Chapter 18
The Boundaries of Holiness Among Elohim's People
The call to holiness as distinct from the nations foreshadows Yeshua who sets His people apart — writing His Torah on their hearts by the Ruach within.
- Forbidden Relationships
Elohim defines boundaries for intimacy — not to restrict joy but to protect it. Holiness in relationships reflects the faithful love of Yeshua for His bride.
- 1YHWH said to Moses,
- 2“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘I am YHWH your Elohim.
- 3You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived. You shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. You shall not follow their statutes.
- 4You shall do my ordinances. You shall keep my statutes and walk in them. I am YHWH your Elohim.
- 5You shall therefore keep my statutes and my ordinances, which if a man does, he shall live in them. I am YHWH.
- 6None of you shall approach any close relatives, to uncover their nakedness: I am YHWH.
- 7You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, nor the nakedness of your mother: she is your mother. You shall not uncover her nakedness.
- 8You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife. It is your father’s nakedness.
- 9You shall not uncover the nakedness of your sister, the daughter of your father, or the daughter of your mother, whether born at home or born abroad.
- 10You shall not uncover the nakedness of your son’s daughter, or of your daughter’s daughter, even their nakedness; for theirs is your own nakedness.
- 11You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife’s daughter, conceived by your father, since she is your sister.
- 12You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister. She is your father’s near kinswoman.
- 13You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s near kinswoman.
- 14You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother. You shall not approach his wife. She is your aunt.
- 15You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law. She is your son’s wife. You shall not uncover her nakedness.
- 16You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife. It is your brother’s nakedness.
- 17You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter. You shall not take her son’s daughter, or her daughter’s daughter, to uncover her nakedness. They are near kinswomen. It is wickedness.
- 18You shall not take a wife in addition to her sister, to be a rival, to uncover her nakedness, while her sister is still alive.
- 19You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness, as long as she is impure by her uncleanness.
- 20You shall not lie carnally with your neighbour’s wife, and defile yourself with her.
- 21You shall not give any of your children as a sacrifice to Molech. You shall not profane the name of your Elohim. I am YHWH.
- 22You shall not lie with a man as with a woman. That is detestable.
- 23You shall not lie with any animal to defile yourself with it. No woman may give herself to an animal, to lie down with it: it is a perversion.
- The Land Defiles the Wicked
The land itself responds to moral corruption. Elohim's creation is not neutral — it is defiled by sin and vomits out those who defile it.
- 24Don’t defile yourselves in any of these things; for in all these the nations which I am casting out before you were defiled.
- 25The land was defiled. Therefore I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out her inhabitants.
- 26You therefore shall keep my statutes and my ordinances, and shall not do any of these abominations; neither the native-born, nor the stranger who lives as a foreigner amongst you
- 27(for the men of the land that were before you had done all these abominations, and the land became defiled),
- 28that the land not vomit you out also, when you defile it, as it vomited out the nation that was before you.
- 29For whoever shall do any of these abominations, even the souls that do them shall be cut off from amongst their people.
- 30Therefore you shall keep my requirements, that you do not practise any of these abominable customs which were practised before you, and that you do not defile yourselves with them. I am YHWH your Elohim.’”