Lev 18:6-23 | KingComments | STEP | The acts that are described in are acts of incest. They run counter to God’s original purpose with marriage and sexuality. This should be self-evident to God’s people. You assume them in the world and not in the people of God. That God addresses all these warnings to His people shows how necessary it is, because His people are also capable of these sins. God shows evil in its most horrible forms. He knows better than man himself to what he can degrade. God here forbids sexual intercourse between blood relatives. The Hebrew words for ‘nakedness’ and ‘uncover’ are euphemisms, that is, softened or covered terms, for sexual intercourse. Here it concerns illicit sexual intercourse or fornication ( ). Such relations are unnatural. The prohibition starts with the general ban on sexual intercourse with a blood relative. Sexual intercourse is forbidden here with: 1. mother; 2. stepmother; 3. half-sister (same father or mother); 4. grandchild; 5. half-sister (from the father’s second marriage); 6. aunt, the sister of father or mother; 7. aunt, the wife of the father’s brother; 8. daughter-in-law; 9. sister-in-law.

‏ Leviticus 18:6-23

Incest

The acts that are described in Lev 18:6-23 are acts of incest. They run counter to God’s original purpose with marriage and sexuality. This should be self-evident to God’s people. You assume them in the world and not in the people of God. That God addresses all these warnings to His people shows how necessary it is, because His people are also capable of these sins. God shows evil in its most horrible forms. He knows better than man himself to what he can degrade.

God here forbids sexual intercourse between blood relatives. The Hebrew words for ‘nakedness’ and ‘uncover’ are euphemisms, that is, softened or covered terms, for sexual intercourse. Here it concerns illicit sexual intercourse or fornication (Eze 16:36 ; Eze 23:18). Such relations are unnatural.

The prohibition starts with the general ban on sexual intercourse with a blood relative. Sexual intercourse is forbidden here with:

1. mother;

2. stepmother;

3. half-sister (same father or mother);

4. grandchild;

5. half-sister (from the father’s second marriage);

6. aunt, the sister of father or mother;

7. aunt, the wife of the father’s brother;

8. daughter-in-law;

9. sister-in-law.

Other Illicit Sexuality

Forbidden is also the sexual intercourse with:

1. a woman and her daughter and a woman and her granddaughter;

2. a woman and her sister;

3. a woman who has her period;

4. a woman married to another person.

Prohibition to Offer Children

The Molech is the national god of the Ammonites. In the context of the text, this does not seem to be primarily a fire offering, but an ordination of children to temple prostitution. It is a spiritual fornication that underlies carnal fornication.

Prohibition of Homosexual Intercourse

Homosexual intercourse is the sin of Sodom (Gen 19:5), from which also the Israelites do not keep themselves free (Jdg 19:22). God gives people over to these degrading passions, when they honor the creature above the Creator (Rom 1:24-27).

Prohibition of Intercourse With an Animal

The prohibition of intercourse with an animal is given more often (Lev 20:15-16; Exo 22:19; Deu 27:21). The fact that this prohibition is also presented to the people of God shows that this horrible sin is also possible among God’s people.

From a spiritual point of view, an animal is a symbol for people who ignore the existence of God in an absolute way or reject Him absolutely. We see this attitude in the two beasts described in the book of Revelation (Rev 13:1-18). Where there is no longer any connection whatsoever with the living God, man sinks into the deepest corruption. To that the greatest conceivable shame is connected, of which he is not conscious through his total closing off for any revelation from God.