Incest (In The Bible)

The subject of incest in the Bible will be treated under three headings: incest in the patriarchal age, in the Mosaic Law, and in the New Testament.

Patriarchal Age. Instances are recorded during this period of intercourse between near relatives. Lot’s daughters, motivated by a desire for children in a manless world, conceived Moab and Ammon by their father (Genesis 19:30–38). The story, which is etiological in as far as it gives a folk etymology to the names of these peoples, was used to insult the Ammonites and Moabites because they refused to help Israel in time of need (Deuteronomy 23:3-5). Ruben was deprived of his birthright because of incest (Genesis 35:22; 49:3–4). Judah had intercourse with Tamar, his daughter-in-law, but was not blamed for it, since he thereby raised up children for his dead sons. see levirate marriage (in the bible).

Mosaic Law. God forbade the Israelites to imitate the incestuous customs of Egypt where marriage between brothers and sisters was sometimes practiced (Leviticus 18:3,6). The incestuous unions prohibited in the Law (some were legitimate at an earlier age in Israel) are those of son and mother, of a man with the wife of his father (Leviticus 18:8; Deuteronomy 27:20) and with the mother of his wife (Deuteronomy 27:23), of a man with his granddaughter or his wife’s daughter or granddaughter (Leviticus 18:10, 17), of a man with his sister or half-sister (Leviticus 18:9; Deuteronomy 27:22; see, however, Genesis 20:12), of a nephew with his aunt (Leviticus 18:12–14; cf. Exodus 6:20), of a man with his daughter-in-law or with his sister-in-law (Leviticus 18:15, 16; 20:21); levirate marriage is an exception (Deuteronomy 25:5–10). Also forbidden was marriage to two sisters at the same time (Leviticus 18:18), although formerly it had been allowed (Genesis 29.27–28). Penalties for incest were death (Leviticus 20:11–17), excommunication (Leviticus 18:29), and being cursed (Deuteronomy 27:20, 22–23), e.g., by being childless (Leviticus 20:21).

Other instances of incest are found in the Old Testament. Ammon, son of David, raped Tamar, his half-sister, for which Tamar’s brother Absalom murdered him (2 Samuel 13:1-32). Absalom committed incest with his father’s concubines, to show that he now was king (2 Samuel 16:21–22). David’s son Adoniyah asked for Abishag, his father’s concubine, a request that Solomon considered rebellion, although David had not “known” her (1 Kings 2:13–23; 1:4). In Ezekiel 22:10-11, among the crimes of Jerusalem, incest is listed (see also Amos 2:7).

In the New Testament. There are only two instances of incest in the New Testament. Herod Antipas married Herodias, his niece, and the wife of his brother Philip who was still living. John the Baptist was imprisoned because of his condemnation of Herod for marrying his brother’s wife (Mark 6:17-18).

In 1 Corinthians 5:1-12, St. Paul excommunicates and delivers to Satan a man sexually linked to his father’s wife, no doubt his stepmother. Paul condemns such a sin as an “immorality … not found even among the Gentiles,” and a corrupting influence on the sacred community. He also blames the Corinthian church for not having already excluded the man.

Summary: Yes, there’s a lot of incest in the Bible. Since the Bible records a behavior, it approves of it. Neither in the Old Testament nor New Testament does incest seem to be condemned for eugenic reasons, although these may have been the basis for the moral prohibition.