Detachment as a Prerequisite for a Happy Family: A Study of Genesis 2:24

Abstract

The narrator of the second account of creation, precisely on God’s solicitous plan to find a fitting partner for man, concludes with an insightful observation that serves both as a conclusion and an interpretation: “Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). In a strong patrilineal culture in which this text was composed, presenting a man as the one leaving home to join his wife calls for a profound reflection on the message of this Biblical text in a context that appears as an etiology. The point of emphasis seems to rest on the necessity of detachment as a necessary condition in order to create an efficacious bond between the man and “his helper as his partner” (Genesis 2:18). Employing a literary exegetical approach, this paper attempts to explain the sociological and theological implications of Genesis 2:24. Self-effacement interpreted as “leaving father and mother” in Genesis 2:24 prepares a man and a woman for a new life where they are responsibly free to form “one flesh”, according to the divine plan.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2016.v7n4p526