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
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.
Continue Reading:
Start from the top:
- Recently Discovered Chapter of Deuteronomy
- Sexuality of: Heros of The Faith
- Biblical Marriage
- Porneia (Sexual Immorality???)
- Take a Old Testament Sexuality SurveyHere
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