« Previous Post | Next Post »
« Previous post in category | Next post in category »

Bible - OT - Leviticus: Structure of Leviticus 18

[Print] | [PDF] | [Email]

Leavings from a paper on Leviticus 18.

Leviticus 18 is a chiastic structure consisting of smaller chiasms. 18:1 is an introductory formula, announcing the beginning of a new section of Leviticus. Verses 2-5 form the first section of the chapter, which repeats “I am Yahweh” three times and also contains a neat small-chiasm of judgment/statutes around the central declaration of the Lord’s Name.

A. I am Yahweh your God

B. Do not do what Egypt and Canaan do

C. Do my judgments and statutes

D. I am Yahweh your God

C’. Keep statutes and judgments

B’. To live

A’. I am Yahweh

The next section, 18:6-23, provides a detailed list of prohibitions, mostly prohibited sexual relations (but cf. v. 21). Generally, the sexual rules move from incest with direct relatives, to incest with relatives by marriage, to prohibited sexual relations with people other than relatives. Within this section, verses 6-19 form a unit, focusing on incest by providing detailed rules for excluded degrees of consanguinity. These verses share a common terminology: The word “nakedness” is used twenty-four times between verses 6 and 19, but not elsewhere in chapter 18. Surrounding verses 6-19 is the verb “approach” or “draw near” (qarab; vv. 6, 19). “Approach” is also used in verse 14, subdividing 6-19 into two sections:

A. Flesh of flesh, v 6 (approach)

B. Mother, v 7

C. Father’s wife, v 8

D. Sister, v 9

E. Granddaughter, v 10

D’. Half-sister, v 11

C’. Father’s sister, v 12

B’. Mother’s sister, v 13

A’. Aunt (father’s brother’s wife), v 14 (approach)

The second subsection matches the first subsection to some degree, but deals (mainly) with more distant in-law relations:

E”. Daughter-in-law, v 15

D”. Sister-in-law, v 16

C”. Woman and daughter, v 17

B”. Woman and sister, v 18

A”. Woman during menstruation, v 19 (approach)

For the first time in the chapter, verse 20 introduces concerns with “defilement” (tame). The word is used eight times in verses 20-30, never before, and the word frames this final section (vv. 2-0, 30). Moreover, the declaration “I am Yahweh,” found in 21 and 30, frames the last section, and also points us back to the repetition of similar phrases at the beginning of the chapter. A semi-chiastic inclusio surrounds the concluding verses of chapter 18:

A. I am Yahweh, v. 21

B. Abomination of lying with male, v. 22

C. No lying with beast/standing before beast: defiled, v. 23

B’. No abominable customs, v. 30a

C’. To be defiled, v. 30b

A’. I am Yahweh, v. 30c

Within this last section are two subsections. Verses 20-23 form the first unit, which has two structures operating simultaneously. The first is based on the repetition of the word shkbt (“lying with”), used in only two verses of this chapter (vv. 20, 23). Based on this usage, these verses form a small chiasm:

A. Give seed to neighbor’s wife (defiled; “lying-with,” Heb. shkbt, v. 20)

B. Not give seed to Molech, v. 21

B’. Lie with male as with female, v. 22

A’. Give your lying to animal (defile; “lying-with,” Heb. shkbt, v. 23)

This outline links Molech-idolatry with sodomy, perhaps emphasizing the destruction of seed involved in both.

On the other hand, “I am Yahweh” bisects these verses into two parallel sections:

A. No giving lying-with to seed neighbor’s wife, v. 20

A’. No giving seed to Molech, v. 21a

I AM YAHWEH, v. 21b

B. No lying-with with male as with female, v. 22

B’. No giving your lying-with to animal, v. 23

The first two prohibitions are linked by references to “seed,” and specifically to “giving seed.” The first “giving seed” describes adultery (the Hebrew, woodenly translated, is “To the woman of your neighbor you shall not give your lying-with to seed, to defile with her”), the seed being semen given to another man’s wife; the second use of the phrase is concerned with the idolatrous “giving seed” to Molech. This phrasing forges a link between idolatry and adultery often exploited by the prophets. The B sections link homosexual sodomy with bestiality, the parallel that draws howls of protest from today’s gay lobby. Presumably, they are similar in that both violate the sexual order established by the creation of Eve. Genesis 2 implicitly rejects both bestiality and homosexuality: Adam finds no suitable partner among the beasts, and his suitable partner is a woman not another man.

That leaves verses 24-30 as the final unit of the passage. These verses form a complex structure that combines chiastic and parallel elements. The frame refers to defilement, and specifically to the defilement of the Canaanites who are about to be spewed out by the land. The B sections both use the verb “guard,” and refer to the guarding of laws, enactments, public norms. At the center is the threat that anyone who does abominations will be “cut off,” the only occurrence in the chapter of that phrase.

A. Do not defile

Nations became defiled

-defiled land

-land spewed

B. Guard statutes and judgments; no abominations, native and stranger

men did abominations

-land defiled

-land spewed

C. Anyone who does abominations

-Cut off

B’. Do guard duty

A’. Do not do abominable customs

So you are not defiled

I am Yahweh

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Friday, July 31, 2009 at 12:17 pm

Permission is given to use material on this site, provided the source is cited, blog entries are republished in full, and the author is notified in advance.

« Previous Post | Next Post » « Previous post in category | Next post in category »

Bible - OT - Leviticus: Structure of Leviticus 18

« Previous Post | Next Post »
« Previous post in category | Next post in category »