ADDENDUM: “MALE AND FEMALE”
ADDENDUM: “MALE AND FEMALE”
Old Testament Occurrences
Man/ Septuagint Readings: Ralphs’ & Brenton’s Editions Combined MT
Animal Gender (ἄρσην/θῆλυς) נְקֵבָה/זָכָר
M n Gen. 1:27 ἄρσεν καὶ θῆλυ (“[God] made them male and female”) Gen. 1:27
M n 5:2 " (“[God] made them male and female”) 5:2
A n 6:19 " ("They will be male and female")* 6:19
A n 6:20 " (“They . . . male and female”)*
A2 n 7:22 " (“seven and seven, male and female”) 7:22
" (“two and two, male and female”)
A2 n 7:32 " (“seven and seven, male and female”) 7:31
" (“two and two, male and female”)
A n 7:9 " (“two and two . . . male and female”) 7:9
A n 7:15 " (“two and two, male and female”)*
A n 7:16 " (“And they entered male and female”) 7:16
A n Lev. 3:1 ἐάν τε ἄρσεν, ἐάν τε θῆλυ Lev. 3:1
(“oxen, whether male or female")
A n 3:6 ἄρσεν ἢ θῆλυ (“sheep, male or female”) 3:6
M [purification after the birth of a child] 12:7
M m/f 15:33 τῷ ἄρσενι ἢ τῇ θηλείᾳ (“for the male or for the female”)
M m/f 27:3-4 valuation of a vow for a male (τοῦ ἄρσενος) 27:3-4
and a female (τῆς θηλεῖας)
M m/f 27:5 valuation of a vow for a male (τοῦ ἄρσενος) 27:5-6
and a female (τῆς θηλεῖας)
M m/f 27:6 valuation of a vow for a male (τοῦ ἄρσενος)
and a female (τῆς θηλεῖας)
M m/f 27:7 valuation of a vow for a male (τοῦ ἄρσενος) 27:7
and a female (τῆς θηλεῖας)
M m?/n? Num. 5:3 ἀπὸ ἀρσενικοῦ ἕως θηλυκοῦ Num. 5:3
(“Whether male or female . . . send them out”)
A m?/n? Deut. 4:16 ὀμοίωμα ἀρσενικοῦ ἢ θηλυκοῦ Deut. 4:16
(“the likeness of male or female”)
[M] [m/f] [2 Mac. 7:21] [τὸν θῆλυν λογισμὸν ἄρσενι θυμῷ διεγείρασα]
(“stirring up her womanish thoughts with a manly courage”)
____ ____ ____
10/12 21 17
New Testament Occurrences
M n Mt. 19:4 = ἄρσεν καὶ θῆλυ
M n Mk. 10:6 "
M n Gal. 3:28 "
*variant in the editions of the Septuagint
Observations on the data
1. “Male and female” occurs as a set expression eleven times in the canonical Hebrew Old Testament plus the four cases in the redemption laws of Leviticus 27. Except for Leviticus 12:7, all these cases in the Masoretic Text are reproduced in the LXX (Septuagint), which makes fourteen parallels with the Septuagint. The LXX editions add five instances in the account of gathering the animals before the flood, bringing the LXX total to nineteen plus a loosely related case in 2 Maccabees. The LXX and MT (Masoretic Text) total twenty-two separate instances; adding the three New Testament examples brings the total to twenty-five for the entire Bible.
2. The cases are somewhat clustered: nine in the flood account (LXX), two in the sacrifice
laws of Leviticus 3, and four in the redemption laws of Leviticus 27.
3. All the examples list male and female in that order and in the singular whether dealing
with people or animals.
4. Male and female is a set expression in Genesis and the New Testament, suggesting that the New Testament occurrences reflect the wording of Genesis 1:27 and 5:2, to which they topically relate.
5. Except for the five times in Leviticus 15:33 and chapter 27, all the usages are neuter singular—or may be so analyzed—regardless of the number and gender of the modified nouns. The use of the neuter evidently reflects a reference to sex in the abstract. Only in 2 Maccabees do the adjectives appear in attributive position.
6. In Genesis the combination is joined by “and”; outside of Genesis the combination is joined by “or” or its equivalent. In the former cases, the contexts talk about the sexes in combination; in other cases, they talk about them in alternation to one another.
7. The Septuagint entries are more relevant to the interpretation of Galatians 3:28 because the Greek translation of the Old Testament was the Bible of the Hellenistic Jews to whom Paul was writing and because Paul was writing in Greek.
8. Genesis 1:27 (as reiterated in 5:2) is the most relevant text behind the words of Jesus and probably those of Paul as well. The flood cases show the tendency to use male and female as a stylized expression in Genesis: neuter singular, male-to-female sequence, and joined by and. Matthew 19:4 (= Mark 10:6) and Galatians surely reflect the Genesis 1 setting. Little theological importance is therefore apt to be attached to and vs. or in Galatians.
The essay above together with this Addendum was first delivered at the 46th annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society in Lisle, Illinois, on November 18, 1994, It was later published in Evangelical Hermeneutics: Selected Essays from the 1994 Evangelical Theological Society Convention, Ed. by Michael Bauman and David Hall. Camp Hill, PA: Christian Publications, Inc., 1995, pp.123-45.
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