Leviticus 18 "Holy Intercourse"

Read Lev. 18:1-30; 20:

We are passing over chapter 17 quickly,

because it is largely concerned with matters we have already discussed.

Let me just call your attention to two brief points:

1) 17:3-4

the one who kills an animal that could have been used as a sacrifice

away from the tent of meeting, will be guilty of bloodguilt.

All sacrifices must be brought to the tent of meeting-the tabernacle.

2) 17:10-16 absolutely prohibits eating blood,

or meat from any animal not slaughtered in the prescribed fashion.

"For the life of every creature is its blood."

If the blood was not properly drained,

and covered with earth,

then the animal could not be eaten.

This is the beginning of the Kosher laws of the Jews.

Chapters 17-18 speak of regulations regarding two of the most basic human desires:

food and sex.

And just as chapter 17 regulates the proper approach to eating meat,

so chapter 18 regulates the proper approach to sexual relations.

Leviticus 18 was the center of a controversy in the Old School Presbyterian Church

in the early 1840s.

On January 5, 1842, the Rev. Archibald McQueen was suspended from the gospel ministry

and from the Lord's Supper by the Fayetteville Presbytery in North Carolina.

The charge?

That he had married his deceased wife's sister

-which was defined by the Westminster Confession as incest.

The case went all the way to the General Assembly,

where the Assembly agreed with the presbytery, after a fiery debate.

Forty years later the Confession was revised.

In other words, we wound up agreeing with McQueen

that the Bible does not prohibit such marriages.

But the controversy revealed the fact that the church

was having a hard time trying to figure out what the Levitical laws were about,

and how they applied to the church today.

Leviticus 18 begins a new section-chapters 18-20-

where God sets forth the meaning of holiness from an ethical standpoint.

Leviticus 11-15 explained ceremonial cleanness and uncleanness,

so that Israel would be prepared to enter the worship of God.

But ceremonial cleanness is only a part of the picture.

God also demands ethical holiness.

Leviticus 18 explicitly sets forth God's commands for sexual purity

in the context of Egypt and Canaan.

Israel must be different,

and so the laws of Leviticus 18 address sexual matters

in terms that were quite familiar to the Israelites-but may seem strange to us.

Verses 1-5 state emphatically that the following laws are of the utmost importance

to the life of Israel.

Three times God declares "I am the LORD"-I am Yahweh.

Israel must not think of Yahweh as simply one god among many.

They must think that Yahweh is like the other gods.

This refrain, that "I am the LORD"

is repeated more than 40 times in the next 9 chapters.

It is an echo of the prologue to the Ten Commandments:

it is the statement of the indicative-the fact that Yahweh is their God,

the one who delivered them from slavery,

and who is giving them a home.

But Yahweh has unique requirements, and so they must pay attention to his commands.

This opening section concludes,

"You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules;

if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the LORD."

Paul will quote this in Romans 10 when he speaks of the righteousness of the law.

Likewise, in Galatians 3:12, Paul says,

"But the law is not of faith, rather 'the one who does them shall live by them.'"

Twice Paul cites this verse in making a sharp contrast between the law and faith.

Some have argued that when Paul refers to the "law" or the "works of the law,"

he is only referring to the ceremonial aspect.

But Leviticus 18:5 is not referring to ceremonial cleanness,

but to ethical holiness.

It is speaking of part the civil and moral law of Israel.

We'll come back to Paul later,

but in the context of Leviticus 18,

verse 5 is saying that the one who obeys God's moral law,

as expressed in the condemnation of incest,

will live long in the land.

Now let's look at the particular cases.

The phrase "uncover the nakedness" does not refer to marriage,

but to any sexual relations (which would obviously include marriage).

The sexual practices of the Canaanites and Egyptians

allowed these sorts of things.

Marriages between brother and sister were rather common,

but God forbids Israel to follow them.

The general rule is stated in verse 6:

"None of you shall approach any one of his close relatives to uncover nakedness.

I am Yahweh."

Then this law is given more detail:

any close relative by blood is automatically excluded.

The father is excluded because it would uncover the nakedness of your mother.

The father's wife is excluded because it would uncover the nakedness of your father.

Your sister or half-sister is in the same category.

Your granddaughter is excluded because they are of the same blood as your own children.

(It is interesting that the daughter is not mentioned-

but that is forbidden by virtue of the condemnation

of exposing your father's nakedness)

Step-sisters, uncles, aunts, daughters-in-law and sisters-in-law,

all are forbidden either because they themselves

are too close in their blood relation,

or because by sleeping with them

you would expose the nakedness of your blood relative.

This is the key to understanding these laws.

Adam and Eve covered their nakedness immediately after their sin.

You do not expose the nakedness of your close relatives,

rather you cover their nakedness.

When Noah allowed himself to fall asleep "uncovered,"

his son Ham did not cover his father's nakedness,

but Shem and Japheth did.

Likewise, since marriage truly creates a one-flesh relationship,

to sleep with a close relative's wife, dishonors the family.

Part of the reason for the complexity of these laws is because divorce was so easy.

As we know well, who live in a similar context,

it was quite possible for an Israelite home to be very mixed up!

It would be easy to argue that my father's third wife's daughter from a previous marriage

is fair game!

But God says, no.

If she was reared in the same house,

then she is off limits.

Verses 17-18 give us two additional cases:

verse 17 forbids a man to have both a mother and her daughter (or granddaughter),

labeling that "depravity" because they are close relatives.

Verse 18 forbids a man to have two sisters at the same time.

So any of your wife's kin is acceptable, except her sister, her mother, or her daughter.

And her sister is only forbidden while your wife is alive..

So why did the Presbyterian church have so much difficulty with this?

It seems quite obvious to us that verse 18

simply condemns marrying two sisters at the same time.

Polygamy is assumed here.

While God had established the proper pattern of mongamy in the Garden,

he did not yet forbid polygamy.

But previous generations could not bring themselves to admit that God ever sanctioned polygamy

Colin McIver, the prosecutor in the McQueen case in 1842,

went so far as to claim that the prohibition against marrying two "sisters"

simply meant any two women, and therefore that Lev. 18:18 forbade polygamy!

So Leviticus 18 not only permits a man to marry his deceased wife's sister,

it also permits a man to marry several wives-

so long as none of them are "close relations."

God's concern for Israel was to keep sexual purity intact,

by avoiding incest.

But why was incest so bad?

Sarah was Abraham's half-sister after all.

Jacob married two sisters at the same time (Leah and Rachel).

The laws of the surrounding nations might forbid the father-daughter

or grandfather-granddaughter,

but most permitted brothers and sisters to marry.

Why did God now forbid it?

Israel must be different from the nations.

Israel must be holy.

The key to understanding these laws is to follow the seed.

The seed must be protected.

You are the seed of your father and mother.

Your seed should not get mixed up with his seed.

You shall not sow the same field with two different kinds of seed!

Therefore both your parents close kin are off limits.

All of your father's wives are off limits (8)

Their children (and their spouses) are off limits (9, 11, 16)

Their siblings (and their spouses) are off limits (12-14)

Your grandchildren (and by implication children) are off limits (10),

as are their spouses (15)

Likewise, since your seed is in your wife, you may not mix with her mother or daughter.

Since you become one flesh with a woman when you lie with her,

you may not become one flesh with those

who have been one flesh with your family's seed.

There is one exception to these laws-the law of Levirate marriage in Dt. 25.

Verse 16 had forbidden you to uncover the nakedness of your brother's wife,

but Dt. 25 commands you to marry your deceased brother's wife.

Leviticus 18 assumes that your brother is still alive.

This focus on the seed, then explains why verse 21 is found in the middle of verses 19-23.

Verse 19 forbids sexual relations during a woman's period.

Verse 20 forbids sexual relations with your neighbor's wife (adultery in general).

Verse 21 forbids offering your children to Molech (burning them in the fire).

Verse 22 forbids homosexuality.

Verse 23 forbids beastiality.

Your seed must not be contaminated by a woman's uncleanness,

nor may it be mixed with another man's wife.

For that matter it may not be contaminated by offering it to idols.

The chapter concludes with the warning that these sorts of sins

were the reasons why God was driving out the Canaanites before them. (24-26)

Therefore if Israel falls into such sins, the land will "vomit you out." (28)

These "abominable customs" are utterly forbidden to Israel.

So how do we understand these laws, and our relationship to them?

Many have taken the approach that since these laws are the only place

where incest is condemned, therefore they must remain in force.

But then you wind up with a couple of uncomfortable problems:

1) according to this, first cousins may marry;

and worse, 2) polygamy is never actually condemned in the Bible,

and if you take Leviticus 18 whole cloth,

then you wind up with a clear endorsement of polygamy.

Others, like Benjamin Stanton at the 1842 General Assembly come closer.

He argued that as part of the Levitical law,

these laws were abrogated with the coming of Christ.

Under this view, the reason we condemn incest

is because the common moral sense of man is revolted by it-

and because there is a long legal tradition that condemns it.

This is something of a natural law argument,

and while there is some truth to this,

it doesn't go quite far enough.

Romans 10 gives us some help in understanding how to approach this.

Read 9:30-10:11

Paul contrasts the righteousness based on the law and the righteousness based on faith.

(Literally, the righteousness which is of the law, and the righteousness which is of faith)

Israel tried to attain righteousness through law-keeping-and failed.

The Gentiles did not pursue righteousness at all, but have found it through faith in Jesus Christ.

In verses 5-8 Paul contrasts the mentality of these two righteousnesses:

(read)

Verse 6 quotes Leviticus 18:5.

Some have taken this to mean that the Mosaic Covenant was a covenant of works.

The problem with that interpretation is that verses 7-8 also quote Moses,

from Deuteronomy 30!

But Paul interprets Deuteronomy 30 in a specifically Christ-centered way.

In other words, Paul reads the law in the light of Christ.

If you read Moses apart from Christ, then you will find a covenant of works.

If you read Moses in Christ, then you will find a covenant of grace.

It was never possible to find a righteousness that was of the law.

You have to miss the point even of Leviticus 18:5 to make it teach a works-righteousness.

But that is exactly what Israel has done.

Yes, Israel was called to be the Son of God.

They were supposed to be holy as God is holy.

Those were serious commands.

But the covenant that called Israel to perfect obedience contained at its own heart

the means of grace to deal with sin.

And as soon as Israel walked faithfully as the Son of God,

obedient to his Father in every way,

the kingdom of God-the age to come-the new creation would dawn.

But that would only happen in the fullness of time.

Therefore, ever since the days of Moses, the righteousness of faith has declared,

(Romans 10:7-9)

The law has always pointed people to Christ.

So then, what do we do with Leviticus 18?

The same thing that we do with the whole Mosaic Covenant.

We read it in Christ.

This means that first we must see that the judicial laws have expired.

Our Confession says:

"To them also, as a body politic, he gave sundry judicial laws, which expired together with the State of that people; not obliging any other now, further than the general equity thereof may require." (19.4)

The specific statutes of Leviticus 18,

together with the particular seed-based rationale,

are not binding on any other nation.

After all, verses 28-29 make it very clear

that these laws were designed specifically for Israel's situation

as the covenant people-a situation that no modern nation shares.

But secondly, we must see how the general equity of these laws remain in force.

Equity is forgotten concept in modern America.

The basic idea of equity has to do with justice.

What is the principle of justice that underlies the statute?

All of you have no doubt encountered situations where a law didn't apply.

It may have been a good law,

but in this situation,

the enforcement of the law would actually produce injustice.

The speed limit says 35 MPH, but your wife is in transition,

and it's three o'clock in the morning!

The strictest of judges is not going to enforce that law!

No law has ever been designed to cover every conceivable exigency.

Therefore every judge, every elder, every parent

will be faced with situations where the execution of the law

will produce injustice.

In such cases, we must follow the equity of the law-the principles of justice-

rather than the letter of the law.

And our Confession rightly says that we should not enforce any of the statutes of Israel (19:4).

Leviticus 18 contains principles of justice.

Incest is wrong. Adultery is wrong. Homosexuality is wrong. Bestiality is wrong.

If you try to get your statutes from the Bible,

then Leviticus 18 would permit first cousins to marry.

For that matter, since there is no explicit prohibition of polygamy,

Leviticus 18 would also permit that.

Polygamy is akin to slaveholding.

It is plainly an evil that is a result of the fall-but it is never defined as inherently sinful.

1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 require that elders be monogamous,

but there is no passage that absolutely forbids polygamy.

Rather there is clear biblical teaching

that marriage was designed to be between one man and one woman.

(Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:4-6)

Any man who desires to reflect the love of Christ and his church had better have only one wife!

Because Christ has only one bride.

Therefore no Christian man may become a polygamist.

So what is the point?

Why do the scriptures never condemn polygamy as a sin?

Because what do you do with the man who already has three wives?

If he becomes a Christian, must he divorce two of them?

No.

Certainly he may never be an elder-

but he must live faithfully in the condition in which he was called. (1 Cor 7)

In this respect the laws of the United States go beyond scripture.

And that is fine.

Our laws forbid first cousins to marry.

Our laws forbid polygamy entirely.

But since we do not believe that the statutes of Moses were designed for the United States,

we should not complain that our statutes differ from Israel's.

The question is what is the equity of our laws?

What are the principles of justice upon which we operate?

This is why the Christian view of the civil law has always insisted

that Christian judges and legislators must train their consciences in the Word of God.

If you do not understand the biblical principles of justice, wisdom, and equity,

then you will neither be able to frame just laws, nor enforce them fairly.

And if a nation has foolish laws and unjust enforcement,

then we are back to the situation of Leviticus 18:24.

God says that he judged the nations because of their violation of the natural sexual order.

The nations were committing adultery, incest, homosexuality, and bestiality.

The nations were offering child sacrifices to their gods.

And for this, God destroyed the nations who lived in Canaan,

"and the land vomited out its inhabitants." (18:25)

Because of the wickedness of the Canaanites,

God brought a picture of the final judgment upon them.

While there is a uniqueness to the Conquest of Canaan.

God was using the Canaanites as an example for the whole world to see:

the Conquest under Joshua is a picture of the Conquest by Jesus.

But there is a universal lesson here:

every nation must bow the knee to Jesus Christ.

Every individual, every household, every nation must repent-or be destroyed.

Earthly judgments will come and go,

but there is a final judgment in which no one will stand

except those who have found the righteousness that comes by faith.