Leviticus 18 Study Notes

18:16 John the Baptist used this law to rebuke Herod for marrying his brother’s wife (Mt 14:4; Mk 6:18). This law was in effect only if the brother was alive. If the brother died, the law of levirate marriage, which was instituted in Dt 25:5-9, would go into effect.

18:17 Orgies involving a woman and her daughter were classified as depraved, a legal term that was also used for incest (20:14), rape (Jdg 20:6), and prostitution (Lv 19:29; Ezk 16:27). Orgies of any type were prohibited and were seen as paganistic, profane acts.

18:18 A man was not to marry two sisters, as in the case of Jacob.

18:19 Self-control was one of the concepts God was trying to teach his people. Refraining from sex during a woman’s menstrual impurity was meant to keep the other person ceremonially clean (15:19-24). The apostle Paul listed self-control as part of the fruit of the Spirit (Gl 5:22-23).

18:20 This prohibition restates the seventh of the Ten Commandments (Ex 20:14; Dt 5:18), and it refers to sexual intercourse with a married or engaged person.

18:21 Child sacrifice practiced as worship of Molech was common among the Canaanites. The name “Molech” appears five times in Leviticus (v. 21; 20:2,3,4,5), and it refers to the god of the Ammonites. Human sacrifice was practiced in Israel only by corrupt rulers (1Kg 11:7; 2Kg 23:10; Jr 32:35). The literal expression pass through the fire indicates that the child was probably burned to honor Molech in a pagan ritual. This practice was labeled as profane by God.

18:22 Homosexuality is clearly prohibited throughout the Bible (20:13; Rm 1:27; 1Co 6:9). The Sodomites were destroyed because of their sodomy (Gn 19:5), and the men of Gibeah were destroyed following their homosexual rampage (Jdg 19:22). Male prostitution was practiced as part of a fertility ritual because pagans deified not just gods but sex as well; ironically, male and female shrine prostitutes were called literally “holy ones” (Dt 23:17). Homosexuality is called detestable because it is against God’s order of creation and against his laws pertaining to the covenant community. The word occurs 116 times in the OT in contexts addressing idolatry, magic, transvestism, and defective sacrifice.

18:23 Just like homosexuality, bestiality was prohibited in the Bible under all circumstances. This act was classified as a perversion, a violation of the divine order.

18:24-30 The punishment for these detestable acts was the death penalty. When the covenant community profaned God’s name by following pagan practices, it was not just a mistake, it was a grave iniquity, an abomination, and something that defiled the community. The fact that the laws of chap. 18 begin and end with the statement I am the Lord your God shows the seriousness of these laws.