If we are looking for a list of forbidden sexual activities in the Bible, Leviticus 18 looks like our best collection.
Leviticus 18: 6-23 (NET)
6 No man is to approach any close relative to have sexual intercourse with her. I am the Lord. 7 You must not expose your father’s nakedness by having sexual intercourse with your mother. She is your mother; you must not have intercourse with her. 8 You must not have sexual intercourse with your father’s wife; she is your father’s nakedness. 9 You must not have sexual intercourse with your sister, whether she is your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether she is born in the same household or born outside it; you must not have sexual intercourse with either of them. 10 You must not expose the nakedness of your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter by having sexual intercourse with them, because they are your own nakedness. 11 You must not have sexual intercourse with the daughter of your father’s wife born of your father; she is your sister. You must not have intercourse with her. 12 You must not have sexual intercourse with your father’s sister; she is your father’s flesh. 13 You must not have sexual intercourse with your mother’s sister, because she is your mother’s flesh. 14 You must not expose the nakedness of your father’s brother; you must not approach his wife to have sexual intercourse with her. She is your aunt. 15 You must not have sexual intercourse with your daughter-in-law; she is your son’s wife. You must not have intercourse with her. 16 You must not have sexual intercourse with your brother’s wife; she is your brother’s nakedness. 17 You must not have sexual intercourse with both a woman and her daughter; you must not take as wife either her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to have intercourse with them. They are closely related to her—it is lewdness. 18 You must not take a woman in marriage and then marry her sister as a rival wife while she is still alive, to have sexual intercourse with her. 19 You must not approach a woman in her menstrual impurity to have sexual intercourse with her. 20 You must not have sexual intercourse with the wife of your fellow citizen to become unclean with her. 21 You must not give any of your children as an offering to Molech, so that you do not profane the name of your God. I am the Lord! 22 You must not have sexual intercourse with a male as one has sexual intercourse with a woman; it is a detestable act. 23 You must not have sexual intercourse with any animal to become defiled with it, and a woman must not stand before an animal to have sexual intercourse with it; it is a perversion.
Is this our list that clarifies what is sexually immoral? Do not have sex with:
- a close relative
- your mother
- your stepmother
- your sister
- your stepsister
- your daughter
- your son’s wife
- your granddaughter
- your aunt
- a woman and her daughter
- a woman and her granddaughter
- your wife’s sister
- a menstruating woman
- a wife of your fellow citizen
- a man
- an animal
Note the above list was written with men in mind. Should we assume a similar list applies to women? The only clear instructions for women in this passage has to do with women having sex with an animal.
Leviticus 20:9-21 repeats a lot from this list, and includes punishments for each (death for some, being cut off from the community for others).
The seventh of the Ten Commandments also prohibits adultery. (Exodus 20:12) It is forbidden for a man to have sexual relations with a married woman not his wife.
Additional rabbinical laws prohibit sexual relations with:
- One's grandmother
- One's brother
- One's great-grandmother
- One's grandfather's wife
- One's great-grandfather's wife
- One's grandson's wife
When sorting through this lengthy list I can’t help think:
Why didn’t they just say “no sex outside of marriage”.
Or why not “Only have sex with your (one) wife”. That would have been a lot easier to remember. But it seems biblical sexuality wasn’t that narrowly defined at that point in time.
So can we take this list from Leviticus and plug it into every New Testament passage that talks about “sexual immorality”?. I think most of us would feel uncomfortable with this solution. Most of the items on our first list are not included in this Leviticus list. Most of the list will seem irrelevant to people in our culture who have no desire to have sex with there relatives. Some of us would want to add a few more items to this list from our previous list. Some of us would want to remove a few other items from this list.
We need to also note the items that didn’t make it on the Leviticus list. By creating a list that says “don’t have sex with these people”, there is an implied assumption that there is a green light for those not on the list. Appropriate sexual relations at that time included more options than sex between man and his one wife.
Leviticus 18 has no mention of sex with slaves, prostitutes, non citizen women, or concubines (mistresses). It also omits any discussion of how many women is too many, or what age is too young. The fact that they had a list like this should give us a hint that these people were having more sex with more people than we want to tell our Sunday school classes about.
Start from the top:
