Texts in Conversation
Leviticus 18 warns Israel against the sexual practices of the nations that God is driving out of the land. The Letter of Aristeas draws on the same chapter when Eleazar says God has kept the Jews apart from nations that defile themselves this way.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Leviticus 18:24
Hebrew Bible
22 You must not have sexual relations with a male as one has sexual relations with a woman; it is a detestable act. 23 You must not have sexual relations with any animal to become defiled with it, and a woman must not stand before an animal to have sexual relations with it; it is a perversion. 24 “‘Do not defile yourselves with any of these things, for the nations that I am about to drive out before you have been defiled with all these things. 25 Therefore the land has become unclean, and I have brought the punishment for its iniquity upon it, so that the land has vomited out its inhabitants. 26 You yourselves must obey my statutes and my regulations and must not do any of these abominations, both the native citizen and the resident foreigner in your midst,
Letter of Aristeas 1:152
Letter of Aristeas to Philocrates
Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
'Therefore he compels us to recognize that we must perform all our actions with discrimination according to the standard of righteousness - more especially because we have been distinctly separated from the rest of mankind. For most other men defile themselves by promiscuous intercourse, in this way doing great wickedness, and whole countries and cities pride themselves on such vices. For they not only have intercourse with men but they defile their own mothers and even their daughters. But we have been kept separate from such sins. And the people who have been separated in the aforementioned way are also characterized by the Lawgiver as possessing the gift of memory. For all animals " which are cloven-footed and chew the cud "
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Notes and References
“... As a matter of fact, the entire first part of the “Apology” (sections 130–52, not just section 152) is an exegesis of Lev. 18:3–24 (not just Lev. 18:6 ff.). It starts with the allusion to Leviticus 18:3 (“You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you”). In section 152 Eleazar mentions “promiscuous unions,” defiling of mothers and daughters (Lev. 18:6–18), and intercourse with males (Lev. 18:22). Further, allusions are not only semantic, but linguistic as well. In Leviticus 18:24 God “castes out” (exapo-stellei) the nations who have defiled themselves; in sections 151–52 of the “Apology” God “keeps apart” (dia-stellei) the Jews from the nations who defile themselves. Here, the change of the prefix changes the meaning of the verb. It still means “separation,” but through keeping the Jews apart, not through expelling other nations. ...”
Kovelman, Arkady
Between Alexandria and Jerusalem: The Dynamic of Jewish and Hellenistic Culture
(pp. 89-90) Brill, 2005
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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