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Leviticus 18

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The word for “doings” ma‛ăśeh [H4639] here is unique to Leviticus, and refers to works, as in Ps. 106:35, and additionally Israel is forbidden to follow after pagan ordinances (chûqqâh [H2708]), these being laws or statutes, indicating both general as well as religious practices are in view, the latter being made obvious as child sacrifice to Molech (v. 21), this being contrary to foundational law prohibiting murder.
This chapter begins with “The LORD spake unto Moses”, which usually prefaces the beginning of a chapter and sometimes a subsection, as a fuller outline will show. This is not said again until Lv. 19:1. In addition, Lv. 18:24-30 closes this chapter with a uniquely repetitious series of solemn warnings, being given directly after it's its list of sins, stating that these “abominations” (tô‛êbah,” the “abominable” word used more often to denote violations of immutable rather than ceremonial laws) are what caused the terminal judgment upon the inhabitants whom Israel was to conquer. Though not as extensive, such warnings or statements are also seen in such texts as Lv. 18:30; 20:22,23; Dt. 9:4,5; 12:30,31; 18:12; 1Kg. 14:24; 16:3, 2Ki. 17:34; Jer. 10:3, but which are not directly seen after laws simply regarding unclean foods and ritual uncleanness.
*18:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
The primary type of illicit sex unions was that of incest, the prohibited degrees of which are specified from the 7th to the 17th verse. It is noted that incest was used and allowed in more ancient times, as God blessed Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3) while he was married to Sarah, his half-sister. Adam Clarke comments, "i.e., his sister by his father, but by a different mother. Some suppose Sarai was the daughter of Haran, and consequently the grand-daughter of Terah: this opinion seems to be founded on Gen_11:29, where Iscah is thought to be the same with Sarai, but the supposition has not a sufficiency of probability to support it." Even if this was the case, as with Eve being “the mother of all living” (Gen. 3:20), then their immediate offspring would have married each other and had offspring. In addition, in accordance with Genesis 9:1, Noah and his three sons and their wives repopulated the entire world following the great Flood,
The most warranted explanation for this allowance during the Patriarchal age was that the effects of the Fall of man (Gn. 3) were progressive, and the deleterious genetic effects which are often a result of intermarriage between close kin were not realized until much later. In addition, the great ages of the antediluvian peoples enabled a greater age difference between offspring and longer time of marriageability, thus likely reducing other possible negative aspects of such intermarriage. All of which served to greatly increase population, and to provide greater family security. However, as generations reproduced, and solar and cosmic radiation increased after the Noahic Flood (Genesis 6-9), a realization and or increase of chemical and viral mutagens, and DNA replication errors would have resulted in manifest genetic disorders. As the laws of God, who is said to need nothing (Acts 17:25), but who loves righteousness (Ps. 45:7; Heb. 1:9) are to our benefit, then God is seen as protecting His people by enacting universal injunctions against incestuous marriages under Moses.<ref>Thompson and Major, 1987, 7[2]:7)</ref>(conservative est. 1500 years).
Keil and Deitzch comment,
A wife to her sister - Thou shalt not marry two sisters at the same time, as Jacob did Rachel and Leah; but there is nothing in this law that rendered it illegal to marry a sister-in-law when her sister was dead; therefore the text says, Thou shalt not take her in her life time, to vex her, alluding probably to the case of the jealousies and vexations which subsisted between Leah and Rachel, and by which the family peace was so often disturbed. Some think that the text may be so understood as also to forbid polygamy.<ref>Adam Clarke</ref>
It is to be noted that Jacob did not plan to marry Rachel, but in an example of poetic justice, he was the victim of a "bait and switch" plan by his cunning uncle Laban,(Gn. 29) brother to Jacob's mother, which indicates such cunning deceit ran in the family, though with Jacob it was to be weeded out.
====Lev. 18:19: sexual relations during menstruation====
Sexual intercourse with a women woman possibly after child birth (Lev. 12:2-7) or during her period is forbidden, and the latter is specifically revealed to be a capital crime in Lv. 20:18 (if "cut off" is what is meant, versus "put to death"). In Lev. 15:34 the penalty for laying "with her at all" was only seven days separation, but that "laying" might signify simply sleeping with her, as the previous verses are only concerned with contact with a women having an issue of blood (for which no means of stoppage was indicated).
In any case, the man is held chiefly responsible, as to him this is primarily directed, and would serve to proctect the women. And consistent with other laws,(Dt. 22:23-29) the punishment here presumes consent by both parties.
The related controversial aspect of this law is whether it falls into the class of ceremonial laws, and thus is no longer binding for Christians, or whether it belongs to the same class of transcendent moral laws which precede it. In favor of it belonging to the class of ceremonial laws is the nature of the proscribed acts, as unlike other sexual laws in this chapter laws, v. 19 does not deal with forbidden sexual partners, but the condition of the wife. Besides protecting the wife, the key aspect seems to that of touching blood, and in this regard v. 19 would be akin to other ceremonial laws regarding touching something.
Leaning towards moral law is the fact that the sanctity of blood precedes the Mosiac Mosaic ceremonial dietary laws, as immediately after the flood, while God sanctioned the eating of all meat (Gen 9:3; cf. 1:29), eating it with the blood not drained was strictly forbidden. This was later abundantly confirmed in Leviticus. (Lv. 3:17; 7:26; 17:10-14; 19:26) As the purpose of the law is to save life and not destroy them (cf. Mk. 3:4), such a restriction would not forbid the ingestion of pure blood is in such dire circumstances. However, it is a matter of controversy whether blood (as in mainly blood or blood products) is considered a food that would place it in the area of liberty for Christians, (1Tim. 4:3-5) or whether it is forbidden due to it's its inherent sanctity, perhaps with Acts 15:20 being upheld as part of the Jewish Halakha,<ref>http://hsf.bgu.ac.il/cjt/files/electures/gloss.htm#Halakhah</ref> in addition to causing a possible offense to others.(1Cor. 8,10)<ref>The Chemistry Of The Blood, M.R. DeHaan, M.D. http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/BTP/Dr_MR_DeHaan/Chemistry/05.htm</ref>
Applying this sanctity of blood as relates to Lv. 18:19, many Christians hold that Heb. 13:4 sanctifies all benevolent sexual intercourse between man and wife (male and female), or as affirming their sexual relations in contrast to those which forbid sex in marriage (1Tim. 3:5)<ref>Wesley</ref> Others disagree, perhaps seeing Lev. 18:19 as still applicable out of regard for the sanctity of blood and or the procreative process.<ref>John Gill, Ezek. 22:10; Acts 15:20</ref>
"And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD."
While the name of the false god may be culture culturally specific, this is clearly an immutable universal moral law, as idols represent anything a person lives for, ultimately finds their security in, or sets their chief affection on. To sacrifice one's offspring to any false god, including a lifestyle, is sin. Spiritual Spiritually speaking, all Christians are called to forsake the foolish and live, (Prv. 9:6) to be dead tot he to the word and alive to Christ, (Gal. 2:20; 6:14) to surrender themselves entirely as living sacrifices to God, to be made more like Christ. (Rm. 12:1,2; 2Cor. 4)
Keil and Delitzsch comment: "Moloch was an old Canaanitish idol, called by the Phoenicians and Carthaginians Melkarth, Baal-melech, Malcom, and other such names, and related to Baal, a sun-god worshipped, like Kronos and Saturn, by the sacrifice of children. It was represented by a brazen statue, which was hollow and capable of being heated, and formed with a bull's head, and arms stretched out to receive the children to be sacrificed."
(Lev 20:13) "If a man ['îysh] also lie [shâkab] with mankind [zâkâr], as he lieth [mishkâb] with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination [tô‛êbah]: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them."
While these commands explicitly condemn male homosex homosexual intercourse between males and are presented as general commands given to all Israel, relatively recently these have become the subject of an intense attack by prohomosex polemicists. While most admit that sexual moral codes are transcultural and transhistorical, attempts are made to find grammatical, categorical and cultural aspects that would disallow the injunctions which prohibit homosexhomosexual intercourse.
Most of these prohomosex writers usually first assert that the Hebrew word ''tōʻēḇā'' for ''abomination'', which describes male sex with men here, does not usually signify something inherently evil, like adultery or theft, but something which is ceremonially unclean for Jews, such as the dietary laws. (Lv. 11).<ref>Boswell, Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality. pp 100-01</ref> <ref>Jesus, the Bible, and Homosexuality By Jack Bartlett Rogers, p. 72</ref><ref>Horner, David loved Jonathan, p.73,85</ref><ref>Daniel Helminiak, What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality, pp. 46 - 47 http://www.reformed.org/social/index.html?mainframe=http://www.reformed.org/social/hodges_response_helminiak.html</ref> The Hebrew word “zimmâh” (Lv. 19:29) is instead sometimes suggested as the word which would be used if the prohibitions of Lv. 18:22; was not intrinsically evil.
Such revisionists generally conclude that these Levitical injunctions against homosex homosexual intercourse only prohibit pagan temple prostitution, or were only concerned with the waste of sperm, though even noted prohomosex author Robin Scroggs thinks the latter explanations to be conjecture which are best not to speculate about.<ref>The New Testament and Homosexuality, p. 73</ref>, rather than being universal and transcedent transcendent injunctions such as the other laws against illicit partners are.
A An attempt is also made to create a division between Lv. 18:20, which prohibits adultery, and the next verse, which forbids child sacrifice to Molech, which is supposed to render the next law (v. 22) as only forbidding homosex in the that type of idolatrous context.
Examining the first basis for their claim manifests that this argument is not substantiated by the original language, as the Hebrew word ''tōʻēḇā'' is actually not used in Leviticus for dietary violations, and is only used 2 or 3 times elsewhere to refer to such things as being abominable for Israel, (Dt. 14:3; Jer. 16:18) while it is the word most often used in denoting grave moral ''abominations'', including clearly universally sinful practices. (Dt. 7:25; 18:9-12 13, 2Kg. 21:2-7; 2Chr. 33:2,3; Is. 1:13; 44:19; Jer. 7:10; 32:35) And which includes illicit sexual unions. (Dt. 24:2-4; 1Kg. 14:24; 2Ki. 16:3; 21:2,11; Ezek. 16:22,58; 18:10-13; 22:11; 33:26) Collectively, it is also used for all the sins of Lv. 18 + 20. (Lv. 18:27-30) In contrast, the word most used, and only used for ceremonial violations, is “sheqets” (Leviticus 7:21; 11:10-13,20,23,41,42; Is. 66:17; Ezek. 8:10), and then “shâqats,” from which it is derived, which is only used in Leviticus for dietary violations (Leviticus 11:11,13,43; 20:25; Dt. 7:26; Prv. 22:24).
As regards zimmâh, unlike ''tōʻēḇā'', this word is not not often used for specific sexual sins, but is generally seen in reference to sexual "lewdness," (Jdg. 20:6; Jer.13:27, Eze. 16:43, 58; 22:9; 23:21,27,29,35,48-49; Eze. 24:13; Hos. 6:9). It often is another word to describe the vile nature of many clearly universally sins which are also categorized as tōʻēḇā, (Lv. 18:17; 19:29; Jer. 13:27; Ezek. 22:11: adultery=tōʻēḇā, incest= zimmâh ). Yet is not always used for all universal sexual sins, and the absence of zimmâh in relation to a sexual sin cannot necessarily negate the intrinsic evil of it's its nature, while sins which tōʻēḇā refers to include such.
In addition, ceremonial dietary and ritual cleansing laws overall do not target pagan cultic activity. However, there are practices which evidently are a direct expression of formal idolatry, such as temple prostitution (Dt. 23:17), versus amoral things which merely accompany idolatry activity, such as a grove of trees in worship (Dt. 16:21). The Bible makes these categories discernible, as it lists the type of sins which were ceremonial, (Gal. 4:10; Col. 16,17; Heb. 9:10) while explicitly reincorporating many basic moral commands in the Mosaic code into the New Testament code,<ref>Homosexuality and the Old Testament, P. Michael Ukleja http://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/Ted_Hildebrandt/OTeSources/03-Leviticus/Text/Articles/Ukleja-Homsex-BS.htm</ref> upholding basic universal moral laws by type and often individually. <ref>Charles C. Ryrie, "The End of the Law," Bibliotheca Sacra 124 (July-September 1967):246</ref><ref>By this it is not meant that Christians are "under law" as though being saved on account of his works, in contrast to imputed righteousness by faith, (Rm. 3-5), or that we look to the letter of the law as the standard, over its intent and foundational basis, but because of faith in the Lord Jesus, Christian are mandated and rightly motivated and enabled to fulfill the righteous intent of the law (Rm. 8:4), which goes beyond the letter of it (though it is evident that this results in keeping the letter of basic universal moral laws as well)</ref> (Rm. 13:8-10; Heb. 10:28; Ja. 4:11; 1Cor. 10:7; 2Cor. 6:16,17; 1Jn. 5:21; Rv. 9:20; 13:14,15 14:11; 1Tim. 6:1; Eph. 6:1-3; 1Cor. 9:8,9) with unlawful sex between outlawed partners or outside marriage being prohibited in the N.T. (Mat. 5:32; 15:19; 19:9; Mk. 7:21; Jn. 8:41; Acts 15:20; 15:29; 21:25; Rom. 1:29; 1Co_5:1; 1Co. 6:9,13, 18; 7:2; 2Co. 12:21; Gal. 5:19; Eph. 5:3; Col. 3:5; 1Ths. 4:3; Heb. 12:16; 13:4; 1Pet. 4:3; Rev. 9:21; 14:8, 17:2, 4; 18:3; 19:2) The prohibitions against homosex homosexual intercourse clearly fit in this category by type,<ref>"That Which is Unnatural" Homosexuality in Society, the Church, and Scripture by Joseph P. Gudel -ICR http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/cri/cri-jrnl/web/crj0108a.html</ref> and are only condemned where explicitly mentioned (Rm. 1:16,27) while accompaniments such as simply where to worship or eat would only be contextually wrong. (1Cor. 8,10)
Secondly, neither the grammar nor any categorical division or cultural context warrants relegating these Levitical commands to merely being prohibitory of idolatrous temple homosex.
As part of extensive substantive documentation evidencing that the prohibitions against homosex homosexual intercourse are immutable and universal,<ref>http://www.robgagnon.net/ArticlesOnline.htm</ref> scholar Robert A. H. Gagnon,<ref>http://www.robgagnon.net/Index.html</ref> provides seven reasons for their contemporary relevance of the Leviticus 18:22.
*Part of an interconnected Old Testament witness
As regard the attempts to negate the universality and transcendence of v. 22 by creating a divisional break from universal laws to culturally bound laws, beginning in v. 21 due to the culturally specific aspect of child sacrifice to Molech, this also cannot be established, as that law is not restricted to child sacrifice to only one specific idol, and cannot be relegated to merely being ceremonial. Rather, it is based upon foundational moral law (Gn. 9:5,6; Ex. 20:2; 34:15) and is literally applicable in principal and by modification to all cultures and times. In addition, consistent with the prohomosex hermeneutic behind their attempt, v.19 (intercourse during menstruation, which is more akin to ceremonial law) would disallow the intrinsic sinfulness of the next verse (adultery). While types of laws are sometimes grouped together, Biblical laws codes as a whole are not strict categories of laws, but types are more manifest by their nature and foundational principals.
Moreover, when homosex or illicit heterosexual sex as a formal part of idolatrous activity is targeted, then the context makes that evident (Dt. 23:17,18), (“with dogs” likely refering referring to the manner of homosex relations). The historical fact is that in Canaanite culture, homosexuality was practices as both a religious rite and a personal perversion...Israel's pagan neighbours knew both secular and sacred homosexuality." <ref>Greg Bahnsen p 45</ref> Though some argue that there is no evidence to suggest these texts refer to Canaanite cultic practices<ref>Homosexuality Revisited in Light of the Current Climate, by Calvin Smith http://www.theologicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/homosexuality_revisited.pdf</ref>
D. Sherwin Bailey, whose primary revisionary work seeking to justify homosex is looked to by succeeding prohomsoex prohomosex polemicists, himself stated, "It is hardly open to doubt that both the laws in Leviticus relate to ordinary homosexual acts between men, and not to ritual or other acts performed in the name of  religion."<ref>Bailey, "Homosexuality and the Western Christian Tradition p. 30.</ref>
Another grammatical argument to relegate Lv. 18:22 and 20:13 to a unique cultic context, is one that sees a radical significance in the use of zakhar [Strong's, H2145] the Hebrew word normally translated male/males, or the lesser used word for such, zekhur [H2138]
However, extensive examination reveals that zakhar/zekhur are strictly gender specific words which are primarily used to differentiate between male males and females in general, as well as those in special classes of people, and that is the only special significance it provides. These word provide a distinction between genders without signifying a difference in what the Levitical injunctions proscribe. The reason for their most prevalent use being within special classes of males is simply because that is most often the subject, from sacrificed animals to Jews returning from exile.
Some prohomosex polemicists argue that Lev. 20:13 only prohibits actual male intercourse, while also not forbidding lesbian eroticism.<ref>Wrestling with God and Men, pp. 80-93; by Steven Greenberg</ref>The New Testament and Homosexuality, Palestinian Judaism Scroggs</ref>
However, as v. 22 is substantially evidenced as being based upon foundational design and decree, just as the forbiddance of bestiality is in the next verse is, in principal principle its application is not restricted to only male homosex but same gender sex as well. Male sex with another male represents an illicit partner, contrary to all Biblical marriages, just as Molech represents an illicit object of worship, contrary to all statements relative to such, and the respective injunctions against both are universal based upon inherent qualities which disallow the forbidden functions.
More psychological attempts seeking to make these Levitical laws motive or disposition dependent. However motive (love, hate, consensuality) does not play a part in determining the forbiddance of homosex,<Homosexuality in the Church, Richard B. Hays, Lev. 18:22; 20:13)</ref> nor whether sex outside marriage or with any unlawful partner is valid in either Testament, in contrast with sexual legislation which stipulates such, (Dt. 22:13; 24:3; Num. 35:20; Dt. 22:23-29). Neither the mention of such or lack of mention of it establishes a factor which may sanctify an otherwise illicit union (adultery, incest etc, and all fornications are unequivocally sinful: cf. Gn. 34).
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