Of Eunuchs and Predators: Matthew 19:1-12 in a Cultural Context

Abstract

In this essay I hold the view that the point at issue in Matthew 19:1-12 is less one of divorce and more of a contrast between two forms of wife-husband relationship within a marriage: one, the traditional form, and the other, an alternative form deriving from the values of the forthcoming Kingdom that Jesus proposes to his disciples. In that cultural context, male honor depended, among other things, on the type of relations men might have with theirs wives, something that was defined by the general code for masculinity. Deviations from the male role would lead to doubts about an individual's "manliness," and even to his "social or symbolic castration," and thus dishonor. In my opinion, Jesus' final paradoxical words (vv 10-12) must be understood in that light.