Leviticus 18

This article needs attention from an expert in Bible. The specific problem is: the meaning of the chapter appears to be a controversial issue. WikiProject Bible may be able to help recruit an expert. (September 2015)

Leviticus 18
← chapter 17 chapter 19 →
"Tabernacle", Biblical illustrations, Sweet Media, 1984
Book	Book of Leviticus
Hebrew Bible part	Torah
Order in the Hebrew part	3
Category	Torah
Christian Bible part	Old Testament
Order in the Christian part	3

Leviticus 18 (the eighteenth chapter of the Book of Leviticus) deals with a number of sexual activities considered abominable, including incest, bestiality, and homosexuality. The chapter also condemns Moloch worship. It is part of the Holiness Code (Leviticus 17–26), and its sexual prohibitions are largely paralleled by Leviticus 20 - except that Ch. 20 has more emphasis on punishment.

Text[]

The original text of Leviticus 18, like that of most of the Hebrew Bible, is written in Hebrew. The oldest extant versions of the text in Hebrew are found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Samaritan Pentateuch, and the Masoretic Text. An ancient Greek translation from the third century BCE, the Septuagint, also exists. Since the addition of chapter divisions in the thirteenth century CE, this chapter is divided into 30 verses.

The chapter begins with God speaking to Moses (verse 1) and giving him a message for the Israelites (2), warning them to keep God's laws rather than Canaanite or Egyptian practices (3–5). Then God is quoted as listing people with whom sex is forbidden due to family relationships (6–19). In verse 20, God prohibits sexual relations with a neighbor's wife, and in verse 21 God prohibits passing one's children through fire to Moloch. Verse 22 is the famous verse about "lying with a man," discussed below, while in verse 23 God forbids bestiality, and according to some translations, pedophilia. In the final verses (24–30) God warns that breaking these laws will produce defilement and that the Canaanites are about to be displaced from the land of Canaan as a result of following these practices, and warn of a similar fate for the Israelites if they fall into these practices.

Incest[]

The Bible lists several types of relationship which it regards as incestuous unions; one list appears in the Deuteronomic Code, and two lists occur in the Holiness Code of Leviticus. These lists only mention relationships with female relatives; excluding lesbianism, which implies that the list is addressed to men. These lists then compare as follows:

One feature of all the lists is that sexual activity between a man and his daughter is not explicitly forbidden. The Talmud argues that this is because the prohibition was obvious, especially given the proscription against a relationship with a granddaughter.^[2] The shortness of the list in Leviticus 20, and especially of that in Deuteronomy, is explained by classical Jewish scholarship as being due to the obviousness of the missing prohibitions.^[3][4] The explicit prohibition against engaging in sexual activity with "both a woman and her daughter",^[5] implicitly forbids sexual activity between a man and his daughter. Some biblical scholars have instead proposed that it was originally in the list but was then accidentally left out from the copy on which modern versions of the text ultimately depend, due to a mistake by the scribe.^[6]

Apart from the questionable case of a man marrying his daughter, the list in Leviticus 18 roughly produces the same rules as were followed in early pre-Islamic Arabic culture.^[3] However, most tribal nations also disliked exogamous marriage—marriage to completely unrelated people.^[3] In several prominent cases in the Torah, the incest rules are ignored in favour of marriage to a close relative; Jacob is described as having married his first wife's sister,^[7][8][9] and Abraham as having a father in common with Sarah^[10] (rather than a mother, which would have been permitted by the list). These are not seen as illegal marriages as the incest laws were not given until Moses.

Homosexuality[]

Leviticus 18:22 in the Hebrew Bible:

וְאֶ֨ת־זָכָ֔ר לֹ֥א תִשְׁכַּ֖ב מִשְׁכְּבֵ֣י אִשָּׁ֑ה תּֽוֹעֵבָ֖ה הִֽוא:‎ ^[11]

Leviticus 18:22 word-by-word text analysis:^[12]

^{†Note: The word מִשְׁכְּבֵי‎ (miš-kə-ḇê) is the construct form of the masculine noun מִשְׁכַּב‎ (miš-kaḇ), which in turn comes from the verb שָׁכַב‎ (šā-ḵaḇ), meaning to lie [down].[13][14] The noun מִשְׁכַּב‎ (miš-kaḇ) is defined as both a physical place of lying-down (i.e. bed, couch, bier) and the act of lying-down (i.e. sleep, intercourse).[15] Strong's Concordance lists 46 occurrences of מִשְׁכַּב‎ (miš-kaḇ).[13] Of those 46, the KJV translates מִשְׁכַּב‎ (miš-kaḇ) to "bed" 34 times, "bedchamber" 4 times, "couch" 1 time, and miscellaneous verb forms of "lying" 7 times.[16] The construct מִשְׁכְּבֵי‎ (miš-kə-ḇê) appears only three times in the Bible – twice in Leviticus as מִשְׁכְּבֵ֣י אִשָּׁ֑ה‎ (miš-kə-ḇê ’iš-šāh)[17] and once in Genesis 49:4 as מִשְׁכְּבֵ֣י אָבִ֑יךָ‎ (miš-kə-ḇê ’ā·ḇî·ḵā), which is translated as "[to] the bed of your father."[18][19] Therefore, מִשְׁכְּבֵ֣י אִשָּׁ֑ה‎ (miš-kə-ḇê ’iš-šāh) can mean either "the lying-down of a woman" or "the bed of a woman."[20][21][22][23][24]}

Leviticus 18:22 has been translated in common English versions as:

"Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination."^[25] King James Version

"You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination."^[26] Revised Standard Version and English Standard Version

"You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; such a thing is an abomination."^[27] New American Bible

"It is disgusting for a man to have sex with another man."^[28] Contemporary English Version

The Hebrew wording of Leviticus 18:22 has been generally interpreted as prohibiting some or all homosexual acts, although which precise acts, and in which situations, is a matter of ongoing scholarly debate.^[29] Some authors^[30] state that verse 22 condemns "homosexuality" or "homosexual relations" and other authors maintaining that it condemns only males penetrating males (anal intercourse).^[31][32][33] More recently some scholars posit, based on the words used in the original Hebrew and the context of other passages, that Leviticus 18:22 more specifically refers to relationships that are pederastic or incestuous in nature between males in which case it does not prohibit other relationships between men.^[34] Others believe due to study of the language used in the original Hebrew, that the restriction is only relevant in specific situations.^{[35][31][36][37][38][39][40]} Such readings have also been responded to and countered in research, including in particular the use of pederastic terms.^[41][42][43]

Lesbianism is not explicitly prohibited in the Torah; however, the rabbi and Jewish scholar Maimonides ruled in the twelfth century that lesbianism was prohibited nonetheless and deserving of punishment by beating.^[44]

Weekly Torah portion[]

The whole chapter is part of the weekly Torah portion (parashah) Acharei Mot (אַחֲרֵי מוֹת‎) which comprises Leviticus 16:1–18:30.^[45]

Notes[]

References[]

• Alter, Robert, The five books of Moses: a translation with commentary, 2004
• Boyarin, Daniel, "Are there any Jews in ‘The History of Sexuality’?", Journal of the History of Sexuality, Vol 5 no 3 (1995)
• Brooten, Bernadette, Love Between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism, 1996
• Cohen, Martin, "The Biblical Prohibition of Homosexual Intercourse," Journal of Homosexuality, Vol 19(4) (1990)
• Daube, David, "The Old Testament Prohibitions of Homosexuality." Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung fur Rechtsgeschichte Romantische Abteilung 103 (1986)
• Gagnon, Robert, The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics, 2001
• Greenberg, David, The Construction of Homosexuality,1988
• Kahn, Yoel, "Judaism and Homosexuality: The Traditionalist/ Progressive Debate," Homosexuality and Religion, ed Richard Hasbany 1984
• Milgrom, Jacob, Leviticus 17–22, 2000
• Thurston, Thomas, "Leviticus 18:22 and the Prohibition of Homosexual Acts," in Homophobia and the Judeo-Christian Tradition, ed. by Michael L. Stemmeler & J. Michael Clark, 1990
• Walsh, Jerome, "Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13: Who Is Doing What To Whom?" Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol 120, No 2, (2001) Also available here.
• Wenham, Gordon, The Book of Leviticus, 1979
• Wold, Donald, Out of Order: Homosexuality in the Bible and the Ancient Near East, 1998
• Hebrew phrasing for Lev 18.
• The Great Books, for NRSV text.
• Blue Letter Bible's Bible Lookup Tools were used to derive passage citations.
• Robert Jamieson's Commentary on Lev 18. (19th Century) (conservative).^{[citation needed]}
• Pharsea's treatment of Leviticus 18:22. (balanced)^{[citation needed]}
• ReligiousTolerance.org's treatment of Leviticus 18:22. (liberal)^{[citation needed]}
• Olyan, Saul M. (1994). ""And with a Male You Shall Not Lie the Lying down of a Woman": On the Meaning and Significance of Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13". Journal of the History of Sexuality. 5 (2): 179–206. ISSN 1043-4070. JSTOR 3704197. PMID 11639358.

Further reading[]

Wikisource has original text related to this article: Leviticus 18 (KJV)

• Other translations can be viewed at Bible Gateway.
• Matthew Henry's Commentary on Lev 18 (18th Century)
• Acharei Mot (Jewish weekly Torah portion that includes Leviticus 18)