If you haven't been following the debate over the applicability of the Torah's moral code to Christians over at Banned by HWA, you've missed a fairly vigorous exchange of viewpoints. If you're interested, you can check it out here: LCG: Beyond "Dos and Don'ts"
In response to a query about Leviticus 18:22 (the homosexual "clobber" passage), I posted the following:
Leviticus 18:22 is one of many commandments in the Torah governing human sexuality. In the article I quoted in an earlier comment (https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1797/prostitution-in-the-ancient-mediterranean/), we read this about the Torah's perspective on morality as it related to human sexuality:
"Prostitution in ancient Israel was not deemed a sin. The legislation in the Law of Moses that was directed to marriage and divorce utilized the concept of women as property. Women were the property of their fathers, then handed over in a marriage contract to a husband. Adultery was related to these unions; adultery meant the violation of another man’s property. In a world without DNA tests, it was crucial that the bloodlines remained clear.
Prostitutes were not under contract in a legal marriage, so sex with a prostitute was not in violation of the social codes. This does not mean that prostitutes were a favored commodity. They were at the bottom of the social ladder. The ancients did not know that semen regenerates; a man should not waste his semen outside the marriage contract.
Surprisingly, the Jewish Scriptures relate stories of prostitutes in what is termed a literary type as 'the righteous harlot.' These are stories of usually Canaanite women (non-Jews), who nevertheless believe in the God of Israel. When Joshua sent spies into Jericho, the madam of the brothel, Rahab, hid them because she knew that God would give the victory to the Israelites. Judah’s Canaanite daughter-in-law, Tamar, disguised herself as a harlot by the side of the road, to seduce Judah so that his line would not die out.
The Hebrew word for 'prostitute' was zonah, but we also find the word kedeshah, which means "set apart" or "consecrated". It usually appears in descriptions of non-Jewish women who served as servants in the fertility temples. There are references to male prostitutes, also termed kadesh, or "set apart". Depending upon the context, they are referred to as "sodomites".
None of the daughters of Israel shall be a kedeshah, nor shall any of the sons of Israel be a kadesh. You shall not bring the hire of a prostitute (zonah) or the wages of a dog (kelev) into the house of the Lord your God to pay a vow, for both are an abomination to the lord your God. (Deuteronomy 23:17-18)"
The article went on to demonstrate that adultery was used as a metaphor for what had happened with Israel - their idolatry and foreign alliances.
Sorry, that's not 3 sentences. However, as you can see, the subject of sexual morality in Torah is NOT a simple subject. And, what was included here, is a brief summary for consumers of online articles. This underscores that Torah was tailor-made for the society and culture of ancient Israel. Yes, like the New Covenant, Torah was founded on love for God and each other, but its individual commandments are NOT always consistent with the morality and circumstances of First Century Christianity.
This produced the following response from the anonymous commentator who had made the original query:
Leviticus 18:22 is contained within a collection of laws that is carefully prefaced and also has a kind of afterword. The essence is that God is telling Israel not to engage in the practices, without qualification, of Egypt and Canaan. Because to God these practices are “defiling” and “abominations.” The Mosaic preface (Leviticus 18:5) is repeated by Paul (Romans 10:5). This collection of prohibited sexual unions is cited in Romans 10 as being an example of law written on the heart (Romans 10:8). Further, in the Book of Revelation God continues the use of Egypt as the archetype of evil (Rev 11:8). Is it a valid conclusion that God’s viewpoint on what is evil changed because of a change in covenant? Is evil with this kind of pedigree something that is arbitrary or simply ceremonial, a form without moral underpinning, to be discarded on whim? I think not.
First, this is the full text of the preface to the sexual laws of the eighteenth chapter of Leviticus:
Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. I am the Lord your God. So do not act like the people in Egypt, where you used to live, or like the people of Canaan, where I am taking you. You must not imitate their way of life. You must obey all my regulations and be careful to obey my decrees, for I am the Lord your God. If you obey my decrees and my regulations, you will find life through them. I am the Lord.'" (Leviticus 18:1-5)
As with the rest of the commandments of Torah, this passage about forbidden sexual practices was directed to the "people of Israel." Also, please notice that these instructions were given to them because God didn't want them to imitate the practices of the society they had just left (Egypt) or the society who then occupied the Promised Land (Canaanites). In other words, there is no escaping the fact that these commands were tailor-made for a particular people, time, and place!
Next, lets take a closer look at some of the individual prohibitions of Leviticus 18. There are a number of commandments directed at prohibiting incestuous sexual relationships. And, although many of these are founded on the notion that females were the property of males (and that polygamy was acceptable), we should all be able to acknowledge that these are also excluded by the principle of familial love and respect. Likewise, bestiality is inconsistent with the principles of consent, equality, and doing no harm (all features of the Law of Love). Obviously, a loving Christian parent would NOT sacrifice his/her children to a pagan god, but what about having sexual intercourse with a menstruating woman? So, while some of these prohibitions would also be prohibited because they would cause obvious hurt or harm to another, some of them would not be covered by that principle, and the original premises of property and polygamy would completely disappear.
Third, lets take a closer and more comprehensive look at what Paul had to say in the tenth chapter of his epistle to the Christians at Rome. We read there:
"Dear brothers and sisters, the longing of my heart and my prayer to God is for the people of Israel to be saved. I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal. For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law. For Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given. As a result, all who believe in him are made right with God. For Moses writes that the law’s way of making a person right with God requires obedience to all of its commands." (Romans 10:1-5)
As is his message throughout this letter, Paul taught that Christians must have faith in the work which Christ accomplished on their behalf! In other words, a person trying to parse and obey certain provisions of Torah is NOT going to make him/herself "right with God."
Fourth, in the verses which follow this passage, it is made very clear that it is/was NOT the dos and don'ts of Torah that were/are written on a Christian's heart! We read there:
"But faith’s way of getting right with God says, “Don’t say in your heart, ‘Who will go up to heaven?’ (to bring Christ down to earth). And don’t say, ‘Who will go down to the place of the dead?’ (to bring Christ back to life again).' In fact, it says, 'The message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart.' And that message is the very message about faith that we preach: If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced." (Romans 10:6-11)
Paul is very clear. Salvation is found in our faith in Jesus Christ - PERIOD! It is NOT found in trying to obey these dos and don'ts!
Fifth, in the book of Revelation, there are a number of symbolic "archetypes of evil." In addition to Egypt, Babylon and Rome are prominently mentioned in this connection (one could argue that they play a more prominent role in that symbolism than Egypt), and that ultimate "archetype of evil," Satan the Devil. Taking into account the larger context of both the Old and New Testaments, these symbols make a lot of sense. They all represent the opposite of Christ's commandments (intentionally drawn from and summarizing all of the dos and don'ts of Torah) to LOVE God and each other!
Finally, you may have noticed that the anonymous commentator completely ignored the "pedigree" for the Torah's forbidden sexual practices given in the article cited in my original response to him/her. Why would he/she ignore that pedigree? Because it goes to the heart of this whole question of the applicability of the sexual practices forbidden by Leviticus 18 to Christians! How can those prohibitions have a universal spiritual application if they are premised on women as the property of some male? How can a moral code which accepts prostitution (the exploitation of individuals for sexual gratification) be harmonized with Christ's Law of Love?
Sorry, Charlie/Mike/Sheila or whatever your name is, while many of these individual sexual prohibitions are justified by Christ's commandments, it does NOT follow that they are all automatically carried forward into the terms of the New Covenant! The original premises (male ownership of females, polygamy, and slavery) are most assuredly NOT consistent with Christ's commandments. The question that Christians need to ask: Is this behavior/practice consistent with loving God and each other - of doing no hurt or harm to anyone?
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