BIBLE: Exhausted by Leviticus
There has been a lot of discussion in the letters to the editor recently about homosexuality and the Bible. I’m a little rusty on the latter, so I decided to refresh my memory.
I started with the Book of Leviticus (Revised Standard Version Bible) since I’d heard that was a primary reference on the subject of gays. What a chore that has been, reading through Leviticus! It starts with a lengthy discussion about how to cleanse oneself when one becomes unclean. “If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male (bull) without blemish; he shall offer it at the door of the tent of meeting that he may be acceptable before the LORD”(Leviticus 1:3).
Leviticus goes on like that for awhile, about killing the bull and the priest sprinkling blood around the altar. When any of the people of Israel sins unwittingly against any of the LORD’s commandments, “then let him offer for the sin he has committed a young bull without blemish to the LORD for a sin offering (4:2). (Presumably a steer would not meet the qualification of unblemished.)
Well, it continues on like this for several pages laying out specific instructions for various situations how to keep yourself clean; a detailed discussion of how to determine the symptoms of leprosy and what to do, certainly a serious consideration in those days; how a woman purifies herself after menstruation, and so on.
Now this is interesting! “You shall not make any cuttings on your flesh on account of the dead or tattoo any marks upon you. I am the LORD” (19:28). Leviticus doesn’t explain what happens to those who have tattoos. Certainly, at least you would have to slaughter an unblemished bull.
Finally, we get to the issue at hand. “If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination, and shall be put to death” (20:13). This statement, however, has been preceded by “If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death (20:10). (Now that will keep us all busy!) But, Leviticus goes on: “And the LORD said to Moses, bring out of the camp him who cursed; and let all who heard him lay their hands on him, and let all the congregation stone him…Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin. He who blasphemes the name of the LORD shall be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him” (24: 13-17). (My God!, I mean, Gosh, this includes me!)
Leviticus goes on about farming practices and dietary restrictions — there are lot of those (pork is forbidden), and rules about the buying and selling of slaves. Leviticus has God promise that if you follow his commandments you will prosper and be safe. However, “But if you will not hearken to me, and will not do all these commandments…I will do this to you: I will appoint over you a sudden terror, consumption, and fever that waste the eyes and cause life to pine away” (26:14-16). “And if in spite of this you will not hearken to me, but walk contrary to me, I will walk contrary to you in fury…You shall eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters” (26:27-29).
My goodness gracious! That sounds like Taliban, Bokum Rotan and ISIS all rolled in to one. We’re to stone to death adulterers and adulteresses, homosexuals and blasphemers, or else we’ll be destroyed in the most horrible ways. That’s a lot of killing! Do you suppose those who refer to Leviticus regarding gays have ever read it — I mean the whole book. If one is enraged about gays you’d think they would want to stone to death the other sinners as well. And if homosexuality is a major sin, you’d think Leviticus would give it more than one sentence. Besides, Leviticus doesn’t sound like Jesus to me, whom, if I recall the Gospels correctly, didn’t advocate killing anybody and didn’t refer to homosexuality at all one way or the other.
Well, I am exhausted by Leviticus. Later, I’ll refresh my reading of the New Testament and see if I get any further clarification. Besides, I ate barbecued pork ribs the other day, so I have to find an unblemished bull to sacrifice.
RICHARD CRIPE
Coeur d’Alene