Levítico 18

Levítico 18

Morris - Homosexuality has become so common today, as in the ancient pagan tribes, that it is considered an acceptable--or even preferable--life style. God, however, who created men and women and ordained the proper and fruitful institution of marriage and the family unit, calls it abomination. Despite modern theories, it is not a natural condition. It is a learned behavior which, like any other sin prohibited by a holy God, can become a very difficult behavior to change when long practiced. Nevertheless, the Bible clearly forbids--and nowhere more forcefully than here in this 18th chapter of Leviticus--not only homosexuality but also adultery, incest, bestiality and any other type of sexual commerce except that in monogamous, life-long marriage. God can and does forgive these and other sins (that is what the Levitical offerings in this same book teach). Persistent and unrepentant continuance however, will eventually result in the judgment implicit in Romans 1:27, "receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet." Norman Geisler tackles an argument which is frequently raised regarding this OT passage and others that strictly prohibit homosexual relations. The reasoning goes something like this: "Since Leviticus prohibits eating pork, but the New Testament allows one to eat pork, having the laws against homosexuality also been abolished along with laws against eating pork?" Here is Geisler's analysis... PROBLEM: The law against homosexuality is found in the Levitical law (Lev. 18:22) along with laws against eating pork and shrimp (Lev. 11:2–3, 10). But these ceremonial laws have been done away with (Acts 10:15). This being the case, some insist that the laws prohibiting homosexual activity are no longer binding either. SOLUTION: The laws against homosexual practices are not merely ceremonial. Simply because the Mosaic prohibition against homosexuality is mentioned in Leviticus does not mean that it was part of the ceremonial law that has passed away. First, if laws against homosexuality were merely ceremonial (and therefore abolished), then rape, incest, and bestiality would not be morally wrong either, since they are condemned in the same chapter with homosexual sins (Lev. 18:6–14, 22–23). Second, homosexual sins among Gentiles were also condemned by God (Ro 1:26), and they did not have the ceremonial law (Ro 2:12–15). It was for this very reason that God brought judgment on the Canaanites (Ge 18:1–3, 25). Third, even in the Jewish Levitical law there was a difference in punishment for violating the ceremonial law of eating pork or shrimp (which was a few days isolation) and that for homosexuality which was capital punishment (Lev. 18:29). Fourth, Jesus changed the dietary laws of the OT (Mark 7:18; Acts 10:15), but the moral prohibitions against homosexuality are still enjoined on believers in the NT (Rom. 1:26–27; 1 Cor. 6:9; 1 Tim. 1:10; Jude 7). (When critics ask : a popular handbook on Bible difficulties) Kenneth Boa and R. Bowman make several observations on Lev 18:26-30 where the Hebrew word toebah is used 3x. .. Leviticus asserts that God Himself finds such practices abominable, and makes that the reason they are so strongly forbidden.... (1) God speaking. The passage is thus an expression of God’s judgment of homosexual and other acts, not the Israelites’ judgment about them. (2) What God calls detestable (abominable) acts are said to be customary in Canaan. The obvious implication is that the Canaanites, at least, did not find these behaviors abominable. Thus the test of sexual morality is not how it makes us feel, but rather how it makes God “feel.” (3) Twice in this passage the description of the acts as “abominations” is linked to the land and the people becoming “defiled.” Defilement is a religious concept, not a sociological one. The point again is that these acts were an offense to God, whether or not they were offensive to human beings. (4) This reference to defilement has been taken to prove the theory that homosexuality is being condemned only in some ritual or ceremonial religious context. But this will not work. For one thing, nothing is said to indicate that a pagan ritual association was even part of the rationale for the prohibition. Besides, sex acts between men and women were also (indeed, more commonly) part of pagan rituals. It makes no sense for language specifying same-sex acts to be used if the problem that was really being targeted was not limited to such acts. Moreover, the pagans practiced homosexual acts both in ritual settings and outside them. Since such a distinction would have been familiar in that culture, there is no reason why Leviticus might not have allowed for non-ritual homosexual acts if they were deemed morally permissible. In any case, that homosexual acts are being condemned here for reasons unrelated to pagan rituals is clear in the larger context of the chapter. It is not merely homosexuality, but all of the acts forbidden in this chapter, that are considered abominable (as Lev 18:26–30 say)....The prohibitions here are as general and categorical as they could be. All such sexual acts are forbidden, regardless of how the two people involved feel about each other, or how old or young they are. If we regard biblical morality as normative, then all such behaviors are just as wrong today as they were three thousand years ago. Again, if we have a problem with that, it is an indicator of our own moral compass being “off” rather than of any defect in biblical teaching. (An unchanging faith in a changing world: understanding and responding to critical issues that Christians face today) Leviticus 18:23 'Also you shall not have intercourse with any animal to be defiled with it, nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it; it is a perversion. Boa - Bestiality This act is described as a “perversion,” a term which connotes that the act is utterly unnatural. It is clear from surveying all of the forbidden acts in Leviticus 18 that all of them are condemned as categorically immoral. The term “abomination” in this context clearly means something that is particularly offensive in the sight of God. This is true of the word “abomination” in general. Apologetics Study Bible - Hittite laws assign the death penalty to lying with some animals, but lying with a horse or a mule carried no penalty. (Ed: When truth is distorted it results in some bizarre statements such as these Hittite laws. One wonders how much lower America will decline in her moral/ethical standards such that that which is abominable to God's eyes is gradually and increasingly more acceptable (and even legalized) in the eyes of a largely unregenerate, progressively more decadent society.) It is interesting that Wikipedia refers to this sin somewhat euphemistically as Zoophilia (love of animals!). Leviticus 18:24 'Do not defile yourselves by any of these things; for by all these the nations which I am casting out before you have become defiled. Defile: Lev 18:6-23,30 Jer 44:4 Mt 15:18-20 Mk 7:10-23 1Co 3:17 for: Lev 20:22,23 Dt 12:31, 18:12) God had prophesied of this day to Abraham "Then in the fourth generation they shall return here, for (term of explanation) the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete." (Ge 15:16) Those who condemn Israel (and God) for the way the Canaanites were treated seem to forget that God gave them several centuries to repent of their wickedness. Recall the interesting pattern in Leviticus 18 - In Lev 18:1-23 Moses is to tell the people what not to do. Then in Lev 18:24-30 he is to tell them why not to do it. Notice that do not defile is not a suggestion but a commandment, a commandment not to destroy our joy of life, but to the contrary given that we might enjoy true life, life indeed, life as God intended it to be lived. But indwelling sin warps and distorts God's desire for us, even believers, which is why we continually need to have our minds renewed. The Abominations of the Canaanites: Lev 18:24-30: Recent years have seen an increase in occult practices and Satanic rituals. But these things are nothing new. Somewhat similar rites were taking place in Canaan at the time when Israel left Egypt. God referred to the Canaanite practices as “abominations” for which “the land vomits out its inhabitants” (Lev 18:25,26). The historical context of Lev 18 shows that God’s concern had to do with religious as well as sexual purity. The chapter opens and closes with warnings to avoid the ways of the Canaanites (Lev 18:3, 30). The practices mentioned—incest, adultery, fornication, intercourse during a woman’s menstrual flow, child sacrifice, sodomy, bestiality—were all acts committed as part of the Canaanite religion. That religion was essentially a fertility cult. Worshipers appealed to their gods to help their women reproduce and to make their lands fertile. Thus sexual intercourse played a major role in the worship. There were other “abominations” involved, such as idolatry and the use of mediums and witchcraft. For all of these things, the Lord promised to VOMIT the Canaanites out of the land. In their place He planned to install His people living according to His ways and worshiping according to His holy practices. The Canaanites worshiped more than seventy deities (not because that was perfect number though!). When one living God does not satisfy, man will seek an endless number of dead "gods" in a vain, futile attempt to satisfy the deepest needs of his soul. And no one or no thing satisfies fallen men -- only Jesus satisfies the thirsty soul! (cp Jn 7:37-39) Defile (02930)(tame) is found predominantly (and not surprisingly) in Leviticus and means to be foul or unclean (ceremonially and/or morally), to be contaminated, to be polluted. To make impure, to desecrate, to make impure. The corruption or contamination is primarily in the context of the sight of God! In Leviticus (and other books) the object (food - Hos 9:4, idol worship - Ps 106:39, Hos 5:3) or person who was "tame" (sexual sins - Ge 34:5, Nu 5:13, Ezek 18:6) was unacceptable to and could not please the Holy (set apart from profane) God. In Leviticus even touching unclean objects or persons made one unclean (Lev 5:3, 18:24, 19:31). The Levitical priests were charged with the duty of discerning that which was unclean (Lev 13:3, Hag 2:13) and also to instruct and oversee the strict rituals that must be carried out to return to a state of purity. Defile (tame) is clearly a "key verb" in Leviticus 18 - Lev 18:20, 23-25, 27-28, 30 Defiled occurs twice in Lev 18:24 and in the Lxx is translated both times with the verb miaino = defiled, unacceptable (Jn 18:28, Heb 12:15). Tame is translated in NAS as - became unclean(1), become defiled(3), become unclean(6), becomes unclean(13), becoming unclean(1), been defiled(2), defile(25), defiled(38), defilement(1), defiles(5), defiling(2), made unclean(3), make himself unclean(1), make yourselves unclean(1), make...unclean(1), pronounce him unclean(9), pronounced them unclean(1), remain unclean(2), surely pronounce(1), surely pronounce him unclean(1), unclean(44). Tame - 161x in 141v - Gen 34:5, 13, 27; Lev 5:3; 11:24-28, 31-36, 39-40, 43-44; 12:2, 5; 13:3, 8, 11, 14-15, 20, 22, 25, 27, 30, 44, 46, 59; 14:36, 46; 15:4-11, 16-24, 27, 31-32; 17:15; 18:20, 23-25, 27-28, 30; 19:31; 20:3, 25; 21:1, 3f, 11; 22:5f, 8; Num 5:3, 13f, 20, 27ff; 6:7, 9, 12; 19:7f, 10f, 13f, 16, 20ff; 35:34; Deut 21:23; 24:4; 2 Kgs 23:8, 10, 13, 16; 2 Chr 36:14; Ps 79:1; 106:39; Isa 30:22; Jer 2:7, 23; 7:30; 32:34; Ezek 4:14; 5:11; 9:7; 14:11; 18:6, 11, 15; 20:7, 18, 26, 30f, 43; 22:3f, 11; 23:7, 13, 17, 30, 38; 33:26; 36:17f; 37:23; 43:7f; 44:25; Hos 5:3; 6:10; 9:4; Hag 2:13 For - Always be alert to this small but strategic conjunction, especially when it functions (as it does here) as a term of explanation) - let "for" become an opportunity to pause and ponder the text, prayerfully (in dependence on your Teacher the Spirit) asking at least what the writer is explaining. Some instances, such as this passage, are very straight forward, but others (especially Paul's use of for, e.g., in Romans 8) are a bit more complex. The point is that you will always be blessed when you "cease striving" (Ps 46:10) and focus on God with this "mini-meditation!" (See Meditate or Primer on Biblical Meditation ) Casting out (0791)(shalach) means simply to send. The Lxx translated it with exapostello which means to send out (used of sending out missionaries in the NT, quite the contrast with sending out defiled men! cp use in Act 22:21) In a parallel passage we read - (Dt 18:12) “For whoever does these things is detestable (toebah = abomination; Lxx = bdelugma) to the LORD; and because of these detestable (toebah = abomination; Lxx = bdelugma) things the LORD your God will drive (Heb = yarash = dispossess; Lxx = exolothreuo = utterly destroyed, completely rooted out, cp Acts 3:23) them out before you. (NOTE: Israel was commanded to drive the Canaanites out [Dt 9:3], but here we see God's part - He would drive them out - God's sovereignty does not relieve man of his responsibility.) Leviticus 18:24 - Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways. = TODAY IN THE WORD - Boethius, a philosopher from the sixth century, wrote, “Who would give a law to lovers? Love is unto itself a higher law.” Gay rights activists use it as a slogan endorsing homosexuality and transgender lifestyles. They take offense at any effort to place restrictions on whom they love or how they express it. Scripture supports the notion that law cannot prohibit love (Gal. 5:22-23-note). But it's a mistake to equate sexual activity with love. While love is a universal command to be obeyed, the Bible clearly condemns certain sexual behaviors. The people of Canaan had been guilty of sexual immorality, and God warned Israel to abstain from that perversion. Their sin violated the land to the point that it vomited out the people to rid itself of their evil. At that time, God demanded the death penalty or at the very least a form of social excommunication for anyone who violated these commands against incest, homosexuality, or bestiality (Lev. 20:10ff). These commands weren't just special “Old Testament only” restrictions reserved for Israel alone to set them apart. God repeatedly called the acts detestable or an abomination. God's views on homosexuality haven't changed. But the method of punishment from the Old Testament was specifically assigned to Israel as an extension of God's judgment. Today, we are not called to be executors of God's wrath. We are followers of Christ, who was sent to save the world, not to judge it (John 3:17). And if Jesus, who is blameless in every way, was not on a mission of judgment, how can we who still wrestle with our own sin accuse anyone? Paul chastised his readers who passed judgment on immoral people, because no one is faultless (Ro 2:1-note). We need to recognize today's reading for what it is and is not. It does declare that sexual perversion is an abomination in God's eyes. Not all sex between consenting adults is permissible (even most gay rights activists condemn incest or adultery). But this passage is not a waiver of the command to love. If we loved only the righteous, we would love no one (Ro 3:10-note). TODAY ALONG THE WAY - Debate is rampant in political and religious circles about what rights should be granted to homosexuals, but one right that no one should have to fight for is the right to receive love from the body of Christ. If you have a hard time feeling compassion for people trapped in sin, ask God to soften your heart. Remember that the blood of Christ has paid the penalty for your sin, and you, too, have been the recipient of unspeakable grace. (Moody Bible Institute) Leviticus 18:25 'For the land has become defiled, therefore I have brought its punishment upon it, so the land has spewed out its inhabitants. the land: Nu 35:33,34 Ps 106:38 Isa 24:5 Jer 2:7 16:18 Eze 36:17,18 Ro 8:22 therefore: Ps 89:32 Isa 26:21 Jer 5:9,29 9:9 14:10 23:2 Ho 2:13 8:13 9:9 spew: Lev 18:28 Lev 20:22 Lev 20:22 ‘You (Israel) are therefore to keep all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them, so that the land to which I am bringing you to live will not spew you out. God made an interesting statement in Deuteronomy (lest the Israelites think they were receiving the Land of Canaan because they were so righteous!)... Deut 9:5 “It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God is driving them out before you, in order to confirm the oath which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The land has become defiled - Even the land becomes polluted by sexual misbehavior among the people. One only has to witness the modern day scourge of AIDS in Central Africa where a huge percentage of the young adult population has been destroyed leaving behind thousands of homeless orphans - indeed their land has been tragically defiled! The land of Canaan, which had long before been promised by God to Abraham and his seed, had become so defiled by the time of Joshua that God was completely vindicated in ordering the extermination of its incorrigibly wicked inhabitants, lest the people of Israel and eventually the whole world be corrupted by their influence, as in the world before the flood. This chapter gives a representative listing of their pervasive sins -- promiscuity, incest, homosexuality, bestiality, even burning their children in sacrifice to a pagan god (Lv18:21) and blaspheming the true God. God had been long-suffering for four hundred years, but now their iniquity was full and their time was up (Ge15:13-15, 16). SO THE LAND SPEWED OUT ITS INHABITANTS (Nu 35:33,34, Dt 9:5, Lev 20:22): The warning is clear. The land had become so defiled by the perverted practices of the Canaanites that it was vomiting them out. For that reason, the land would be available to Israel to settle. The Israelites, however, needed to be careful to live as God’s holy people in the land or it would vomit them out as well. God was casting out the Canaanites, Amorites, and others because the cup of their iniquity was full (Ge 15:16). One day, sad to say, Israel would exceed the wickedness of those they were going to replace (2Ki 21:11)! Henry Morris - The land of Canaan, which had long before been promised by God to Abraham and his seed, had become so defiled by the time of Joshua that God was completely vindicated in ordering the extermination of its incorrigibly wicked inhabitants, lest the people of Israel and eventually the whole world be corrupted by their influence, as in the world before the flood. This chapter gives a representative listing of their pervasive sins--promiscuity, incest, homosexuality, bestiality, even burning their children in sacrifice to a pagan god (Leviticus 18:21) and blaspheming the true God. God had been long-suffering for four hundred years, but now their iniquity was full and their time was up (Genesis 15:13-16). Leviticus 18:26 'But as for you, you are to keep My statutes and My judgments and shall not do any of these abominations, neither the native, nor the alien who sojourns among you keep: Lev 18:5,30 De 4:1,2,40 12:32 Ps 105:44,45 Lk 8:15 11:28 John 14:15,21-23 15:14 alien: Lev 17:8,10 Abominations (08441) (toebah) see word study on toebah. The perverted sexual practices are lumped together here as "abominations" and again are strictly forbidden. Notice that the next verse begins with "for" (term of explanation) which introduces the explanation of why these perverted practices are strictly prohibited (this explanation continues into Lev 18:28). Leviticus 18:27 (for the men of the land who have been before you have done all these abominations, and the land has become defiled); Lev 18:24 De 20:18 23:18 25:16 27:15 1Ki 14:24 2Ki 16:3 2Ki 21:2 2Ch 36:14 Eze 16:50 22:11 Hos 9:10 Abominations (08441) (toebah) see word study on toebah. Simply put the Canaanites practiced these perversions as a way of life and thus the land was defiled. The next verse continues the explanation that the consequence of Canaanite practices was that the land spewed them out! Leviticus 18:28 so that the land will not spew you out, should you defile it, as it has spewed out the nation which has been before you. Lev 18:25 20:22 Jer 9:19 Eze 36:13,17 Ro 8:22 Rev 3:16 So that (terms of purpose or result) the land will not spew you out - The Canaanites were a defiled people who had defiled the land and were being "spewed out" of the land by God's "instruments" the nation of Israel. However God is an impartial judge and here His warning is clear - if Israel becomes a defiled people, that will defile the land and they will be spewed out. This is exactly what happened in two stages - The Northern 10 Tribes were spewed out in 722BC when they were defeated by God's "instruments", the Assyrians (2Kings 17:6) and the Southern 2 Tribes (Judah and Benjamin) were spewed out in 586BC (2Kings 25:8-21) when they were defeated by God's "instruments", the Babylonians (cp Jer 25:9, 27:6). Leviticus 18:29 'For whoever does any of these abominations, those persons who do so shall be cut off from among their people. Lev 17:10, 20:6 Ex 12:15 For (term of explanation) - explains what will happen to those who participate in these perversions. Cut off - (20x in Lev 7:20, 21, 25, 27; 17:4, 9, 10, 14; 18:29; 19:8; 20:3, 5, 6, 17, 18; 22:3, 24; 23:29; 26:22, 30). As discussed in Lev 18 and Lev 20, the meaning of "cut off" can range from being "ex-communicated" to becoming childless to being burned to death or being put to death. Cut off (03772)(karath) means literally to cut or sever something from something else by cutting with blade - to cut off, to cut down, to fell. (cf Zipporah's action of cutting her son's foreskin, which saved Moses' life - Ex 4:24-25, 1Sa 5:4). Karath is used most often in the book of Leviticus (20 times out of a total of 283 OT uses). In Da 9:26 we read the prophecy that the Messiah would be "cut off and have nothing" which was fulfilled at His Crucifixion which resulting in His being temporarily "cut off" (difficult to comprehend) or separated from His Father (cf His words Ps 22:1, Mt 27:46). In the first OT use of Karath in Ge 9:11 we read that all flesh shall never again be "cut off" by the water which there conveys the sense that "cut off" means to die and is so translated in the Septuagint or Lxx version (the Greek translation of the Hebrew text) of Ge 9:11 with the Greek verb apothnesko which means literally to suffer death (to cease to have vital functions at an earthly level). In the second OT use of Karath we find it combined with berith (covenant) which literally means to "cut a covenant" and so to make a covenant (first use Ge 15:18, 21:27, 32, 26:26, 31:44, Ex 23:32, 24:8). In the context of "cutting a covenant" recall that when a covenant was "cut," there was often the shedding of blood! In the ancient world to cut a covenant was a bond of "life and death" and was dramatically depicted by cutting an animal in two and having the parties making to covenant (or declaring an oath) to pass between the pieces of dead flesh, in essence declaring "May it happen to me (death) as it has happened to this animal if I break covenant." Stated another way, to "karath berith" was to make a bond in blood and therefore a bond that is a pledge to the death (for the life is in the blood, Lev 17:11). As Kay Arthur says "To make a covenant is to take a walk into death." Henry Clay Trumbull adds that "the rite of blood-covenanting ... by which two persons enter into the closest, (is) the most enduring, and the most sacred of compacts, as friends and brothers, or as more than brothers, through the inter-commingling of their blood." In the third OT use of karath in Ge 17:14 we see that individuals who were not circumcised were to "be cut off from" their people because they had broken the LORD's covenant, and the Lxx uses the verb exolothreuo which means to destroy (utterly), to root out, to completely cut off. There is a similar use of karath indicating a cutting off of one who disobeyed the Passover instruction to eat no leaven (Ex 12:15, 19; Lxx again is exolothreuo) In Ex 8:9 karath (Lxx - aphanizo = snatch out of sight, cause to disappear) conveys the sense of the frogs being removed from the houses of the Egyptians and remain in the Nile River (thus they were alive but removed from the houses). Elmer Smick in the TWOT adds that the figurative meaning of karath includes the sense of... to root out, eliminate, remove, excommunicate or destroy by a violent act of man or nature. It is sometimes difficult in a given context to know whether the person(s) who is “cut off”’ is to be killed or only excommunicated. Verses like Ge 9:11, “Neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood” clearly refer to destruction, but Ex 12:15 appears to refer to exclusion from the community. (Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, Moody Press, 1999) In Psalm 37:9, 34 we read about the wicked being "cut off" (in context means to die or cause to die) and the question some have asked "Are they annihilated?" The answer is clear from Scripture - the wicked are cut off from this earthly life but not from an eternal life of separation from God. As noted above, even Messiah was "cut off" (karath) (Da 9:26), but far from being annihilated, He was resurrected Himself testifying that "(I am) the Living One, was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades." Karath - 283x in the NAS - Gen 9:11; 15:18; 17:14; 21:27, 32; 26:28; 31:44; 41:36; Ex 4:25; 8:9; 12:15, 19; 23:32; 24:8; 30:33, 38; 31:14; 34:10, 12f, 15, 27; Lev 7:20f, 25, 27; 17:4, 9f, 14; 18:29; 19:8; 20:3, 5f, 17f; 22:3, 24; 23:29; 26:22, 30; Num 4:18; 9:13; 11:33; 13:23f; 15:30f; 19:13, 20; Deut 4:23; 5:2f; 7:2; 9:9; 12:29; 19:1, 5; 20:19f; 23:1; 29:1, 12, 14, 25; 31:16; Josh 3:13, 16; 4:7; 7:9; 9:6f, 11, 15f, 23; 11:21; 23:4; 24:25; Judg 2:2; 4:24; 6:25f, 28, 30; 9:48f; Ruth 4:10; 1 Sam 2:33; 5:4; 11:1f; 17:51; 18:3; 20:15f; 22:8; 23:18; 24:4f, 11, 21; 28:9; 31:9; 2 Sam 3:12f, 21, 29; 5:3; 7:9; 10:4; 20:22; 1 Kgs 2:4; 5:6, 12; 6:36; 7:2, 12; 8:9, 21, 25; 9:5, 7; 11:16; 14:10, 14; 15:13; 18:4f; 20:34; 21:21; 2 Kgs 9:8; 11:4, 17; 17:15, 35, 38; 18:4; 19:23; 23:3, 14; 1 Chr 11:3; 16:16; 17:8; 19:4; 2 Chr 2:8, 10, 16; 5:10; 6:11, 16; 7:18; 15:16; 21:7; 22:7; 23:3, 16; 29:10; 34:31; Ezra 10:3; Neh 9:8, 38; Job 14:7; 31:1; 41:4; Ps 12:3; 34:16; 37:9, 22, 28, 34, 38; 50:5; 83:5; 89:3; 101:8; 105:9; 109:13, 15; Prov 2:22; 10:31; 23:18; 24:14; Isa 9:14; 10:7; 11:13; 14:8, 22; 18:5; 22:25; 28:15; 29:20; 37:24; 44:14; 48:9, 19; 55:3, 13; 56:5; 57:8; 61:8; Jer 6:6; 7:28; 9:21; 10:3; 11:10, 19; 22:7; 31:31ff; 32:40; 33:17f; 34:8, 13, 15, 18; 35:19; 44:7f, 11; 46:23; 47:4; 48:2; 50:16; 51:62; Ezek 14:8, 13, 17, 19, 21; 16:4; 17:13, 17; 21:3f; 25:7, 13, 16; 29:8; 30:15; 31:12; 34:25; 35:7; 37:26; Dan 9:26; Hos 2:18; 8:4; 10:4; 12:1; Joel 1:5, 9, 16; Amos 1:5, 8; 2:3; Obad 1:9f, 14; Mic 5:9ff; Nah 1:14f; 2:13; 3:15; Zeph 1:3f, 11; 3:6f; Hag 2:5; Zech 9:6, 10; 11:10; 13:2, 8; 14:2; Mal 2:12 NAS translates karath - beams(3), cease(1), chewed(1), completely cut off(1), covenanted(1), cut(10), cut her off(1), cut him off(5), cut it down(1), cut it off(1), cut them down(1), cut you down(1), cut you off(2), cut down(23), cut off(129), cuts(1), cuts off(4), cutter(1), destroy(1), destroyed(3), fail(1), kill(1), lack(8), made(52), make(31), makes(2), making(2), making an in writing(1), perish(1). Leviticus 18:30 'Thus you are to keep My charge, that you do not practice any of the abominable customs yourselves with them; I am the LORD your God.'" Lev 18:3,26,27 20:23 Dt 18:9-12 I am: Lev 18:2,4 I Am the LORD - It all begins with God, the great "I Am." He is reminding them of the fact that He is their covenant keeping God. He brought them out (redeemed them out) of Egypt to bring them into the land. This phrase occurs repeatedly in Leviticus (49x out of 161x in entire OT) - Lev 11:44, 45; 18:2, 4, 5, 6, 21, 30; 19:3, 4, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 25, 28, 30, 31, 32, 34, 36, 37; 20:7, 8, 24; 21:12, 15, 23; 22:2, 3, 8, 9, 16, 30, 31, 32, 33; 23:22, 43; 24:22; 25:17, 38, 55; 26:1, 2, 13, 44, 45; EXCURSUS FERTILITY CULT Holman Bible Dictionary Fertility Cult - A general term for religions marked by rites which reenact a myth accounting for the orderly change of the seasons and the earth's fruitfulness. Such myths often involve a great mother-goddess as a symbol of fertility and a male deity, usually her consort but sometimes a son, who like vegetation dies and returns to life again. In Mesopotamia the divine couple was Ishtar and Tammuz (who is mourned in Ezekiel 8:14 ), in Egypt Isis and her son Osiris, in Asia Minor Cybele and Attis. In Syria the Ugaritic myths of the second millenium B.C. pictured Baal-Hadad, the storm god, as the dying and rising god. (A local manifestation of this god is mourned in Zechariah 12:11 ; Syrian kings derived their names from this deity, 1 Kings 15:18 ; 2 Kings 6:24 ; 2 Kings 13:24 ). His wife was the goddess Anath. In the earliest Ugaritic myth Asherah, the great mother-goddess, was the consort of El, the chief god in the pantheon. As Baal replaced El as the major deity, he became associated with Asherah (Judges 6:25-30 ; 1 Kings 18:19 ). Ashtoroth, the daughter of Asherah, is used as the Hebrew word for womb or the fruit of the womb (Deuteronomy 7:13 ; Deuteronomy 28:4 ,Deuteronomy 28:4,28:18 ,Deuteronomy 28:18,28:51 ). Fertility cults attribute the fertility of the cropland and herds to the sexual relations of the divine couple. Sacral sexual intercourse by priests and priestesses or by cult prostitutes was an act of worship intended to emulate the gods and share in their powers of procreation or else an act of imitative magic by which the gods were compelled to preserve the earth's fertility (1 Kings 14:23 ; 1 Kings 15:12 ; Hosea 4:14 ). Transvestism (prohibited in Deuteronomy 22:5 ) may have been part of a fertility rite like that practiced by the Hittites. Sacrifices of produce, livestock, and even children (2 Kings 17:31 ; 2 Kings 23:10 ) represented giving the god what was most precious in life in an attempt to restore order to the cosmos and ensure fertility. Elijah's struggle with the priests of Baal and Asherah at Mount Carmel is the best known conflict between worship of Yahweh and a fertility cult (1 Kings 18:17-40 ). Under Ahab, Baalism had become the state religion (1 Kings 16:31 ). The account of the priests of Baal lacerating themselves (1 Kings 18:28 ) is illuminated by the Ugaritic myths where El gashes his arms, chest, and back at the news of Baal's death. The priests of Baal customarily reenacted this scene from the myth at plowing time. Both skin and earth were cut as a sign of mourning (prohibited by Deuteronomy 14:1 ). Baal's resurrection came with the return of the rains. The biblical narrative is clear that —Yahweh, not Baal, is the Lord who withholds and gives rain (1 Kings 17:1 ; 1 Kings 18:20-45 ). The Israelites' sacred calendar celebrated the same seasons as their neighbors (barley harvests feast of unleavened bread; wheat harvests Pentecost; fruit harvests booths). The Israelites interpreted these seasons in light of God's redemptive acts in their history. Israel recognized the one God as the one responsible for rain (1 Kings 18:1 ), grain, wine, oil, wool, and flax (Hosea 2:8-9 ). Israel conceived of the earth's fruitfulness in a way quite unlike that of her neighbors. Yahweh had no consort; thus fertility was not tied to Yahweh's return to life and sexual functioning. Rather, the ability of plants and animals to reproduce their own kind was rooted in creation (Genesis 1:11-12 ,Genesis 1:11-12,1:22 ,Genesis 1:22,1:28 ). The orderly progression of the seasons was not traced to a primordial battle but was rooted in God's promise to Noah (Genesis 8:22 ). The fertility of the land was ensured not by ritual reenactment of the sacred marriage but by obedience to the demands of the covenant (Deuteronomy 28:1 ,Deuteronomy 28:1,28:3-4 ,Deuteronomy 28:3-4,28:11-12 ). In the New Testament, Diana or Artemis of the Ephesians (Acts 19:35 ) was a many-breasted fertility goddess. Aphrodite was also associated with fertility. Her temple at Corinth was the home of cult prostitutes responsible for the city's reputation for immorality. (Compare 1 Corinthians 6:15-20 .) Many of the mystery religions which competed with Christianity in the early centuries of the church developed the myths of the older fertility cults. (See Asherah ; Baal ; Canaan, History and Religion of ; Dagon; Diana ; Gods, Pagan ; High Place ; Prostitution ; Tammuz ; Ugarit) .