We must be vigilant in maintaining our allegiance to God because wickedness of this world is very often a great temptation.
This Chapter shows us what God calls abominations. These were the detestable practices of the Egyptians, where the Israelites left and of the Canaanites where they were going. These abominations show us what the cursed world looks like without God and what was often common practice for the pagans Israel would encounter.
These detestable acts showed themselves as detestable sinful sexual acts among the pagans that Israel would be tempted by. It was vital for the Israelites to maintain covenant loyalty to God and not engage in the sinful acts of those who do not know God.
What God desires is covenant obedience. His reward that he holds out for His people is a long, blessed, productive life. This promise comes at us from two directions. First, is the promise to bless those who seek to live according to God’s commands. Secondly, for those who choose to not live according to God’s commands will be judged along with the pagan nations.
This chapter really shows us divine law and that those who engage in these sinful acts condemn themselves.
Israel could not adapt pagan practices of incest, unlawful acts of sex, adultery, child sacrifice, homosexuality or bestiality but had to follow God’s statutes and laws. God was going to judge the Canaanites for these sins. He would judge the Israelites for those same sins as well.
1. I Am the Lord Your God (18:1-5)
18 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the Lord your God. 3 You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. 4 You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the Lord your God. 5 You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.
God’s people must be loyal to Him and obey His commands. This shows they are different from the world.
God’s people were bound by His covenant. Three times in this short section God reminds His people that the reason they are to obey Him is that He is their God… I am the Lord your God.
It was God who made them, created them as His people, saved them from Egypt, who will bring them to the Promised Land. God gave them everything and had entered into a covenant with them to be their God. These are some of the reasons they were to keep His commands.
The end of the Book of Deuteronomy calls the people to obey God and choose life.
Deuteronomy 30:15–18 (ESV)
15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess.
2. God’s People Must Not Violate the Created Order (18:6-23)
6 “None of you shall approach any one of his close relatives to uncover nakedness. I am the Lord. 7 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother; she is your mother, you shall not uncover her nakedness. 8 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is your father’s nakedness. 9 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your sister, your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether brought up in the family or in another home. 10 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your son’s daughter or of your daughter’s daughter, for their nakedness is your own nakedness. 11 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife’s daughter, brought up in your father’s family, since she is your sister. 12 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister; she is your father’s relative. 13 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s relative. 14 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother, that is, you shall not approach his wife; she is your aunt. 15 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law; she is your son’s wife, you shall not uncover her nakedness. 16 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness. 17 You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and of her daughter, and you shall not take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to uncover her nakedness; they are relatives; it is depravity. 18 And you shall not take a woman as a rival wife to her sister, uncovering her nakedness while her sister is still alive.
19 “You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness while she is in her menstrual uncleanness. 20 And you shall not lie sexually with your neighbor’s wife and so make yourself unclean with her. 21 You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. 22 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. 23 And you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it: it is perversion.
All of these things were practiced by the Canaanites. God’s people must not do the things a cursed people do.
We must see who the Canaanites were and that they are and were already a cursed people even before the Israelites get there.
There is a direct connection to these acts and Genesis 9. Here we see that the Canaanites are cursed and awaiting judgement.
Genesis 9:20–27 (ESV)
20 Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. 21 He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside. 23 Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned backward, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. 24 When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said,
“Cursed be Canaan;
a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.”
26 He also said,
“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem;
and let Canaan be his servant.
27 May God enlarge Japheth,
and let him dwell in the tents of Shem,
and let Canaan be his servant.”
There have been many things written on this issue. Some say Ham had relations with his father while he was drunk. The text does not say that. It seems that the issue is that Ham did not respect his father nor did he respect his father’s God. He hated the fact that his father Noah was a preacher of righteousness.
Should Noah have gotten drunk absolutely not. He sinned in doing so. However, that’s not the focus of this passage. Ham saw his father laying drunk and naked and went out and told his brothers. This text while very brief shows us that he did not do what his two brothers did by covering their father without looking. Rather Ham was eager to tell others…there’s the preacher of righteousness…look at him drunk and naked.
However, Shem and Japheth out of respect for their father walk backwards and covered him.
So, it seems, that Ham, the father of Canaan was much better at seeing nakedness than covering it up. Canaan becomes a cursed people. By the time Moses leads the Israelites to the Promised Land, they are still cursed and still doing what Ham was famous for. His descendants went much further than he did. They really did deserve the curse that Noah pronounced. As with sin that goes unchecked, this went from telling others about his father’s nakedness to in Moses’ day full blown abominations.
God warns His people to avoid these sins. As I read, I’m sure you caught the repetition…
Nakedness…Uncovering…Seeing. These take us directly back to the Genesis account with Noah and his sons.
In the Genesis text, Ham did not uncover his father but saw his father’s nakedness and did not cover him up. Now we get to the time of the Israelites going out to the Promised Land and we see the Canaanites go now to uncovering nakedness. This is a literary devise which most scholars view as actually having sex.
The categories in Leviticus 18 are…
No sexual relations with…
Close relatives
Or having…
Unlawful relations
Adultery
Homosexuality
Bestiality
All these acts go against the created order and God labels them abominations and promises to judge those who commit such acts.
3. God’s Holiness Requires That He Punish Evil (18:24-30)
24 “Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, 25 and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. 26 But you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you 27 (for the people of the land, who were before you, did all of these abominations, so that the land became unclean), 28 lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. 29 For everyone who does any of these abominations, the persons who do them shall be cut off from among their people. 30 So keep my charge never to practice any of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God.”
Here we see that God is teaching His people just how serious sin really is. He’s teaching them that if they practice these detestable things, they would be judged the same as the Canaanites. They would be removed from the Land of Promise either by death or by exile.
God tells them that these sins actually defile the Land. They were a contaminant. Just like sin would defile the Tabernacle it also defiled the Land.
25 and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.
This Chapter ends by declaring who will ultimately hold them accountable for their abominations…
30 So keep my charge never to practice any of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God.”
4. A Look at the Church
It is vital that we understand that all these sins mentioned in this Chapter are still sins, today. We must agree with God. When He calls them abominations (expresses the highest degree of repugnance or loathsomeness to God).
The Church must seek to practice a godly attitude toward sexual intimacy that is in line with God’s Word. To rebel against these commands of God and against His created order will result in confusion and judgement.
Many Christians are oblivious to the problem and instead desire to be loving and accepting over being obedient to God’s Word. This is where the Church has gone wrong. We cannot allow our fallen logic to over ride God’s Word.
These types of sins have always gone on in the world, they are part of the fallen world God is going to judge and must not be accepted within the Church. Rather than seeking to be accepting we must seek to be loyal to God and His Word.
It is Christ-like to love sinners but then we must tell them to go and sin no more.
Sexual intimacy is reserved for marriage between a man and a woman. No exceptions. Telling others that message is how we can love and care for them.
This takes us to our Lord Jesus because He came to save sinners. He came to seek and save the lost.
Luke 7:34 (ESV)
34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’
How was Jesus a friend to sinners? He told them the truth about their sin. To the woman caught in adultery He said…Go and sin no more. To the paralytic after He healed him, stop sinning or something worse will happen to you.
Jesus is also a friend to us. If you’re struggling with sin Jesus is your friend in that He cares for you. Obey His Word and you will experience peace for your soul. Turn to Him and be saved.
Resources Used:
Studies in Genesis by Candish
Holiness to the Lord by Ross
Leviticus by Bonar
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