WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO CLEAVE?
Part 4

“I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.”
(Song of Songs 6:3).

Today we look at the last three Hebrews words used for “cleave.”

8. ABIDE/STAY CLOSE HERE

We find these words in the book of Ruth. Let’s read in Ruth 2:8, 33 (HCSB): “Then Boaz said to Ruth, ‘Listen, my daughter. Don’t go and gather grain in another field, and don’t leave this one, but STAY HERE CLOSE (dabaq) . . . Ruth STAYED CLOSE (dabaq) . . .“

God’s Word is not an ordinary book. Every line is alive with the power of God. Every story of a Bible character is not only a story about their lives but written for our example. 1 Corinthians 10:11 says: “Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.”

Although the above words were spoken directly to Ruth, I believe God also speaks His word to every mother through this Scripture. He says to us: “Don’t go and glean in another field. I have given you your field in which to glean. It is my perfect and best will for you.  Don’t leave it. Stay close.”

If God has given you children, then this is the field He has given to you. He doesn’t give you children to give to someone else to look after. He gives them to you to love, nurture, train, and prepare for the future and for eternity.

Ruth could have looked over at other fields and thought, “Oh, there is so much more to glean over there, but now I am stuck here.” Instead, she submitted to Boaz’ words and ultimately received incredible blessings. She was blessed to marry Boaz. She became the great-grandmother of King David and in the Messianic line of the birth of Jesus.

These words also speak into our marriages because it is the same word that is used to describe marriage. God wants you to stay close to your husband. He doesn’t want you to look at any other man. If you are tempted, resist these destructive thoughts in the power of the name of Jesus. Stay close to your husband. Don’t compare your marriage with another marriage. This is your marriage and it will be different and special to you and your husband.

You can have the greatest marriage as you make it the greatest marriage. But you need to work in your field of marriage.

9. KEEP

Numbers 36:7, 9, 12 speak about keeping to our own inheritance. God wants you to keep to your own marriage. He wants you to find your sustenance, satisfaction, delight, and inheritance in your own marriage.

Read Proverbs 5:15-20 which is an allegory of private property versus common property and this Scripture reveals that marriage is private property. Verse 15 and 17  (AMP) say: “Drink water from your own cistern (of a pure marriage relationship) and fresh running water from your own well . . . Confine Yourself to your own wife. Let your children be yours alone, and not the children of strengthens with you.”

Our wedding vows also use the word “keep.”

“Wilt thou have this man to be thy wedded husband to live together after God’s ordinance in the Holy Estate of matrimony? Wilt thou love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all other keep thee only unto him as long as you both shall live?”

We covenant to keep ourselves only for our husband.

10. JOINED

We find this word in the description about the leviathan in Job 41:15-17 (HCSB): “His pride is in his rows of scales, CLOSELY SEALED TOGETHER (dabaq). One scale is so close to another that no air can pass between them. “ They are joined so closely that they cannot be separated.

When Jesus was on earth, He took Genesis 2:14 to a higher level. When answering the Pharisees about marriage, He said in Matthew 19:4, 5 (            HCSB): “’Haven’t’ you read,’ He replied, ‘that He who created them in the beginning made them male and female,’ and He also said: ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh? So they are no longer two, but one flesh.’”

Jesus not only confirmed God’s original words but elevated them to a greater level: “So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, man must not sperate.’”

This means they are to be glued together, never to come apart. We are to be glued together so that we make it difficult for anything or anyone to pull us apart.

My grandson said to me recently, “Nana, they call a husband and wife a couple. But doesn’t God say they are one?

“Yes, you are absolutely correct,” I replied.

Maybe, rather than saying, “Look at that lovely couple walking along,” we should say, “What a lovely “oneness” walking together.”

PRAYER:

“Dear Father, please help me to remember that my husband and I are not two but one. You want us to be one—physically, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. Pease help me to create this oneness together. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I’m keeping my own vineyard and my own marriage.