6 “‘No one is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations. I am the Lord.
7 “‘Do not dishonor your father by having sexual relations with your mother. She is your mother; do not have relations with her.
8 “‘Do not have sexual relations with your father’s wife; that would dishonor your father.
9 “‘Do not have sexual relations with your sister, either your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether she was born in the same home or elsewhere.
10 “‘Do not have sexual relations with your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter; that would dishonor you.
11 “‘Do not have sexual relations with the daughter of your father’s wife, born to your father; she is your sister.
12 “‘Do not have sexual relations with your father’s sister; she is your father’s close relative.
13 “‘Do not have sexual relations with your mother’s sister, because she is your mother’s close relative.
14 “‘Do not dishonor your father’s brother by approaching his wife to have sexual relations; she is your aunt.
15 “‘Do not have sexual relations with your daughter-in-law. She is your son’s wife; do not have relations with her.
16 “‘Do not have sexual relations with your brother’s wife; that would dishonor your brother.
17 “‘Do not have sexual relations with both a woman and her daughter. Do not have sexual relations with either her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter; they are her close relatives. That is wickedness.
18 “‘Do not take your wife’s sister as a rival wife and have sexual relations with her while your wife is living.
19 “‘Do not approach a woman to have sexual relations during the uncleanness of her monthly period.
20 “‘Do not have sexual relations with your neighbor’s wife and defile yourself with her.
21 “‘Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molek, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the Lord.
23 “‘Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion.
Leviticus 18:6-21,23, NIVOne thing to briefly point out: the title of the passage I just listed is called “Unlawful Sexual Relations.” What is illustrated in the text is God directly telling Moses to speak to the Israelites and tell them, “the Lord says…” followed by what God actually said. Pointing this out now is important, because of the passage I am about to share next:
6 “‘I will set my face against anyone who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitute themselves by following them, and I will cut them off from their people.
7 “‘Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the Lord your God. 8 Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the Lord, who makes you holy.
9 “‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death. Because they have cursed their father or mother, their blood will be on their own head.
10 “‘If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death.
11 “‘If a man has sexual relations with his father’s wife, he has dishonored his father. Both the man and the woman are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
12 “‘If a man has sexual relations with his daughter-in-law, both of them are to be put to death. What they have done is a perversion; their blood will be on their own heads.
14 “‘If a man marries both a woman and her mother, it is wicked. Both he and they must be burned in the fire, so that no wickedness will be among you.
15 “‘If a man has sexual relations with an animal, he is to be put to death, and you must kill the animal.
16 “‘If a woman approaches an animal to have sexual relations with it, kill both the woman and the animal. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
17 “‘If a man marries his sister, the daughter of either his father or his mother, and they have sexual relations, it is a disgrace. They are to be publicly removed from their people. He has dishonored his sister and will be held responsible.
18 “‘If a man has sexual relations with a woman during her monthly period, he has exposed the source of her flow, and she has also uncovered it. Both of them are to be cut off from their people.
19 “‘Do not have sexual relations with the sister of either your mother or your father,for that would dishonor a close relative; both of you would be held responsible.
20 “‘If a man has sexual relations with his aunt, he has dishonored his uncle. They will be held responsible; they will die childless.
21 “‘If a man marries his brother’s wife, it is an act of impurity; he has dishonored his brother. They will be childless.
Leviticus 20:6-12,14-21, NIVPicking up where the previous section ended, this section was titled: “Punishments for Sin.” It basically repeats the previous passage from two chapters prior, if not word for word, then at least in spirit. I felt it was important to point out, because when I saw these as a non-believer, among other reactions, I thought this was overkill. “Why do you have to say “this thing is a sin” twice?” Well, it’s because one section specifically detailed what was not OK with God, and the other section detailed God’s instructions for what to do when someone crosses the line.
Another thing to point out: these texts, although harsh (and understandably less easily digested), are part of the “Holy Book” for both Judaism and Christianity. It is our shared heritage. And if you were to dare to look at the text and take your time reading through it, to understand not only what it actually says, but to ponder why each of these seemingly little things might be such big deals, you might actually see the common sense in them. I’ll just pick a few:
Leviticus 18:6: “No one is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations. I am the Lord.”
Let’s think about this clearly: approaching close relatives to have sexual relations will lead to inbreeding. And from what I’ve heard, inbreeding leads to creating persons that have various bodily dysfunctions (specifically bodily organs), among other issues. Judging from the text, it would appear that God cares about inbreeding.
Leviticus 18:14: "Do not dishonor your father’s brother by approaching his wife to have sexual relations; she is your aunt."
Leviticus 18:15: "Do not have sexual relations with your daughter-in-law. She is your son’s wife; do not have relations with her."Let’s think about these two. In these cases, it involves family member not related by blood. Still, there is something to be considered: the marriage between your relative and his or her spouse. It would be adultery. And, having relations in this case would anger your relative. It would cause anger and discord within the family. There’s a reason these two verses (and others as well) are here.
Leviticus 18:19: “Do not approach a woman to have sexual relations during the uncleanness of her monthly period.”
OK. As a man, I’m not an expert on the particulars of the “why” here. Thanks to a previous relationship, I did get to hear what it’s like for a woman experiencing the “time of the month,” and I understand that it includes pain that most men will never know. (As a disclosure, I’ve had gut issues that have included much bleeding, so I sort of have an inclination, but I also understand that my personal experience even then is still not quite the same.)
However, there is one thing from this verse that jumps out to me: this doesn’t sound like the kind of sex that occurs between a husband and a wife. So basically what it’s saying is for men not to approach any woman that is not his wife (or any woman at all, if he’s not married) for sex while she’s going through her period. If he does, he’s going to knock her up. Even with “sexual protection,” the risk is still there, all the same. [The irony too is, with the advent of the #MeToo Movement, one Facebook poster I’ve seen circulated, trying to change the narrative by shifting the focus and blame off the woman and on the man, by saying this: "if a woman has sex with 100 men in 100 days, she’ll only get pregnant once. If a man has sex with 100 women in 100 days, he could end up getting 100 women pregnant.” Unless I’m mistaken, this statement appears to back up what is written in Leviticus 18:19! Why I think this is ironic is the question of how many proponents of this movement are anti-Christian because somehow it’s a “man-centric” religion that puts women down. Thanks to this verse, I beg to differ.]
I could go on, but I believe I’ve made my point with these verses. The last significant thing I wanted to point out is that in each passage, I omitted a verse each time. That’s because I included those particular verses in the previous post. Yes, in addition to all these other sexual boundaries, God also places a boundary between two members of the same sex. But, if many non-believers are like I once were, such persons would zero in on the one verse that talks about “Biblical homosexuality,” flip out, and whitewash the entire passage as “bad” and “God is a hater,” which is garbage. But if one were to actually sit down and look at the verses themselves, I would like to think that such a person would be able to come to his or her senses. God ordered Moses to dictate these to the Israelites (and for someone to write this all down) because He cares.
When I was a non-believer, I once wrote the following in a blog post I’ve decided (for now) not to re-post: "One cannot base their entire knowledge on the homosexuality subject simply by reading... [Leviticus 20:13]"
(Hard to believe that that was only a decade ago!)
While I was angry at pro-Christian marriage Christians for not truly understanding what went into what I understood as homosexuality at the time (and today still am frustrated at times), I myself didn’t understand what the passages in Leviticus were really talking about, either. Over the next couple years, as I wrestled with my own anger around God’s boundaries on sex, I heard a voice say: “these are for you.” In other words, these sexual boundaries not only were not against me, but were there for my protection. (As well as that of others.) And yes, even today, I don’t think Leviticus 20:13 alone is enough to educate anyone about God’s design for sex in its intended context. What that verse is is a boundary. But there’s so much more that goes into what the Bible says not only about sex but about how God made each and every one of us, in the same way that someone’s identity search and storyline is so much more than just “you know what? I do think I prefer to have sex with someone who is the same sex as me!” We cannot boil it down to just that. But in the same way, we cannot boil God and His truth down to just that, either.
In the same aforementioned blog post from 10 years ago, I also wrote the following: “When I was living in Northfield MN after college, I briefly had a conversation with my landlord about this. He said he did believe homosexuality was a sin, but he said that as Christians we needed to love them. Because of it, I've never needed to express any conflicting thoughts because he hit the main issue.” I still stand by that. Granted, in the years since I became pro-Christian marriage, myself, I’m not sure how good a job I’ve done of loving people who identify as persons with “same-sex attraction and proud of it.” But I am convinced of this: God loves such people, in the same way that He loves the rest of us. And I can now see how Leviticus 18 and 20 show it.
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