The law of holiness
1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,
2 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them: I am Yahweh, your God.
3 You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you used to live, nor shall you do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you; you shall not follow their practices.
4 My practices instead you will follow, and you will carry out my ordinances; I am Yahweh your God.
5 Keep my practices and ordinances, for whoever keeps them finds life; I am Yahweh.
6 None of you shall have sexual intercourse with a blood relative; I am Yahweh.
7 Do not have intercourse with your father or your mother; she is your mother, don’t have intercourse with her.
8 Do not have intercourse with your father’s wife: Respect your father.
9 Do not have intercourse with your sister or your stepsister, whether born in the same house or elsewhere.
10 Do not have intercourse with your granddaughter; that would dishonor you.
11 Do not have intercourse with a half sister; she, too, is your sister.
12 Do not have intercourse with an aunt, whether she is your father’s sister
13 or your mother’s sister.
14 Do not have intercourse with your uncle’s wife; she, too, is your aunt.
15 Do not have intercourse with your daughter-in-law
16 or with your broth er’s wife.
17 Do not have intercourse with both a woman and her daughter or her grand daughter; they are blood relatives; that is wickedness.
18 While your wife is living, do not take her sister as a wife so that you make her jealous.
19 Do not have intercourse with a woman during her monthly period.
20 Do not have intercourse with your neighbor’s wife and defile yourself with her.
21 Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech and do not profane the name of your God; I am Yahweh.
22 Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; it is an abomination.
23 Also do not have sexual relations with an animal; that is infamous.
24 Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways for this is how the nations I am driving out before you, became defiled.
25 As the land was defiled I came to punish it, and it has vomited out its inhabitants.
26 You shall keep my practices and ordinances, and you shall not do any of these abo minations, neither the native nor the alien living among you.
27 Recall the people who did all these things before you in these lands and became defiled.
28 If you defile the land it will vomit you out as it did the nations before you.
29 The one who does any of these abominations shall be cut off from his people.
30 Keep my laws and do not follow any of these abominable customs which were practiced before you, so as not to defile yourselves by them; I am Yahweh, your God.”
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Comments Leviticus, Chapter 18
• 18.1 The Law of Holiness continues with more sexual prohibitions. These bans, now seen by many people as outdated prejudices, are, in fact, basic to human dignity in the sense that they submit whims to a law. They are also at the root of married fidelity and of mutual respect between members of the same family.
As was mentioned in chapter 15, the Canaanites did not know these bases of human culture (you shall not do what is done in the land of Canaan) and the Israelites saw in such rules a moral responsibility closely related to their Covenant with Yahweh which made them into a holy people different from all the other people.
The Israelites, comparing their history to that of Canaanites, already understood what Paul later would clearly say: “The person who sows for the benefit of his own flesh shall reap corruption and death from the flesh” (Gal 6:8). Sexual liberty is attractive as long as one does not notice the aging of his heart and the untruthfulness of his language. At the level of society, sexual liberty means the sterile couple, individuals unfit for strong commitment, and before long, the death of a people.
Do not give any of your children to be sac rificed (v. 21). This, too, was done in Canaan. Where instincts rule, there is no respect for life. It was among God’s people that the dignity of the human person was discovered. Can nibalism was practiced among the most refined groups of China. Among most ancient peoples, a father had the right to destroy a newborn child, not to mention the right to offer human sacrifice.
Lest the land vomit you (v. 28). In the Promised Land the Israelites have to live according to the laws of Yahweh; if they do not observe them, they will be exiled. This stay in the promised land is a sign in the Bible. See in particular Deut 8. Paul recalls this in Gal 5:21.