Neither shall thou lie with any beast, to defile
thyself
therewith
A female one, as Aben Ezra notes, as a mare, cow, or ewe, or any
other beast, small or great, as Ben Gersom, or whether tame or
wild, as Maimonides F2; and even fowls are comprehended, as
the same writers observe: neither shall any woman stand
before a beast to lie down thereto:
that is, stand before a beast, and by a lascivious and obscene
behaviour solicit the beast to a congress with her, and then lie
down after the manner of four-footed beasts, as the word
signifies, that it may have carnal copulation with her: for a man
to lie with a beast is most shocking and detestable, but for a
woman to solicit such an unnatural mixture is most horrible and
astonishing: perhaps reference may be had to a most shocking
practice among the Egyptians, from among whom the Israelites were
lately come, and whose doings they were not to imitate, (
Leviticus 18:3 ) ; and
which may account for this law, as Bishop Patrick observes: at
Mendes, in Egypt, a goat was worshipped, as has been remarked (
Leviticus 18:7 ) ; and
where the women used to lie with such creatures, as Strabo
F3 and Aelianus F4 from
Pindar have related; yea, Herodotus F5 reports, of his own
knowledge, that a goat had carnal copulation with a woman openly,
in the view of all, in his time; and though that creature is a
most lascivious and lustful one, yet, as Bochart F6 from
Plutarch has observed, when it is provoked by many and beautiful
women, is not inclined and ready to come into their embraces, but
shows some abhorrence of it: nature in brutes, as that learned
man observes, is often more prevalent in them than in mankind:
it [is] confusion;
a mixing of the seed of man and beast together, a blending of
different kinds of creatures, a perverting the order of nature,
and introducing the utmost confusion of beings, from whence
monsters in nature may arise.