amp the Jerusalem Letter Lev 1824 for by all these the nations which I am casting out before you have become defiled 1825 therefore I have brought its punishment upon it so the land has spewed out its inhabitants ID: 620891
Download Presentation The PPT/PDF document "Leviticus 17-18" is the property of its rightful owner. Permission is granted to download and print the materials on this web site for personal, non-commercial use only, and to display it on your personal computer provided you do not modify the materials and that you retain all copyright notices contained in the materials. By downloading content from our website, you accept the terms of this agreement.
Slide1Slide2
Leviticus 17-18
&
the Jerusalem LetterSlide3
Lev.
18:24 “for by all these the nations which I am casting out before you have become defiled.”18:25 “therefore I have brought its punishment upon it, so the land has spewed out its inhabitants.” 18:27 “for the men of the land who have been before you have done all these abominations, and the land has become defiled.”
Lev. 17:13So when any man…in hunting catches a beast or a bird which may be eaten, he shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth.
5 The reason is so that the sons of Israel may bring their sacrifices which they were sacrificing in the open field, that they may bring them in to the Lord…
3 “Any man from the house of Israel who slaughters an ox or a lamb or a goat in the camp, or who slaughters it outside the camp, 4 and has not brought it to the doorway of the tent of meeting to present it as an offering to the Lord before the tabernacle of the Lord, bloodguiltiness is to be reckoned to that man….
7 They shall no longer sacrifice their sacrifices to the goat demons with which they play the harlot. This shall be a permanent statute to them throughout their generations.”’
Jerusalem Letter
Leviticus 17-18
& the Jerusalem Letter
Things Sacrificed to Idols BloodThings StrangledFornication
LEVITICUS 17-18
Idolatry
Eating Blood
Improper Slaughtering
Sexual Sin
Is Lev. 17-18 the basis of the letter?
OrderApplicability to Gentiles
Leviticus 17
LEVITICUS 16
Day of Atonement
LEVITICUS 19
Peculiar to Israel
Sabbath,
mixing seed/fabric/etc.
Romans 1
Genesis 9
View presented in outline
ABORT! ABORT! ABORT!Slide4
Jerusalem Letter
Leviticus 17-18 & the Jerusalem LetterThings Sacrificed to Idols Blood
Things StrangledFornication
LEVITICUS 17-18IdolatryEating BloodImproper SlaughteringSexual Sin
Is Lev. 17-18 the basis of the letter?OrderApplicability to GentilesA Needed Caveat Due to Knowledge of Jewish LawRomans 1Genesis 9
James’ rationale (Acts 15)19 Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles, 20
but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood.
21
For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath.
We won’t require…We
will write…
Why
we will write…
Not, “
abstain because…”
But, “we write because…”Slide5
Jerusalem Letter
Leviticus 17-18 & the Jerusalem LetterThings Sacrificed to Idols Blood
Things StrangledFornication
LEVITICUS 17-18IdolatryEating BloodImproper SlaughteringSexual Sin
Conclusion:God prohibits these things for all men at all timesThe prohibitions were “essentials”The Holy Spirit concurredThe alternative makes James and the rest out to be hypocritesRomans 1
Genesis 9Acts 1528 “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials: 29
that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication
Acts 15
28 “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials: 29 that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornicationSlide6
Jerusalem Letter
Things Sacrificed to Idols BloodThings StrangledFornication
LEVITICUS 17-18IdolatryEating Blood
Improper SlaughteringSexual SinRomans 1Genesis 9
Prohibitions, or Merely Requests?F.F. Bruce:“The conditions stipulated in the apostolic decree…had to do, not with the basis of the gospel or the terms of church membership, but with the facilitating of social fellowship between Jewish and Gentile Christians.”F.F. Bruce:“If Gentile Christians found that their practices in food matters raised difficulties for the weaker consciences of Jewish Christians, then let them abstain from these practices, not indeed under compulsion but by their free choice, as a gesture of Christian charity.”Acts 15
28 “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials: 29 that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornicationnot indeed under compulsion
compulsory
Weizsä
cker:“The decree…only imposes on the Gentiles the avoidance of a few things, in order to enable the Jews to hold intercourse with them without causing grave offence.”Slide7
Misconstruing
James’ rationaleMisconstruing “things sacrificed to idols”Jerusalem LetterThings Sacrificed
to Idols BloodThings StrangledFornication
LEVITICUS 17-18
IdolatryEating BloodImproper SlaughteringSexual SinRomans 1Genesis 9Why Thought To Be Merely Requests?
21 “For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”i.e. The Jews are still zealous for the lawSlide8
Why Thought To Be Merely
Requests?
LEVITICUS 18
Marriage prohibited
within degrees of consanguinity
Incest is okay
Mt. 19 exception clause only about incest
Jerusalem Letter
Eating things sacrificed to idols is okay
1 Cor. 8-10 warning
merely advisory
Eating blood is okay
merely advisory
1 Cor. 5
“fornication” = incest
Calvin
on Acts 15:28But we know that this law was foredone by Paul so soon as the tumult and contention was once ended, when he teacheth that nothing is unclean, (Romans xiv. 14;) and when he granteth
liberty to eat all manner [of] meats, yea, even such as were sacrificed to idols, (1 Corinthians x. 25.)”
Misconstruing
James’ rationale
Misconstruing “things sacrificed to idols”
Clarke“In Corinth St. Paul felt at liberty to urge [the Jerusalem letter’s] food regulations on the ground of charity only (1 Cor. viii).”
’27 Anglican
W. K. Lowther
Clarke ‘27 F. Gavin
’48 Rom. Catholic
Bonsirven
c. ’49 Hauck & Schulz in TWNT
’59 Rom. Catholic H. J. Richards
c. ‘65
Haenchen
’76 Rom. Catholic Joseph
Fitzmeyer
Rabbinic lit. referred to marriages in violation of Lev18:7ff as
“
zenut
”
Dead Sea scrolls alleged to refer to incest as
“
zenut
”Slide9
Why Thought To Be Merely
Requests?
LEVITICUS 18
Marriage prohibited
within degrees of consanguinityJerusalem LetterEating things sacrificed to idols is okaymerely advisory
1 Cor. 5“fornication” = incest
Misconstruing
James’
rationaleMisconstruing “things sacrificed to idols”
Defining “fornication” as “incest”Dead Sea scrolls alleged to refer to incest as “zenut”
Rabbinic lit. referred to marriages in violation of Lev18:7ff as
“
zenut
”Slide10
REBUTTALS
LEVITICUS 18
Marriage prohibited
within degrees of
consanguinityJerusalem LetterEating things sacrificed to idols is okaymerely advisory
1 Cor. 5“fornication” = incest
Misconstruing
James’ rationale
Misconstruing “things sacrificed to idols”Defining “fornication” as “incest”
Dead Sea scrolls alleged to refer to incest as “zenut”
Rabbinic lit. referred to marriages in violation of Lev18:7ff as
“
zenut
”
In 1
Cor. 5:1, “Incest” is indicated
only by the subsequent explanation, “and such fornication as is not even among the Gentiles, that one of you hath his father’s wife.”
Incest
is not the only sexual sin mentioned in Leviticus 18!
Πορνεί
α, used “of every kind of unlawful sexual intercourse,” (BAG, 693
) suits the diverse sexual sins
in Leviticus 18.
LEVITICUS 17-18
Idolatry
Eating BloodImproper Slaughtering
Sexual Sin
=“fornication”Slide11
Jerusalem Letter
merely advisory
LEVITICUS 17-18IdolatryEating BloodImproper Slaughtering
Sexual Sin=“fornication”
Jerusalem Lettermerely advisory
Isaiah 24:7Terror and the pit and the snareare upon you, O inhabitant of the earth!
Defining “fornication” as “incest”
Qumran Literature:
Codex Damascus“
three nets of Belial”ZenutWealthDefiling the Sanctuary
REBUTTALS
Dead Sea scrolls alleged to refer to incest as
“
zenut
”
“the builders of the wall are trapped in zenut
in two ways…”ZenutMultiple wivesIncest
Defiling the Sanctuary
Intercourse during menstruation
“the builders of the wall are trapped in two…”
Zenut
Multiple wives
Defiling the SanctuaryIntercourse during menstruation
Incestzenut
πορνεία
Is
zenut
a technical term for incest
?
CD explains:
“they
take each one the daughter of his brother and the daughter of his
sister”
CD quotes Lev. 18:
“whereas Moses said, ‘You shall not approach your mother’s sister…’”
Is
zenut
a technical term for incest
?
How can it be a technical term for incest
when it includes polygamy??
FITZMYER
DAVIESSlide12
Jerusalem Letter
merely advisory
LEVITICUS 17-18
IdolatryEating BloodImproper Slaughtering
Sexual Sin=“fornication”Misconstruing James’ rationaleMisconstruing “things sacrificed to idols”Defining “fornication” as “incest”
REBUTTALS
Eating things sacrificed to idols is okay
εἰδωλόθυτονSlide13
Misconstruing
James’ rationaleMisconstruing “things sacrificed to idols”REBUTTALS
εἰδωλόθυτονεἴδωλονειδωλοθυ
ωθύωIdol
+ sacrificeSlide14
Misconstruing
James’ rationaleMisconstruing “things sacrificed to idols”REBUTTALS
1 Corinthians 8-10“now concerning things sacrifice to idols”Ch. 8 Ch. 9
Ch. 108:1-13 9:1-23 9:24-10:22Lovevs. Knowledge
act out of love for othersPaul’sownExampleforegoing financial income from Corinth
Israel Overthrown in the WildernessFlee Idolatry
Cannot partake of the table of the Lord & of demons
w
rong attitude
Paul’s examplejust plain wrong10:23ff
Meat in the Market
Don’t worry about it
“eat, asking no question”
not called εἰδωλόθυτον
though a pagan may attach religious significance, describing it as ἱερόθυτονSitting at meat in the idol temple
The Table of DemonsSlide15
Misconstruing
James’ rationaleMisconstruing “things sacrificed to idols”REBUTTALS
Things Sacrificed to Idols&FornicationEvery context that mentions the former also mentions the latter
Revelation 2:14Revelation 2:20The Jerusalem letter (Acts 15:29, 21:25)1 Corinthians 8-10
Two contexts allude to Balaam story, where idolatry & fornication combinedRevelation 214 But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there some that hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught
Balak to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication.
1 Corinthians 10
7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
Numbers 25 is aboutPARTICIPATION IN IDOLATRY
not about
EATING LEFT-OVER MEATwith an imaginary taint
ταῖς θυσίαις τῶν
εἰδώλων αὐτῶνto the sacrifices of the
idols of themSlide16
Jerusalem Letter
LEVITICUS 17-18
IdolatryEating BloodImproper Slaughtering
Sexual Sin=“fornication”Conclusion
The exception clause in the divorce passages is not merely a reference to incest.Only clear NT prohibition of incest is the Jerusalem letter interpreted in light of Leviticus 17-18
.Acts 15 prohibitions applicable to all peoples of all times
They served
as a caveat to the exemption from the Law, noting that some things mentioned in the law have always been prohibited to all men.
The issue involving “things sacrificed to idols” pertains to participation in the idol feast.Slide17
Conclusion
Some difficulties remain:sexual relations during a woman’s menstrual period
It seems this too was part of what God found detestable in the Canaanites.Slide18
Conclusion
Some difficulties remain:Abraham married his half-sister (or not?)
marriage between siblings at the beginningPossible solutions to this problem include the following:Lev
. 18 condemns illicit (i.e., non-marital) relations between certain relatives, or marital relations following a divorce; but
licit marriage in such cases is not condemned by God. Lev. 18:16 vs. Dt. 25:5K&D argue from Lev. 18:18 that the text condemns marriage between the specified
One may argue from the same passage that licit marriage is not in view prior to 18:18
Abram’s marriage to Sarai was not in accordance with God’s will, but was one of those things that God overlookedSlide19