What are eunuchs?

[ilovejcsog]

What are eunuchs in the bible. It seems like there are a lot of them and in groups. Are they born that way and so identified or were they castrated and if so why?

 

[HTacianas]

What are eunuchs in the bible. It seems like there are a lot of them and in groups. Are they born that way and so identified or were they castrated and if so why?

For the most part they are castrated men. But Jesus used the term also to describe celibate men.

 

[Darkhorse]

In times past, male servants who held important positions and worked around women or girls were sometimes castrated to keep them from having sex with the females. The Ethiopian eunuch described in Acts was one of these.

 

[ilovejcsog]

SORRY WRONG THREAD

 

[Darkhorse]

THAT would take some real dedication!

I have encountered guys here on CF who SAY they would do that, but...I have my doubts.

 

[Greg J.]

Castrations means the removal of testicles. i.e., the ability to have children.

Let no foreigner who has bound himself to the LORD say, “The LORD will surely exclude me from his people.” And let not any eunuch complain, “I am only a dry tree.” For this is what the LORD says: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant— to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off. (Isaiah 56:3-5, 1984 NIV)

 

[Darkhorse]

Castrations means the removal of testicles. i.e., the ability to have children.

Let no foreigner who has bound himself to the LORD say, “The LORD will surely exclude me from his people.” And let not any eunuch complain, “I am only a dry tree.” For this is what the LORD says: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant— to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off. (Isaiah 56:3-5, 1984 NIV)

This is especially significant, since eunuchs were not allowed to present food offerings to the Lord (Leviticus 21:19-21)

 

[Dave-W]

Castrations means the removal of testicles. i.e., the ability to have children.

Correct. But (depending on when they are cut off) it does not necessarily mean they are incapable of having sex.

 

[Darkhorse]

Correct. But (depending on when they are cut off) it does not necessarily mean they are incapable of having sex.

That's correct. Medical studies of soldiers who had lost their testicles in WW2 found that about half of them could still function sexually because their adrenal glands produced enough testosterone.

Of course, they couldn't produce children, which was probably a more important consideration in Biblical times. No king wanted an illegitimate pretender to the throne.