| Revision as of 12:31, 15 February 2010 editNewman Luke (talk | contribs)3,500 edits →References: +cat← Previous edit | Revision as of 19:03, 15 February 2010 edit undoAvraham (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Bureaucrats, Administrators49,215 edits All of these are Biblical Judaic prohibitions, there is no need for a separate article.Next edit → | ||
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| #REDIRECT ] | |||
| '''Forbidden relationships in the ]''' include ], ], and ], as with most cultures, but also include a number of other relationships which many societies would regard as completely normal, and not even worth comment. | |||
| == Bestiality == | |||
| ] is prohibited by the ] of the ]<ref name="Ex2219">{{bibleverse||Exodus|22:19|}}</ref>, and by the ] of ]<ref>{{bibleverse||Leviticus|18:23|}}</ref><ref name="Lev2015">{{bibleverse||Leviticus|20:15|}}</ref><ref name="Lev2016">{{bibleverse||Leviticus|20:16|}}</ref>; the prohibition occurs in two distinct parts of the latter, both of which emphasise that bestiality is prohibited both for men<ref name="Lev2015" /> and for women<ref name="Lev2016" />. | |||
| Like the law code of the ]<ref name="PeakeAdLoc">'']'', Revised Edition (1962), ad loc</ref>, the Covenant Code sets the ] as the punishment for the crime<ref name="Ex2219" />, although the Hittites made an exception, not present in the Covenant Code, for sexual intercourse with horses<ref name="PeakeAdLoc" />. The second time the Holiness Code forbids bestiality, it goes further than the Covenant Code, insisting that not just the human perpetrators, but also the animal participants, should be killed if bestiality is committed<ref name="Lev2015" /><ref name="Lev2016" />; according to the Talmud, the purpose of also killing the animals involved was to obliterate all physical memory of the crime<ref>{{ISBE|article=crimes}}</ref>. | |||
| == Exogamy == | |||
| {{main|Interfaith marriage#In the Bible, its translations, and apocrypha}} | |||
| The Biblical position on ] is somewhat ambiguous; that is, except in relation to intermarriage with a ], which the majority of the ] are depicted as criticising<ref>{{bibleverse||Genesis|24:2-4|}}</ref><ref>{{bibleverse||Genesis||26:34-35|}}</ref>. This attitude is formalised in the ], which forbids intermarriage with Canaanites<ref>{{bibleverse||Deuteronomy|7:3|}}</ref>, on the basis that it might lead to a son, resulting from the union, being brought up to follow the Canaanite religion<ref>{{bibleverse||Deuteronomy|7:4|}}</ref>. The principle is essentially a general one, and the deuteronomic explanation doesn't clarify why it singles out the Canaanites in particular; one of the Talmudic writers took it to forbid all intermarriage with non-Jewish nations<ref>Simeon, in '']'' 36b</ref>. | |||
| However, if the principle applied to intermarriage to other nationalities, it is clearly violated on several occasions in the ], and early parts of the ], without direct criticism; for example, ] is described as marrying the daughter of the king of ]<ref>{{bibleverse|2|Samuel|3:3|}}</ref>, and ] as having married ]<ref>{{bibleverse|2|Samuel|11:3|}}</ref>. Deuteronomy itself implies that intermarriage to ]ites or ] was acceptable, by permitting the grandchildren of such people to be treated as Israelites<ref>{{bibleverse||Deuteronomy|23:4-9|}}</ref> | |||
| Nevertheless, after the ], disquiet seems to have arisen about such exogamy; the ] declares that the intermarriages which had occurred were a profanity<ref>{{bibleverse||Malachi|2:11|}}</ref>, and several Jewish leaders eventually made a formal complaint to ] about these marriages<ref>{{bibleverse||Ezra|9:1-2|}}</ref>. ] definitively extended the law against intermarriage to forbid marriage between a Jew and any non-Jew<ref>{{bibleverse||Ezra|10:10-11|}}</ref><ref>{{bibleverse||Nehemiah|10:31|}}</ref>; he also ] those people who refused to divorce their foreign spouses<ref>{{bibleverse||Nehemiah|10:31|}}</ref>. | |||
| ==Consanguinuity and Incest== | |||
| {{main|Incest in the Bible}} | |||
| The bible lists several types of relationship which it regards as incestuous unions; one list appears in the ], and two lists occur in the ] of ]. These lists only mention relationships with female relatives; excluding ], this implies that the list is addressed to men. Since the lists would then describe women with whom it is forbidden for a man to have a relationship, the also indirectly imply a list of men with whom it is forbidden for a woman to have a relationship. These lists then compare as follows (blue = forbidden for men only, red = forbidden for women only, purple = forbidden for both men and women): | |||
| {|border="1" class="wikitable" style="text-align:right" | |||
| |- | |||
| |colspan="3"| ||Leviticus 18<ref>{{bibleverse||Leviticus|18:7-11|}}</ref>||Leviticus 20<ref>{{bibleverse||Leviticus|20:11-21|}}</ref>||Deuteronomy<ref>{{bibleverse||Deuteronomy|22:30|}}</ref><ref>{{bibleverse||Deuteronomy|27:20-23|}}</ref> | |||
| |- | |||
| |colspan="3"|Grandparent's spouse (including other grandparent)||style="background-color:#FF70B8"| || || | |||
| |- | |||
| |colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Parent's spouse||Parent||style="background-color:#6090FF"| || ||rowspan="2" style="background-color:#6090FF"| | |||
| |- | |||
| |Step-parent||style="background-color:#9870FF"| ||style="background-color:#9870FF"| | |||
| |- | |||
| |colspan="3"|Parent-in-law||style="background-color:#9870FF"| ||style="background-color:#FF70B8"| ||style="background-color:#6090FF"| | |||
| |- | |||
| |rowspan="3"|Uncle/Aunt||colspan="2"|Parent's sibling||style="background-color:#6090FF"| ||style="background-color:#6090FF"| || | |||
| |- | |||
| |rowspan="2"|Uncle's/Aunt's Spouse||Father's sibling's spouse||style="background-color:#6090FF"| ||style="background-color:#6090FF"| || | |||
| |- | |||
| |Mother's sibling's spouse||colspan="3"| | |||
| |- | |||
| |rowspan="3"|Parent's child||colspan="2"|Half-Sibling (mother's side)|| || ||rowspan="3" style="background-color:#9870FF"| | |||
| |- | |||
| |rowspan="2"|Father's child||Sibling||rowspan="2" style="background-color:#9870FF"| || | |||
| |- | |||
| |Half-Sibling (father's side)||style="background-color:#9870FF"| | |||
| |- | |||
| |colspan="3"|Step sibling||colspan="3"| | |||
| |- | |||
| |colspan="3"|Sibling-in-law (if the spouse was still alive)||style="background-color:#9870FF"| || || | |||
| |- | |||
| |rowspan="3"|Nephew/Niece||colspan="2"|Sibling's child||style="background-color:#FF70B8"| ||style="background-color:#FF70B8"| || | |||
| |- | |||
| |rowspan="2"|Nephew/Niece-in-law||Spouse's Brother's Child||style="background-color:#FF70B8"| ||style="background-color:#FF70B8"| || | |||
| |- | |||
| |Spouse's Sister's Child||colspan="3"| | |||
| |- | |||
| |colspan="2" rowspan="2"|Spouse's child||Child||style="background-color:#FF70B8"| || ||rowspan="2" style="background-color:#FF70B8"| | |||
| |- | |||
| |Stepchild||style="background-color:#9870FF"| ||style="background-color:#9870FF"| | |||
| |- | |||
| |colspan="3"|Child-in-law||style="background-color:#9870FF"| ||style="background-color:#6090FF"| ||style="background-color:#FF70B8"| | |||
| |- | |||
| |colspan="3"|Spouse's grandchild (including grandchild)||style="background-color:#6090FF"| || || | |||
| |- | |||
| |} | |||
| One of the most glaring features of all the lists is that sexual activity between a man and his own daughter is not forbidden. The ] argues that this is because the prohibition was ''obvious'', especially given the proscription against a relationship with a granddaughter<ref>Yebamot 3a</ref>, although some ] have instead proposed that it was originally in the list, but was then accidentally left out from the copy on which modern versions of the text ultimately depend, due to a mistake by the scribe<ref name="CheyneAndBlackMar">{{EncyclopaediaBiblica|article=MARRIAGE|section=Manius-Mash}}</ref>. As with the case of a man's own daughter, the shortness of the list in Leviticus 20, and especially of that in Deuteronomy, are explained by classical Jewish scholarship as being due to the ''obviousness'' of the missing prohibitions<ref name="JewEncInce">{{Jewish Encyclopedia|article=Incest|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?letter=I&artid=126}}</ref><ref>], ''Commentary'', ad loc.</ref>. | |||
| Apart from the questionable case of a man marrying his daughter, the list in Leviticus 18 roughly produces the same rules as were followed in early (pre-Islamic) Arabic culture<ref name="JewEncInce" />. However, most tribal nations also disliked exogamous marriage - marriage to completely unrelated people<ref name="JewEncInce" />. In several prominent cases in the Torah, the incest rules are ignored in favour of marriage to a close relative; ] is described as having married his first wife's sister<ref>{{bibleverse||Genesis|29:16|}}</ref><ref>{{bibleverse||Genesis|29:23|}}</ref><ref>{{bibleverse||Genesis|29:28|}}</ref>, and] as having a father in common with ]<ref>{{bibleverse||Genesis|20:12|}}</ref> (rather than a mother, which would have been permitted by the list). | |||
| == Adultery == | |||
| {{main|Adultery#In the Hebrew Bible}} | |||
| As a ]<!--this is NOT a spelling mistake for 'polygamous'--> society, the Israelites did not exhibit any laws which imposed marital fidelity on men<ref name="CheyneAndBlackJeal">{{EncyclopaediaBiblica|article=Jealousy, Ordeal of|section=Jannaeus-Jerah}}</ref><ref>{{Jewish Encyclopedia|article=Adultery|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?letter=A&artid=865}}</ref>. Women, however, did not enjoy the same amount of sexual freedom, and the biblical laws are quite harsh on them in this respect, even in relation to a mere suspicion. In the ] of the ], it is required that a pregnant<ref name="PeakeAdLoc" /> woman suspected of adultery be subjected to the ], a form of ], if her husband had become fiercely ''jealous'' about the pregnancy (literally ''has the storm-wind of jealousy''), and there are not enough witnesses able to confirm the woman's guilt or innocence<ref>{{bibleverse||Numbers|5:11-31|}}</ref>. | |||
| The punishment for wilful adultery, according to the Holiness Code, and the ], was essentially the death penalty, for both participants<ref>{{bibleverse||Leviticus|20:10|}}</ref><ref>{{bibleverse||Deuteronomy|22:22|}}</ref>. The Deuteronomic Code differentiates between marriage ('']'') and betrothal ('']''), as it insists that a married woman always be ''put to death'' when a man commits adultery with her, but that a merely betrothed woman should go unpunished for being ]d<ref>{{bibleverse||Deuteronomy|22:25-26|}}</ref>. If ], and merely betrothed, the Holiness Code treats adultery more leniently, arguing that neither the woman nor her accomplice should be killed for the crime<ref name="Lev1920">{{bibleverse||Leviticus|19:20|}}</ref>; instead it would simply have the woman ]<ref name="Lev1920" />. | |||
| Despite this strictness<ref name="CheyneAndBlackJeal" />, however, the ] indicate that adultery was a frequent occurrence, despite their strong protests against it<ref>{{bibleverse||Jeremiah|7:9|}}</ref><ref>{{bibleverse||Jeremiah|23:10|}}</ref><ref>{{bibleverse||Hosea|4:2|}}</ref><ref>{{bibleverse||Malachi|3:5|}}</ref>. | |||
| == Special rules for priests == | |||
| The ] of ], requires that ] are free from all physical defects<ref>{{bibleverse||Leviticus|21:17|}}</ref>. On a related note, it insists that Israelite priests may not marry a divorcee, nor a prostitute (Hebrew: ''zonah''<ref>], , incorporating ] (1890) and ]'s Lexicon (1857)</ref>)<ref>{{bibleverse||Leviticus|21:7|}}</ref>. The ] mentions the term ''dishonoured''<ref>for the translation of the latter word as ''dishonoured'', {{EncyclopaediaBiblica|article=profane|section=Praetorium-Prophet (False)}}</ref> (Hebrew:''halala''; literally ''profaned'') as part of this prohibition, but it is uncertain whether this is merely part of the reference to prostitutes<ref>translations including the ] take this view</ref>, or whether it refers to a distinct class of person<ref>translations including the ] take this view</ref>; the ] appears only to list two categories of woman, namely those who are both ''prostitutes and outcasts'' (Greek ''gynaika pornin kai bebelomenen''), and those who are divorcees (Greek ''gynaika ekbeblemenen en apo andros autes''<ref>literally ''a woman cast out by her man''</ref>)<ref></ref>. | |||
| The Holiness Code goes on to demand that the ] must only marry a ] ''of his own people''<ref>{{bibleverse||Leviticus|21:13|}}</ref><ref>{{bibleverse||Leviticus|21:14|}}</ref>, spelling out that this excludes marriage to any of the people forbidden to an ordinary Israelite priest, and also forbids marriage to a widow<ref>{{bibleverse||Leviticus|21:14|}}</ref>. According to the regulations in the ], even ordinary priests should be forbidden to marry widows, unless the previous husband of the widow had also been a priest<ref>{{Bibleverse||Ezekiel|44:22|}}</ref>. | |||
| ==Forbidden sexual acts== | |||
| ===Intercourse during menstruation=== | |||
| Sexual intercourse with a ] woman is often regarded with disgust<ref name="PaulMenses">Paula Weideger, ''Menstruation and menopause : the physiology and psychology, the myth and the reality'', (1975), pages 126-127</ref>; for example, half the participants, in a recent study of 960 ]n couples, abstained from intercourse during menstrual flow<ref name="PaulMenses" />. The Torah is no different, as the ] twice prohibits it<ref>{{Bibleverse||Leviticus|18:19|}}</ref><ref name="Lev2018">{{Bibleverse||Leviticus|20:18|}}</ref>; on the latter occasion, '']'' is set as the punishment<ref name="Lev2018" />. Israelite society is not the only culture with a formal prohibition against intercourse during menstruation; the ], for example, also strictly forbid it<ref>Beverly Strassmann, ''Predictors of fecundability and conception waits among the Dogon of Mali'' in ''American Journal of Physical Anthropology'' (1996), volume 105, pages 167-184</ref>. | |||
| ===Mishk'vei ishah=== | |||
| {{main|Mishk'vei ishah}} | |||
| In the ], the ] of ] uses the ] phrase '']'' to refer to a specific act involving a man (Hebrew: ''ish'') and a 'male' (Hebrew: ''zachar''), which it forbids<ref>{{bibleverse||Leviticus|18:22|}}</ref>. Although it literally means ''the bed(chambers) of a woman''<ref>''The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew'', Volume 5 : ''Nun''-''Mem'', (Sheffield Academic Press, 2001), page 526</ref><ref>Daniel Boyarin, in ''Journal of the history of Sexuality'' Volume 5, pages 179-206</ref><ref>''Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13: Who is Doing What to Whom?'', in ''Journal of Biblical Literature'', 120/2 (2001) pages 201-20</ref><ref>Benjamin Cohen, in '']'', 29th September 2009 </ref>, and the equivalent phrase in the ] also refers to a ''bed'' (]: ''koite'')<ref></ref>, how this should be understood is heavily disputed<ref name="Queeries">Gregg Drinkwater, Joshua Lesser, David Shneer, Judith Plaskow, ''Torah Queeries: Weekly Commentaries on the Hebrew Bible'', page 157</ref><ref name="Sexism">Patricia Beattie Jung, Ralph F. Smith, ''Heterosexism: an ethical challenge'', (State University press, 1993), page 71</ref><ref name="Truth">Gareth Moore, ''A question of truth: Christianity and homosexuality'', (Continuum Books, 2003), page 81</ref><ref name="Reasonable">Tobias Stanislas Haller, ''Reasonable and Holy: Engaging Same-Sexuality'', (Seabury Books, 2009) page 169</ref><ref name="Dummies">Arthur Kurzweil, '']'', (Wiley Publishing, 2008) page 110</ref><ref name="JewishQuarterly">''The Jewish quarterly''<!--NOT Jewish Quarterly Review-->, Volume 40, (Jewish Literary Trust, 1993), page 11</ref><ref name="Ethics">Mark D. Jordan, ''The ethics of sex'', (Blackwell publishing, 2002) page 41</ref>. | |||
| Opinions range from interpreting the biblical rule as an outright ban against all ], to it being merely a forbiddance of homosexual ]<ref name="Reasonable" /><ref name="Truth" /><ref name="JewishQuarterly" /><ref name="Dummies" /><ref name="Queeries" /><ref name="Sexism" />, or an even less restrictive requirement<ref name="Ethics"/><ref></ref>. In Judaism, it is also known as ''mishkav zachar'', meaning ''bedding a male''. | |||
| The prohibition is repeated in a second part of the Holiness Code, where the ] is imposed for violating this rule<ref>{{bibleverse||Leviticus|20:13|}}</ref>. | |||
| ==See also== | |||
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| == References == | |||
| {{Reflist|2}} | |||
| ] | |||
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| ] | |||
Revision as of 19:03, 15 February 2010
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