The bridegroom from heaven

 I always thought Genesis 2:24 should have read differently. The books of Moses clearly advocate a male dominated culture. In my view it should have been "... a woman will leave her father and mother ...". That was in fact the practice in Israel and the Middle East. A woman was under the guardianship of her father until she got married when her husband became her guardian. In South Africa, until 1984, a woman married in community of property was regarded a minor in law. Her legal rights were the same as those of an under age child.

So why does Genesis 2:24 read: "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife ...". When 'therefore' is encountered in a reading one should read the sentence before it to see what it's there for! Genesis 2:23 contains Adam's exclamation: "... bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh ...". But what has that to do with a man leaving father and mother?

In the books of the prophets Israel is referred to as the wife of her Maker. Genesis 2:24 gives us a clue that her heavenly husband would leave his home and take on flesh and be joined to her, becoming one with her.

The most famous rabbi of all time used parables to explain the Kingdom of Heaven. In one of them he said it is like a man who discovered a treasure hidden in a field. He covered it up and was so delighted that he sold all his possession and bought the field. This parable can be explained as follows:

The field is the earth which was given to man as described in Genesis 1:28 and Psalm 8:6. All plants and animals were given to mankind to care for. We have not been very good at it. For the most part we have been fighting over which man would be in charge. The treasure is the righteous people, the elect, the chosen ones. The new owner sold his position in heaven to live with his bride.

But how does she become bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh? For this to happen he had to shed his blood and obtain a new body. This he did, and when his people are resurrected they receive the same type of body: "... when he appears we shall be like him ..."!

The above thoughts are not original. They were first hinted at by the second most famous expounder of the Law of Moses who said Genesis 2:24 contained a mystery.

Brothers

I have always found Psalm 133 a little strange. What does "It is like the precious oil ... upon ... Aaron's beard" got to do with   "See how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity"? None of the commentaries really satisfied my curiosity regarding this unusual juxtaposition.

Then I thought about brothers in the Bible and how seldom they related to one another in love. Moses and Aaron served God together for 40 years. I am not aware of any other such connection between brothers in the Bible. On the contrary, the relationships between brothers were often acrimonious.

The very first man born of a woman murdered his brother (Genesis 4:8). When God found a man with whom he could start a nation, his eldest son had to leave home while in his teens (Genesis 21:9-14). Jacob feared for his life because of his twin brother (Genesis 27:41). Jacob's sons came very close to killing their brother, but sold him into slavery instead (Genesis 37:18, 28).

Psalm 133 was written by David. His brothers did not treat him kindly when he went to bring them food while they were at the battle front (1 Samuel 17:28). But his greatest heartache must have been the toxic relationships among his sons. Absalom killed Amnon because he had raped his sister (2 Samuel 13:28). Even Solomon put one of his brothers to death because he had made a grab for the throne (1 Kings 1:5; 2:25).

On which relationships David was reflecting we can only wonder. But he must have found comfort in reading about Moses and Aaron, even though their relationship had also gone through an unhealthy patch (Numbers 12:1).