2BC BIBLE STUDY NOTES
Wednesday in the Word
Second Baptist Church
April 24, 2019
Leviticus 20:10-27
Continuing our discussion from last week on this chapter, we recall that God is warning the people to resist the pull of the pagan Gods of the land and the seductive practices of the pagan religions. This is not the first time God shared this, so we can conclude that the repetition is due to the prevalence of the temptation to worship these false idols. One who interprets these ancient texts must rid himself of all modern day thinking and put themselves in the mindset of an ancient peoples with little education and a very mystical and superstitious worldview. Basically, these folks during these times were susceptible to many ways of thinking that we would not be today. With this in mind, let us give some context to the text. When the Israelites entered Canaan, they found a land of farmers, not shepherds, as they had been in the wilderness. The land was fertile beyond anything the Hebrew nomads had ever seen. The Canaanites attributed this fertility to their god Baal, and that is where the Israelites problems began. Could the God who had led them out of Egypt and through the wilderness also provide fertile farms in the Promised Land? Or would the fertility god of Canaan have to be honored? Maybe, to be safe, they should worship both; Yahweh and Baal. The earliest deity recognized by the peoples of the ancient Near East was the creator god El. His mistress, the fertility goddess Asherah, gave birth to many gods, including a powerful god named Baal ("Lord"). There appears to have been only one Baal, who was manifested in lesser Baals at different places and times. Over the years, Baal became the dominant deity, and the worship of El faded. Baal won his dominance by defeating the other deities, including the god of the sea, the god of storms (also of rain, thunder, and lightning), and the god of death. Baal's victory over death was thought to be repeated each year when he returned from the land of death (underworld), bringing rain to renew the earth's fertility. Hebrew culture viewed the sea as evil and destructive, so Baal’s promise to prevent storms and control the sea, as well as his ability to produce abundant harvests, made him attractive to the Israelites. It's hard to know why Yahweh’s people failed to see that he alone had power over these things. Possibly, their desert origins led them to question God's sovereignty over fertile land. Or maybe it was simply the sinful pagan practices that attracted them to Baal. Baal is portrayed as a man with the head and horns of a bull, an image similar to that in biblical accounts. His right hand (sometimes both hands) is raised, and he holds a lightning bolt, signifying both destruction and fertility. Baal has also been portrayed seated on a throne, possibly as the king or lord of the gods. Asherah was honored as the fertility goddess in various forms and with varying names (Judg. 3:7). The Bible does not actually describe the goddess, but archaeologists have discovered figurines believed to be representations of her. She is portrayed as a nude female, sometimes pregnant, with exaggerated breasts that she holds out, apparently as symbols of the fertility she promises her followers. The Bible indicates that she was worshiped near trees and poles, called Asherah poles (Deut. 7:5, 12:2-3; 2 Kings 16:4, 17:10; Jer. 3:6, 13; Ezek. 6:13). Baal's worshipers appeased him by offering sacrifices, usually animals such as sheep or bulls (1 Kings 18:23). Some scholars believe that the Canaanites also sacrificed pigs and that God prohibited his people from eating pork in part to prevent this horrible cult from being established among them. (See Isa. 65:1-5 for an example of Israel's participating in the pagan practices of the Canaanites). At times of crisis, Baal's followers sacrificed their children, apparently the firstborn of the community, to gain personal prosperity. The Bible called this practice "detestable" (Deut. 12:31, 18:9-10). God specifically appointed the tribe of Levi as his special servants, in place of the firstborn of the Israelites, so they had no excuse for offering their children (Num.3:11-13).The Bible's repeated condemnation of child sacrifice shows God's hate of it, especially among his people. Asherah was worshiped in various ways, including through ritual sex. Although she was believed to be Baal's mother, she was also his mistress. Pagans practiced "sympathetic magic,” that is, they believed they could influence the gods‘ actions by performing the behavior they wished the gods to demonstrate. Believing the sexual union of Baal and Asherah produced fertility, their worshippers engaged in immoral sex to cause the gods to join together, ensuring good harvests. This practice became the basis for religious prostitution (l Kings 14:23-24). The priest or a male member of the community represented Baal. The priestess or a female member of the community represented Asherah.
Verses 10-13. Picking up where we left off on last week, we see God’s prohibition of various sexual practices. It should be noted that this section begins and ends with a warning not to entertain mediums and spiritists (vs. 6 & 27) as well as avoiding Molech worship. We can conclude that these sexual practices were somehow connected to the worship of these false gods. Since the worship of these false gods included such emphasis on sex, this should make sense. God prohibits the sexual union of a man with the wife of his neighbor (which is a term for anyone person not related by blood), his father’s wife (wives excluding mother), and his sons wife. The motive for these sexual unions in relation to the idol worship would be to ensure some sort of good harvest or good fortune for the family. This was a common practice among the followers of Baal and Asherah. The male high priest would also encourage the men to sleep with them as a way to appease the gods.
Verses 14-17. Incest and bestiality were very common in this worship as well. Because Baal had human and animal features, bestiality was a way for the worshippers to have sex with the god himself. And since Baal and Asherah were supposed to be mother and son, incest was a way to please the gods. One way that people would justify these sexual unions was by marriage. Thinking that if they called themselves husband and wife, we could justify their sexual union.
Verse 18. Sleeping with women on their period was also a superstition that provided good luck or a good harvest. Men would seek out women on their period for sex thinking they would please the gods and have good fortune.
Verses 19-20. These verses are probably here to make sure that a person doesn’t try to figure a way around the prohibition of these sexual practices by having sex with an older woman. This might be a case where the older women were making the advances to the younger men on behalf of their husbands. Notice the part about being childless. Knowing that children were conceived in Molech and Baal worship, this is especially important. We are not totally sure of all this, due to the fact that the worship of these gods is virtually nonexistent at this point.
Notice in verse 21 there is a prohibition on marrying your brother’s wife, but we know that God allowed this if the brother died (Deut. 25:5). I suspect that this is a divorced woman with the intent on having children they could offer as a sacrifice. Notice it says they will be childless.
Verses 22-24. God commands the people to follow and keep his commands so that the land they are going to won’t vomit them out. Notice how God specially references the land. God is warning the people that the things that the pagans have done in hopes of having a good harvest are to be avoided by the Hebrews. God needs the people to not even look remotely close to what the pagans look like in their perverted religious practices of idolatry.
Verses 25-27. God reiterates the issue of clean and unclean animals and birds (many of these animals were important to pagan worship as well) and God repeats to avoid men or women who claim to have special powers and practice pagan rituals and traditions. This is due to the fact that there were other false gods that were worshipped but not as popular as the Baals and Asherahs.
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