the goal of marriage. Then they may choose to become whole again.
Topical Index: Marriage
