Are there any Jews still walking the Earth who can explain Leviticus 18:22?

Question

Leviticus 18:22

a passage from the Mosaic Code that is often used to condemn homosexual behavior in general. In transliterated Hebrew, the verse is written: "V’et zachar lo tishkav mishk’vey eeshah toeyvah hee."
* literally translated as "And with a male you shall not lay lyings of a woman"
Christians have interpreted this passage from the Jewish book as a bludgeon to bash homosexuals with but what is really being said here, is it about pederasty, temple prostitution, contaminating a woman's bed or something else? and to whom did the cleanliness codes apply? Did they apply to everyone or just a particular group of Levites? Thank you.

: Are you Jewish or are you just asking your own question as an add-on to mine...that's fine, I only quoted the first part of the scripture as I don't understand quite what is applies to.

alloyoav: I'd better stick to cuddling with a bit of oral and manual thrown in then,t happily I am atheist and can ignore Mosaic law on this matter and all the others anyway.

alloyoav: I'd better stick to cuddling with a bit of oral and manual thrown in then,t happily I am atheist and can ignore Mosaic law on this matter and all the others anyway.

Answer 1

you'd be surprised, or maybe not surprised, to see that this was interpreted by parts of the ultra orthodox community in jerusalem as an excuse to go on a rampage against jerusalem pride. they interpret it as anal sex, man-man sex.
it seems quite unclear what exactly this verse means but, like many biblical verses, one interprets according to one's perception and political/social agenda.

added:
because the torah is so cryptic in some things and the interpreters had no idea what old babilonian law was being discussed at certain places, they used the "shotgun solution", namely, if you're told not to cook/eat a kid (baby goat) in its mother's milk... and you have no friggin idea what it means, you just dont eat anything thats meat with anything that's milk and so by default you comply with that rule. and to make things worse, in case your neigbour sees u eating a chicken with milk and says you ate meat, chicken is added to the forbidden pot. so... if there's so much confusion about chicken, of course ther is gonna be confusion about sex.

Answer 2

It is a prohibition against sodomy- both homosexual and heterosexual.

A few principles so the explanation that follows makes sense:
1) Since hebrew is a gender based language, everything is either masculine or feminine, but when the gender neutral is needed, the masculine is utilised.
2) The Torah utilises as concise language as possible, if extra words are used, it means there is something extra to be learnt from the passage. So, at all times, unless there is something extra to be learnt, the minimal language is used.

Now to the explanation:
The Torah wants to convey a prohibition against sodomy, the anal penetrative sex act. Whats the simplest way- refer to the one set of people that can ONLY have penetrative sex in such a manner- two men. After all, a mixed couple has the option of vaginal sex as well, and two women require an external device for the act, and it would be unclear what was forbidden, the act or the device. So it uses the example where it is clear what is being referred to.

That then leads to the next bit- one of the rules of biblical exegesis used by the rabbis is that a passage must be understood in relation to the passages surrounding it (the chapters/verses etc are a modern innovation- the Torah is written without chapters/verses or even punctuation!) Since the passages before this prohibition talk about forbidden sexual relationships between men and women, tis passage must be understood in that context- that the forbidden act here is not just in relation to homosexuality, but in relation to heterosexuality as well.

So it is a blanket prohibition on sodomy. It has nothing to do with prostitution, contaminating a woman's bed or pederasty. It also applies to everyone- those passages are not directed at a specific group. It also applies to non-Jews since refraining from sexual immorality (incest, sodomy, bestiality) is one of the seven Noahide laws.

Answer 3

What the biblical passage says is that it was forbidden for two men to have anal sex.

Their is nothing to imply that two men cannot have feelings for each other or even to be in a relationship, as long as they did not have anal sex.

the term "lay" how it has been translated means penetration, which is what the definition of sex was in the Bible.

as for who it applied to it applied for the Israelites and their descendants as well as any future converts.

Answer 4

Hello and what do you do with Lev.20:13 which says the same thing, also NO i don't believe in "bashing" as you put it but God does have the right to say how things go right? So it was Adam and Eve it was NOT Adam and Steve, God bless. www.amazingfacts.org