Genesis 2:24

This verse clarifies God’s purpose in marriage. It involves leaving parents and cleaving to one’s spouse. [Note: See Mathews, pp. 222-24.]

". . . Israelite marriage was usually patrilocal, that is, the man continued to live in or near his parents’ home. It was the wife who left home to join her husband." [Note: Wenham, p. 70.]

Leaving and cleaving probably means both psychological and physical separation and union under normal conditions. A newly married couple is wise to establish relative independence from both sets of parents emotionally, physically, financially, and in other ways. The couple also needs to establish commitment to one another. Cleaving resembles weaving two threads into one new piece of cloth. The word suggests the ideas of passion and permanence. In marriage a man’s priorities change. Before they were primarily to his parents, but now they are primarily to his wife. Moses was probably correcting cultures that gave parental bonds priority over marital bonds. [Note: Waltke, Genesis, p. 90.] Marriage also involves physical consummation that unites two individuals as "one flesh" (i.e., in union or unity, [Note: Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, 2:334.] "a new family" [Note: The NET Bible note on 2:24.] ). This is a strong argument for monogamy. "One flesh" is not the same as marriage (1 Corinthians 6:16). For a marriage to exist there must also be a commitment to "leave" parents and "cleave" to one’s spouse from then on (cf. Matthew 19:5; et al.). The bond of marriage (spouse) also takes priority over the bond of procreation (children).