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Leviticus 17-18 & the Jerusalem LetterLev. 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 manin hunting catches a beast or a bird which may be eaten, he shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth.5The 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 Lord3Any 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, 4and 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.7They 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 LetterLeviticus 17-18 & the Jerusalem LetterThings Sacrificed to Idols BloodThings StrangledFornicationLEVITICUS 17-18IdolatryEating BloodImproper SlaughteringSexual SinIs Lev. 17-18 the basis of the letter?OrderApplicability to GentilesLeviticus 17LEVITICUS 16

Day of AtonementLEVITICUS 19Peculiar to IsraelSabbath,mixing seed/fabric/etc.Romans 1Genesis 9View presented in outlineABORT! ABORT! ABORT!3Jerusalem LetterLeviticus 17-18 & the Jerusalem LetterThings Sacrificed to Idols BloodThings StrangledFornicationLEVITICUS 17-18IdolatryEating BloodImproper SlaughteringSexual SinIs Lev. 17-18 the basis of the letter?OrderApplicability to GentilesA Needed Caveat Due to Knowledge of Jewish LawRomans 1Genesis 9James rationale (Acts 15)

19Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles,

20but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood.

21For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath.We wont requireWe will writeWhy we will writeNot, abstain becauseBut, we write because4Jerusalem LetterLeviticus 17-18 & the Jerusalem LetterThings Sacrificed to Idols BloodThings StrangledFornicationLEVITICUS 17-18IdolatryEating BloodImproper SlaughteringSexual SinConclusion:God prohibits these things for all men at all timesThe prohibitions were essentialsThe Holy Spirit concurredThe alternative makes James and the rest out to be hypocritesRomans 1Genesis 9Acts 1528For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials: 29that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornicationActs 1528For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials: 29that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication5Jerusalem LetterThings Sacrificed to Idols BloodThings StrangledFornicationLEVITICUS 17-18IdolatryEating BloodImproper SlaughteringSexual SinRomans 1Genesis 9Prohibitions, or Merely Requests?F.F. Bruce:The conditions stipulated in the apostolic decreehad 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 1528For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials: 29that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornicationnot indeed under compulsioncompulsoryWeizscker:The decreeonly 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.6Misconstruing James rationaleMisconstruing things sacrificed to idolsJerusalem LetterThings Sacrificed to Idols BloodThings StrangledFornicationLEVITICUS 17-18IdolatryEating 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 law7Why Thought To Be Merely Requests?LEVITICUS 18

Marriage prohibitedwithin degrees of consanguinityIncest is okayMt. 19 exception clause only about incestJerusalem LetterEating things sacrificed to idols is okay1 Cor. 8-10 warning

merely advisoryEating blood is okaymerely advisory1 Cor. 5fornication = incestCalvin 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 rationaleMisconstruing things sacrificed to idolsClarkeIn Corinth St. Paul felt at liberty to urge [the Jerusalem letters] food regulations on the ground of charity only (1 Cor. viii). 27 Anglican W. K. Lowther Clarke 27 F. Gavin 48 Rom. Catholic Bonsirvenc. 49 Hauck & Schulz in TWNT 59 Rom. Catholic H. J. Richardsc. 65 Haenchen 76 Rom. Catholic Joseph FitzmeyerRabbinic lit. referred to marriages in violation of Lev18:7ff as zenutDead Sea scrolls alleged to refer to incest as zenutWhy Thought To Be Merely Requests?LEVITICUS 18

Marriage prohibitedwithin degrees of consanguinityJerusalem LetterEating things sacrificed to idols is okaymerely advisory1 Cor. 5fornication = incestMisconstruing James rationaleMisconstruing things sacrificed to idolsDefining fornication as incestDead Sea scrolls alleged to refer to incest as zenutRabbinic lit. referred to marriages in violation of Lev18:7ff as zenutREBUTTALSLEVITICUS 18

Marriage prohibitedwithin degrees of consanguinityJerusalem LetterEating things sacrificed to idols is okaymerely advisory1 Cor. 5fornication = incestMisconstruing James rationaleMisconstruing things sacrificed to idolsDefining fornication as incestDead Sea scrolls alleged to refer to incest as zenutRabbinic lit. referred to marriages in violation of Lev18:7ff as zenutIn 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 fathers wife.Incest is not the only sexual sin mentioned in Leviticus 18!

, used of every kind of unlawful sexual intercourse, (BAG, 693) suits the diverse sexual sins in Leviticus 18.LEVITICUS 17-18IdolatryEating BloodImproper SlaughteringSexual Sin=fornicationJerusalem Lettermerely advisoryLEVITICUS 17-18IdolatryEating BloodImproper SlaughteringSexual Sin=fornicationJerusalem Lettermerely advisoryIsaiah 24:7Terror and the pit and the snareare upon you, O inhabitant of the earth!Defining fornication as incestQumran Literature:Codex Damascusthree nets of Belial

Zenut

Wealth

Defiling the Sanctuary

REBUTTALSDead Sea scrolls alleged to refer to incest as zenutthe builders of the wall are trapped in zenut in two waysZenutMultiple wivesIncest

Defiling the SanctuaryIntercourse during menstruation

the builders of the wall are trapped in twoZenutMultiple wives

Defiling the SanctuaryIntercourse during menstruationIncestzenutIs zenut a technical term for incest?CD explains:they take each one the daughter of his brother and the daughter of his sisterCD quotes Lev. 18:whereas Moses said, You shall not approach your mothers sisterIs zenut a technical term for incest?

How can it be a technical term for incest when it includes polygamy??

FITZMYERDAVIESJerusalem Lettermerely advisoryLEVITICUS 17-18IdolatryEating BloodImproper SlaughteringSexual Sin=fornicationMisconstruing James rationaleMisconstruing things sacrificed to idolsDefining fornication as incestREBUTTALSEating things sacrificed to idols is okay Misconstruing James rationaleMisconstruing things sacrificed to idolsREBUTTALS Idol+ sacrificeMisconstruing James rationaleMisconstruing things sacrificed to idolsREBUTTALS1 Corinthians 8-10now concerning things sacrifice to idolsCh. 8Ch. 9Ch. 108:1-139:1-239:24-10:22Lovevs. Knowledge

act out of love for othersPaulsownExample

foregoing financial income from CorinthIsrael Overthrown in the Wilderness

Flee Idolatry

Cannot partake of the table of the Lord & of demonswrong attitudePauls examplejust plain wrong10:23ffMeat in the Market

Dont worry about it

eat, asking no question not called though a pagan may attach religious significance, describing it as Sitting at meat in the idol templeThe Table of DemonsMisconstruing James rationaleMisconstruing things sacrificed to idolsREBUTTALSThings Sacrificed to Idols&FornicationEvery context that mentions the former also mentions the latterRevelation 2:14Revelation 2:20The Jerusalem letter (Acts 15:29, 21:25)1 Corinthians 8-10Two contexts allude to Balaam story, where idolatry & fornication combinedRevelation 214But 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 107Neither 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. 8Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.Numbers 25 is aboutPARTICIPATION IN IDOLATRYnot aboutEATING LEFT-OVER MEATwith an imaginary taint

to the sacrifices of the idols of them

Jerusalem LetterLEVITICUS 17-18IdolatryEating BloodImproper SlaughteringSexual Sin=fornicationConclusionThe 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.ConclusionSome difficulties remain:

sexual relations during a womans menstrual periodIt seems this too was part of what God found detestable in the Canaanites.ConclusionSome difficulties remain:

Abraham married his half-sister (or not?)marriage between siblings at the beginning

Possible 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. 25:5

K&D argue from Lev. 18:18 that the text condemns marriage between the specifiedOne may argue from the same passage that licit marriage is not in view prior to 18:18

Abrams marriage to Sarai was not in accordance with Gods will, but was one of those things that God overlooked