Leviticus 18:1-30 God’s Design for Gender and Sexual Behavior

Leviticus 18:1-30 God’s Design for Gender and Sexual Behavior

We have seen in the news lately the controversy that has developed since the Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage. The recent outrage is over giving people a choice of which restroom to use. That’s called transgender bathrooms. Along with that controversy, the words gender fluid, gender change, and LGBT have entered our social vocabulary. Society will tell you that you can choose your gender, but that same-sexuality is a born behavior. That is completely opposite from what the Bible teaches. Here is what the Bible teaches:

God gives you your gender. This is the reason that men have a “y” chromosome. Its embedded in your genes. Men produce testosterone, and women produce estrogen. God created you with a certain gender in mind. It is not a choice. The doctor does not assign your gender at birth. He is seeing what gender you already are at birth. It is already programmed. On the other hand, God gives you instruction on sexual behavior. Sexual relationships are chosen. This is why you can choose your spouse. God gives us instruction on how to choose that spouse. He defines the boundaries about our sexual behavior.

In Leviticus, we have a personal holiness code. Leviticus 17 teaches that you are called to be holy. Leviticus 18 teaches personal holiness. It is a commentary on the seventh commandment – do not commit adultery. In other words, stay sexually faithful to your spouse. God takes an entire chapter to teach how to apply that commandment. In Leviticus 19, God gives an entire chapter to teach how to apply the other nine commandments. My ability to love others as illustrated in Leviticus 19 is conditional on my ability to develop personal holiness in Leviticus 18. This is the reason why sexual sin is a sin against the body as Paul says. Paul says that when you commit sexual sin, you commit it against yourself. Sexual sin prevents me from loving others properly. Sexual sin doesn’t just prevent me from loving my spouse. Sexual sin prevents me from loving my neighbor, from sharing Jesus with others who need Him.

Jesus said that the only exception that allows for a person to divorce their spouse is adultery. Did you ever wonder why He gives this exception? The reason is because of Leviticus 18. God teaches boundaries for our sexual activity. Having sex outside of the boundaries that God set breaks the marriage covenant.

Let’s walk through this chapter and see God’s design for gender and sexual behavior.

Perhaps one has heard of the Ten Commandments. The commandments from Exodus 20 help a person live right morally in society. Of course the Ten Commandments are a minimum, and nobody can fulfill them without Christ. If Exodus 20 are the Ten Commandments about how to relate to God and society, then Leviticus 18 are the Ten Commandments of Sexual Purity. These commandments address every sexual sin category that happen. God’s design is for one man enter in an honorable marriage, wherein one can find and give sexual satisfaction. The marriage is the proper boundary for sexual relationships. Leviticus 18:1-30 warns us about stepping out of the boundaries. This list provides a warning about the kinds of sexual activity that are not honored by God. The list is not completely exhaustive, but it does address sexuality through an “Axis of Perversion.” Society will voice many ideas, but God shows what we should not do. God has a plan for sexual purity.1

TEN COMMANDMENTS OF SEXUAL PURITY

1. Respecting sex as God designed it will bring you life. (v.1-5) Purity

“Yahweh spoke to Moses: “Speak to the Israelites and tell them: I am Yahweh your God.” (Leviticus 18:1–2, HCSB)

On one side, we have God and His way. Yahweh is our God. We don’t bow down to other gods. There is a direct link between proper worship of God and a life-style of holiness.2

On the other side, we have society:

“Do not follow the practices of the land of Egypt, where you used to live, or follow the practices of the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. You must not follow their customs.” (Leviticus 18:3, HCSB)

Among the Egyptians, when the Israelites were slaves, sex was a family affair. The Pharaohs often married their close relatives, and suffered the dreadful effects of inbreeding.

Among the Canaanites, where the Israelites are heading, sex is a free-for-all. There is sex between family members, sex between people of the same sex, and sex between people and animals. Sex is also involved in the worship of pagan gods, which are themselves sexually permissive and perverted.3

Today, we can look at this verse with America in mind. Egypt is America’s past. Canaan is America’s future. As we have seen with last year’s Supreme Court ruling, the change from the past to the future won’t take long. Between Egypt and Canaan – two societies which are in opposition to God’s design are the people of Israel. God’s people are traveling to a foreign world and God wants to remind them of His design. In the case of gender and sexual behavior, God design a man and a woman to come together and have sexual relationships under His authority in a covenant marriage relationship.

God created marriage between one man and one woman. Jesus reinforced this design when He spoke about it in Mark 10:6-9.

“But from the beginning of creation God made them male and female. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother [and be joined to his wife], and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, man must not separate.”” (Mark 10:6–9, HCSB)

God designed sexual relationships for a specific purpose. God also defined the boundaries to His divine order of existence. Society will try to redefine these boundaries. However, we must stay true to what God has designed for us.

SPHERE OF SEXUAL PERVERSION (Show Chart)

The Inner Circle is God’s “Circle of Protection.” He designed us to be married as husband and wife.

The Outer Circle is the sphere of influence from society. Society will promote its practices and we must not participate.4 God shows us the command and the purpose of God’s design in gender and sexual behavior.

“Keep My statutes and ordinances; a person will live if he does them. I am Yahweh.” (Leviticus 18:5, HCSB)

Paul cites it twice in the midst of two very important arguments regarding justification, namely, in both Galatians 3:12 and Romans 10:5.5 Jesus cites the same verse in Luke 10:28. The command is to follow God’s design. When we follow God’s design, it allows us to really live.

2. Respect the integrity of your family (v.6-16) Incest

Sexual integrity begins at home, with complete respect and integrity required of each member for the others. In a day when we are becoming painfully aware of widespread sexual abuse in all too many American homes, the importance of the underlying principles of this ancient code is obvious.6 This list shows who one should not have sex within the family. Basically, if you drew a family tree, the list restricts sex to your spouse, and no one else in the family. The reason is because God made them “one flesh.” Genetically, sexual relations with family members can cause birth defects.

3. Respect the integrity of women (v.17) Polygamy, Rape, Child Molestation

“You are not to have sexual intercourse with a woman and her daughter. You are not to marry her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter and have sex with her. They are close relatives; it is depraved.” (Leviticus 18:17, HCSB)

Here, there are two kinds of polygamy addressed. The first is having a wife and then taking the daughter as a wife. Many cults use this kind of polygamy. The next commandment deals not just with women, but also the integrity of your marriage. Continuing with Leviticus 18:17 and going through Leviticus 18:20, we see how I can learn to respect other people when I stay true to God’s design for my marriage.

4. Respect the integrity of your marriage (v.17-20) Adultery, Polygamy

The second kind of polygamy is one in which it causes a rivalry between sisters. This is what happened to Jacob.

“You are not to marry a woman as a rival to her sister and have sexual intercourse with her during her sister’s lifetime.” (Leviticus 18:18, HCSB)

It is strange to think that Abraham would not have been allowed to marry his sister Sarah, and Jacob would have been unable to marry the sisters Leah and Rachel. God blessed and used those relationships; but we see in their stories the pain, suspicion and anger that flares up in such marriages.7

5. Respect a woman’s biological design (v.19) Lust

““You are not to come near a woman during her menstrual impurity to have sexual intercourse with her.” (Leviticus 18:19, HCSB)

There are times when one should not have sexual activity. Men should stay away during a woman’s menstruation, that is why the menstruation begins with MEN. Menstruation means men-stay-away. In the Old Testament, a woman who was experiencing menses was considered unclean and would make the community impure with any contact. As a result, a man had to wait to have intercourse.

6. Respect the integrity of another couple’s marriage (v.20) Covet, Adultery

“You are not to have sexual intercourse with your neighbor’s wife, defiling yourself with her.” (Leviticus 18:20, HCSB)

When people think of adultery, they usually think of this kind of behavior. The fact is that adultery is a general term. One application is leaving the boundaries of one’s marriage and crossing over to another person’s marriage. So I should respect the integrity of my marriage by staying true to my spouse. I also need to respect the integrity of another person’s marriage by not interfering with their marriage.

7. Respect the pure worship of God (v.21) Religious sexual acts

Child molestation, Child Slavery, Abortion

““You are not to make any of your children pass through the fire to Molech. Do not profane the name of your God; I am Yahweh.” (Leviticus 18:21, HCSB)

Molech was the national god of the Ammonites. Child sacrifice by burning is probably in view here, though the context supports Snaith’s interpretation that it refers to the dedication of children as cult prostitutes (Leviticus and Numbers, p. 125).8

Molech was the god of prosperity. The Canaanites made idols of Molech—five feet high with a hollow stomach—out of cast iron. They built fires in the bellies of these idols, heated them to the point of incandescence, and placed their babies as sacrifices on their red-hot arms.

How could this happen? Because those involved in Molech worship thought the babies weren’t real people. Sound familiar? Babies are burned in our culture not on the arms of Molech, but with a saline solution in the name of prosperity. “I can’t afford a baby right now,” we say. “I don’t have the resources to raise this child. I’ll be better off next time around.” It’s a lie as old as Molech.9

8. Respect your biological design (v.22) Homosexuality

“You are not to sleep with a man as with a woman; it is detestable.” (Leviticus 18:22, HCSB)

Marriage is a covenant relationship established by God. The Bible forbids any other kind of covenant relationship. Homosexuality is directly addressed here.

9. Respect your place in the natural order (v.23) Beastiality

“You are not to have sexual intercourse with any animal, defiling yourself with it; a woman is not to present herself to an animal to mate with it; it is a perversion.” (Leviticus 18:23, HCSB)

In this case, one is restricted from having sex with animals. God made us for one another, not the animal kingdom.

10. Respecting your personal sexual purity affects the nation (v.24-30) Sexual Behavior and Society

God declares the land itself will vomit out the cultures involved in homosexuality and incest, pedophilia and bestiality. And history has shown that cultures who have embraced these behaviors have collapsed.10

Clearly, the culture has moved through radical changes in its views of sexuality. How do we live when in sharp disagreement with such cultural norms? Above all, I think we must exercise great caution and show deep compassion toward those whom we consider to be deviant or immoral. We are called to be people who are different in loving our neighbor—and the neighborhood was defined by Jesus as including everyone. As God’s people, we are called to be holy in our sexual behavior because of God’s holiness, but we are never given license to be anything other than loving to others.11

The consequence is that God will allow the land to “vomit” the people out. Changing God’s design will cause us to be ejected out of the God’s protection in society.