CLEAVING

We read in Matthew 19:5 as Jesus quotes Genesis 2:24: “For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?” (KJV) In the older translations of the Bible the word cleave was used and the later versions choose terms like ‘to join to’ or ‘to adhere to’ or be ‘united to’ all meaning “and the two shall become one flesh.” This was “so they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” (19:6) Thus we get the common phrase ‘leave and cleave.’

Leaving and cleaving refers to leaving your old family unit (your mother and father) to form and to attach (cleave) to your new lover to form a new family.

Many marriages suffer difficulties because either the man or the woman or both are not cleaving as the scripture requires us to do. If cleaving does not happen, then the marriage may get turned around again and one or the other ‘leaves’ again.

So we Leave, Weave, Cleave… or Grieve. You ain’t your momma and daddy’s no more.

“I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you.” Jesus