Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

INCEST

Prohibited sexual activity between kin related by blood or marriage. The Bible has no term corresponding to the English noun “incest” and instead refers to incestuous activity using verbal idioms associated either with sexual activity in general or with defilement. The Bible also does not calculate prohibited degrees of relationship but catalogues forbidden pairings (Deut. 22:30[MT 23:1]; 27:20, 22-23; Lev. 18:6-18; 20:11-12, 17, 19; cf. Ezek. 22:10-11). As a result, its treatment of incest is less comprehensive than that found in most Western law codes. Certain relationships are not specified as prohibited, notably father-daughter incest. These gaps do not mean that Israel approved such behavior since taboos against them may well have operated otherwise.

Variety in the length and focus of the biblical lists suggests development in Israel’s thinking about acceptable sexual conduct. Furthermore, some incestuous behaviors prohibited in the laws seem to be permitted in certain narrative contexts (cf. Gen. 20:12; 38:1-30; 2 Sam. 13:13). The only possible NT reference to incest is in 1 Cor. 5:1-5, where Paul condemns the Corinthian church for tolerating a man living with his father’s wife; Paul commands the church to expel such a man from its midst.

Frank D. Wulf

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

INCEST

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)