Foreplay with Intercourse or Conjugal Caresses-TSACH: (Genesis 17:17)

Unhealthy Genital Sexual Intercourse-SCB: (Genesis 19:32)

One of the unique words in the Bible translates as foreplay with intercourse or conjugal caresses. Formed on the Hebrew word TSACH, צָחַק (pronounced ts-KACH), it means to laugh with hilarity or shame, to mock, play, and as a sexual health term ‘foreplay’ with intercourse (Strong, H6711). Used thirteen times in the Old Testament, ten of the citations occur in Genesis. The author seems to enjoy irony of the word. Six of the uses appear in the birth announcement about Isaac. When God told geriatric Abraham that his post-menopausal wife would have a natural birth child, Abraham and Sarah both laugh at the idea. They name their son Isaac, formed on the word laugh, TSACH, צָחַק. 

TSACH, צָחַק is used in Genesis 26:8 to describe Isaac and Rebekah’s foreplay for intercourse, translated by some as ‘conjugal caresses’ (Strong, H6711). Isaac, whose name means laughter, lies to Abimalek, the Palestinian King, implying Rebekah is not his wife. Isaac mirrors this ploy from his father Abraham, who also lied about his wife Sarah, implying she was not his wife, on two separate occasions. The purpose of the ruse in their minds was to protect Abraham and Isaac from threat of execution and their wives from being kidnapped for royal harems. Abimalek, under the impression Rebekah is Isaac’s sister, voyeuristically sees the couple ‘sporting’ or ‘caressing’ with sexual intent in the garden. The king immediately deduces this romantic couple have a marriage covenant, blowing the cover story.

Two Genesis references connect to the mocking laughter of Lot’s sons in law and Ishmael. Two other citations describe the false sexual harassment allegations of Potiphar’s wife against Joseph. Her accusation alleged that Joseph attempted to seduce the executioner’s wife, and she uses the term ‘make sport,’ perhaps meaning ‘to humiliate,’ in her sexual harassment allegation. The Exodus citation reflects a nuance of unhealthy sexuality when the people of Israel  engage in idolatry with loss of sexual boundaries. The term used in Exodus is ‘revelry.’ The Judges account uses the term for high spirited entertainment when Samson amuses guests. The word translates ‘entertain’ and ‘perform.’  

Unhealthy Genital Sexual Intercourse-SCB: (Genesis 19:32)

One of the common Biblical Hebrew words for sexual intercourse is SCB, שָׁכַב, pronounced shaw-KAV (Strong, H7901). SCB appears 213 times in 194 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. The range of meaning includes: to lie down, genital sexual intercourse, to rape,  to die, to sleep, or to stay. Genesis uses SCB twenty times, fifteen of which refer to unhealthy sexuality. All uses of SCB in the book of Genesis connect to the unhealthy sexuality of incest, non-consensual intercourse, bartering for sexual favors, rape, and coercive seduction for sexual intercourse. 

“Let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.” (Genesis 19:32)

That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and slept with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up. (Genesis 19:33)

The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Last night I slept with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.” (Genesis 19:34)

So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up. (Genesis 19:35)

Then Abimelek said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the men might well have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” (Genesis 26:10)

But she said to her, “Wasn’t it enough that you took away my husband? Will you take my son’s mandrakes too?” “Very well,” Rachel said, “he can sleep with you tonight in return for your son’s mandrakes.” (Genesis 30:15)

So when Jacob came in from the fields that evening, Leah went out to meet him. “You must sleep with me,” she said. “I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night. (Genesis 30:16 )

When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of that area, saw her, he took her and raped her. (Genesis 34:2)

Meanwhile, Jacob’s sons had come in from the fields as soon as they heard what had happened. They were shocked and furious, because Shechem had done an outrageous thing in Israel by sleeping with Jacob’s daughter—a thing that should not be done. (Genesis 34:7)

While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard of it. Jacob had twelve sons. (Genesis 35:22)

…and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!” (Genesis 39:7)

And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her. (Genesis 39:10)

She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house. (Genesis 39:12)

She called her household servants. “Look,” she said to them, “this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us! He came in here to sleep with me, but I screamed.” (Genesis 39:14)

Exodus uses SCB three times in chapter 22. Two reference unhealthy sexual intercourse related to seducing a virgin, sex with an animal, and once in a compassion statement for the poor. The term drops out of usage by the time of the prophets and the word ZNH, meaning ‘sacred sex trade,’ appears.

Leviticus cites SCB fourteen times in a sexual hygiene section. Hygiene instruction appears for male discharge without intercourse (Leviticus 15:4), and intercourse hygiene during menstrual cycle (Leviticus 15:18, 20, 24a, 24b, 26, 33, and 20:18). SCB appears three times for the unhealthy sexuality of incest (Leviticus 20:11,12, 20). Two citations refer to male with male intercourse (Leviticus 18:22, 20:13), and intercourse with a betrothed female slave (Leviticus 19:20). All citations connect to sexual hygiene and/or unhealthy sexuality.

SCB appears fifteen times in Deuteronomy. Ten citations connect to sexual health conversation. SCB describes adultery twice (Deuteronomy 22:22), has four references for rape (Deuteronomy 22:23-24, 25, 28:28-29), three incest passages (Deuteronomy 27:20, 22, 23) and one reference to sex with an animal (Deuteronomy 27:21).

The Prophets

The books of 1 and 2 Samuel feature SCB 27 times. SCB in sexual health contexts appears seven times. Eli’s sons used their position of authority to seduce women for sex who serve at religious worship services (1 Samuel 2:22). The term SCB, meaning rape, appears three more times in King David’s seduction of Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11:4), and twice for Amnon’s rape of his sister Tamar (2 Samuel 13:11-14). SCB has one reference to the future sexual assault of King David’s concubines by his son Absalom (2 Samuel 12:11). SCB as genital sexual intercourse occurs twice in reference to Uriah’s resistance to having intercourse with Bathsheba for the purpose of covering up King David’s impregnation of Uriah’s wife, and David and Bathsheba’s conception of Solomon (2 Samuel 11:11; 2 Samuel 12:24). 

SCB appears four times in Isaiah. Isaiah and Zechariah use SCB for rape (Isaiah 13:16; Zechariah 14:2). Ezekiel speaks of the sacred sex trade using SCB, and Micah uses the word in a sense of lack of trust within a romantic relationship (Ezekiel 23:8; Micah 7:5).

The Writings

Ruth mentions SCB five times. All references connect to sexual health. Ruth appears in the genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1). Beginning in Ruth 3:4, the word SCB ranges in meaning from lying down for rest to genital sexual intercourse. The author uses the word skillfully, weaving it through the account of Boaz and Ruth becoming sexually intimate and ultimately married. The euphemism “uncovering the feet” is used to mean genital sexual intercourse in the narrative of Ruth (Ruth 3:7). All 5 citations refer to sexual health.

Isaac: Conjugal Caresses, Foreplay

The Isaac and Jacob snapshots take shape in Chapters 24–36. The reader may note the organization of Genesis so far. Chapters 1–11 detail the sexual health big picture of Genesis and the decline of intimacy with God. Genesis 12–25 detail the Abraham snapshot, and 24–36 feature Isaac and Jacob. Each section comprises 11 chapters. The Book of Genesis thus far follows a logical organization around intimacy and sexual health using an 11 chapter scheme.

The Isaac snapshot reveals the guilt of a single unhealthy sexuality event in his life. In Genesis 26:7 Isaac fears for his life as his father, Abraham. 

Now there was a famine in the land— besides the previous famine in Abraham’s time—and Isaac went to Abimelek king of the Philistines in Gerar…. So Isaac stayed in Gerar. When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” because he was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.”

When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelek king of the Philistines looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. So Abimelek summoned Isaac and said, “She is really your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac answered him, “Because I thought I might lose my life on account of her.” (Genesis 26:2–9)

This snapshot may be a teaching piece showing families the impact of sexual health and children. Sexual health values of consent, boundaries, and intimacy form physical structures in the brain called neural pathways. When these pathways react in balanced healthy ways, they transmit neural chemicals and healthy sexual behavior results. In the same way sexual health neural pathways react, so do unhealthy sexual behaviors. Isaac most likely heard the stories of his father, Abraham, and his unhealthy sexual behaviors in Egypt and Gerar. Under the threat of death, Abraham lied about Isaac’s mother, Sarah, claiming she was not his wife. This coercion insured in Abraham’s mind that the royals would not execute him and forcibly take Sarah into their harems. These unhealthy sexuality snapshots likely wired in Isaac’s memory. When Isaac experienced the same threat of death, the wiring learned from his father reacted, and Isaac repeated the same unhealthy sexual behavior. Isaac passed his wife off as a potential sexual partner for the men of Gerar. This phenomenon can be described as neurological permanence or traumatic repetition (Carnes, 2015; May, 1988). The body retains memory information and with the correct external stressor or trigger it can recall the thinking or sensations from the original event. So it was with Isaac; when threatened with death, he repeated the coercive trauma of his father pimping out his wife for self-preservation. 

Genesis 26:8 features another sexual health term. “When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelek king of the Philistines looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.” (Genesis 26:8) The words “caressing his wife Rebekah” reflect colorful imagery. The word for caressing forms from the word for Isaac, ‘he laughs.’ In the Hebrew verbal form called Piel, it can mean sporting, or joking over and over again with intensity. The Online Blue Letter Bible citing Brown Driver and Briggs Lexicon defines this word as ‘conjugal caresses’ (BLB, Genesis 28:6). Clearly, intimate sexual contact or foreplay is meant.