Incubator escapee wiki

Incest in the Bible

Article Discussion

Template:Short description Template:Bible sidebar Narratives featuring incest can be found in the Hebrew Bible, which contains mentions of various types of sexual relationships. It also lays out rules and regulations with regard to prohibited degree of kinship. These prohibitions are found predominantly in Template:Bibleverse and Template:Bibleverse, but also in Deuteronomy.

Endogamy was the preferred practice in many parts of the ancient Near East;<ref name="JewEncInce">{{#if:||{{#if:|File:Wikisource-logo.svg|File:PD-icon.svg}} }}{{#if:||{{#if:|One or more of the preceding sentences|This article}} incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: }}{{#invoke:template wrapper|{{#if:|list|wrap}}|_template=cite Jewish Encyclopedia 

 |_exclude=inline, noicon, no-icon, no-prescript, _debug
 |noicon=1

}}{{#ifeq: | |}}</ref> the ideal marriage, in fact, was usually one to a cousin, and it was often forbidden for an eldest daughter to even marry outside of the family at all.<ref name="JewEncInce"/> Other endogamous relationships, namely avunculate marriages and sibling marriages, while considered outright incestuous by most of the world today, were also common among a number of ancient Eastern societies, such as that of Ancient Egypt and Ancient China.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Biblical commentary on human sexual behaviour is less critical for events that are described as taking place before the Law of Moses was issued by God to the Israelites. For example, the Book of Genesis discusses the marriage of Abraham and Sarah without criticizing Abraham’s claim that they were half-siblings,<ref name="AbrahamSarahBibleRef">Template:Bibleverse</ref> and the Book of Samuel treats the marriage of a royal prince to his half-sister as simply unusual, rather than wicked.<ref name="JewEncInce" />

InstancesEdit

The Hebrew Bible mentions a number of instances in which marriage and sexual intercourse occurs between close kin, mostly dated to before the Sinai period:

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> married Maacah daughter of Absalom.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 2 Samuel 14:27 does not list Maacah as a daughter of Absalom,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> but Absalom seems to have had sex with the wives of David, his father, at the advice of Ahitophel.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • Zelophehad's daughters, Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, married their cousins on their father's side to obey the Lord's command. The Lord said: "no inheritance shall be transferred from one tribe to another".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

  • Caleb said, "I will give my daughter Acsah in marriage to the one who attacks and captures Kiriath-sepher." Othniel, son of Caleb's brother Kenaz, was the one who conquered it, so Acsah became Othniel's wife.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Prohibited relationshipsEdit

Template:Bibleverse and Template:Bibleverse sets out lists of prohibited relationships, and two chapters later specify punishments for such unions, but the second list of unions is much shorter than the first. Critical scholars regard the lists as having originally been independent documents, bound together at a later point.<ref>{{#if:||{{#if:|File:Wikisource-logo.svg|File:PD-icon.svg}} }}{{#if:||{{#if:|One or more of the preceding sentences|This article}} incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: }}{{#invoke:template wrapper|{{#if:|list|wrap}}|_template=cite Jewish Encyclopedia 

 |_exclude=inline, noicon, no-icon, no-prescript, _debug
 |noicon=1

}}{{#ifeq: | |}}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> The Deuteronomic Code gives a yet more simple list of prohibited relationshipsTemplate:Snd a man's parent's daughter (including his sister), a man's father's wife (including his mother), and a man's mother-in-law.<ref>Template:Bibleverse</ref><ref>Template:Bibleverse</ref> In the Hebrew Bible, sexual relationships between siblings are forbidden to Jews but permissible to Gentiles (non-Jews).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The relationships prohibited by Leviticus 18 are:

The lists of prohibited relationships can be summarised as follows (the relations highlighted in red are those that are prohibited):

Familial relation Leviticus 18 Leviticus 20 Deuteronomy
Grandfather's wife (including grandmother)
Father's wife Mother
Stepmother
Mother-in-law
Aunt Parent's sister
Uncle's wife Father's brother's wife
Mother's brother's wife
Parent's daughter Half-sister (on the mother's side)
Father's daughter Sister
Half-sister (on the father's side)
Step sister
Sister-in-law (except in case of Levirate marriage)
Niece
Wife's daughter Daughter
Stepdaughter
Daughter-in-law
Wife's child's daughter (including granddaughter)

One of the most notable features of each list is that sexual relations between a man and his own daughter is not explicitly prohibited. Although the first relation mentioned after the Levitical prohibition of sex with "near kin" names that of "thy father",<ref>Template:Bibleverse; Template:Bibleverse</ref> it must be taken into account that the Hebrew original text only addresses male Jews with regard to their female relatives.<ref>Cf. the Revised Standard Version: Template:Bibleverse</ref> The Talmud argues that the absence is because the prohibition was obvious, especially given the proscription against a relationship with a granddaughter,<ref>Yebamot 3a</ref> although some biblical scholars have instead proposed that it was originally in the list, but was then accidentally left out from the copy on which modern versions of the text ultimately depend, due to a mistake by the scribe.<ref name="CheyneAndBlackMar">Template:EncyclopaediaBiblica</ref> The second list in the Holiness code noticeably differs from the first by not including the closer relatives, and it might be assumed that obviousness is the explanation here as well.<ref name="JewEncInce"/> One might argue that the explicit prohibition against engaging in sexual activity with a woman as well as with her daughter,<ref>Template:Bibleverse</ref> implicitly forbids sexual activity between a man and his daughter. However, the rationale might suggest otherwise (the original text is unclear here), since it mentions only that "they" (i.e., the woman and the daughter) are related.<ref>Cf. the footnote in the Revised Standard Version (Template:Bibleverse) as well as the King James Version (Template:Bibleverse)</ref> John Calvin did not consider the father-daughter-relation to be explicitly forbidden by the Bible, but regarded it as immoral nevertheless.<ref>John Calvin, Bible Commentary, Harmony of the Law (Vol. 3), Leviticus 18 (online version)</ref>

Apart from the case of the daughter, the first incest list in Leviticus roughly produces the same rules as applied in early (pre-Islamic) Arabic culture;<ref name="JewEncInce"/> in Islam, these pre-Islamic rules were made statutory.<ref name="CheyneAndBlackMar"/>

Ezekiel implies<ref name="CheyneAndBlackMar"/> that, in his time, marriage between a man and his stepmother, or his daughter-in-law, or his sister, were frequent.<ref>Template:Bibleverse</ref> This situation seems to be the target of the Deuteronomic version of the incest prohibition, which only addresses roughly the same three issues<ref name="JewEncInce"/><ref name="CheyneAndBlackMar"/> (though prohibiting the mother-in-law in place of the daughter-in-law). Early rabbinic commentators instead argue that the Deuteronomic list is so short because the other possible liaisons were obviously prohibited, and these three were the only liaisons difficult to detect, as, in their day, a man's stepmother, half-sister, and mother-in-law usually lived in the same house as the man (prior to any liaison).<ref>Samuel ben Meir, Commentary, ad loc.</ref>

Also, cousins are not included in the lists of prohibited relationships. It is not considered incestuous.Template:Fact

Sex-specific rulesEdit

The biblical lists are not symmetricalTemplate:Snd the implied rules for women are not the same – they compare as follows: Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend

Familial relation Leviticus 18 Leviticus 20 Deuteronomy
Grandparent's spouse (including other grandparent)
Parent's spouse Parent
Stepparent
Parent-in-law
Uncle/Aunt Parent's sibling
Uncle's/Aunt's spouse Father's sibling's spouse
Mother's sibling's spouse
Parent's child Half-sibling (on the mother's side)
Father's child Sibling
Half-sibling (on the father's side)
Step-sibling
Sibling-in-law (if the spouse was still alive)
Nephew/Niece Sibling's child
Nephew/Niece-in-law Spouse's brother's child
Spouse's sister's child
Spouse's child Child
Stepchild
Child-in-law
Spouse's grandchild (including grandchild)

See alsoEdit

NotesEdit

Template:Reflist

Further readingEdit

Template:Incest

Retrieved from "https://zalansite.site/mediawiki/index.php?title=Incest_in_the_Bible&oldid=203910"