Who were the eunuchs "which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake?"

by ArrantPariah

This is from the Bible, Matthew 19.

I asked over in r/BibleScholars, but the Bible scholars don't seem to have much of an idea. One theory (proposed there) is that the eunuchs who "made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake" were married men.

My thought is that Jesus was referring to the Galli.

Any other theories?

caffarelli

Hello! I'm sure you're surprised to be getting a reply now, but the alert for this question has been starred in my inbox since you posted it... I talked about Matthew 19:12 some time ago, the book I reference that discusses this verse in great detail is here and pretty widely held in libraries, if you'd like to get yourself a copy. Jesus almost certainly didn't mean married men there, that makes just no sense at all, in no way would a married man of that period been seen as a eunuch. The usual shall we say "PC" interpretation is that it means voluntarily celibate men, like priests. I don't know if you can make a direct link to the Galli in that verse, but literal eunuchs were certainly around in Jesus' time and there was no way he wasn't at least peripherally aware of them.