Genesis 2:24 - Cleave to, Not Cleaver

 

Genesis 2:24

NKJV

Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

 

NLT

This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.

 

The King James version says, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”

 

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines cleave as:  to stay very close to (someone); to stick closely to (something).

 

I’ve also read that it means to cling.  So, if the bible says we are cleave to our spouse…why don’t we? To be honest, there are times that I’m uncleavable.  Pretty sure there are times my bride wants to take a cleaver to me! We got married based on what we didn’t know. My bride saw a lot of my warts and moles (metaphorically speaking) before we got married, but she didn’t see them all.  I held some of those back because I had trouble with possible rejection. She married me anyway, and we’ve been at it for 33 years this year. It’s been the easiest 33 years of my life…HA! Bet it hasn’t been easy for her either. But we made the choice to stick with the “become one flesh”. That’s our story, yours may be different.

 

Marriage only works if you both work at it. But it’s really not the easiest thing you’ll ever do.  The bible talks about three cords are not easily broken. That’s true, but we always have to keep God as one of those strands. If we don’t, then things are going to fall apart. We can both be believers and still make mistakes; mistakes that can be catastrophic to each other. We’re going to say and do things that cause pain and chaos. Any marriage can be saved, but both of you have to be willing to work at it.

 

I recommend grace, maybe mercy would be better.  I’ve heard mercy is defined as not getting punished for my wrongdoing; and grace defined as someone else taking the punishment for my wrongdoing. Grace is the Hebrew word Chanan or the Greek word Charis, meaning “the state of kindness and favor toward someone, often with a focus on a benefit given to the object.”  So maybe both of these should be offered, mercy and grace. And to be honest, as believers, we’ve already been given this.  The best we can do is pass it on to others.

 

Cleave together,

cej