Lev 18
Submitted by F.O.D. on March 10 2000 18:03:51
In reply to I still haven't gotten a reply from my post.... submitted by TJ on March 10 2000 13:09:28
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After studying the question, I have become convinced that the verse in Lev 18:22 (and hence Lev 20:13) refers explicitly to idolatrous temple sex. Therefore it is an inappropriate and incorrect explanation of the text to generalise the verse to any and all kinds of homosexual behaviour. The reason why I understand this to be so are best expounded in this essay. I found the lynch pin in that essay's argument to be the comparison of Leviticus as a whole to Deutoronomy as a whole. Deutoronomy literally means "second lawgiving", Moses' final repetition of the Hebrew law received in the desert (and written in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers) before the Israelites enter the Promised Land. Thus it is reasonable to expect to find any and all vitally important law found in Leviticus to be repeated in Deutoronomy, especially anything as strong as "both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them." But in Deutoronomy there is no reference to homosexuality, no mention of "a man lying with a man as with a woman." This in itself is noticable. But more than that, what there is in Deutoronomy is a reference in 23:17 to male temple prostitution. Thus, judging on the pretext that Deutoronomy is intended to be a reiteration of the major Hebrew law, we can say that either Lev 18:22 was skipped, which would be odd (would that mean it is not important after all?), or we can say Lev 18:22 is repeated, in Deut 23:17, and refers to male temple prostitution. I judge the second of the two alternatives to be the more reasonable, since it adequately and consistently deals with the whole text of the Hebrew law, without leaving omissions or arbitrarily saying one verse is more important than another. Therefore I conclude that it is unreasonable to infer from the Old Testament that God opposes homosexuality in general, though he is certainly against pagan sexual idolatry. I find it is difficult to understand the New Testament verses quite so categorically, and will not go into that now, but I will mention the close connection again of those verse (eg) Romans 1, to pagan idolatry. Regards, F.O.D. |
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