Why did God allow incest in the Bible? | GotQuestions.org

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Today's question is, why did God allow incest in the Bible? In this video

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I'll answer that question from a biblical perspective. Then afterwards, as always, I'll share some helpful resources, so stick around until the end.

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There are numerous examples of incest in the Bible. The most commonly thought of examples are the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, Abraham marrying his half -sister

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Sarah, Lot and his daughters, Moses' father Amram who married his aunt

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Jochebed, and David's son Amnon with his half -sister Tamar. It is important to note, however, that in two of the instances,

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Tamar and Lot, one of the parties involved was an unwilling participant in the incest, better described as rape in those cases.

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It is important to distinguish between incestuous relationships prior to God's commanding against them in Leviticus 18, verses 6 -18, and incest that occurred after God's commands had been revealed.

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Until God commanded against it, it was not incest. It was just marrying a close relative. It is undeniable that God allowed incest in the early centuries of humanity.

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Since Adam and Eve were the only two human beings on earth, their sons and daughters had no choice but to marry and reproduce with their siblings and close relatives.

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The second generation had to marry their cousins, just as after the Flood, the grandchildren of Noah had to intermarry amongst their cousins.

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One reason that incest is so strongly discouraged in the world today is the understanding that reproduction between closely related individuals has a much higher risk of causing genetic abnormalities.

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In the early days of humanity, though, this was not a risk due to the fact that the human genetic code was relatively free of defects.

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Another consideration is that incest today almost always involves a prepubescent or powerless victim, and the perpetrator is abusing his or her authority with the goal of unilateral sexual pleasure.

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By that standard, the incest of the Bible has nothing whatsoever in common with modern -day incest.

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There was no power difference between Cain and his wife. For example, the goal of Abraham and Sarah's marriage was to create a family.

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Intermarriage among close family members was a necessity in the generations immediately following Adam and Noah, and was not a sinful perversion of sex.

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It seems that by the time of Moses, the human genetic code had become polluted enough that close intermarriage was no longer safe.

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So God commanded against sexual relations with siblings, half -siblings, parents, and aunts and uncles.

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Genesis 2, verse 24 seems to indicate that marriage and sexual relations between parents and children were never allowed by God.

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It was not until many centuries later that humanity discovered the genetic reason that incest is unsafe and unwise.

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Genetics was not an issue in the early centuries of humanity, and the marriages that occurred between Adam and Eve's children,

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Abraham and Sarah, and Amran and Jacobid were not selfish pursuits of sexual gratification or abuses of authority.

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Accordingly, those relationships should not be viewed as incestuous. The key is that sexual relations between close relatives were viewed differently pre -law and post -law.

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It did not become incest until God commanded against it. Want to learn more? Subscribe so you don't miss the next video!

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Visit GotQuestions .org for more great content. And check out the details section below this video, there you'll find one book

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I recommend, along with links to several related questions. If you'd like to learn about Bible Munch, or if you're interested in Bite -sized devotionals, subscribe to Bible Munch on YouTube, it's linked right here.