Leviticus 18

Leviticus 18:5

Augustine of Hippo: The righteousness of the law is proposed in these terms,-that whosoever shall do it shall live in it; and the purpose is, that when each has discovered his own weakness, he may not by his own strength, nor by the letter of the law (which cannot be done), but by faith, conciliating the Justifier, attain, and do, and live in it. For the work in which he who does it shall live, is not done except by one who is justified. His justification, however, is obtained by faith; and concerning faith it is written, “Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring down Christ therefrom;) or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is (says he), the word of faith which we preach: That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” As far as he is saved, so far is he righteous. — ON THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER 29.50

Jerome: “The man who carries out the law will find life through it.” Scripture did not say he will find life through it, in the sense that through the law he will live in heaven, but he will find life through it to the extent that what he merits, he reaps in the present world. — HOMILY 76

John Cassian: For the law promises those who practice it not the rewards of the heavenly kingdom but the consolations of this life when it says, “The one who does these things shall live in them.” But the Lord says to his disciples, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” — CONFERENCE 21.5.2

Leviticus 18:7

Augustine of Hippo: You will not discover the nakedness of your father or the nakedness of your mother; for it is their nakedness. It is forbidden to have sexual relations with one’s mother. That is what nudity consists of, of the father and the mother. Because later it also prohibits this in relation to the stepmother: You will not discover the nakedness of your father’s wife; for it is the same nakedness of your father. Before it was exposed how the nudity of the mother was the nakedness of both, father and mother. But in the nudity of the stepmother there is only the nakedness of the father. — QUESTIONS ON LEVITICUS, Q. 58 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Leviticus 18:9

Augustine of Hippo: You will not discover the nakedness of your sister, daughter of your father or daughter of your mother, born at home or born outside the home: it is their nakedness. The one born at home is understood as the father’s daughter. The one born outside the home is understood as the mother’s daughter, if perhaps the mother had had it from a previous husband and had come with her home when she married her father. The Scripture advises not to discover the nakedness of his sister. Here seems not to have forbidden, and almost overlooked, the concubus with the sister born of both parents. Because the text does not say: You will not discover the nakedness of your sister, daughter of your father and mother, but of your father or your mother. But who does not see that also that is forbidden with much more reason? Because if it is not lawful to discover the nakedness of a sister, daughter of either of the two parents, how much less the daughter of both! Why does it also prohibit concubinage with one’s nieces, saying about the son or about the daughter: You will not discover the nakedness of the daughter of your father’s wife (Leviticus 18,11). If what had been said had stopped here, we would understand that the concubinage with the stepmother’s daughter, born by her from a previous husband and not the sister of the individual who is forbidden, whether daughter of the father, would also have been forbidden. , whether daughter of the mother. But when adding: Daughter of your father, who is your sister. You will not discover her nakedness, (Leviticus 18,11) it is shown that this prohibition was made because of the sister, since she had been the daughter of the father and the stepmother, of whom we had already spoken before. Or the author wanted to prohibit it again more clearly, because before it was very dark? The Scripture does this many times. — QUESTIONS ON LEVITICUS, Q. 59 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Leviticus 18:14

Augustine of Hippo: You will not discover the nakedness of your father’s brother and you will not go near his wife. Here is what it means: You will not discover the nakedness of your father’s brother, that is, your uncle, adding: You will not go near his wife. Naturally, in the uncle’s wife the author wanted the uncle’s nudity to be interpreted, as in the father’s wife he wanted the father’s nakedness to be understood. — QUESTIONS ON LEVITICUS, Q. 60 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Leviticus 18:16

Augustine of Hippo: You will not discover the nakedness of your brother’s wife: it is your brother’s nakedness. We wonder if this is forbidden, living the brother or when he has already died, and the problem is not small. For if we were to say that the Scripture has spoken of the wife of the living brother, resorting to a general precept, which forbids a man to approach his neighbor’s wife, obviously this would also be understood (Cf Exodus 20,17). Why then distinguish in a very careful way with particular prohibitions these people, calling domestic, from the others? Because what it prohibits about the woman of the father, that is to say, of the stepmother, refers to while the father lives and not when he has already died. Well, if the father lives, who does not see that it is much more forbidden, if the wife of any other man is forbidden to be stained with adultery? Therefore, it seems that it refers to those people who, not having husbands, could join in marriage if it were not forbidden by law, as it is said to be the custom among the Persians. But then, if we understood that, when the brother was dead, it was forbidden to marry the wife of the brother, we are presented with the precept that the Scripture imposes when it comes to leaving offspring to a dead brother without children (Cf Deuteronomy 25,5). And therefore, compared this prohibition with that mandate, so that there is no contradiction between them, we must think that there is an exception, that is, it is not lawful for anyone to marry the wife of a deceased brother, if the dead left offspring . Or that this would be forbidden, so that it would not be lawful to marry the brother’s wife even if she had separated by repudiation of the living brother. Because then, as the Lord says, Moses, because of the hardness of the Jews, would have allowed them to give the libel of repudiation (Cf Matthew 19,8). And because of this dismissal it could be thought that anyone could marry lawfully with his brother’s wife, when he did not fear adultery, since he would have separated from her by repudiation. — QUESTIONS ON LEVITICUS, Q. 61 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Leviticus 18:17

Augustine of Hippo: You will not discover the nakedness of a woman or her daughter. That is, no one thinks that it is lawful for him to marry his wife’s daughter. It is not lawful to discover at the same time the nakedness of the woman and her daughter, that is, to have sexual relations with both, with the mother and with the daughter. — QUESTIONS ON LEVITICUS, Q. 62 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Augustine of Hippo: You will not take your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter. The text also prohibits marrying the woman’s granddaughter, the daughter of a son or daughter. You will not take a woman along with her sister to make her jealous. Here it is not forbidden to marry more than one woman, which was allowed to the ancients to increase offspring. But it is forbidden to marry two sisters. This seems to have been done by Jacob (Cf Genesis 30,22-28), either because he was not yet forbidden by law or because he was deceived, by giving him another woman to replace what he wanted, and what he got later, he liked her more. But it was unfair to dispatch the first one, so as not to put her in danger of committing adultery. The final sentence: to produce jealousy, has it been set so that there is no jealousy among the sisters, since the zeal that existed among those who were not sisters had to be despised? Or has it been put rather so that it is not done for this, that is, so that the marriage with two sisters is not made with the intention of provoking zeal among them? — QUESTIONS ON LEVITICUS, Q. 63 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Leviticus 18:19

Augustine of Hippo: You will not approach a woman in separation from her impurity to discover her nakedness. That is, you will not approach a woman during menstruation. The woman, in fact, was separated, according to the law, because of her impurity. What does it mean that here too we wanted to add this with the same precepts with which it was banned (Cf Leviticus 15,19-27) already enough, above? As this was said before, so as not to believe that it had to be taken figuratively, has he also put it here, where these things are forbidden, that, once the observation of the ancient shadows has been abolished, to observe them also without doubt in the time of the New Testament? The Scripture seems to have indicated this also through the prophet Ezekiel, who also mentions the sin of approaching a woman during menstruation between sins that are clearly of iniquity, not symbols of something. And among the merits of justice the prophet does not approach such a woman (Cf Ez 18,6; 22,10). In this matter, nature is not condemned, but rather the danger that can arise for the conception of offspring. — QUESTIONS ON LEVITICUS, Q. 64 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Leviticus 18:20

Augustine of Hippo: Your neighbor’s wife will not give him the coitus of your semen, to contaminate you with it. Here again the adultery committed with the wife of the neighbor is forbidden again, something that the Decalogue also prohibits (Cf Exodus 20,17). It is shown here that those things are forbidden in such a way that, even if their husbands are dead, men should not marry women whose nakedness the Lord forbids to discover. — QUESTIONS ON LEVITICUS, Q. 65 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Leviticus 18:21

Augustine of Hippo: And you will not give of your offspring to serve the prince. Here I do not see what else can be understood except the adoration of the prince, instead of God. For the Greek text does not say duleíein, but latreíein, a word that Latin translators usually do not translate except by serving (serving). But the meaning of both words is very different. Because the Scripture does not prohibit serving men as slaves do, which is not latreíein, but duleíein. But, according to the meaning of the verse, it is not commanded to serve men, but to the one and true God, as it is written: The Lord your God you will worship and he will only serve (Deuteronomy 6,13). But not only with the word latreíein? it is sufficiently indicated who is called prince, that is, who is worshiped as God, but also appears with what comes next: And you will not profane the holy name. Or it is the name of God, whose people can thus serve the prince, or the holy name of the own people of Israel. And that is why it is said: You are holy, since I too am holy (Leviticus 11,44; 19,2; 1P 1,16). Very opportunely it is also added here: I, the Lord. In this way he notices that he is only owed the latreía, the servitude with which he serves God. — QUESTIONS ON LEVITICUS, Q. 66 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Leviticus 18:25

Augustine of Hippo: The Scripture says: And the earth was filled with horror before those who inhabit it. He filled them with horror at the bad deeds of the men who were mentioned before. But we must not think that the Scripture says this because the earth has senses to experience this and to be horrified. With the name of land is designated the men who live on the earth. Therefore, when men do these bad things, they stain the earth, because men who imitate these things are stained. And the earth is horrified, because people who neither do nor imitate this are horrified. — QUESTIONS ON LEVITICUS, Q. 67 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)