Page 911 … One man; One woman
Then you refer to “one man and one woman” – a reference to Genesis 2:24 (which speaks of the Elohim’s creation of Eve from Adam’s rib); a verse that reads – “Therefore a man leaves his father & his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.”
Now on its face, I can see why you might think that this verse sanctifies a one-man-one-woman marriage as the only viable marital union in the eyes of the Lord. And yet there are few important facts you are apparently overlooking …
First of all, as I have pointed out a number of times previously in this conversation, the Bible itself upholds many kinds of marital relationships – many of which that we today view to be unacceptable or even immoral; including the Levirate marriage (where a brother-in-law was expected to marry his dead brother’s wife and produce children with her – see Deuteronomy 25:5-10), the keeping of marital concubines (a la Abraham, Jacob, Caleb, Saul, David, and Solomon), the marital union of a rapist with his victim (see Deuteronomy 22:28-29), the marital union of man and his slave(s) (see Genesis 16 & Exodus 21:4), the marital union of a soldier and his prisoner(s) of war (see Numbers 31:1-18 & Deuteronomy 21:11-14), and even outright polygamy (see Genesis 4:19, Genesis 26:34, Genesis 29:28, Judges 8:30 & 2 Chronicles 13:21).
Secondly, just because God appears to sanctify a heterosexual marriage does not mean that he is simultaneously denouncing all other forms thereof. Indeed, if he were truly doing so, then He would have clearly said the same … And He didn’t … So He doesn’t … period!
Thirdly & finally, as I have indirectly mentioned a few times in this thread, it was actually the Elohim (Strong’s #430; directly translated as the plural word “godS”) who made this decree – not God Himself (which would have been written in Hebrew as either YHWH – Strong’s #3068, or Adonai – Strong’s #136) … The Elohim (actually “fallen angels” who liked to fool humans by posing as God in the Old Testament) were all about procreation. They wanted humankind to “rule”, to “tyrannically subdue”, and to “overfill” the Earth (i.e. the Hebrew words radah – Strong’s #7287 & kabash – Strong’s #3533 & male – Strong’s #4390 in Genesis 1:28). In contrast, YHWH wanted us all to be primarily peaceful, non-sexual stewards of the Garden of Eden (see Genesis 2:15), but that is possibly a topic better reserved for another day.
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