And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they two shall be one flesh?
Read Chapter 19
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
These words were pronounced by Adam. Genesis ii. 24.
And they two shall be in one flesh. I translate thus with submission to better judges; yet the sense may be, by a kind of Hebraism, they shall be esteemed as one person. (Witham)
“What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder.” God “has joined” in making one flesh of man and woman; this no man can put asunder, unless perhaps God alone. Man “puts asunder” when we dismiss our first wife in desire of a second; God, who also had joined together, puts asunder, when by consent for God’s service, we so have our wives as though not having them. .
Then he showed that it is a fearful thing to tamper with this law. When establishing this law, he did not say, “Therefore, do not sever or separate” but “What God has joined together, let man not separate.” If you quote Moses, I will quote the God of Moses, and with him I am always strong. For God from the beginning made them male and female. This law is very old, even if it appears human beings have recently discovered it. It is firmly fixed. And God did not simply bring the woman to her husband but ordered her also to leave her father and mother. And he not only ordered the man to go to the woman but also to cling to her, showing by his way of speaking that they could not be separated. And not even with this was God satisfied, but he sought also for another greater union: “for the two shall be one flesh.” The Gospel of Matthew, Homily
But mark Him arguing strongly not from the creation only, but also from His command. For He said not, that He made one man and one woman only, but that He also gave this command that the one man should be joined to the one woman. But if it had been His will that he should put this one away, and bring in another, when He had made one man, He would have formed many women.
But now both by the manner of the creation, and by the manner of lawgiving, He showed that one man must dwell with one woman continually, and never break off from her.
