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Making Sense of Sex: A Study of Leviticus 18

Cornerstone University, Center for the Study of Antiquity, 1001 E. Beltline NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49525, USA

This study exposes the implicit logic of the sexual laws in Leviticus 18 and thereby throws light on the problematic relationship between these laws and the chapter’s introductory and concluding material. The sexual laws were arranged in a tripartite scheme that addressed relations according to family, clan or tribe, and nation, moving outward from the nearest relations to the most distant. Thus the sexual laws circumscribed both internal and external boundaries in Israelite life. As part of the Holiness Code the sexual laws are presented in Leviticus 18 to define Israel’s life in the face of outside, cultural competitors. The discovery of this scheme in the sexual laws builds upon Mary Douglas’s analysis of other priestly traditions.

Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, Vol. 29, No. 1, 57-79 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/030908920402900103


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