Now to the heart of this blog: "What does the Bible say?"
I have learned to approach Bible study with two lenses. The first comes from first century Rabbis, whose teachings appear in "The Sayings of the Fathers" :
"When you study the bible, you take each word, and turn it and turn it and turn it again."
The second comes from Luther:
"The Bible interprets the Bible."
First topic: What doe the bible say about homosexuality?
Those who see the Bible condemning homosexuality point to Leviticus 18:22. "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination."
The key word to "turn and turn again" is "lie with" (in Hebrew "shakav").
Following Luther's advice, how does the Bible help us interpret the word "shakav"? Where else in the Bible do we find this word?
In Genesis 43:2 we read about Jacob and Leah's daughter, Dinah. When Shechem, the son of Hamor, saw her, "seized her and lay with her ('shakav') by force." In other words he raped her! Afterwards "he spoke tenderly to her." What a guy! "Shakav" here means rape, not a tender, intimate relationship. There's more.
In II Samuel 12: 5 we read about King David when he saw Bathsheba bathing. He"sent messengers to get her, and she came to him and he lay with her ('shakav')." Basically, he forced himself on Bathsheba.
In II Samuel 13:11-14, David's son, Amnon, fell in love with his sister, Tamar. He came to her, but she protested, "No, my brother, do not force me; for such a thing is not done in Israel; do not do anything so vile! . . . But he would not listen to her; and being stronger than she, he forced her and lay with her ('shakav')."
Bathsheeba (II Samuel 11:4) and David's son, Amnon, raped his sister, Tamar (II Samuel 13:11). When Lot's daughters filled their father with wine and then had sex with Dad while he was drunk, that's also "Shakav."
These Biblical stories give a flesh and blood meaning to "shakav" in the Leviticus law. What the law forbids is not an intimate, compassionate relationship between males, but rape and incest between males and females alike!
Biblical Hebrew has another word to describe life- giving sexual relationships-- "Yada," ("to know"). (Remember "Yoda" in Star Wars,the little guy who knows everything --same word!)
Let's look at Genesis 4:1 -- 'Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying 'I have produced a man with the help of the Lord'."
Later on, "Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch."
One of my favorites is I Samuel 1: 19-20" " Elkinah knew his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. In due time Hannah conceived and more a son." She's the prophet Samuel's feisty mother!
The excellent conservative scholars who produced the Holman Christian Study Bible translate "knew" in these verses as "Was intimate with."
My question is: does Leviticus 18:22 forbid homosexual sex or does it rather condemn violent, abusive, demeaning sex with a man as much as with a woman? Both are an abomination.
The priests who put the book of Leviticus together did not spend all their time in the Temple. They also served as military chaplains (see Numbers 31) and knew the ways of warfare used by surrounding powers. One such practice was the sodomizing of male prisoners (just as female prisoners were raped). The King of Babylon used to cast lots to the gods every morning to see who among of his captive kings he would sodomize today, just to let them know the who’s boss!
The laws in Levituicus 18 were to set the Israelites apart from their neighboring nations. They followed a different ethical code. This included the military.
In addition to condemning all forms of violent, demeaning sex, Leviticus 18:22 instructs the Israelite military: “ YOU shall not sodomize male prisoners any more than you shall rape women prisoners. It is an abomination.”
Leviticus 18 teaches us that the gift of sexuality is not a victory or a conquest over someone else.