How Does A Man Commit To Marriage?
We know that Scripture is the best interpreter of Scripture and we’ve already seen that the Hebrew word “dabaq” as used in Genesis 2:24 means sex. But that’s a special meaning, just for that passage, because everywhere else that the word “dabaq” is used in the Bible (for human interactions) it means to cling, to join, to keep close. In other words, it means commitment.
Jerome, (the original MGTOW who famously stated that if he wanted a companion he’d get a dog), not only hated sex and everything related to sexual pleasure but he was selected as the man to make the official translation of the Bible for the early church. So, we might quibble about the usage of the word “dabaq” in 1st Kings 11:2, which really should read that King Solomon loved to have sex with his wives. Given that Solomon was the wisest of all men he probably figured out a way to remember the names of all 700 of his wives and all 300 of his concubines, but he didn’t have 1000 women because he got off on his commitment to them.
However, the fact is, Moses chose to use the word that means commitment in order to describe the act of sex in Genesis 2:24. The impact of this is even more apparent when we look at the Greek word “kollao” which was used to translate the word “dabaq” when Jesus quoted Genesis 2:24 in Matthew 19. The word “kollao” (as used for human relationships) means to glue, to unite, to join; to knit together. So in Hebrew we have the word that generally means commitment and in Greek we have the word that means to glue together, to bind and join being used for the act of marriage, which is sexual intercourse.
From the language used, we can see that when the man has sex with the woman, that is the act of marriage and with that act the man makes his commitment of loyalty and faithfulness to the woman. Every single time. Think of it as a renewal of the commitment every time he does it.
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