Leviticus 18

Leviticus 18:1

VII. LAWS CONCERNING PERSONAL CONDUCT (Chaps. 18-22) A. Laws of Sexual Purity (Chap. 18)18:1-5 Chapter 18 deals with various forms of unlawful marriages with which the Israelites had become familiar in Egypt but which they were to completely renounce in the land of Canaan. 18:6-18 The expression “to uncover the nakedness” here means to have sexual intercourse. Verse 6 states the general principle. Marriage with a close relative was forbidden, whether mother (v. 7); stepmother (v. 8); sister or half-sister (v. 9); granddaughter (v. 10); the daughter of a stepmother (v. 11); aunt (vv. 12, 13); uncle (v. 14a). Modern medicine confirms that in marriages of blood relatives, the physical or mental weaknesses of the parents are sometimes magnified in the children. But the prohibition extended to in-laws and other relatives-by-marriage as well (vv. 14b-16), sometimes known as relationships of affinity. A reason sometimes given for this latter code is that the term “one flesh” in Gen_2:24 describes a family relationship that is so close and permanent that even the union of relatives-by-marriage is considered to be incest.

A man must not marry a daughter-in-law or step-granddaughter (v. 17) or take a woman as a rival to her sister (v. 18), as in the case of Hannah and Peninnah (1Sa_1:1-8). Verse 16 was later amended by Deu_25:5 : If a man died childless, his brother was obliged to marry the widow. This was known as levirate marriage. 18:19-21 Intercourse with a woman was forbidden during menstruation. Adultery with a neighbor’s wife was prohibited. Also banned were the terrible practices sometimes connected with the worship of the idol Molech, causing newborn babies to pass through . . . fire (2Ki_23:10; Jer_32:35). Molech was the god of the Ammonites: His idol-image was in the Valley of Hinnom. Francis Schaeffer describes the ritual: According to one tradition there was an opening at the back of the brazen idol, and after a fire was made within it, each parent had to come and with his own hands place his firstborn child in the white-hot, outstretched arms of Molech. According to this tradition, the parent was not allowed to show emotion, and drums were beaten so that the baby’s cries could not be heard as the baby died in the arms of Molech. 18:22, 23 Sodomy or homosexuality was forbidden, as well as sexual intercourse with an animal. In legislating against homosexuality, God may also have been anticipating the modern AIDS epidemic and seeking to save people from it. 18:24-30 Verses 1-23 tell the people what not to do; verses 24-30 tell them why not to do it. It is no accident that impurity and idolatry are found together in the same chapter (see also chap. 20). A person’s morality is the fruit of his theology, his concept of God. The Canaanites were a graphic illustration of the degradation that idolatry produces (vv. 24-27). When the children of Israel took possession of the land, they killed thousands of these people at Jehovah’s command. When we consider the moral degradation of the Canaanites, as described in verses 24-30, we can understand why God dealt so harshly with them.