The good news is, one should be kind to strangers, pay one’s workers before the next morning starts, one should not take down all the crops and leave the left overs for the poor. One should not lie, and not favour the poor over the rich or the rich over the poor but make balanced judgement. One should not lie, or treat people unfairly, nor should one cause bad rumours, especially to “your people (amcha).” Neither must not curse one’s parents.
One must not tattoo oneself or inscribe the names of loved ones onto one’s skin. Nor should one talk to ghosts or make human sacrifices to Moloch, the Amorite people, who supposedly held such customs.
If a man has sexual relations with a slave, he must compensate for his action, though the scripture remains silent on what is to happen with the woman.
The bad news is, here is a code that is so brutal in its prescribed punishment, that it can hardly count for a text of higher authority or morality for any contemporary reader.
Adulterers to be put to death!
A man who commits adultery with another man’s wife is guilty of the death penalty, as is the woman. The same is to happen with various sexual offences within the family, including with in-laws and those who have sexual relations with animals (men or women).
A man shall be cut off from his people if he sleeps with a woman during her seeing her period.
A man having sexual relations with another like with a woman, we read, ought to be also penalized with the death penalty.
These days we rarely read about the Jewish faith as a narrowly defined and fundamentalist religion. Most Jewish people live their lives without taking these laws too serious, just as most Muslims do the same with the Quran. Just a minority takes the scripture literally.
Still the possibility for strict interpretation does exist within this text. I read that throughout the ages Jewish religious authorities sought reason not to carry out these laws. This included to state that the punishments are meant to be implemented by God alone, or that no valid Jewish court could be held in the diaspora.
But, were people killed for these offenses 2000-3000 years ago and even thereafter? We know that there are places where homosexuals are mistreated and killed because of these passages today, strangely one section taken out of context even though the same code exists for the far more common incidence of adultery.
Even though there are some of the sexual relations described within the code, we would regard today also as inappropriate – especially those inside the family – as I wrote in the previous passage, abuse through imbalanced power relations is still the most concerning issue. Modern law has a far better defined and worked out code on this, and with far greater sense of balance, sense of justice and understanding of human sexuality and society. The Tanach can not be taken as a work of definite order, at best as a resource what people thought many years ago in one specific location.
Whilst the bits on leaving crops for the poor are signs of quite good progressive thought, the sexual code especially in its suggested penalties and in the prohibition of homosexuality is highly troublesome.
It is to be celebrated that today Tel Aviv is the Middle East most gay friendly and LGBT tolerant city. We also know today, that homosexuality has no negative bearing on society whatsoever, the call for the death penalty in Leviticus being as outdated and brutal as the human sacrifices made once to the Moloch in biblical times. The Laws should not be enforced onto contemporary society, but be a reflection of an age that was still limited in parts of its code and deliberations, perhaps due to its patriarchal structure
Another interpretation that makes claims to errors of translation can be found here:
Uncovering “homosexuality” in the Bible: Deuteronomy and 1 Kings reference to male shrine prostitution in Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 (moanti.wordpress.com)
The Jewhu Blog 