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Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents
18:1-22:33 The Call to Holiness. This section applies the principle of holiness (19:1-2) to various aspects of Israelite life. Chapter 18 considers the realm of sexual behavior and how Israel is to act differently from the pagan nations. Chapters 19-20 give a variety of applications of holiness to Israel's existence: the manner in which the people treat the land, their neighbors, their parents, and all other things is to be distinct. Holiness is to affect every area of Israelite life. Chapters 21-22 specifically deal with the regulations regarding the holiness of the priesthood.
18:1-30 Prohibitions against Pagan Practices. The rules from ch. 18 onward aim to lead the people to holiness. Though the term "holy" or "holiness" is not mentioned in ch. 18, avoiding such conduct as practiced in Egypt and particularly in Canaan is the minimal requirement for the people to become holy. In reading the laws, it is important to see both their original context and their underlying and abiding principles. From the latter viewpoint, the laws in this chapter can be seen as commanding the people to avoid any action that ignores the order that God revealed in his creation. In this sense, the prohibited acts in this chapter are representative (i.e., nonexhaustive) examples.
18:1-5 The people are commanded not to imitate the customs of the Egyptians and the Canaanites, but to obey the Lord's rules and statutes.
18:5 if a person does them, he shall live by them. Two interrelated interpretative issues arise here. First, what is the meaning of "live"? Does it refer simply to retaining bodily life, or does it refer to life in God's pleasure, or does it refer to eternal life? Second, what is the connection between "doing" and "living"? In particular, does this verse imply that the doing earns the life (as the questioner in Luke 10:25 seems to imply)? In answer to the first question, when the Pentateuch speaks of "living" by keeping God's statutes and rules, it refers to enjoying life under God's pleasure (cf. Deut. 4:1; 8:1). In answer to the second question, when the OT stresses "doing," it always sees this as the right response to God's grace that provides both covenant relationship and moral instruction; it never presents obedience as the way of gaining that grace (it is the same as the NT in this respect: cf. Gal. 5:6; 1 John 2:3). Leviticus 18:5 is thus describing how the genuinely faithful guide their "walk" so that they can "abide in God's love" (cf. John 15:10). The echoes of this text in Deut. 4:1; 8:1; Neh. 9:29; Ezek. 20:11, 13, 21 all appear to assume this reading of the text. In Luke 10:25 ("Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?") the lawyer is taking the words of Lev. 18:5 to describe the way of earning eternal life. Jesus has him summarize the law (you must love the Lord and your neighbor), and then urges him, "Do this, and you will live" (Luke 10:28). Since the man wanted to "justify himself" (Luke 10:29), it is best to read this as Jesus' challenge to all who would use the law (improperly) as a means to earn life: they must obligate themselves to unswerving loving obedience in order to gain their righteousness, or else give up in despair. On the question of how Paul uses the text in Rom. 10:5 and Gal. 3:12, see notes there.
18:6-20 These laws prohibit a variety of sexual sins: incest (vv. 6-18), intercourse during menstruation (v. 19), and adultery (v. 20).
18:6-18 These laws prohibit sexual relations (approach . . . to uncover nakedness), and therefore marriage, between people who are too closely related, either by blood (mother, sister, granddaughter, aunt) or by marriage (stepmother, stepsister, stepdaughter, stepgranddaughter, sister-in-law, daughter-in-law, aunt by marriage). The clause "to uncover nakedness" can at times merely refer to voyeurism (cf. Gen. 9:22-23), but in the OT it is most commonly a euphemism for sexual intercourse. No mention is made of the daughter, probably because that needs no comment (cf. Gen. 19:30-38), and this prohibition is already well known in the laws of other cultures. It is assumed that, generally speaking, Israelites will marry other Israelites, and these laws provide a boundary for how close such unions may be. There is some debate over just what motivates this system of requirements; certainly they enforce a distinction between family affection and erotic love as such--a distinction that protects the well-being of the community, and especially of its vulnerable members. This concern would not be limited to the Israelite theocracy and is therefore also applicable to Christians.
18:18 a rival wife to her sister. Some have taken this to be a general prohibition of bigamy (with "to her sister" in the sense of "to another woman"). Bigamy is indeed outside the creation ideal (Gen. 2:24), but elsewhere in this chapter the Hebrew term "sister" simply refers to a biological sister. Further, the laws of Israel do not always require the ethical ideal; often they simply set out the minimum level of civility that the Israelite theocracy can tolerate. Biblical narratives generally show polygamous marriages as unhappy ones, and allow the reader to draw the clear conclusion: e.g., Gen. 29:30-30:2 (Jacob's marriage to two sisters, at a time historically prior to this prohibition); 1 Sam. 1:2-7 (the two wives of Elkanah).
18:19 Leviticus offers no explanation for what motivates this law. Unlike most of the other sexual laws of this chapter, such as the ones dealing with adultery and homosexuality, this law is not repeated as prohibitive in the NT. In view of 15:19-24, the concern is probably the ceremonial uncleanness that the man will contract. In other words, the man who touches a woman in her menstrual condition becomes ritually unclean himself.
18:20 This prohibition follows from the seventh commandment (Ex. 20:14) and is universally applicable. make yourself unclean with her. Although not all uncleanness is sin, all sin makes a person unclean.
18:21 This refers to the cult of Molech (2 Kings 23:10; Jer. 32:35). The precise nature of the offering of children to this pagan god is uncertain. It may be that they are being given to the cult of Molech to train to be temple prostitutes, and that is why this passage is listed in a section dealing with sexual prohibitions. On the other hand, Roman authors describe the practice of sacrificing babies by fire in Carthage (a north African city founded by Phoenicians, who were part of Canaan), and thus this may indeed refer to this horrific custom.
18:22 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. This prohibited all male homosexual activity (cf. 20:13; also note on Rom. 1:26-27). In the larger picture, such activity is utterly at odds with the creation ideal (see note on Gen. 2:23-24).
18:24-30 All the above-listed offenses are declared to be abominations to the Lord, and any one of them defiles not just the offender but also the land.
