During college, a good portion of my coursework ended up centering on how the Bible and religion describes otherness. A big question that I ended up exploring was how the Bible defines otherness, and how it tells you to treat those who are others. The Bible has a lot to say about that subject.
I also spent a good deal of time learning ancient Greek, and to a lesser extent, ancient Hebrew. There is some Latin in there as well. Before college, I thought learning those languages was probably a waste, as we have some pretty accurate translations. But going more into the academic side of studying the Bible, I saw the importance of learning those dead languages. To be clear though, for most people I don’t think it’s a necessity as the translations generally give us a very good reading. But to debate various nuances, there is a benefit.
One of the topics I really spent time on was the Bible and homosexuality, as it’s a very hot-button topic, and it is a perfect case study when it comes to the Bible and otherness. For me, it’s even more interesting as there are so many differing views, as well as straight-out misinformation, that makes the research a bit more fun.
The meme is a bit of the latter. I would say that it was either completely fabricated, or whoever was the initial recipient, the person who spoke to the priest, misheard. I say this because I’d hope that a priest wouldn’t make such fundamental mistakes.
To start at the beginning. The verse in question is in Leviticus 18:22. It states: You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.
Interesting point here: the Hebrew states something more like you shouldn’t lie with a male on a woman’s bed. What it literally says is that a man should not penetrate another man. It really is only addressing the active participant here.
It gets more complicated though when you read further, as, unlike what the meme claims, there are other passages. Leviticus 20:13 basically just repeats the previous verse, but adds that both individuals involved have committed an abomination, and they should be put to death.
To be clear though, these passages were never originally in Greek. They would be translated into Greek later on, but they were originally written in Hebrew. That is one of the fundamental mistakes in this meme. Now, interestingly enough, the Greek translation, which we see in a text like the Septuagint, makes it very clear that adult men are being talked about. The Hebrew here actually has more flexibility.
So the main claim here is that the passage is more about pederasty. They call it pedophilia, but that’s incorrect. As is often the case, the term pedophilia is being used incorrectly, as pedophilia is a sexual attraction to children. I think it’s an important distinction because many people who have pedophilia understand that those attractions are wrong, and some go as far as to castrate themselves.
Pedophilia is often regulated to a mental disorder. This contrasts with pederasty, where there is usually a more involved relationship, it deals with post-pubertal children, and almost always refers to adolescent boys. And this isn’t simply an attraction, but action. I point this out because I think word choice is important.
Anyway, looking at the Hebrew is quite a challenge. Part of the problem is that we don’t have a dictionary (at least not a comprehensive dictionary) when it comes to Biblical Hebrew. Instead, we have to use context clues. One of the key words here is miskhaveh, which is translated to lyings (or lie here). The issue is that outside of these two passages in Leviticus, it is only mentioned one other time in the Hebrew Old Testament, in Genesis 49:4.
Here, Jacob is on his deathbed, and he’s going to give his final blessing to his children. But he doesn’t bless Reuben, but instead scolds him, saying he is without excellence because he went up to his father’s bed and defiled it. In Genesis 35:22, we learned that Reuben had attempted to seek revenge and humiliate Jacob because Jacob snubbed Reuben’s mother. So Reuben went and slept with Jacob’s concubine. It’s a messy situation.
That is where the term miskhaveh comes into play, as it is the word Jacob uses in order to signify revenge or humiliation. This has led some scholars to believe that what the Leviticus verses are addressing is an act that is meant to be degrading and humiliating. If we look at same sex relations between males in the Old Testament, this makes more sense as the only examples we have are based on violence and domination.
I would argue that this is probably the more accurate translation here, as both verses have a focus on the person penetrating. But that also doesn’t negate the entire passage though. In context, the Hebrews are trying to differentiate themselves from their surrounding neighbors. And for them, male anal intercourse is something they saw as demeaning. It was a deviation from what was considered to be holy or the norm.
The issue about the Greek (but actually Hebrew) making a distinction between a man and a boy really only applies to Leviticus 20. There, some have argued that since two Hebrew terms were used for man/male, there must have been a reason. One distinctly refers to a man, while the other refers to a male. The argument fails because of the overall context though. It doesn’t work in Leviticus 18 for instance.
Now, if one wants to make an argument against Leviticus, the best argument probably is that the Jewish law was meant for Jews, and Christians and others don’t have to abide by that. Personally, that’s the argument I’d go for as it is the most straightforward and it doesn’t rely on trying to manipulate the Hebrew.
That doesn’t negate the entire question though, as the New Testament also has three different passages that deal with the topic (some include a fourth, but I personally disregard it as it’s a stretch at best). So as opposed to the one passage the meme claims, there are actually 5.
If anyone is interested, I will go into the New Testament passages. The Greek there is fascinating. So let me know.