The concept of “Leave” and “Cleave” come from Genesis 2:24 and it is about a Man to leave his family and join a woman and they live together inseparably. With the beauty of God’s creation, a man to leave alone was not good to God. The Man was incomplete, he needed suitable helper. In the first creation God create both male and female in one person (Genesis 1:27). In Genesis 2:21-22 God created extracted the woman in the Man. That extraction symbolizes the origin of marriage and the beginning of the human family. The intention of God about marriage that husband and wife have a stable marital relationship. A marriage to be stable requires the commitment from both sides.
Culturally, the woman leaves her parents and go for the ma. But, in Genesis 2:24, God said that the Man shall leaver his parents and go for the woman. This leaving is not about geography or about physical leaving. It is about something psychological and spiritual. It is about forgetting the existing relationship between parents, siblings and other family members and join a new relationship with his wife. Among many issues that marriages have, the involvement of family members is on the top. We have seen many marriages here in Rwanda being destroyed since men wanted their wives to treat their mothers or sisters as the decision maker in the married couple. That is the contradiction because God created one man to join one woman.
Another tendency today in marriages, is that people are not united forever. We can see some people even Christians who are divorcing. Some pastors may even encourage divorces of church members. When we are marrying people, they repeat the vows of being separated by death or the coming of Jesus Christ. Now we can ask ourselves, where does the idea of churches to support divorce? Divorce, separation and other factors that contribute to the destruction of the marriage is not divine. Wife and husband should cleave together until death separate them.
Lastly, cleaving also means becoming one flesh. Sharing your bodies is not only physical or having sex. It is also about sharing thoughts, happiness, pain, emotions, success, failures, and feelings. You share everything that you have. When God gave Adam and Eve that order, he was showing them that they are equally made. This sharing and cleaving brings joy and happiness. It makes a partner feel that he is supported. Cleaving also protects our salvation. When married Christians are bound to their marriage partners, they protect themselves from sins. Being married protects us from all evils that attack single people including adultery and fornication. Marriage offers protection to people in terms of the community when you are really attached.
To conclude, we can say that “leave” and “cleave” requires husband and wife to quit their families physically, emotionally and physiologically and go live by their own to honor God and create intimacy.