Leviticus 18 - Laws for Sexual Relations | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to Leviticus 18 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer.

In Leviticus 18 God’s people are told they should not copy the behaviour of those in the world around them, very specifically the sexual practices of the world around us. The Coffman commentary explains that to “uncover their nakedness” was a figure of speech meaning to get married to. Here the Israelites were told not to intermarry with close relatives.

This was common in the ancient world, and there are previous examples of it in the Bible with the patriarchs. It was certainly common in ancient Egypt in the royal family of the 18th dynasty. Here in Leviticus, God steps in to stop this practice. Now this type of law is common worldwide, taking a leaf from scripture.

After the rules against marrying relatives, it then gives other rules about sexual behaviour, all of which are based on the physical act. But later in the sermon on the mount, Jesus increases the moral responsibility to include what the heart desires. So if a person wants to commit adultery, even if they don’t physically do so, they are now guilty of having committed adultery. The love of sin is also a sin.

St Augustine in his book City of God used negative reasoning to explain this. He said a women who is raped is not guilty of rape, becasue she did not desire to commit adultery. Then in the same way a person who does desire adultery, even though they physically do not participate, actually is guilty of that sin.

Later in scripture, in Psalm 45:7 and in Hebrews 1:9 it says we should love righteousness, and hate wickedness, and this is the example Christ sets for us. So we don’t just strive to obey God, we strive to love the things God loves. We are to be God’s holy people, not like the world around us.