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Texts -- Leviticus 18:1-17 (NET)

Context
Exhortation to Obedience and Life
18:1 The Lord spoke to Moses : 18:2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘I am the Lord your God ! 18:3 You must not do as they do in the land of Egypt where you have been living , and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan into which I am about to bring you; you must not walk in their statutes . 18:4 You must observe my regulations and you must be sure to walk in my statutes . I am the Lord your God . 18:5 So you must keep my statutes and my regulations ; anyone who does so will live by keeping them. I am the Lord .
Laws of Sexual Relations
18:6 “‘No man is to approach any close relative to have sexual intercourse with her. I am the Lord . 18:7 You must not expose your father’s nakedness by having sexual intercourse with your mother . She is your mother ; you must not have intercourse with her. 18:8 You must not have sexual intercourse with your father’s wife ; she is your father’s nakedness . 18:9 You must not have sexual intercourse with your sister , whether she is your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter , whether she is born in the same household or born outside it; you must not have sexual intercourse with either of them. 18:10 You must not expose the nakedness of your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter by having sexual intercourse with them, because they are your own nakedness . 18:11 You must not have sexual intercourse with the daughter of your father’s wife born of your father ; she is your sister . You must not have intercourse with her. 18:12 You must not have sexual intercourse with your father’s sister ; she is your father’s flesh . 18:13 You must not have sexual intercourse intercourse with your mother’s sister , because she is your mother’s flesh . 18:14 You must not expose the nakedness of your father’s brother ; you must not approach his wife to have sexual intercourse with her. She is your aunt . 18:15 You must not have sexual intercourse with your daughter-in-law ; she is your son’s wife . You must not have intercourse with her. 18:16 You must not have sexual intercourse with your brother’s wife ; she is your brother’s nakedness . 18:17 You must not have sexual intercourse with both a woman and her daughter ; you must not take as wife either her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to have intercourse with them . They are closely related to her – it is lewdness .

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Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • "The function of this genealogy is not so much to connect Abraham with the preceding events, as the previous genealogies have done, but to provide the reader with the necessary background for understanding the events in the l...
  • "At first sight the book of Leviticus might appear to be a haphazard, even repetitious arrangement of enactments involving the future life in Canaan of the Israelite people. Closer examination will reveal, however, that quite...
  • Leviticus continues revelation concerning the second of three elements necessary for any nation to exist, namely, a people (Gen. 12:10--Exod. 19), their law (Exod. 20--Num. 10:10), and their land (Num. 10:11--Josh. 24).Leviti...
  • The sacrifices and offerings that Moses described thus far in the law were not sufficient to cleanse all the defilement that the sins of the people created. Much sinfulness still needed covering. Therefore God appointed a yea...
  • The second major division of Leviticus deals with how the Israelites were to express their worship of Yahweh in their private lives."The first sixteen chapters of Leviticus are concerned primarily with establishment and maint...
  • All the commandments contained in chapters 17-20 relate to the holiness of the life of every Israelite. Yahweh had brought the Israelites into covenant fellowship with Himself through atonement. Consequently they were to live...
  • We move from public regulations in chapter 16 to intimate regulations in chapter 18 with chapter 17 providing the transition. In contrast to the first sixteen chapters, chapter 17 says very little about the role of the priest...
  • Emphasis shifts in this chapter from ceremonial defilement (ch. 17) to moral impurity. The Lord wanted His people to be holy in their behavior and character as well as in less important ritual observances (cf. Matt. 23:28; Ro...
  • The preceding two chapters specify correct behavior. This one sets forth the punishments for disobedience. Chapters 18-19 already discussed most of the subjects dealt with in this chapter."The difference between the laws in t...
  • God considered the Israelites (chs. 17-20), the priests, the holy gifts, and the sacrifices (chs. 21-22) as set apart to Him as holy. He regarded certain days and times of the year in the same way (ch. 23). This chapter conta...
  • Genesis reveals how people can have a relationship with God. This comes through trust in God and obedience to Him. Faith is the key word in Genesis. God proves Himself faithful in this book.Exodus reveals that God is also sov...
  • Aharoni, Yohanan, and Michael Avi-Yonah. The Macmillan Bible Atlas. Revised ed. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1977.Albright, William Foxwell, The Archaeology of Palestine. 1949. Revised ed. Pelican Archaeology series. H...
  • The purpose of the levirate marriage ordinance was to enable a man who died before fathering an heir to obtain one and so perpetuate his name and estate. "Levirate"comes from the Latin word levirmeaning husband's brother."The...
  • Four Interpretive Problems in Deuteronomy 24:1-4370Deuteronomy 24:1-4 is a passage that is very important in the biblical teaching on divorce and remarriage. There are four problems that need solving for us to determine the c...
  • This is the central unit of chapters 5-20, and its central focus is the judgment that Hushai's advice was better than Ahithophel's (17:14). This advice is the pivot on which the fortunes of David swung in his dealings with Ab...
  • In this section the writer catalogued Israel's transgressions of God's Word that resulted in her going into captivity. Ironically Israel's last king had sought help from Egypt from which Israel had fled 724 years earlier.They...
  • 13:20 The Lord called Jerusalem to look north and she would see people coming.238The city was about to lose the flock of special people over whom the Lord had made her responsible, namely, His people of Judah.13:21 What would...
  • 3:16 At the end of these seven days the Lord's word came to Ezekiel. "The word of the Lord came to me"is a key phrase in Ezekiel occurring in 41 verses. It appears in Jeremiah nine times and in Zechariah twice."For no other p...
  • Three cases illustrate this principle: a father doing right (vv. 5-9), his son doing evil (vv. 10-13), and his grandson doing right (vv. 14-18). In each case Ezekiel described the individual's actions and the Lord's responses...
  • The Lord's history lesson for these elders described Israel in four successive periods: in Egypt (vv. 5-9), in the wilderness (vv. 10-26), in the Promised Land (vv. 27-29), and in the present time (vv. 30-38).281What the Lord...
  • 20:10-12 So the Lord led the Israelites out of Egypt and into the wilderness. At Mount Sinai He gave them statutes and ordinances that would result in their welfare if they obeyed them, namely, the Mosaic Law. He also gave th...
  • 22:1-2 Another message came from the Lord instructing Ezekiel to remind the residents of the bloody city of Jerusalem about all their abominations (cf. 20:4). A list of specific sins was necessary for him to pronounce judgmen...
  • This section stresses Israel's covenant disloyalty to Yahweh.6:4 The Lord twice asked rhetorically what He would do with Ephraim and Judah. The questions express frustration, helplessness, and despair more than inquiry. The l...
  • Not all the sins that Amos identified appear in verses 6-8; two more appear in verse 12. Amos named seven sins of Israel all together rather than just one, as in the previous oracles, though he continued to use the "for three...
  • 13:7 Zechariah now returned in a poem to the subject of the Shepherd that he had mentioned in chapter 11. He also returned to the time when Israel would be scattered among the nations because of her rejection of the Good Shep...
  • 14:1-2 "At that time"is again a loose connective not intended to communicate chronological sequence necessarily. Herod Antipas lived primarily at Tiberias on the west shore of Lake Galilee.579Word about Jesus' ministry reache...
  • Verses 17-29 are a flashback in which Mark explained how John had died. This is the only story in Mark's Gospel that does not concern Jesus directly.153Why did Mark include it? Perhaps he did so because John's death prefigure...
  • The incident that Mark recorded in Mark 12:28-34 is quite similar to this one, but the differences in the accounts point to two separate situations. In view of the question at stake it is easy to see how people might have ask...
  • Paul wrote that the believer is dead to both sin (6:2) and the Law (7:4). Are they in some sense the same? The answer is no (v. 7). The apostle referred to the relationship between sin and the Law in verse 5, but now he devel...
  • The reason for Israel's failure mentioned in 9:32-33, namely her rejection of Christ, led Paul to amplify that subject further in this section.10:1 This pericope opens with Paul returning to his feelings of compassionate conc...
  • 5:1 "Immorality"is a general translation of the Greek word porneia, which means fornication, specifically sexual relations with a forbidden mate. The precise offense in this case was sexual union with the woman who had marrie...
  • "In vv. 6-9 Paul set forth a positive argument for justification by faith. In vv. 10-14 he turned the tables and argued negatively against the possibility of justification by works."933:10 Living under the Mosaic Law did not ...
  • 2:26 The "these things"in view probably refer to what John had just written (vv. 18-25)."The author concludes his attack on the false teachers with a warning and a word of encouragement for his followers."992:27 The "anointin...
  • The final three bowl judgments all have political consequences.16:12 The problem that this judgment poses for earth-dwellers is not a result of the judgment itself but its consequences, namely, war. It does not inflict a plag...
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