Leviticus 18:8

8 “Do not have sexual relations with any of your father’s wives, for this would violate your father.

Leviticus 18:8 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 18:8

The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover
That is, who is indeed a man's father's wife, but not his own mother, but a stepmother or mother-in-law; or otherwise this law would coincide with the former; a man lying with such an one is accursed by the law, ( Deuteronomy 27:23 ) ; such an incestuous copulation was that of Reuben with Bilhah, and Absalom with his father's concubines or secondary wives, and such an incestuous marriage was that of the Corinthians, ( 1 Corinthians 5:1 ) ; and of Antiochus Soter, king of Syria, with Stratonice his mother-in-law {c}: and even it was criminal to do this after a father's death, as Jarchi interprets it; and though she was only betrothed, and not married, and the father dead after such betrothing; as Gersom; nay, though she was divorced by the father, yet was not lawful for the son to have, no, not after his death: it is thy father's nakedness;
being espoused to him, and so one flesh with him; and the son and father being one flesh, such a mixture must be unlawful; and since then the nakedness of a mother-in-law is the father's, then surely that of an own mother's must be so likewise, which confirms a sense given of it in ( Leviticus 18:7 ) : Cicero ^F4 exclaims against such marriages as incredible and unheard of, as instances of unbridled lust and singular impudence.

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 Vid. Julian. in Misopogon, p. 72
F4 Orat. 14. pro A. Cluentio Avito.

Leviticus 18:8 In-Context

6 “You must never have sexual relations with a close relative, for I am the LORD .

7 “Do not violate your father by having sexual relations with your mother. She is your mother; you must not have sexual relations with her.

8 “Do not have sexual relations with any of your father’s wives, for this would violate your father.

9 “Do not have sexual relations with your sister or half sister, whether she is your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether she was born into your household or someone else’s.

10 “Do not have sexual relations with your granddaughter, whether she is your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter, for this would violate yourself.