Leviticus 18:8

8 You must not expose the nakedness of your father's wife--it is your father's nakedness.

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 " '{None} [of] you shall approach anyone [who is] {his close relative} to expose nakedness; I [am] Yahweh.

7 You must not expose your father's nakedness or your mother's nakedness--she [is] your mother; you must not expose her nakedness.

8 You must not expose the nakedness of your father's wife--it is your father's nakedness.

9 [As for] your sister's nakedness, [whether] your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, [whether] {born at home} or {born abroad}, you must not expose their nakedness.

10 [As for] the nakedness of your son's daughter or your daughter's daughter, you must not expose their nakedness, because they [are] your nakedness.