The Bible on the question of homosexuality

1. Old Testament Stories and Homosexuality

1 Old Testament Stories and Homosexuality To speak of homosexuality in the Old Testament is not easy, because the Bible does not address the question of a sexual inclination toward members of the same sex as it is seen today today. On the other hand, homosexual behavior is known in the Bible. One can say that the Bible knows a certain kind of homosexuality. The question, then, is not to show that homosexuality is or is not known in the Old Testament. It is rather to demonstrate what is said of it. This question can be treated in the same way as other subjects dealing with sexual behavior. Homosexuality occupies only a small place in the ethical reflections of the Old Testament. Outside of a few legal texts, few stories deal with the issue of homosexual acts. In this chapter, we will first study those stories that are traditionally known as being against homosexuality. Then we will consider those that part of the current research considers to be a model of the tolerance of the Old Testament toward homosexuality. Sodom and Gommorah A Bad Reputation before Its Destruction It is at the time of its settlement by the descendents of Canaan (Gen. 10:15–20) that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah 5 6 Old Testament Stories and Homosexuality are mentioned for the first time in the Bible. Recall that before this settlement, Canaan had just been damned by his grandfather Noah (Gen. 9:24–26).1 The names of the first descendents of Canaan, cited in Gen. 10: 15–17, correspond to populations that later will be expelled and exterminated by Israel in order that Israel may inherit the Promised Land (Ex. 3:17; 23:23; 33:2; 34:11–13; Dt. 7:2–5). Even if Lot chooses this well-irrigated region before its destruction, the text makes it clear that the inhabitants were bad and that they sinned gravely before the Lord (Gen 13:10–13). An attentive reader will have taken into account that the story already mocks the kings of that region by means of an anecdote that highlights their lack of military readiness. In fact, at the time of their flight before the coalition lead by the king of Elam, only the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah, out of the five kings of the vanquished coalition, fall into the pits of bitumen . Moreover, the spoils pillaged from Sodom and Gomorrah will be recovered by Abram (the future Abraham), the Hebrew, who was at the head of three hundred and eighteen warriors. On returning from his expedition, Abram distances himself from the king of Sodom at the same time that he draws closer to Melchisedek, the king of Salem, about whom the text says that he is also a priest of the Most High (14:17– 1. The story of the cursing of Canaan, the grandson of Noah (Gen. 9:18– 27) is enigmatic. The text of verse 22 says that Ham, the son of Noah, had seen his father naked and told his brothers about it. The reading does not explain very well why it was Canaan, the grandson of Noah, who was cursed and not his father Ham. Canaan is probably introduced here because he is the ancestor of the Canaanites, a people whose country Israel would later occupy. A Jewish tradition (Talmud of Babylon, Sanhedrin 70a), followed by certain of our contemporaries, says that Ham had sexually abused his father and emasculated him for forbidding him to have a fourth son. This interpretation seems to have come from the late reception of this text in a specific milieu; it is not suggested by the text itself, and so we will not spend much time on it. Old Testament Stories and Homosexuality 7 24). From the beginning, the Bible regards the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah negatively. This attitude is probably already colored by the story of their destruction. In Gen. 18:20–21, the Lord says that the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so serious that he must descend to find out about it himself. In spite of this, the heavy sin of Sodom and Gomorrah is not specified. For Abraham, who intercedes before the Lord, there must surely be a few just in the region. This will be confirmed by the hospitality of Lot (19:1–3) who acts like Abraham himself (18...