The Old Testament describes three types of peoples who are called to celibacy: priests preparing for sacrifice, people preparing to receive a message from God, and soldiers preparing for battle. Oftentimes, discussions on the merits and Scriptural basis for celibacy look at the New Testament evidence, or the temporary celibacy of the Old Testament priests. But I want to focus on a different group, instead: the soldiers on military campaign.
The practice of military celibacy is necessary to make sense out of a fascinating incident that occurs while David is on the run from King Saul (1 Samuel 21:1-6):
Then came David to Nob to Ahim′elech the priest; and Ahim′elech came to meet David trembling, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one with you?” And David said to Ahim′elech the priest, “The king has charged me with a matter, and said to me, ‘Let no one know anything of the matter about which I send you, and with which I have charged you.’ I have made an appointment with the young men for such and such a place. Now then, what have you at hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is here.” And the priest answered David, “I have no common bread at hand, but there is holy bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women.” And David answered the priest, “Of a truth women have been kept from us as always when I go on an expedition; the vessels of the young men are holy, even when it is a common journey; how much more today will their vessels be holy?” So the priest gave him the holy bread; for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which is removed from before the Lord, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away.
In other words, the sacred Bread of the Presence (a prefigurement of the Eucharist) was reserved for those who were spiritually prepared to receive it, and this preparation required a period of celibacy. David’s men, being on a military expedition, had also been committed to a time of celibacy: the soldier and the priest were united in serving the Lord through this sacrifice of celibacy.
Years later, when David is King, this practice of military celibacy will be relevant again. After King David impregnated Bathsheba, the wife of his soldier Uriah, he tries to cover up their affair by luring Uriah away from battle, and convincing him to return to his wife for the evening. His designs are thwarted by Uriah’s faithfulness to his men and to God (2 Samuel 11:6-11):
So David sent word to Jo′ab, “Send me Uri′ah the Hittite.” And Jo′ab sent Uri′ah to David. When Uri′ah came to him, David asked how Jo′ab was doing, and how the people fared, and how the war prospered. Then David said to Uri′ah, “Go down to your house, and wash your feet.” And Uri′ah went out of the king’s house, and there followed him a present from the king. But Uri′ah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. When they told David, “Uri′ah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uri′ah, “Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?” Uri′ah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths; and my lord Jo′ab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field; shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.”
Uriah’s faithfulness serves as a sharp contrast to David’s own unfaithfulness. Not only is King David guilty of adultery, but with the wife of one of his own soldiers, and in the midst of a military campaign, at a time when celibacy was called for.
So what’s going on? Why were soldiers required to be celibate? We know from elsewhere in the Old Testament that soldiers at war were required to be sanctified (Joshua 3:5, 7:13), and we know that the process of sanctification required a temporary celibacy (Exodus 19:14-15). In other words, celibacy is a way to spiritually prepare for combat, just as much as it is a spiritual preparation for the offering of the Temple sacrifice. In this sense, we’re looking at something that’s a lot like fasting: a spiritual sacrifice to draw you closer to God.
This is a different lens through which we can understand the celibacy. Normally, when we talk about the Old Testament prefigurements of celibacy, we point to the Old Testament priests. For example, that’s the parallel that Pope Siricius points out as a basis for clerical celibacy in his Directa Decretal to the Spanish bishop Himerius back in 385. And particularly when we’re talking about clerical celibacy, it makes sense to look there.
But this other line of Scriptural evidence — military celibacy — has serious implications for Christian laity, not just clergy and religious. After all, the Old Testament soldiers are a prefigurement of all Christians, since all of us are on a military campaign against the forces of darkness (Ephesians 6:10-20):
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace; above all taking the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that utterance may be given me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.
The soldiers of the Old Testament, who prefigured you and me, periodically abstained from sex in order to devote themselves in a particular way to the Lord and to preparing battle. So, too, even if you’re not called to lifelong celibacy, indeed even if you’re married, you might consider at temporary celibacy. St. Paul lays out some basic parameters in his advice for married couples in 1 Corinthians 7:5-8:
Do not refuse one another except perhaps by agreement for a season, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, lest Satan tempt you through lack of self-control. I say this by way of concession, not of command. I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own special gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.
So if you’re married, don’t impose this sexual fast on your spouse against their will, and don’t continue it if it’s bearing bad fruit (leading one or both of you into lust). But if you two can agree, and if you can maintain self-control, this is a great way to devote yourselves to prayer in a special way.
Meah.
In the first example, I think the reading is more along the lines of ‘We haven’t been whoring around’ since they obviously don’t take their wives off into war.
In the second, I think it’s more along the lines of being a good leader. Imagine the friction it would create in a unit if the officer sent a platoon to camp and eat MRE’s while he goes home at night to his own bed, a cold beer, and a hot wife.
Fasting facilitates holiness, but isn’t itself holiness. That the object is food or sex is immaterial since they are both passions and appetites.
Daniel, you wrote: “Fasting facilitates holiness, but isn’t itself holiness.”
I think that’s exactly the point. We know that fasting, or continence (or permanent celibacy), and many other acts like these are not themselves what make us holy. That would be a very Pelagian outlook on the Christian life, thinking that we can earn God’s grace through our own works. But it remains true, as you say, that fasting facilitates holiness, and we definitely shouldn’t spurn those things that promote God’s work of sanctification in us. The soldier (or member of the Church militant) should abstain from sexual intercourse on particular occasions because it prepares him to do God’s work, even though it is not the work itself. I think of it as similar to going to a quiet room or chapel to pray: of course we can pray in a noisy environment, and the removal to a quiet place is not itself prayer, but it certainly helps.
Uriah wasn’t an officer, he was a common soldier. In fact he wasn’t even an Israelite, he was a foreign auxiliary.
Uriah wasn’t an officer, he was a common soldier. He wasn’t even an Israelite, he was a foreign auxiliary. Yet he was more faithful to the true religion than the king of Israel was.
It is interesting that I was just about to blog on celibacy. I find that Protestants bash the practice at the risk of contradicting the clear teaching of the Scripture: http://christianreformedtheology.com/2015/05/22/debating-calvinists-on-celibacy/
I have a comment on the following comment:
“So if you’re married, don’t impose this sexual fast on your spouse against their will, and don’t continue it if it’s bearing bad fruit (leading one or both of you into lust). But if you two can agree, and if you can maintain self-control, this is a great way to devote yourselves to prayer in a special way.”
It should be noted that Paul does not mean for Christian couples to be doing this for years (or probably even months). He does not specify a time period and he commands that couples come together and make love again in order to deal with temptation. In fact, in the first few verses of 1 Cor 7, he tells the Corinthians to marry to deal with lust. So, he starts the conversation like he ends it: Marry so that lust won’t make you sin, don’t abstain from sex too long so that you are not tempted to sin.
Now, certain people do have the gift of celibacy, and others are unmarried, so the following would not apply. However, those married couples following the teaching in 1 Cor 7 are to have sex with regularity so they do not struggle with physical urging. Just as we do not fast from food for periods of time that would destroy you health, it would appear the Paul’s view of fasting from sex would be similar…you don’t d it so long that it becomes a torturous struggle where one burns with passion.
Again, I don’t have an agenda here, i am just communicating what I believe the passage says. I for one seriously considered celibacy for a time in my 20s.
You appear to have bought in to the popular idea pushed by the promoters of the sexual revolution, that sexual urges get stronger the longer one abstains from sexual activity. In fact the opposite is true. The more you have, the more you want. The longer you go without it, the less you miss it.
I was raised a Catholic and attended 4 years of Catholic Seminary. In 1970 I was powerfully apprehended by the Lord Jesus Christ and was born again. From that time I have been a devout Christian practicing my face among Protestant communities.I take issue with the statement that Protestants bash celibacy. Jesus clearly said that some are eunuchs for the kingdom of God and all Protestants that I know freely acknowledge this. What is criticized is the requirement of celibacy for pastors in the Roman Catholic Church. All of the teachings on celibacy in the New Testament make it clear that it is a special calling and not something that should be required of all who would be ministers. Paul speaks of those apostles who were married. Many many problems have cropped up in the Catholic church over the centuries because of this requirement of celibacy.
On the contrary, St Paul makes very clear that celibacy should be a requirement for those to be given the sacrament of Holy Orders. ( A Catholic priest is much more than just a “pastor” or “minister”. The majority of non-ordained ministers in the Catholic Church are in fact married, just like Protestant ministers are.) Not an ABSOLUTE requirement, to be sure, and for 2000 years there have always been a minority of Catholic clergy who are married. But following our Lord, St Paul, St John the Baptist, St John the Apostle & Evangelist and the other apostles, celibate clergy have always been the preferred option. (St Paul certainly does not “speak of those apostles who were married” as you claim, unless you mean his many references to “the Rock” [St Peter] who HAD been married but was evidently widowed before Christ called him.)
The celibacy of clergy has never caused any problems in the Catholic Church. Only the lack of it.
If you attended a Catholic seminary for 4 years and don’t know all this, all I can say is that you didn’t pay any attention or it was an atrociously badly run seminary, or else you have blocked it out from your memory because it doesn’t jibe with the man-made church and man-made doctrines that you have chosen to suit your preferences, not Christ’s eternal truth and life.
Paul said specifically that an elder or bishop or deacon should be the husband of one wife, having experience in raising godly children. there was ZERO command for celibacy until later. then it developed a married man could stay married and become a priest but a single man must remain single. in north africa, origin of many excesses and heresies, the locals demanded celibacy of bishops so Trullo council allowed this and while an earlier canon said no cleric should abstain or cast out his wife on pretense of holiness, they allowed bishops in north africa to be celibate and to not live with their wives. gradually this became normative. The Roman patriarchate developed more and more excesses and innovations drew away from the original church and finally went into schism from us in AD 1054 and it was never healed. since then weirdness got weirder.
I don’t think it is fair to say that Protestants bash celibacy. What they question is the insistence in the Catholic Church that its ministers maintain a life of celibacy. This is nowhere mandated in the scriptures and the Greek Orthodox Church which has many similar traditions with Catholicism has always maintained that married men are not disqualified from the priesthood, citing the example of Peter and some of the other apostles
Married Orthodox men may be ordained to the priesthood, but an Orthodox priest may not marry. Furthermore Orthodox bishops are taken from the celibate clergy.
I think we can learn something from the Lord Himself when He says, regarding celibacy:
“All men take not this word, but they to whom it is given. [12] For there are eunuchs, who were born so from their mother’s womb: and there are eunuchs, who were made so by men: and there are eunuchs, who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven. He that can take, let him take it.” (Matt. 19:11)
We might also note that Jesus begins the saying by admitting that there will be difficulty for some to accept what He will teach regarding celibacy, and then again repeats that it might be difficult for some at the end of the saying. And, I think this is the only time in His teaching that this occurs. So, that it is controversial is not to be wondered at. On the other hand, I believe that those that have ‘ears to hear’, and have ‘eyes to see’ and those who can ‘take it’, are blessed by God. These are they “to whom it is given” by God to understand the word of Jesus.
On a secondary note, I would think that those ‘to whom it is given’ to understand, and also “who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven”,( i.e.. chosen celibacy for life), should be very suitable for being called leaders of the Church. This is because they have already been given a special grace from God to accept this difficult teaching, and if they can understand, by the gift of God, what is most difficult for many, they also should be able to understand by this same gift of wisdom, doctrines and teachings of Christ,that are ‘less’ difficult. They are, moreover, imitating the life of Jesus Himself, as well as St. John the Apostle, St. John the Baptist and the Blessed Virgin Mary, as well.
I think we can learn something from the Lord Himself when He says, regarding celibacy:
“All men take not this word, but they to whom it is given. [12] For there are eunuchs, who were born so from their mother’s womb: and there are eunuchs, who were made so by men: and there are eunuchs, who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven. He that can take, let him take it.” (Matt. 19:11)
We might also note that Jesus begins the saying by admitting that there will be difficulty for some to accept what He will teach regarding celibacy, and then again repeats that it might be difficult for some at the end of the saying. And, I think this is the only time in His teaching that this occurs. So, that it is controversial is not to be wondered at. On the other hand, I believe that those that have ‘ears to hear’, and have ‘eyes to see’ and those who can ‘take it’, are blessed by God. These are they “to whom it is given” by God to understand the word of Jesus.
On a secondary note, I would think that those ‘to whom it is given’ to understand, and also “who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven”,( i.e.. chosen celibacy for life), should be very suitable for being called leaders of the Church. This is because they have already been given a special grace from God to accept this difficult teaching, and if they can understand, by the gift of God, what is most difficult for many, they also should be able to understand by this same gift of wisdom, doctrines and teachings of Christ,that are ‘less’ difficult. They are, moreover, imitating the life of Jesus Himself, as well as St. John the Apostle, St. John the Baptist and the Blessed Virgin Mary, as well.
Please delete this and the extra post, if possible. The first post didn’t appear promptly and so I thought I made a mistake and didn’t actually submit it.