Cleave

It is interesting that Moses used the verb "cleave" (davak- follow hard, pursue, join, keep fast), to apply to our relationship with God:
"But ye that did cleave unto the LORD your God are alive every one of you this day." 
                                                                                                          Deut. 4:4
"Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; Him shalt thou serve, and to Him shalt thou cleave, and swear by His name."   Deut. 10:20
"For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to cleave unto Him.."  Deut. 11:22
"Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear Him, and keep His commandments, and obey His voice, and you shall serve Him, and cleave unto Him."  Deut. 13:4
"That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey His voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto Him: for He is thy life, and the length of thy days..."  Deut. 30:20
"Who, when he (Barnabas) came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and had exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave ("prosmeno" Grk.-abide, dwell, hold fast, persevere, adhere to, be steadfastly devoted) unto the Lord."  Acts 12:23

Scripture is strong in instructing us that our relationship to God should be one of "cleaving" to Him. Moses said that it is a matter of life and death.
We can all understand the need to cleave to God. However, surprisingly, there is another relationship in which the LORD allows, even commands, that we "cleave" to someone other than Him. It is in the relationship of husband to wife.
The LORD brought every creature of the ground and the air to Adam to see what he would name them. Whatever Adam named them, that would be their names (Gen. 2:19-20). Adam, in naming creation, also defined it.
God then creates a help meet for Adam from Adam's own flesh. The term "help meet" in Hebrew, "ezer", means not only to be a help, but also to aid, defend, surround and protect. This is a powerful, wonderful thing. About this, scripture declares:
"Therefore, shall a man leave (azav-forsake, fail, refuse, leave, abandon, neglect, desert, relinquish, destitute) his father and his mother, and shall cleave (davak- follow hard, pursue, join, keep fast) unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh (echad)."  Gen. 2:24
So important is the cleaving relationship of husband to wife, that it requires a kind of "leaving" of other relationships, even those relationships that defined and named who a man was before cleaving to the wife. In fact, the very Hebrew word used for man, "adam", in verses previous to this one, changes in this verse to "iysh".  Iysh means "champion, great man, high (degree). The very character and purpose of man has changed in God's eyes and Word when he cleaves to the woman. It is interesting that the man and woman involved are not described as cleaving to each other. The man is the one who cleaves to the wife. Men, does that sound unfair? There is a reason for it, however.
The New Testament reveals why the relationship of husband to wife is allowed to be characterized by the same "cleaving" that man is to have with God.
The Apostle Paul taught about the "echad" (see Gen 2:24 above) cleaving of husband to wife as a shadow and type of Christ's relationship with the Church (Eph. 5:23-24). Christ cleaves to the Church, His Bride. It is even through this echad, as a result of cleaving with the Church, that Christ sanctifies and cleanses it with the washing of the Word (v. 26).  Jesus sends the Comforter (Holy Spirit) to us, who will abide in us for ever (Jn. 14:16). Thankfully, our Christ Husband has cleaved onto us, and will not let us go:
"...Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me, I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that scripture might be fulfilled."   Jn. 17:11-12, 18:9
"All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will be no means cast out...This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day."   Jn. 6:37, 39
"...lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age...I will never leave you nor forsake you."   Mt. 28:20, Heb. 13:5
Jesus cleaves to us, His Bride, like the man is to cleave to his wife. Jesus does not break the Word of God, because He is the Word.
There is a very interesting account from scripture of a king and his wife. The king, Ahasuerus ("I am silent and humble" and also now believed to mean "lion-king"), was seemingly a lax king, as Biblical kings go, even though he was the king of the world's greatest empire at the time: Media-Persia ("in the midst of purity and splendor"). He allowed his advisors and counsellors to have great authority in his realm. He even gave his signet ring, a symbol of his authority, to his advisor, Haman ("magnificent"), to do with as Haman pleased, even if it was the killing of thousands (Est. 3:10-11). If a decree was sealed with the signet ring of the king, it could never be revoked (Est. 8:8). Such was the importance of the king's seal, or signet. Imagine a king who would be so trusting, almost indifferent, with the  symbol of his power! He even followed the advice of Haman, honoring a man, who turned out to be Mordecai, by putting his own royal robes on him, and allowing the man to ride the king's own horse (Est. 6:7-10). This was not a king who seemed to be tied to his possessions, or even to his own power.
On one occasion, however, this king was not lax. Through certain circumstances, the king found the evil Haman sprawled upon the couch where his Queen, Esther, was seated. The king became so stirred, and outraged, that the words with which he condemned Haman were such a powerful judgment, that they became a physical substance that covered Haman's face (Est. 7:8). That's how much power and authority is in the king's mouth. The king had Haman and his ten sons hanged (Est. 7:9-10, 9:13). The king didn't bestir himself with many things, not even his own power, but when it came to someone touching Esther, the royal bride, that was a different story.
The command for a man to cleave unto his wife is not unfair, nor unreasonable, it is prophetic. As the man, Adam, was to cleave unto his wife, even as the "lion-king" cleaved unto his wife, even more so Christ cleaves Himself to His Bride for ever.

Our Father commands us to cleave to Him, and His Son eternally cleaves to us, His Bride.


"Abide With Me"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5nbq_VEea0


"His Eye Is On The Sparrow"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7Pk5YMkEcg