HOMOSEXUALITY AND THE BIBLE
BIBLE STUDY
19
Was the great biblical visionary, Daniel, a eunuch? Previously, we have seen that often when men were taken into captivity, they were castrated and made eunuchs. The book of Daniel begins with the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, laying siege to Jerusalem. He defeats the Israelites and brings the captives home to Babylonia. He then orders Ashpenaz, the chief of his court officials (sarisiv–i.e. eunuchs), to bring in some of the Israelite royal family and nobility. Nebuchadnezzar specifies that he wants young men without any physical defect, handsome and intelligent. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they would enter into the king’s service.
Ashpenaz chose four–Daniel whom he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah, whom he called Shadrach, Mishael, whom he called Meshach, and Azaariah, whom he called Abednego. (Daniel 1:1-7). And in verses 17 and 20 we read: As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all letters and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in visions and dreams…And in every matter of wisdom and understanding concerning which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom.
Was Daniel a eunuch? Though the bible is not explicit to state that he is, we find essential elements to infer that he was:
1. He was a captive, and many men were made eunuchs when they were captured by enemies;
2. He was placed under the care of the chief of eunuchs, most likely because he had been made one;
3. He would be trained for three years, after which he would “enter into the service of the king.” In other words, he would become a court official (who by and large were eunuchs.)
4. Along with his three companions, God gifted him with the ability to have prophetic visions and to interpret dreams, such that the king found their skills to be ten times better than all the magicians and sorcerers in the land, skills which eunuchs throughout the bible seem to possess.
We would do well to notice that the bible is clear that God specifically blesses eunuchs with special gifts of learning and discernment, such as we read here in Daniel. This is a far cry from Deuteronomy 23:1, which indicates that eunuchs were to be cut off and not allowed into the Temple.
In keeping with stories of eunuchs elsewhere in the bible, Daniel also had prophetic visions and dreams, along with the ability to interpret his dreams, as well as the dreams of others. He uses his gifts to warn the king of impending doom and to save the lives of others.
Time passes, and Nebuchadnezzar has a troubling dream. He calls together all the magicians and sorcerers of the land and demands that they not only interpret the dream, but to tell him what the dream was to begin with. When they fail to comply, he condemns them to death. Daniel goes to his three compatriots, and together they pray, and God reveals to Daniel the mystery of the dream, which Daniel in turn shares with the king. In utter amazement, the king does homage to Daniel, elevates him in rank and declares Daniel’s God to be God of gods (2:47).
However, it isn’t too long before the king reverts back to idolatry. He sets up a golden idol and commands all to bow before it, under pain of execution by fire. However, Daniel’s friends, Sharach, Meshach, and Abednego, who serve the God of Israel, refuse to bow to the idol, so the king has them thrown into a fiery furnace. The fire was so hot that the men who threw them into the furnace were themselves burned to death. Not only did the Israelites not burn, they were seen to be walking in the furnace with a fourth entity, who looked “…like a son of the gods.” (3:25).
More time passes, and king Darius ascends the throne. Daniel by now has been ranked third in the kingdom and continues to distinguish himself. Though Daniel is a favorite of Darius, the king is tricked by Daniel’s enemies into throwing him into a den of lions for praying to God. Again God intervenes and Daniel is saved, which so impresses Darius that he issues a decree that all Babylonians should acknowledge and recognize the supremacy of Daniel’s God.
In the end, these four Israelites, whom we can most certainly assume had been made eunuchs, were given God’s support and protection, in the face not only of persecution, but of execution as well. God makes them the bearers and revealers of God’s miracles.
What, if anything, does the bible have to say about and to transsexuals? Can we deduce anything from our studies on eunuchs? Let us refer to Jesus’ teaching on eunuchs in Matthew 19:11 and 12: “Not everyone can accept this teaching, but only those to whom it has been given. For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by people; and others have renounced marriage because of the realm of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”
Today we read about transsexuality and we find the label, gender dysphoria, the latter word taken from the Greek meaning hard to bear; a state of feeling unwell or unhappy; that is, someone who finds their natal gender out of synch with their psychological and emotional sense of gender–men trapped in women’s bodies–women trapped in men’s bodies. While there is no instance of gender dysphoria in scripture, eunuchs who have been made that way by people are, in a sense, no longer people of their original gender–in a way, they have been rendered into having no gender at all. Too, those with gender dysphoria, like their gay brothers, lesbian sisters and bisexual siblings, have been born that way. By using Jesus’ definition of eunuch then, we find a place and a scriptural relevancy for transgendered people as relational eunuchs.
A question that I don’t believe is asked very often, if asked at all: how important is gender to God in the grand scheme of things? One source for the answer might be found in Matthew 22:23-33, repeated in Mark 12:18-27 and Luke 20:27-40. Here we find the parable of the seven who married the same woman: One day, the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection posed a question to Jesus. According to the Law, if a man dies without producing heirs, his brother must marry the widow and have children for him. There were seven brothers. The married first brother died childless, so the second married the widow. Now the second dies childless and she is passed down to the third, and so on through all seven brothers. Finally the widow dies. The Sadducees want to know, if there is a resurrection, whose wife will she be, since all the seven had her? Jesus replies, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection, people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.”
What relevancy can we find in this parable? First, that gender is a distinction peculiar to life on earth, and not at all a part of the grand scheme. Secondly, that gender, as well as sexuality is a temporary gift from God to humankind. One of the dichotomies of popular piety is the concept that may have developed around the words of Jesus which taught that those who seek to save their lives will lose it, and those who lose their lives for Jesus’ sake will find it. It is the concept of asceticism–the idea that to be a righteous individual one must live a life of self-denial and self-sacrifice as a measure of spiritual discipline. It is the challenge that many churches bandy about in the direction of homosexuals and the transgendered that who they are is God’s burden to them that they must bear, by not responding to their deepest emotional and psychological as well as physical needs.
Do these churches not remember God’s words in the Garden? “It is not good for humans to be alone. I will make suitable helpers for them.” (Gen. 2:18) Do they not remember that at the end of the sixth day of creation, God looked over all that God had created–ALL (including gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered), and God saw that it was all very good? (Gen. 2:31).
Paul called Christians to be in the world, not of it. There are those who misinterpret Paul’s calling to mean that to be righteous is to reject all of the variety, beauty and richness of the world. Anything which does not fall into their particularly narrow and rigid field of living is suspect, if not subversive or downright evil. They seem to forget that it was God who invented love, joy, laughter, and yes, even sex. They forget that it was God who imbued sex with its distinctive properties of sharing of love, fulfillment, caring, comfort, bonding, communication, tension and stress relief. They seem to fail to notice the beauty that God created for us in this world. They seem to have forgotten to stop and smell the roses.
Jesus’ call to love God and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves embodies a primary responsibility to love and care for oneself. This means that we must seek to know our true selves and to seek our own spiritual growth and development with the help of the Holy Spirit. That means that it is our duty as human beings to also help our neighbors as they struggle to seek, know, love and accept their true selves, just as God knows, loves and accepts them.
Every day in our world we marvel at the abilities that God has given us through modern medicine. We praise God and our doctors when they straighten clubbed feet, when they repair harelips, when they successfully separate conjoined twins. I sincerely doubt that anyone learning of these miracles of modern science would declare that the doctors are being sinful. Would anyone today demand that those with these and similar birth defects should remain as God created them, because to do otherwise would be to subvert God’s intent for the victims? Of course not. If we realize that the knowledge and ability to perform these surgeries are blessings from God, then we just as surely can extend our understanding to those to whom gender reassignment is not only necessary but imperative to the wholeness of these souls.
Paul wrote in Galatians 3:28-29, There is
neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male
nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then
you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.”
We remember Paul’s words along with the words of Isaiah to all the
eunuchs of every kind, whether made thus by human beings, whether made thus by
God through birth, as well as whether made thus by choice to better serve God,
we know and believe that the eunuchs who acknowledge and honor God, who hold
fast to God’s covenant and who choose what pleases God, we know and believe that
God will honor with a name better than sons and daughters.
In those beautiful words in Isaiah, 56:4, we note that God specifies that eunuchs are to keep God’s Sabbaths. We must remember that when we keep the Sabbath we rest in God, we find peace and consolation in God; we find faith and trust in God. To keep the Sabbath is to let go of all the cares and concerns and worries of the world–and to rest in God–to rest with God.
Today eunuchs of all kinds are invited to find freedom in the love of God, in the peace of God, in the understanding of God–to take heart and to know and trust that it is to them that God also calls saying, “Peace I give unto you. My peace I give unto you. Not as the world gives, but as I give.”
This ends our study for today. Next week: What does RACA mean, and who are the “perverts” of 1 Timothy 1:10?