Joined (4347) (proskollao from prós = to, toward, in compounds prós implies motion, direction + kollao = to glue) literally means to glue one thing to another so that it cleaves or adheres. To unite. To cleave. To be united with. To join oneself to closely. To stick to. It is used metaphorically in this verse to describe the marriage bond. To adhere to closely, be faithfully devoted to. Proskollao was a medical term used to describe the uniting of wounds. Here this compound verb denotes the most intimate union. This verb emphasizes not only permanence but also unity of the two who have been "glued" together. Take a picture of a husband and another of his wife and glue them together. Allow time for the glue to set. What happens when you try to take the two individual pictures apart? Do you see what God is saying about the dissolution of the marriage covenant between a husband and a wife? Proskollao - Used in the Mt 19:5, Mark 10:7, Acts 5:36 (in the sense of "to join" but not found in all Greek manuscripts), Eph 5:31. Proskollao - 18v in the non-apocryphal Septuagint - Gen 2:24; Lev 19:31; Num 36:7, 9; Deut 11:22; 13:17; 28:21; Josh 23:8; Ruth 2:21, 23; 2 Sam 23:10; Job 41:17; Ps 73:28; Ezek 29:4; Dan 2:43 Ruth 2:21 Then Ruth the Moabitess said, "Furthermore, he said to me, 'You should stay close to my servants until they have finished all my harvest.'"...23 So she stayed close by the maids of Boaz in order to glean until the end of the barley harvest and the wheat harvest. And she lived with her mother-in-law. Deuteronomy 11:22 "For if you are careful to keep all this commandment which I am commanding you to do, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and hold fast to Him, Deuteronomy 13:17 "Nothing from that which is put under the ban shall cling to your hand, in order that the LORD may turn from His burning anger and show mercy to you, and have compassion on you and make you increase, just as He has sworn to your fathers, Deuteronomy 28:21 "The LORD will make the pestilence cling to you until He has consumed you from the land where you are entering to possess it. Joshua 23:8 "But you are to cling to the LORD your God, as you have done to this day. Job 41:17 "They (scales - Job 41:15, 16) are joined one to another; They clasp each other and cannot be separated. Psalm 73:28 But as for me, the nearness (proskollao - to cleave close to) of God is my good; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, That I may tell of all Your works. Hughes comments that... there is an amazing unity in marriage. The sexual union entails mysterious and sacred depths. That men and women become “one flesh” suggests an exchange of soul and indicates something of the psychological depth of the marital union. Marriage ideally produces two people who are as much the same person as two people can be. Christians in marriage have the same Lord, the same family, the same children, the same future, and the same destiny. (Hughes, R. K.: Ephesians: The Mystery of the Body of Christ. Crossway Books) (Or see Ephesians 5:21-33 - Commentary --- click Chapter 21, p 181) AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH: kai esontai (3PFMI) oi duo eis sarka mian.: (Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:5; Mark 10:7,8; 1Corinthians 6:16) The two shall become one flesh - This is a very real union, mystical to be sure, but nevertheless very real! We seem to have forgotten the significance of the sanctity and holiness of this union in our modern cultural which has gone to great lengths to remove God and godliness from America. American marriages are in trouble. When a country's families are in trouble, that country is in trouble. And it all begins because of our rejection of God's supreme authority and right to rule our land and our lives. Pray for revival (2Chr 7:13,14). See related study of Covenant: As It Relates to Marriage. In the context of Paul's charge to the husband to love his wife as Christ loves His Bride, this verse clearly speaks of and calls for an "unbreakable" love. The husband is now united to the wife in a supernatural, mystical way and even as Christ will never break this union with His Bride, Spirit filled husbands (and wives for that matter) are called to lay aside the "old man" with his selfish thoughts of separating from one another and of tearing the "one body" apart! Perish the thought dear Spirit filled believer! What a radical concept Paul introduced in an age (first century and our "modern" era) in which men and women changed partners much like they changed clothes!