Language:
English
Year of publication:
2020
Titel der Quelle:
Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
Angaben zur Quelle:
45,2 (2020) 236-267
Keywords:
Bible. Criticism, interpretation, etc.
;
Holiness Code (Biblical criticism)
;
Homosexuality Biblical teaching
;
Sex in the Bible
Abstract:
The Holiness Code in Leviticus contains a well-known list of illicit sexual practices. Two infamous Levitical verses (18.22 and 20.13) have been widely interpreted as forbidding and calling for punishment for carnal relations between two adult males and have even influenced modern legislation regarding homosexuality and marriage equality in many countries. It is the suggestion of the author that the verses do not in fact refer to homosexual acts at all, but instead should be interpreted as forbidding and calling for punishment of the act of two males sharing simultaneously the bed of a single woman, which in the context of the Holiness Code and its other statutes aims at prohibiting the creation of offspring whose patronage is unclear and form is abominable, which in turn would lead to the ritual pollution of the Promised Land.
DOI:
10.1177/0309089220903431
URL:
Locate this publication in Israeli libraries
Permalink