Leviticus 18:9

The nakedness of thy sister,.... To lie with one in so near a relation is exceeding criminal, and for which the law curses a man, Deuteronomy 27:22; and to marry her is not lawful; for though it was

The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father, or daughter of thy mother, whether she be born at home, or born abroad, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover.

Thy sister, by both parents. The daughter of thy father, or daughter of thy mother; thy sister by either of thy parents. Whether she be born at home, to wit, of thy father by another wife, whom he hath taken into his house. Or born abroad; either of thy mother, by another, whether a former or a second husband, in another house and family; or of thy father by some strange woman, for there might be some doubt in these cases.

Leviticus 18:9 The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father, or daughter of thy mother, [whether she be] born at home, or born abroad, [even] their nakedness thou shalt not uncover.Ver. 9. Or born abroad,] i.e., Base born, which our English laws call natural children. The Hebrews call them brambles, and Mamzerim, spots abroad, and Shatukim, such as must say nothing when others are praising their parents. The Greeks call bastards, υβριδες, because they are their fathers’ reproach, and are subject to contempt and contumelies of others.

(9) The nakedness of thy sister.—The fact that Adam married “bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh,” and that his sons married their own sisters, encouraged the ancient Hebrew to imitate their example. Hence we find Abraham, the father of the faithful, married his half-sister (Genesis 20:12). The same practice obtained amongst other nations of antiquity. Thus the Athenians married their half-sisters by their father’s side, and the Spartans married half-sisters by the same mother, whilst the Assyrians and Egyptians married full sisters. Though nothing can be more explicit than the law here laid down, and though the transgression of it is denounced as an accursed and impious crime, to be visited with capital punishment (see Leviticus 20:17; Deuteronomy 27:22), yet from the narrative of Amnon and his sister Tamar, and especially from the touching and melancholy remark of the outraged sister (2 Samuel 13:13; 2 Samuel 13:16; 2 Samuel 13:20), it is evident that the practice of the primitive parents of the human race and the example of the father of the Hebrew nation, continued to be followed in spite of this law. (Comp. Ezekiel 22:11.) Born at home or born abroad.—Literally, the birth, or offspring of the house or the birth, or offspring from abroad. According to the administrators of the law during the second Temple, the import of this precept is to forbid commerce between a brother and a sister, whether the sister is born in wedlock, which is meant by born at home, or whether she is illegitimate, which is meant by birth or offspring from abroad. Hence the ancient Chaldee Version of this clause, “whom thy father begot of another woman or of thy mother, or whom thy mother brought forth by thy father or by another man.”

Thy sister - What was here spoken of was the distinguishing offence of the Egyptians.

9. Thy sister — The half-sister is here described; born at home, or born abroad — This has generally been understood as equivalent to “in or out of wedlock,” that is, the daughter of the father’s