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What other pieces of information can be gained from the Hebrew Bible that applies to non-Jews? Do we have boundaries that are given by Yahweh? Or are we just ok, no matter what we choose to do with ourselves? Well, it should already have been shown that there are boundaries, limits and principles for us gentiles, even if we have nothing to do with the Jewish people or the land of Israel. So what other pieces of information can be gained?
There are even clear signs in the text of the Mosaic covenant that show that gentiles are held accountable for certain acts that are seen as disgusting and abhorrent to Deity. It can be seen clearly in Leviticus 18. Now the whole passage goes from verse 6 to verse 30, so I'm not gonna quote everything here, just the more pertinent verses.
(6) None of you shall approach to any that are near of kin to him [lit. the remainder/relation of his flesh], to uncover their nakedness: I am YHWH.
(19) And you shall not approach a woman in the separation of her uncleanness, to uncover her nakedness. (20) And you shall not have sex with your neighbour's wife, to become unclean by her. (21) And you shall not give [any] of your offspring to pass through to Molech, and you shall not profane the name of your Deity: I am YHWH. (22) And you shall not lay with a male, as with a woman: it is an abomination. (23) And you shall not have sex with any animal to defile yourself by it; and a woman shall not stand before an animal to breed with it: it is perversion.
(24) Do be defiled by any of these things; for by all these things the nations which I am casting out before you were defiled: (25) And the land, it was defiled; and I dealt with its iniquity upon it, and the land, it vomited out its inhabitants. (26) So you, you shall keep my statutes and my judgments, and you shall not do [any] of these abominations: [neither] the native, nor the sojourner who sojourns in your midst; (27) (For the men of the land which are before you, they had done all these abominations and the land became defiled;) (28) and the land shall not vomit you out, when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that are before you. (Leviticus 18:6, 19-28)
Before I go through the list of immoral acts that is in this chapter (most, but not all of them, appear to be sexual), it is important to see how it can be known that such acts are not simply wrong, but wrong for non-Jews. This can be done by analysing the final section of the portion I quoted, verses 24-28. What do we see?
Firstly, these non-Israeli nations were defiled, made impure by doing these actions. This is the first sign that such actions are wrong for non-Israelites. Then we see verse 24b ("...which I am casting out before you") and the 25b ("... the land, it vomited out its inhabitants"). The way these two clauses are phrased implies a linke between them. One has Yahweh casting out the nations, and next has the land vomiting them out. This shows that the Almighty was reacting to these defiling actions of the non-Israeli nations, and they were punished by being evicted from the land. The fact that these verses imply some "holy" quality about the land itself gives clear indication that these deeds are unholy for anyone who would do these deeds on the land.
Some may say to themselves, "well, if the actions are punished in THAT land, then it must be ok in the other lands of the world where such punishments not are dished out". But remember! Here we are talking about the quality of the actions and whether they are good or bad in the eyes of our Creator, not if they will be punished in a certain manner. Let me give an example! I remember in school we had this interesting paper which, I think, was called pH paper or litmus paper. It reacts to whether some liquid is acidic or whether it is an alkali. If it was acidic, then the paper would go one colour, let's say, red. So we have an unknown liquid brought to us, and we put the paper in the liquid, and the paper reacts by going red to let us know that this unknown liquid is acidic.
Now this is somewhat similar to the land of Israel. It's like the litmus paper. But rather than reacting to acids, it reacts to certain actions which shows us if they are wrong or not. In this case, I guess it is kinda obvious by the action of vomiting, like when we vomit something bad out of our stomachs, that the action is not right. It doesn't matter now where we go, we know the actions is wrong regardless whether we are in the land or not. It is the quality of the act that lets us know that it is wrong, not whether we see a reaction or not.
Another important sign is in verse 27, whether these actions are called abominations. For those who are not really used to that word, "abominations", other words that can be used in its place is "disgusting", "abhorrent", "gut-wrenching in a sickening way". This gives a strong clue that these actions are wrong for the non-Israelites.
More evidence can be seen in a nearby chapter that talks about the same subject as this one, namely, Leviticus 20. In verse 23, it says the following:
And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation, which I am casting out from before you; for they did all these things, and I was disgusted by them.
This shows that the Almighty was disgusted by the non-Israeli nation that did these things. It was the act itself that the Almighty despised, not simply where they did it.
Putting all this together gives a sure sign that, no matter who we are or where we are, to perform any of the acts prohibited in this chapter is wrong in the sight of the Most High.
Now I shall list the laws that are in Leviticus 18 in order to do two things: 1) to give a specified list of all the prohibitions written there, and; 2) to deal with a fairly obvious "problem" some may bring up. So here are the laws that mostly concern forbidden sexual relationships. So it is forbidden:
The passage we're concerned with, Leviticus 18:6-30, uses the phrase "to approach in order to uncover the nakedness" or simply "to uncover the nakedness". This is a less crude (euphemistic) way of saying "to have sexual relations with".
Now after you've looked through that list, something may stand out: that most of these laws seem to be written for men. They are the ones who would naturally be warned against all these acts which are mostly against female members of the family, e.g., sister, aunt, granddaughter. Look at the prohibition that says "don't lay with a man as you would a woman". Since we are in the context of sexual sins, it is contextually impossible that this law is for women.
So if this passage appears to generally focused on men, does that mean that, for the most part, it has nothing to do with women? That women can't break these laws and be penalized?
The answer to these questions must be "no" for a number of textually significant reasons.
Firstly, the very first law of this section (v.6, to not have sexual relations with any family members) covers everyone, male and female. The next verses of specific cases may mostly be explicitly directed to men, but: 1) there are still a few that refer to women, and; 2) that the following verses appear to focus on men doesn't inevitably and forcefully mean that Leviticus 18:6 only concerns men. And considering a point that will be explained shortly, there is more to these verses than the obvious.
A second way that it can be shown that these sins apply to women as well can be seen by looking at the chapter that speaks on the same subject, Leviticus 20.
(10) And the man that commits adultery with another man's wife, he that commits adultery with his neighbour's wife, [both] the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. (11) And the man that lies with his father's wife (he has uncovered his father's nakedness), they shall surely be put to death, both of them, their blood [is] upon them. (Leviticus 20:10,11)
These verse tells us the penalty for breaking the commands in Leviticus 18, specifically verses 8 and 20. If both these laws are only written with a man in mind, then why, according to the verses I just quoted, are both the man and the woman punished? The phrase "their blood upon them" means that they are both guilty, accountable, responsible for the just punishment put upon them! But can a person be guilty of breaking a law doesn't apply to them? No! These example verses shows that these laws apply to women as well. This is the implication of these verses. Thus a woman cannot say that these laws have nothing to do with her because she is not a man and these laws seem like they are written for men. Regardless of the "why", this is the clear teaching of scripture.
But we can still ask the following question to gain some understanding: in what way do these laws apply, if they appear to be phrased in a way that only focus on the actions of the man?
As I have shown above, Leviticus 18:6 makes a broad enough law to cover both men and women: no one can have sexual relations with a close relative. This fact would explain, in the case of a man sleeping with his father's wife, why the woman would be punished as well. She would have broken that broad law. But it doesn't explain the woman who has an adulterous affair with a man who is not her close relative. Why would she be punishable?
The fact is that in every one of these laws, anyone stated in the law causes the forbidden act to take place. The man actively has sexual relations with the forbidden woman, thus making the forbidden act take place. And the forbidden woman allows or causes the man to have sexual relations with her, thus making the forbidden act take place. In either case, both parties take part in the offensive act to make it happen, and thus both are responsible, accountable, and punishable. It is clear that Leviticus 18 and 20 are not talking about rape, forced sex, since there is nothing forceful in the language, but rather about an act that takes both parties to agree to let it happen. Rape is another law. Since both parties consent to the forbidden act and by their union the forbidden act is manifest, they are both guilty.
Also acts of male homosexuality and bestiality, as well as Molekh-worship and blasphemy, are strictly forbidden by these laws. That male homosexuality and bestiality are forbidden can be derived from Genesis 2 where Deity shows the man he created all the animals and it is found that there is nothing there that is suitable for him to bond with. Thus bestiality is seen to be a natural perversity. Also, it is seen that the Creator made woman for him, showing that man can only properly bond with woman, not with another man. For a male to bond with a male in a sexual way, something that is properly meant for man and woman, is again a perversity. If any should wonder about lesbianism, I'll be clear. Although there is no clear explicit law against it in a sexual way, the principle of Genesis 2 still applies. Woman and woman cannot be married in a biblical sense and cannot be one. Biblically, acts of lesbianism is unnatural and alien.
That being said, I would point out that the bible prohibits the act of any homosexuality, be it male or female. People who struggle with the attractions to the same sex are not condemned, unless they act them out with same sex partners.
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