**Content Warning: Discussions about sexual violence and rape.
Introduction
Today we are talking about sexuality in the bible! Yay!
First I wanted to start with a couple of disclaimers.
Most of what this blog will be is my thoughts and notes to some of the points on the “Data over Dogma” podcast episode “Adam and Steve (What the bible says about homosexuality).” The host, Dr. Dan McClellan, is a scholar of bible and religion, and I have been voraciously consuming his work as he dispels much of the misinformation surrounding the bible. I thought it important that I share this amazing resource with you all. Although I have not read it yet, his newest book “The Bible Says So: What We Get Right (and Wrong) About Scripture’s Most Controversial Issues” is next on my reading list.
My last disclaimer is about my content warning above. Be warned that the ancient views of sex and women are not pleasant things.
The Concept of Sex in Ancient Mesopotamia
So to start off our conversation we have to talk about the cultural context from which the old testament arose. Dr. McClellan spoke of how our modern conceptions of sexuality are alien to how the ancient world thought of and engaged in sexual acts.
He describes that the act of sex in those days was not a mutual participation or reciprocation, but rather an act of domination by a man to either other men or women. Hierarchy was the primary motivator behind sex. You were either the active/insertive role, or the passive/receptive role. Even to the point that if a man was on the bottom during sex with his wife it was considered inappropriate and a violation of social hierarchy.
“Sex was not something that two people did together, it was something that one person did to another person. Someone lower down on that social hierarchy of social domination and penetration.” – Dan McClellan
These are all geographical and cultural ideals that are echoed in the bible with its own variations. According to Dr McClellan, Talmudic literature also has stories that support this belief of sexual hierarchy/domination. So we are already not off to a great start in terms of what is biblically ordained sex.
Before we move on I would encourage you to listen to this podcast because it is a great crash course in ancient understandings of sex and sexuality.
Sexuality in the Hebrew Bible
Starting with the second creation story in Genesis 2, where at the end of the passage it describes a woman and man becoming one flesh and of one household. Many conservative Christians use this passage as a prooftext that God intended marriage (and therefore sex) to be only between one man and one woman. However, this text is likely not a prescriptive command but in fact a mythological explanation of why their culture has the practice of creating independent households after marriage. In fact it spells it out quite clearly:
Genesis 2:24 “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.”
It should also be noted that at the time Genesis was written, Polygamy was a popular practice encouraged often within the bible. Solomon having hundreds of wives. God’s endorsement of King David’s wives and saying he would have given him more if he would’ve asked (2 Samuel 12:8). The rules and regulations found throughout the books of Deuteronomy (21:15-17, 25:5-7) and Exodus (21:10-11).
In Genesis 19 we have the famous story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Often it is used as a picture of God being wrathful against homosexuality; however, it is actually a passage about rape or sexual inhospitality, specifically towards a pair of angels. Dr. McClellan theorizes that the fact that it was about men was somewhat incidental to the story. That if it were instead about the rape of women the point of the story is still about the threat of rape and not necessarily the homosexuality. Before you think that this is a good and wholesome passage condemning sexual assault, to avoid his guests getting assaulted Lot offers up both of his daughters to be raped instead of the men. God as depicted in Genesis makes no mention or condemnation of that fact.
So far, it is biblical to offer up your own daughters to be raped instead of men. It is also biblical to marry many wives as long as you can afford purchasing them. So lets go on to our favorite priestly handbook, Leviticus.
For the Levitical law we have only two entries in chapter 18 and chapter 20. Both of which condemn Male/Male sexual intercourse. It is interesting to note that while the verse in chapter 18 (verse 22) only condemns the insertive/dominant role. Chapter 20 (verse 13) condemns both individuals involved and actually goes a step farther to involve the death penalty for not only the dominant participant but the receptive participant as well. There are some apologetics that say that these verses are actually talking about pedophilia, but, according to Dr. McClellan, the Hebrew word is vague and lacks any descriptor to show some kind of clarity. So, it is likely simply referencing all men.
To my lesbian friends: have sex with whatever women you want! Because nowhere does it say it is immoral. However, because of your low social class, according to the law, the only thing you are expressly forbidden from is bestiality (Leviticus 18:23). Animals are the only thing lower than you in hierarchy according to the bible.
Let’s meditate on that for a moment.
Some Thoughts
I know I took a far more sarcastic and dismissive tone in this post, but frankly I was astonished by my rereading of these passages. This is one of those moments when the bible is unequivocally in the wrong. I know many of you will likely not be surprised, but I was simply staggered by the depth of its wrongness. I just wish that we were beyond those days.
I would have loved to tackle both the old and new testament all at once, but it rapidly became a daunting task and took way to many words for this simple blog of mine. Honestly, when I began to read up on this topic I wasn’t entirely sure what exactly I’d find. I knew just from internet osmosis that the concept of sexuality was not nearly as black and white as most evangelicals want it to be.
I was not surprised but also horrified by what I learned about the ancient Mesopotamian view on sex. Women were so low on the hierarchical scale that they did not have sex, sex was something that was done to them. Not to mention that because of this the only thing they technically had agency over was engaging in bestiality, which is likely why it is the only law that directly addresses women’s sexual immorality in the old testament.
I would encourage anyone who is even remotely interested in this topic to go listen to the “Data over Dogma” podcast. They continually reference their scholarship so that we can read up on what modern secular bible scholarship is up to and what has been done.
A Preemptive Rebuttal
As I was writing and doing a little bit of my own extracurricular research, I kept finding apologetics excusing or dismissing these passages. It reminded me of the post I did recently about biblical interpretations and the hypocritical nature of unconsciously negotiating with the text to do away with its undesirable attributes. I wanted to address some of them in my own way:
“God allowed polygamy back then to deal with man’s stubbornness.” If that is indeed the case, I find it suspect that God caved to man’s sinful nature in this one instance. If it is something that the God in Leviticus actually detested, it would have been listed among homosexuality as an abominable act deserving death or some other excessive punishment. The list in Leviticus is incredibly thorough, so polygamy not being outlawed is intentional.
“Many of these relationships end up failing due to its inherent sinfulness.” Again I will reference 2 Samuel chapter 12. The issue was not polygamy but adultery and murder. King David was not married to Bathsheba. God as depicted in Samuel outright says that if he desired more wives they would’ve been given to him.
“Jesus did away with the Old Laws.” While I do love Jesus I must also ask, which Jesus? Jesus as depicted in Matthew actually expands on the Jewish laws and traditions on the sermon on the mount. But Jesus as depicted in Luke makes no such proclamation in the Sermon on the Plains.
“Jesus says that sex is between one woman and one man.” This is a reference to Matthew chapter 19. He is not talking about sex or polygamy. He is commentating on divorce. The question the pharisee’s asked was “Is it lawful to divorce a wife for any cause?” The conversation was not about the nature of sex. Conservative Christians want Jesus to condemn homosexuality, but he says nothing about the subject. What he actually ends up saying about sex and marriage is that celibacy or castration (becoming a eunuch) is actually the correct course for his followers, but even he admits that this is a step too extreme for most. This is a command that all Christians ignore.
Resources
“Data over Dogma” Podcast – Dan McClellan & Dan Beecher
“The Holy Bible” – God, Et al.
