In the last few posts on this blog, we’ve been taking a look at the Bible passages that are commonly used to condemn homosexual relationships. All of the passages that we’ve examined so far fail to actually condemn such relationships, contra the mainstream Christian interpretations.
For one, it’s ridiculous to claim that the Sodom narrative of Genesis 19 condemns male homosexuality as a whole; rather, it’s obviously a condemnation of rape, paralleled by Judges 19-20 which also condemns heterosexual rape. The Leviticus verses (18:22 and 20:13) and the Pauline vice lists (1 Cor. 6:9 and 1 Tim. 1:10), are actually ambiguous in their original languages and have been mistranslated to support homophobic views. One last passage, Romans 1:26-27, also has many alternate interpretations, each of which seem individually more likely than the traditional interpretation on textual and contextual grounds.
However, there is one last passage to examine, which is perhaps the Bible verse most commonly used by Christian opponents of gay marriage. This is Genesis 2:24, which states, “Therefore a man forsakes his father and mother and clings to his woman, and they become one flesh.” Doesn’t Gen. 2:24 prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that only male-female marriages and relationships are approved by God? In this last post on homosexuality and the Bible, we’ll examine this claim by taking a look at Gen. 2:24 in its larger context.
Prescriptive or descriptive?
The main question surrounding Genesis 2:24 is whether it is meant to be prescriptive or descriptive. If this verse is prescriptive, then it is saying that only men and women can marry, and that anything outside of this design goes against God’s precepts. But if it is descriptive, then it is simply saying “this is why men and women marry,” without passing judgment on any marriages that go outside of this ‘one man + one woman’ layout.
In the immediate context of Genesis 2, the verse seems to be merely descriptive; that is, it is saying that loneliness is what causes men and women to come together and marry. See the following passage:
And Yahweh God said, “It is not good that the man is alone. I will make a corresponding companion [1] for him”... And Yahweh God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and he slept, and He took his side and closed up the flesh in its place. And Yahweh God formed the side which He had taken from the man into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And the man said, “This one is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. This one will be called ‘woman,’ for this one was taken out of ‘man.’” Therefore a man forsakes his father and mother and clings to his woman, and they become one flesh. (Gen. 2:18, 21-24)
This passage emphasizes romantic loneliness as a problem for humanity, and marriage as the solution. Verse 24, then, is simply stating that “this [loneliness] is why men and women marry,” without saying anything about marriages that don’t fall into this pattern. In fact, this would seem to support the idea of non-heterosexual marriage, since there are people for whom loneliness is not solved by heterosexual relationships, who are attracted to the same sex instead.
However, the issue is somewhat more complex than this. This is because Gen. 2:24 is quoted in the New Testament by Jesus as a prescriptive text, condemning divorce.
And having come to him, the Pharisees were demanding of him if it is lawful for a husband to divorce a wife, testing him. And answering, he said to them, “What did Moses command you?”
And they said, “Moses permitted to write a scroll of divorce, and to send her away.”
Yet Jesus said to them, “He wrote you this commandment because of the hardness of your heart. Yet from the beginning of creation He ‘made them a male and a female.’ [Gen. 1:27] ‘Because of this, a man will forsake his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and the two will be for one flesh.’ [Gen. 2:24] Therefore they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has united, let no man separate.” (Mark 10:2-9)
Here, Jesus interprets Gen. 2:24 as both descriptive and prescriptive. Because this verse says that those who are married have become “one flesh,” Jesus concludes that divorce goes against the will of God. Although the context here is clearly divorce and not gay marriage, this does set a precedent for interpreting Gen. 2:24 as prescriptive, which lends more credence to the anti-gay-marriage interpretation of this verse.
This seems conclusive in favor of the view that Gen. 2:24 is prescriptive, at least in addition to being descriptive. Nevertheless, it is also true that the authors of the New Testament often took liberties with the Old Testament texts, interpreting them in ways that don’t make sense within the original context. [2] For this reason, let’s take a deeper look at Genesis 2:24 in its context, to determine what the original author may have meant.
A closer look at Gen. 2:24
At the beginning of this passage, Yahweh declares, “It is not good that ha-adam is alone. I will make a corresponding companion for him” (v. 18). God then creates the birds and land animals and brings each of them to Adam for him to determine whether they are suitable for him. Nevertheless, “for ha-adam no corresponding companion was found“ (vv. 19-20). Because of this, God created a companion (the woman) out of Adam himself (vv. 21-22). When the woman is brought to Adam, he joyfully cries, “This one at last is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh” (v. 23). “Therefore,” the author concludes, “a man forsakes his father and mother and clings to his woman, and they become one flesh.” To understand the author’s intent in writing this verse, we must take a look at the original Hebrew text of Gen. 2:24.
First, what did the author mean when he said that a man “forsakes” (azab) his parents? Although azab is often translated here as simply “leave,” it typically conveys the more severe concept of complete abandonment. God often warns Israel not to “forsake” (azab) Him and follow other gods (e.g., Deut. 29:25; Josh. 24:20; Judg. 10:6). God also comforts Israel by saying that He will not “abandon” (azab) them despite their constant backsliding (Deut. 31:6; 1 Kgs. 6:13). In fact, in the KJV, azab is translated as “forsake” 129 times as opposed to simply “leave” only 72 times. [3] Genesis 2:24 is not merely conveying the straightforward idea of leaving one’s parents’ home, but is saying that this reason (loneliness) is why men abandon or forsake their parents to follow women.
What did the author mean by saying that a man “clings to” (dabaq) a woman? Again, this isn’t as straightforward as it might seem. Dabaq has the meaning of “cling to” or “cleave to,” and like azab, it is often used in a religious context to refer to Israel’s clinging to Yahweh (Deut 4:4; 10:20; 11:22; 13:4; 30:20; Josh. 22:5; 23:8; 2 Kgs. 18:6; Jer. 13:11; Psa. 119:31). However, dabaq is only used to refer to marriage four other times in the Old Testament, and in each instance it describes intermarriage (marriage between Israelites and other groups) rather than simply marriage (Gen. 34:3; Josh. 23:12; 1 Kgs. 11:1-2; Dan. 2:43). [4] Thus, the author of Gen. 2:24 was alluding to intermarriage — not all types of marriage — when writing this passage.
The historical context of this passage helps to explain why it alludes to intermarriage. Most scholars agree that the entire pericope of Genesis 1 through 11 was written during the Exilic or post-Exilic periods of Israelite history, due to dozens of anachronisms within these chapters. [5] Based on the other biblical books written during this period, [6] we know that intermarriage was a major issue during this period, with different authors taking various stances (Ruth 1; Ezra 9-10; Neh. 13; Mal. 2:10-12). Therefore, it is likely that the author of Gen. 2:24 was taking a stand in favor of intermarriage by tying it back to the very beginning of creation.
Thus, in its original context, Genesis 2:24 was not creating a normative definition of marriage. On the contrary, the author seems to have been making the point that people can marry in spite of cultural norms — “forsaking their father and mother” and marrying the woman they love, even if that woman is not an Israelite. Although this certainly is no argument in favor of gay marriage (since gay marriage was not an issue at the time that Gen. 2:24 was written), neither does it support the case against gay marriage.
Genesis and Ruth
Interestingly, the strongest parallel with Genesis 2:24 in the Old Testament is found in the book of Ruth, where it refers not to marriage between a man and a woman, but to the strong bond that was formed between the Moabite woman Ruth and her mother-in-law Naomi.
Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters! Why would you go with me? Are there still sons in my womb that they may be your husbands?”... but Ruth clung to [dabaq] her... Boaz said to her, “It has been fully told to me, all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and that you forsook [azab] your father and mother and your native land and have come to a people that you did not know before.” (Ruth 1:11, 14; 2:11)
The author of Ruth states that Ruth “forsook [her] father and mother,” and uses the verb daqab to describe Ruth’s relationship with her mother-in-law. The parallel with Genesis 2:24 is so strong that it seems that the author of Ruth must have been alluding to Gen. 2:24, or vice versa. However, this does not refer to a relationship between a man and a woman, but between two women.
To be sure, Ruth and Naomi were not lesbian lovers. Both of them had been married to a husband previously (Ruth 1:2, 4), and the statement that Ruth “clung to” Naomi does not imply marriage, merely a strong bond between the two women. Nevertheless, the fact remains that Genesis 2:24 — which is used by many Christians to condemn same-sex relationships — finds its strongest parallel within the Hebrew Bible in a passage that describes a relationship between two women. Truly ironic.
“Marriage” is “One Man + One Woman”?
In response to the legalization of gay marriage in the United States, many Christians have pushed back by claiming that the Bible defines marriage as “one man and one woman.” In support of this, they almost invariably quote Genesis 2:24, even though (as we saw above) this verse in its original context was addressing the issue of intermarriage, not gay marriage. However, is there anything else in the Bible to support a normative definition of marriage as “one man + one woman”?
On the contrary, rather than supporting this view of marriage, the Bible repeatedly undermines it. Many of the heroes and patriarchs of the Old Testament had multiple wives, including Abraham (Gen. 16:3; 25:1), Jacob (Gen. 29:21-30:13), Esau (Gen. 26:34; 28:9), Elkanah (1 Sam. 1:1-2), and David (1 Sam. 25:42-44; 2 Sam. 3:2-5; 5:13). In none of these instances were the marriages condemned. Similarly, in the Mosaic Law, allowances are made for multiple wives, with regulations for how wives and heirs are to be treated in polygamous marriages (Exod. 21:10-11; Deut. 21:15-17). In fact, it was required for a man to marry his brother’s wife if his brother died (Deut. 25:5-10). Presumably, this would apply even if the brother was already married, in which case polygamy would not only be permitted but commanded.
There are a few passages that are often considered to condemn polygamy, but these do not stand up under examination. First, Genesis 2:24 is often appealed to, as it states that “two” shall become “one flesh.” However, as we saw above, Gen. 2:24 was not originally written to provide a normative definition of marriage, but to refute those who condemned intermarriage. Furthermore, even if Gen. 2:24 were defining marriage, there is no indication that a man cannot become “one flesh” with multiple women.
Another passage that is sometimes considered to condemn polygamy is 1 Kings 11:1-10, in which God punishes Solomon for his marriages with 1000 foreign women. However, the point of this passage is not to show that polygamy is wrong, as it was permitted in the case of Solomon’s father David. Rather, it is clear that “Yahweh was angry with Solomon because he shifted his allegiance away from Yahweh“ (1 Kgs. 11:9). By marrying hundreds of foreign women, Solomon had been drawn away to worship other gods above Yahweh. Therefore, this passage does not condemn polygamy, either.
Finally, three passages from Paul’s letters are often appealed to, as these passages state that leaders in the church must be “the husband of one wife” (1 Tim. 3:2, 12; Titus 1:6). However, these passages use an unusual Greek phrase (mias gunaikos andra) which could be translated either as “one wife man” (prohibiting polygyny) or “a wife man” (requiring that a leader be married). Even if it is correctly translated as “the husband of one wife,” this requirement is only made of leaders in the church, not of all people everywhere.
Therefore, the concept of marriage being "one man + one woman" is certainly foreign to the Bible, as the Bible repeatedly condones polygamy, and possibly even commands it under special circumstances. I'm not suggesting that polygamy should be made legal, but this shows that there is no single normative definition of marriage throughout the Bible. As such, it's ridiculous to claim that "God's definition of marriage" precludes same-sex marriages.
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[1] The Hebrew word ‘ezer is often translated here as “helper” or “helpmeet.” However, this conveys the idea that the woman was originally created in a position of lower authority than the man, which is incorrect. ‘Ezer does not imply a position of lower authority, as God is often referred to as our “help” (‘ezer): see Exod. 18:4; Deut. 33:7; Psa. 33:20; 70:5; 115:9-11; Hos. 13:9. “Companion” better conveys the idea of what is meant by ‘ezer in this verse.
[2] One of the most well-known examples is the Immanu’el prophecy of Isaiah 7:14, which originally applied to a child that was born in the time of Isaiah (7:13-17), but was applied to Jesus by Matthew (1:23). There are many other examples as well, of which the following are only a sample: Matt. 4:14-16 cf. Isa. 8:1-10:19; Rom. 9:24-25 cf. Hos. 1:10-11; Rom. 9:26 cf. Hos. 2:21-23; 1 Cor. 9:9-10 cf. Deut. 25:4; 2 Cor. 6:2 cf. Isa. 49:8-18; Gal. 3:16 cf. Gen. 12:7; Gal. 4:22-31; Eph. 5:29-32 cf. Gen. 2:24.
[3] https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h5800/kjv/wlc/0-1/
[4] Megan Warner, “‘Therefore a Man Leaves His Father and His Mother and Clings to His Wife’: Marriage and Intermarriage in Genesis 2:24,” Journal of Biblical Literature 136, no. 2 (2017), 277.
[6] There is a general consensus, based on multiple textual considerations, that the book of Ruth was written between the time of Josiah and Ezra-Nehemiah, although there is debate about when exactly. See https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/who-wrote-ruth
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