Leviticus 18 English Standard Version (ESV)
Unlawful Sexual Relations
18 And
the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak
to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the Lord your God. 3 You shall not do as they do
in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the
land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their
statutes. 4 You shall follow my rules[a] and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am
the Lord your God. 5 You
shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall
live by them: I am the Lord.
6 “None of you
shall approach any one of his close relatives to uncover nakedness. I am the Lord. 7 You shall not
uncover the nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother;
she is your mother, you shall not uncover her nakedness. 8 You
shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife; it is your father's
nakedness. 9 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your
sister, your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, whether
brought up in the family or in another home. 10 You shall not
uncover the nakedness of your son's daughter or of your daughter's daughter,
for their nakedness is your own nakedness. 11 You shall not
uncover the nakedness of your father's wife's daughter, brought up in your
father's family, since she is your sister. 12 You shall not
uncover the nakedness of your father's sister; she is your father's relative. 13 You
shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister, for she is your
mother's relative. 14 You shall not uncover the nakedness of
your father's brother, that is, you shall not approach his wife; she is your aunt.
15 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law;
she is your son's wife, you shall not uncover her nakedness. 16 You
shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother's wife; it is your brother's
nakedness. 17 You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman
and of her daughter, and you shall not take her son's daughter or her
daughter's daughter to uncover her nakedness; they
are relatives; it is depravity. 18 And you shall not
take a woman as a rival wife to her sister, uncovering her nakedness while her
sister is still alive.
19 “You shall not
approach a woman to uncover her nakedness while she is in her menstrual
uncleanness. 20 And you shall not lie sexually with your
neighbor's wife and so make yourself unclean with her. 21 You
shall not give any of your children to offer them[b] to Molech, and so profane the name of your
God: I am the Lord. 22 You
shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. 23 And
you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, neither
shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it: it is perversion.
24 “Do not make
yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am
driving out before you have become unclean, 25 and the land
became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its
inhabitants. 26 But you shall keep my statutes and my
rules and do none of these abominations, either the native or the stranger who
sojourns among you 27 (for
the people of the land, who were before you, did all of these abominations, so
that the land became unclean), 28 lest the land
vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was
before you. 29 For everyone who does any of these abominations,
the persons who do them shall be cut off from among their people. 30 So
keep my charge never to practice any of these abominable customs that were practiced
before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God.”
This past week it was passed down by the Supreme Court in
this United States of America that all 50 states must abide by the law to allow
for the marriage of people of the same sex.
I was of the opinion that I did not want to get into this debate with
anyone and would not post my thoughts on Facebook. But today, as I was looking for another
scripture I found the verses, which I have enlarged, underlined in my
Bible. It seemed to me that I was
supposed to write on this issue in the most loving and thoughtful way that I
could.
Some may argue that this is Old Testament law
and we live in the New Testament times now so this law does not apply to us. I have posted the entire chapter for your
review. As you read it or reread it,
take note, much of what is said, the majority of people would agree that it is
spot on, such as, it is wrong for us to
uncover ourselves with close relative in a sexual relation, or that we should
not have sexual relations with animals. Yet
many will take the verses I have underlined in my Bible and argue that it was
Old Testament Law. They will say we are
not under the old covenant and anything is lawful for the Christian. They may also argue that there are many laws
in the Old Testament that no longer apply and may even point out that Jesus
even rebuked the Old Testament Laws and may quote Jesus saying, 38 “You
have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is
evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.
(https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5%3A38-39&version=ESV) Have you ever read Matthew 5 in its entirety? Jesus is quite clear in His speaking as He
instructs those us on how we should conduct our lives. Again in Matthew you find the law as Jesus
tells us, 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your
God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is
the great and first commandment. 39 And
a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and
the Prophets.”Some of my dearest friends believe the ruling in the courts was the right and just thing to do. They believe it is the best thing for the United States of America. After all, we are to love our neighbors; which surely means that we should love diversity and love people, no matter their lifestyle. They say sin is sin and their sin is just more visible than yours or mine. I cannot argue that point, sin is sin and we are all sinners. However, if I truly love my neighbor do I want them to go down the path of destruction as pointed out in Leviticus? When God says, “I am the LORD” do you think maybe He is taking a stance that will not be moved? If it was wrong for the Jewish people, is it not wrong for all people?
Now, lets look at what Jesus said was the greatest commandment of all, “37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment.” May I ask, do we sometimes go so far as loving and accepting our neighbor, that we forget about the first commandment? Are we truly showing our love to our Father in Heaven when we blatantly turn from His instructions? How do you feel as a parent when your child does this to you? Yes, you still love them but it hurts deeply. I for one never wanted to make my dad angry and I certainly do not want to make my Father in Heaven angry.
I have a deep concern for our country and my neighbors in this country. I see a slippery slope on a downhill decent and it can become quite scary. But one thing I do know is that God is beside me holding out His hand to help me down. He can destroy; we can read about it many times. He can bring people back into His fold, something else we have read many times. I do not know what He has in store for the United States of America but I pray that He will work in such a way that we can someday, as a nation, come back to Him. My friends may be right, this might be a good thing for America if it brings us back to our Heavenly Father.
I want the light of Christ to shine through me. I do not want to be looked at as intolerant or a hater, yet I want to please my Father more than man. I have to think of the people in Charleston, South Carolina who welcomed a stranger into their Bible study only to be killed by him an hour later. Their families of these victims demonstrated loving their neighbor as themselves as they forgave him for the horrible crime, and cried out for God’s mercy on his soul. That is, truly loving your neighbor. They demonstrated to the world how strong Christians are when they have their faith imbedded in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is also a demonstration of how much they love the Lord their God!
If we truly love God and we truly love our neighbor, we will listen to God and will have great concern for our neighbor who defiles our God and His ways. We will cry out to God just as the victim families in Charleston, “have mercy on their souls”. As you seek Him, take time to consider, His ways and what He tells us in His word then go out and Love Him first and your neighbor as yourself.
Seeking Him with all my heart,
Sheila
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