01-22-2022, 08:05 AM
The penalties are distinctly different. In chapter 15 sex with a menstruating wife is just a matter of the husband taking a bath and waiting seven days to do anything social. The whole chapter is about discharges from the body. In chapter 18 the same action merits expulsion from the nation. The key is 18:3:
The word "ordinance" here in this context refers to the demands of pagan gods.
The whole of chapter 18 is a list of things that, according to outside sources, were pagan ritual sex acts. The Egyptians were notorious for inbreeding, and their own hieroglyphics explain that it was at the behest of their pagan gods. Indeed, Egyptian hieroglyphics can be quite pornographic. The Canaanites left almost nothing in writing, but we know from how other nations described them, and the ritual objects found in archaeology, that they were among the most depraved people that we can find in history. The likes of Sodom and Gomorrah were quite influential in that part of the world.
Sex magic was a major element of pagan worship in that part of the world. It wasn't a mere matter of depraved desires; it came from messing with demonic worship. Lust would draw you in, but it was distinctly the matter of violating Creation. Everyone in the camp knew what this was about. The only difference in attitude was that way too many Israelis were ready at the drop of a hat to engage in any number of pagan practices. Their own prophets kept saying how quickly they wandered off into the most degrading practices.
Quote:You shall not do like the doings of the land of Egypt in which you lived. And you shall not do like the doings of the land of Canaan, where I bring you. Neither shall you walk in their ordinances.
The word "ordinance" here in this context refers to the demands of pagan gods.
The whole of chapter 18 is a list of things that, according to outside sources, were pagan ritual sex acts. The Egyptians were notorious for inbreeding, and their own hieroglyphics explain that it was at the behest of their pagan gods. Indeed, Egyptian hieroglyphics can be quite pornographic. The Canaanites left almost nothing in writing, but we know from how other nations described them, and the ritual objects found in archaeology, that they were among the most depraved people that we can find in history. The likes of Sodom and Gomorrah were quite influential in that part of the world.
Sex magic was a major element of pagan worship in that part of the world. It wasn't a mere matter of depraved desires; it came from messing with demonic worship. Lust would draw you in, but it was distinctly the matter of violating Creation. Everyone in the camp knew what this was about. The only difference in attitude was that way too many Israelis were ready at the drop of a hat to engage in any number of pagan practices. Their own prophets kept saying how quickly they wandered off into the most degrading practices.