Sunday 2 September 2018

Jacob

Continuing to look at the sex lives of some of the Biblical heros.  Trying to create a biblical list of things considered sexually immoral.   Was Paul considering Jacob when he said that the sexually immoral (pornoi πόρνοι) will not inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Chor 6:9) Or did pornoi mean something else?

Jacob was the grandson of Abraham, later given the name Israel. He is also regarded as a Patriarch of the Israelites. 

Jacob ends up marrying two sisters, Rahel and Leah.  These two sisters were also cousins of Jacob. They were the daughters of his mother’s brother Laban.

Jacob had 12 sons (and at least one daughter).
  • With wife Leah: Reuben, Simeon,  Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun
  • With Rachel’s slave girl Bilhah: Dan, Naphtali
  • With Leah’s slave girl Zilpah:  Gad, Asher
  • With wife Rachel:  Joseph,  Benjamin

So patriarch Jacob marries two sisters who are his cousins. He also has sex with their slave girls to produce the 12 sons who become the 12 tribes of Israel. 

It is possible the author of Leviticus 18:18 had Jacob in mind.
“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.”  

Questions to consider:
  • Is there a hint that Jacob thought it was wrong to marry two sisters (also his cousins)?
  • Is there a hint that Jacob thought it was wrong to have sex with slaves?
  • Did the author or other characters in this story see anything wrong with this?

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