A "reward" in the Bible represents something that brings people together, or brings spiritual states together, and binds them. In the Bible, of course -- especially the New Testament -- we're told repeatedly to do what is good and right "without thought of reward." That's because removing the idea of a natural reward lets us be aware of spiritual rewards, which are actually intrinsic to the good that's being done. On a relatively low level, we feel delight in doing something nice and useful for someone else; that delight is a reward. The love that can exist between partners in a committed, loving marriage is a reward. The delight we feel when we truly want what is good and know how to create it is a reward. And ultimately, our conjunction with the Lord and the delight of His love and salvation is the deepest reward of all. These are the things meant when the Bible speaks of "rewards.

This can, of course, be a wonderful thing: It is essential for our journey to heaven, and is the reason for the holiness of marriage. But when the men represent falsity it can also be horrendously twisted, as in the attempted homosexual rape in Sodom (Genesis 19) and the rape of the concubine in Gibeah (Judges 19). In a general sense, men represent things of the intellect -- facts, ideas, knowledge, everything from the deepest truths to the most pernicious falsities about life and the Lord. Women in general represents things of affection -- desire, passion, caring, everything from the most exalted love for the Lord to the darkest hatred. When a man “knows” a woman in the Bible, then, it represents a joining together of those intellectual and affectionate faculties. “Know" is also often used in connection with virginity. A women who has “not known a man” represents the affection for truth, unsullied by falsity.