Protections and Prohibitions

Sexuality is closely associated with the marriage relationship. Malachi 2:14 identifies that marriage is to be viewed as a covenant (see also Hugenberger, Marriage as a Covenant, 280–312; Davidson, Flame, 377–84). Various laws forbidding adultery (Exod 20:14), rape (Deut 22:25), and incest (Lev 18:6) protected this covenant. Kings were forbidden from acquiring “many wives” (Deut 17:17), but polygamy was tolerated (see Davidson, Flame, 210–11). The law protected women by extending legal protection to an unloved wife in a polygamous setting (Deut 21:15–17).

Leviticus 18 provides boundaries for sexual intercourse, prohibiting Israelites from:

• “uncovering [נָּלָה (nalah)] the nakedness” (עֶרְוָה, erwah) of close family members (Lev 18:6–18)

• lying with a woman during her menstrual cycle (Lev 18:19)

• lying with another man’s wife (Lev 18:20)

• lying with a man as with a woman (Lev 18:22)

• lying with an animal (Lev 18:23)

The Israelites were to strictly enforce these boundaries. Punishments for transgressions ranged from a day of impurity (Lev 15:18) to dying childless, expulsion from the community, or capital punishment (Lev 20:10–21).