24 `Ye are not defiled with all these, for with all these have the nations been defiled which I am sending away from before you;
`None of you unto any relation of his flesh doth draw near to uncover nakedness; I `am' Jehovah. `The nakedness of thy father and the nakedness of thy mother thou dost not uncover, she `is' thy mother; thou dost not uncover her nakedness. `The nakedness of the wife of thy father thou dost not uncover; it `is' the nakedness of thy father. `The nakedness of thy sister, daughter of thy father, or daughter of thy mother, born at home or born without; thou dost not uncover their nakedness. `The nakedness of thy son's daughter, or of thy daughter's daughter: thou dost not uncover their nakedness; for theirs `is' thy nakedness. `The nakedness of a daughter of thy father's wife, begotten of thy father, she `is' thy sister; thou dost not uncover her nakedness. `The nakedness of a sister of thy father thou dost not uncover; she `is' a relation of thy father. `The nakedness of thy mother's sister thou dost not uncover; for she `is' thy mother's relation. `The nakedness of thy father's brother thou dost not uncover; unto his wife thou dost not draw near; she `is' thine aunt. `The nakedness of thy daughter-in-law thou dost not uncover; she `is' thy son's wife; thou dost not uncover her nakedness. `The nakedness of thy brother's wife thou dost not uncover; it `is' thy brother's nakedness. `The nakedness of a woman and her daughter thou dost not uncover; her son's daughter, and her daughter's daughter thou dost not take to uncover her nakedness; they `are' her relations; it `is' wickedness. `And a woman unto another thou dost not take, to be an adversary, to uncover her nakedness beside her, in her life. `And unto a woman in the separation of her uncleanness thou dost not draw near to uncover her nakedness. `And unto the wife of thy fellow thou dost not give thy seed of copulation, for uncleanness with her. `And of thy seed thou dost not give to pass over to the Molech; nor dost thou pollute the name of thy God; I `am' Jehovah. `And with a male thou dost not lie as one lieth with a woman; abomination it `is'. `And with any beast thou dost not give thy copulation, for uncleanness with it; and a woman doth not stand before a beast to lie down with it; confusion it `is'.
`And ye have kept all My statutes, and all My judgments, and have done them, and the land vomiteth you not out whither I am bringing you in to dwell in it; and ye walk not in the statutes of the nation which I am sending away from before you, for all these they have done, and I am wearied with them;
but the things coming forth from the mouth from the heart do come forth, and these defile the man; for out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, whoredoms, thefts, false witnessings, evil speakings: these are the things defiling the man; but to eat with unwashen hands doth not defile the man.'
for Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, He who is speaking evil of father or mother -- let him die the death; and ye say, If a man may say to father or to mother, Korban (that is, a gift), `is' whatever thou mayest be profited out of mine, and no more do ye suffer him to do anything for his father or for his mother, setting aside the word of God for your tradition that ye delivered; and many such like things ye do.' And having called near all the multitude, he said to them, `Hearken to me, ye all, and understand; there is nothing from without the man entering into him that is able to defile him, but the things coming out from him, those are the things defiling the man. If any hath ears to hear -- let him hear.' And when he entered into a house from the multitude, his disciples were questioning him about the simile, and he saith to them, `So also ye are without understanding! Do ye not perceive that nothing from without entering into the man is able to defile him? because it doth not enter into his heart, but into the belly, and into the drain it doth go out, purifying all the meats.' And he said -- `That which is coming out from the man, that doth defile the man; for from within, out of the heart of men, the evil reasonings do come forth, adulteries, whoredoms, murders, thefts, covetous desires, wickedness, deceit, arrogance, an evil eye, evil speaking, pride, foolishness; all these evils do come forth from within, and they defile the man.'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Leviticus 18
Commentary on Leviticus 18 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 18
Le 18:1-30. Unlawful Marriages.
2-4. I am the Lord your God—This renewed mention of the divine sovereignty over the Israelites was intended to bear particularly on some laws that were widely different from the social customs that obtained both in Egypt and Canaan; for the enormities, which the laws enumerated in this chapter were intended to put down, were freely practised or publicly sanctioned in both of those countries; and, indeed, the extermination of the ancient Canaanites is described as owing to the abominations with which they had polluted the land.
5. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them—A special blessing was promised to the Israelites on condition of their obedience to the divine law; and this promise was remarkably verified at particular eras of their history, when pure and undefiled religion prevailed among them, in the public prosperity and domestic happiness enjoyed by them as a people. Obedience to the divine law always, indeed, ensures temporal advantages; and this, doubtless, was the primary meaning of the words, "which if a man do, he shall live in them." But that they had a higher reference to spiritual life is evident from the application made of them by our Lord (Lu 10:28) and the apostle (Ro 10:2).
6. None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him—Very great laxity prevailed amongst the Egyptians in their sentiments and practice about the conjugal relation, as they not only openly sanctioned marriages between brothers and sisters, but even between parents and children. Such incestuous alliances Moses wisely prohibited, and his laws form the basis upon which the marriage regulations of this and other Christian nations are chiefly founded. This verse contains a general summary of all the particular prohibitions; and the forbidden intercourse is pointed out by the phrase, "to approach to." In the specified prohibitions that follow, all of which are included in this general summary, the prohibited familiarity is indicated by the phrases, to "uncover the nakedness" [Le 18:12-17], to "take" [Le 18:17, 18], and to "lie with" [Le 18:22, 23]. The phrase in this sixth verse, therefore, has the same identical meaning with each of the other three, and the marriages in reference to which it is used are those of consanguinity or too close affinity, amounting to incestuous connections.
18. Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister, to vex her—The original is rendered in the Margin, "neither shalt thou take one wife to another to vex her," and two different and opposite interpretations have been put upon this passage. The marginal construction involves an express prohibition of polygamy; and, indeed, there can be no doubt that the practice of having more wives than one is directly contrary to the divine will. It was prohibited by the original law of marriage, and no evidence of its lawfulness under the Levitical code can be discovered, although Moses—from "the hardness of their hearts" [Mt 19:8; Mr 10:5]—tolerated it in the people of a rude and early age. The second interpretation forms the ground upon which the "vexed question" has been raised in our times respecting the lawfulness of marriage with a deceased wife's sister. Whatever arguments may be used to prove the unlawfulness or inexpediency of such a matrimonial relation, the passage under consideration cannot, on a sound basis of criticism, be enlisted in the service; for the crimes with which it is here associated warrant the conclusion that it points not to marriage with a deceased wife's sister, but with a sister in the wife's lifetime, a practice common among the ancient Egyptians, Chaldeans, and others.
21. thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, &c.—Molech, or Moloch, which signifies "king," was the idol of the Ammonites. His statue was of brass, and rested on a pedestal or throne of the same metal. His head, resembling that of a calf, was adorned with a crown, and his arms were extended in the attitude of embracing those who approached him. His devotees dedicated their children to him; and when this was to be done, they heated the statue to a high pitch of intensity by a fire within, and then the infants were either shaken over the flames, or passed through the ignited arms, by way of lustration to ensure the favor of the pretended deity. The fire-worshippers asserted that all children who did not undergo this purifying process would die in infancy; and the influence of this Zabian superstition was still so extensively prevalent in the days of Moses, that the divine lawgiver judged it necessary to prohibit it by an express statute.
neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God—by giving it to false or pretended divinities; or, perhaps, from this precept standing in close connection with the worship of Molech, the meaning rather is, Do not, by devoting your children to him, give foreigners occasion to blaspheme the name of your God as a cruel and sanguinary deity, who demands the sacrifice of human victims, and who encourages cruelty in his votaries.
24. Defile not yourselves in any of these things—In the preceding verses seventeen express cases of incest are enumerated; comprehending eleven of affinity [Le 18:7-16], and six of consanguinity [Le 18:17-20], together with some criminal enormities of an aggravated and unnatural character. In such prohibitions it was necessary for the instruction of a people low in the scale of moral perception, that the enumeration should be very specific as well as minute; and then, on completing it, the divine lawgiver announces his own views of these crimes, without any exception or modification, in the remarkable terms employed in this verse.
in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you, &c.—Ancient history gives many appalling proofs that the enormous vices described in this chapter were very prevalent, nay, were regularly practised from religious motives in the temples of Egypt and the groves of Canaan; and it was these gigantic social disorders that occasioned the expulsion, of which the Israelites were, in the hands of a righteous and retributive Providence, the appointed instruments (Ge 15:16). The strongly figurative language of "the land itself vomiting out her inhabitants" [Le 18:25], shows the hopeless depth of their moral corruption.
25. therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it; and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants—The Canaanites, as enormous and incorrigible sinners, were to be exterminated; and this extermination was manifestly a judicial punishment inflicted by a ruler whose laws had been grossly and perseveringly outraged. But before a law can be disobeyed, it must have been previously in existence; and hence a law, prohibiting all the horrid crimes enumerated above—a law obligatory upon the Canaanites as well as other nations—was already known and in force before the Levitical law of incest was promulgated. Some general Iaw, then, prohibiting these crimes must have been published to mankind at a very early period of the world's history; and that law must either have been the moral law, originally written on the human heart, or a law on the institution of marriage revealed to Adam and known to the Canaanites and others by tradition or otherwise.
29. the souls that commit them shall be cut off—This strong denunciatory language is applied to all the crimes specified in the chapter without distinction: to incest as truly as to bestiality, and to the eleven cases of affinity [Le 18:7-16], as fully as to the six of consanguinity [Le 18:17-20]. Death is the punishment sternly denounced against all of them. No language could be more explicit or universal; none could more strongly indicate intense loathing and abhorrence.
30. Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs—In giving the Israelites these particular institutions, God was only re-delivering the law imprinted on the natural heart of man; for there is every reason to believe that the incestuous alliances and unnatural crimes prohibited in this chapter were forbidden to all men by a law expressed or understood from the beginning of the world, or at least from the era of the flood, since God threatens to condemn and punish, in a manner so sternly severe, these atrocities in the practice of the Canaanites and their neighbors, who were not subject to the laws of the Hebrew nation.