Leviticus 18:19 - Meaning and Application

Here is a law to protect the honor of the marriage bed, so it is not used at the wrong time (Leviticus 18:19), and so it is not violated by an adulterer, (Leviticus 18:20).

There is also a law against one of the most shocking forms of idolatry, giving their children to Moloch by fire, (Leviticus 18:21). Moloch, as some think, was the idol through which they worshiped the sun, that great fire in the world. In worshiping him, they either burned their own children as sacrifices, or made them pass between two fires, or through one fire, as an act of devotion to this false god. They imagined that if they dedicated even one child to Moloch in this way, it would bring good fortune to the rest of their children.

If idolaters could give up their own children to false gods, how can we think anything too precious to give to, or give up for, the true God? This sin in Israel, which they later committed despite this law, was made worse by the special relationship they and their children had with God. In Ezekiel 16:20, God says, "You took your sons and daughters, whom you bore to me, and sacrificed them." That is why this is called profaning the name of their God. It looked as if they thought they were more bound to Moloch than to the Lord. To the Lord they offered only cattle, but to Moloch they offered their children.

There is also a law against unnatural lusts, sodomy and bestiality, sins too horrible to speak of without deep disgust, (Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 18:23). Other sins pull people down to the level of beasts, but these sink them even lower. That such laws were ever needed, and that they have ever been broken since they were given, is a lasting shame on human nature. Giving people over to these vile passions was often the punishment for their idolatry, as the apostle shows, (Romans 1:24).

These and similar terrible sins are then opposed with reasons. God has an unquestionable right to command us, yet because he deals with us as human beings and draws us with human kindness, he reasons with us.

First, sinners defile themselves with these sins: "Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways" (Leviticus 18:24). All sin makes the conscience dirty, but these sins have a special shame to them. In kindness, our heavenly Father calls us to keep ourselves clean and not wallow in filth.

Second, the souls that commit them will be cut off, (Leviticus 18:29). And that is just, for if anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy that person, (1 Corinthians 3:17). Fleshly desires fight against the soul, and if God's mercy and grace do not stop them, they will surely ruin it.

Third, the land is defiled, (Leviticus 18:25). If such wickedness is practiced and tolerated, the land becomes unfit for God's tabernacle to remain in it, and the pure and holy God will withdraw the signs of his gracious presence. It also becomes unhealthy for the people living there, because they are infected by sin and exposed to punishment. And it is deeply disgusting to all good people in it, just as the wickedness of Sodom was to righteous Lot.

Fourth, these were the abominations of the former inhabitants, (Leviticus 18:24, 27). So these laws were needed, like medicines that protect us when we enter an infected place. Israel should not copy these practices, because the nations that lived this way were now under God's curse and were soon to fall by Israel's sword. Israel could see how hateful those people had made themselves by wallowing in this filth, and how offensive they were to all good people. Should a people set apart and honored like Israel make themselves so vile? When we see how ugly sin looks in others, we should use that as a strong warning to guard our own purity with care.

Fifth, the Canaanites were to be destroyed for these sins. They filled up the measure of the Amorites' guilt, (Genesis 15:16), and brought down the destruction of many thriving kingdoms, which Israel was soon to witness and carry out. "Therefore I visit its guilt on it" (Leviticus 18:25). God's terrible judgments on those who openly reject him are meant to warn all who profess faith to avoid even the slightest hint of irreverence or unbelief. Even the ruin of the Canaanites was a warning to Israel not to act like them.

To show that such sins burden not only the Creator but also creation itself, the text adds, "The land itself vomits out its inhabitants" (Leviticus 18:25). The ground they lived on seemed to groan under them, sick of their presence and not at rest until it had cast out these enemies of the Lord, (Isaiah 1:24). This shows how disgusting sin is. Sinful people drink in wrongdoing like water, but even the rest of creation seems to recoil from it. Many a house and town has, so to speak, vomited out wicked people in horror, (Revelation 3:16). So God says, "Be careful, so the land does not vomit you out too" (Leviticus 18:28). The land was given to them, yet if they copied the sins of the Canaanites, they would share the same fate. Wicked Israelites are as hateful to God as wicked Canaanites, and even more so, and they will be cast out just as quickly, or sooner.

The apostle gives a similar warning to Gentile believers, with respect to the rejected Jews who were replaced, (Romans 11:19, etc.). They must beware of falling into the same kind of unbelief, (Hebrews 4:11). More generally, this should keep us firmly away from every sinful path. Think how many people sin has ruined, and let that warn you. Listen by faith to the cries from the gates of the bottomless pit, and hear the sorrow of damned sinners, whom earth has cast out and hell has swallowed up, ruined forever by sin. Let that make you tremble, lest this become your end. God's warnings and judgments are meant to frighten us away from sin.

The chapter ends with a strong cure for this infection: "So you shall keep my charge, and not do any of these abominable customs" (Leviticus 18:30). That is the remedy God gives. Sinful customs are abominable customs, and when they are common and popular, that does not make them less detestable, but more so, because the more common they are, the more dangerous they become.

It is a dangerous thing to allow even one sinful habit, because one sin makes room for many others. If you admit one wrong practice, more will soon follow. The road of sin always slopes downward.

A close and steady holding to God’s commands is the best protection against serious sin. The more we taste the goodness and power of holy worship and obedience, the less we will want the forbidden pleasures of wicked custom. Only God’s grace can keep us safe, and that grace is normally given as we use the means of grace, that is, the ways God has appointed for spiritual help.

God does not give people over to their own sinful desires until they first turn away from him and from his appointed ways.