Leviticus 20

After reading chapter 20:

*This chapter contains the penalties for breaking previously mentioned laws.
-For giving a child to Molech, the penalty is stoning the perpetrator to death and excommunication of the perpetrator's family. Here it seems clearer that this is some kind of child sacrifice, which would be abhorrent.
-For visiting a medium, the penalty is excommunication.
-For cursing a father or mother, death. This is not modern bad language cursing, but old fashioned magical type cursing that is supposed to harm the person cursed, the opposite of blessing. Of course it has no real effect.
-For sleeping with a close female relative, both are to be put to death, no matter if the woman was forced.
-For having intimate relations with another man, both are to be put to death.
-For marrying a woman and her mother, all are to be burnt to death.
-For a man or woman having intimate relations with an animal, both are to be put to death.
-For a man marrying his sister, they will both be excommunicated. This lighter sentence may reflect that this was a more common cultural occurance. Egyptian kings often married their sisters and Abraham did also.
-For sleeping with a menstruating woman, excommunication.
-For sleeping with an aunt or a sister- in- law, they will die childless. That's an odd punishment that doesn't seem to have much punch. What if they don't care? What if they already have children?
-For being a medium, stoning to death, even though mediums are fakes.

One wonders how much stoning, burning, and excommunication actually went on.

The Israelites are to keep all the laws they've been given, including those regarding clean and unclean animals, so that they can possess the land God will give them. All the bad things are what the people who are living in that land have been doing, that's why they deserve to be driven out, according to Yahweh.

Leviticus chapter 18

After reading chapter 18:

* This chapter appears to be laws regarding sexual conduct. It also appears to be directed exclusively to men, which is not surprising, considering it was a patriarchal society. Anyway, men were not to have intimate relationships with:

*Any close relative-
Their mothers.
Any woman married to their father.
Their sisters- either their fathers' daughters or their mothers' daughters. (Oops, Abraham, the founder of the faith, was guilty!)
Their granddaughters.
Their aunts- mothers' sisters or fathers' sisters, and wives of fathers' brothers. (It doesn't mention wives of mothers' brothers. )
Their daughters- in- law. (Judah and Tamar)
Their sisters- in- law.
The daughters of a woman they are intimate with. Presumably, this includes one's own daughters.
The granddaughters of a woman they are intimate with.
Their wives' sisters, while their wives are still living. (Shades of Rachel and Leah, the founding mothers of the tribe of Israel.)

There is no mention of nieces or cousins. Plus, if Genesis is real history, the first couple of generations after Adam must have broken these rules, granted they weren't established yet. The first few generations after Noah would have had only cousins to choose from.

*Other sexual relationships men are forbidden-
With a menstruating woman
With their neighbor's wife
With another man (boys are not mentioned in these passages.)
With an animal

These lists do not include slave women, and other women who are not forbidden but may not want to have sex.

*Relationships forbidden to women-
With an animal. This probably reflects the reality that in human relations, women had no choice.

Verse 11 mentions sacrificing children to Moloch. It would seem out of place among these other acts, unless there was some implied sexual misconduct. Perhaps it is figurative future offspring (also translated seed) that are being sacrificed in a ritual that involves a forbidden sexual activity. There is no way of knowing for sure. Apparently, some scholars think accounts of child sacrifice are exaggerated by the conquering nations. Also, it is clear that the writers of the bible had strong biases against other people groups. We are looking at a story from one side only. Actual child sacrifice may have been a common practice, but how common and how widespread is debatable.

No one who lives among them may do these things, or they will be cut off from the community. The Israelites are warned that where they are going, the people practice these things. Therefore not only the people are defiled, but the land as well and it was punished. (I didn't know land could be punished. Abused, yes, but punished?)Therefore, since the land vomited those people out, it will vomit the Israelites out if they do these detestable things.  (Wait a minute! Verse 24 starts out talking in the future tense, but verse 25 is in past tense, as thought these events had already happened. So which is it?)