You must not have sexual relations with your brother’s wife;This command is part of the Holiness Code in Leviticus, which outlines laws for maintaining purity and holiness among the Israelites. The prohibition against sexual relations with a brother's wife is rooted in the importance of family integrity and respect for familial boundaries. In ancient Near Eastern cultures, family structures were central to societal stability, and violations of these boundaries were seen as threats to the community's moral fabric. This law underscores the sanctity of marriage and the need to honor the marital bond. In the New Testament, similar principles are echoed in passages like
1 Corinthians 5:1, where Paul addresses sexual immorality within the church, emphasizing the need for purity among believers.
that would shame your brother.
The concept of shame in this context relates to the honor-shame culture prevalent in the ancient Near East. Bringing shame upon a family member was a serious offense, as it could damage the family's reputation and standing within the community. This law highlights the importance of protecting one's family from disgrace and maintaining the honor of familial relationships. The idea of not shaming one's brother can also be seen in the broader biblical theme of loving one's neighbor and acting in ways that promote harmony and respect within the community. In the New Testament, Jesus teaches about the importance of reconciliation and forgiveness, which aligns with the principle of avoiding actions that would bring shame or harm to others.
Persons / Places / Events
1.
MosesThe author of Leviticus, who received the laws from God to instruct the Israelites.
2.
IsraelitesThe chosen people of God, to whom the laws in Leviticus were given as a guide for holy living.
3.
CanaanThe land where the Israelites were headed, which was inhabited by people with practices that God deemed abominable.
4.
BrotherIn this context, a fellow Israelite or literal sibling, whose marital relationship is to be respected.
5.
Brother’s WifeThe woman who is married to one's brother, whose relationship is protected by this commandment.
Teaching Points
Respect for Family BoundariesThis commandment underscores the importance of respecting familial relationships and boundaries. Violating these boundaries leads to shame and dishonor.
Holiness in RelationshipsGod calls His people to a standard of holiness that includes sexual purity. This commandment is part of a broader call to live distinctively from the surrounding cultures.
The Consequences of SinEngaging in prohibited relationships can lead to personal and communal consequences, including shame and broken relationships.
Understanding ContextWhile this commandment is specific, it is part of a larger biblical ethic that values marriage and family. Understanding the cultural and historical context helps us apply these principles today.
Guarding Against TemptationThis verse serves as a reminder to guard our hearts and actions against temptations that can lead to sin and dishonor.
Bible Study Questions and Answers
1.What is the meaning of Leviticus 18:16?
2.How does Leviticus 18:16 emphasize the sanctity of marriage and family boundaries?
3.What are the consequences of violating Leviticus 18:16 in today's society?
4.How does Leviticus 18:16 relate to the Ten Commandments on adultery?
5.How can we uphold Leviticus 18:16 in our personal relationships today?
6.What steps can churches take to teach Leviticus 18:16's principles effectively?
7.Why does Leviticus 18:16 prohibit relations with a brother's wife?
8.How does Leviticus 18:16 reflect ancient Israelite family values?
9.What historical context influenced the command in Leviticus 18:16?
10.What are the top 10 Lessons from Leviticus 18?
11.What led to John the Baptist's beheading?
12.What does 'uncover the nakedness' mean in the Bible?
13.What led to John the Baptist's beheading?
14.Should a spouse admit to committing adultery?What Does Leviticus 18:16 Mean
You must not have sexual relations– The command is direct and unequivocal. God draws clear sexual boundaries (Leviticus 18:1-5) that uphold holiness.
– Adultery, in any form, violates the covenant of marriage established inGenesis 2:24 and is forbidden by the seventh commandment (Exodus 20:14).
– New-Testament echoes keep the standard unchanged: “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept undefiled” (Hebrews 13:4); “It is God’s will that you should be holy: that you abstain from sexual immorality” (1 Thessalonians 4:3-5).
– This prohibition guards body, soul, and community. Paul warns, “Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a man can commit is outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body” (1 Corinthians 6:18).
with your brother’s wife– The relationship in view is doubly off-limits: adultery and a form of incest.Leviticus 20:21 reiterates, “If a man marries his brother’s wife, it is impurity; he has dishonored his brother.”
–Mark 6:17-18 highlights Herod’s guilt for marrying his brother Philip’s wife—John the Baptist condemned it on the same grounds.
– God did provide a narrow, regulated exception inDeuteronomy 25:5-10 (the levirate marriage) to preserve a dead brother’s line; even then it required the brother to be deceased and childless, not merely absent.
– The New Testament church treated such unions as scandalous: “A man has his father’s wife… Shouldn’t you have been filled with grief?” (1 Corinthians 5:1-2). The same grief applies when a man takes his living brother’s wife.
that would shame your brother– Sexual sin never affects only two people; it dishonors families and communities.Proverbs 6:33 warns, “Wounds and dishonor will he receive, and his reproach will never be wiped away.”
– The law protects the brother’s dignity, reputation, marriage, and offspring.Romans 13:10 reminds us, “Love does no wrong to a neighbor,” and one’s brother is certainly a neighbor.
– Shaming another image-bearer violated the core ethic spelled out by Jesus: “Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31).
– Israel’s health as a covenant people depended on maintaining honor within households (Genesis 34:5-7). Breaking that trust weakened the entire nation’s witness (Deuteronomy 23:14).
summaryLeviticus 18:16 literally forbids a man from having sexual relations with his brother’s wife. The command defends the sanctity of marriage, the purity of the family line, and the honor owed to one’s brother. Scripture consistently treats such a union as both adulterous and incestuous, bringing dishonor, personal ruin, and communal defilement. God’s people are called to uphold sexual purity, honor familial bonds, and love their neighbor—starting with those in their own household.
(16)
The nakedness of thy brother's wife.--Though alliance with a brother's wife is here forbidden--the prohibition, according to the administrators of the law during the second Temple, extending to illicit commerce or marriage in case she is divorced from her husband during the lifetime of her husband--and though the offenders are threatened with the curse of childlessness (see
Leviticus 20:21), yet the law on this point is by no means absolute. Under certain conditions the law enjoins it as a moral and civil duty for a man to marry his brother's widow. If a brother dies without issue, it is incumbent upon each surviving brother in succession to marry the widow, and if the brother-in-law refused to perform the sacred duty, the widow made him pass through a ceremony in which she heaped upon him the greatest indignity. This clearly shows that the prohibition here could not be based upon the ground of incest, since that which is inherently incestuous the Divine law itself would under no circumstances have set aside. This duty the surviving brother-in-law had to perform to the widows of as many of his brothers as happened to die without issue. A striking illustration of this fact occurred whilst Jehudah the Holy was president of the Sanhedrin. Twelve widows appealed to their brother-in-law to perform the duty of
Levir.He refused to marry them because he saw no prospect how to maintain such an additional number of wives, and possibly a large increase of children. The case came before the President of the Sanhedrin, who not only decided that he must marry them all, but promised that if he would do the duty enjoined upon him by the Law of Moses, he himself would maintain the family, and their children in case there should be any, every Sabbatical year, when no produce was got from the land, which was at rest. The offer was accepted by the
Levir,and he accordingly married his twelve sisters-in-law. After three years these twelve wives appeared with thirty-six children before Jehudah the Holy, to claim the promised alimony, as it was the Sabbatical year, and they actually obtained it. To this day this law is in force among the orthodox Jews. When a man dies without issue, the widow
ipso factobelongs to the surviving brother, and she is not allowed to marry any one else unless her brother-in-law has gone through the ceremony of publicly renouncing her, which is tantamount to a divorce. This will explain the rendering of the clause before us in the ancient Chaldee Version, "thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother's wife in the lifetime of thy brother or after his death if he has children."
Verse 16. - The eighth ease of incest is intercourse with a brother's wife. Yet this is commanded under certain circumstances in the Book of Deuteronomy, and was practiced in patriarchal times (
Genesis 38:8). The following are the circumstances under which it is commanded. "If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her" (
Deuteronomy 25:5). It has been asked, "How can the same thing be forbidden as immoral in Leviticus, and commanded as a duly in Deuteronomy?" Bishop Wordsworth replies, "In a special case, for a special reason applicable only to the Jews, God was pleased to dispense with that law, and in the plenitude of his omnipotence to change the prohibition into a command.... God cannot command anything that is sinful. For sin is 'transgression of the Law' (
1 John 3:4), and whatever he commands is right. But it would be presumptuous to say that
we may dispense with God's law concerning marriage, because he in one case dispensed with it; as it would be impious to affirm that murder is not immoral, and may be committed by us, bemuse God, who is the sole Arbiter of life and death, commanded Abraham to slay his son Isaac." The levirate marriage was not a concession to the desires of the second brother, but a duty enjoined for a family or tribal purpose, and it was plainly at all times must distasteful. Thus Onan refused to perform his duty to Er's wife (
Genesis 38:9); the legislation in Deuteronomy anticipates objection on the part of the brother, and institutes an in-suiting ceremony to be gone through by him if he declines to do his duty to his dead brother (
Deuteronomy 25:9, 10), which we see carried out in some of its details in the case of Ruth's kinsman (
Ruth 4:7, 10). Indeed, in such a marriage, the second husband seems rather to have been regarded as the continuation of the first husband than as having a substantive existence of his own as a married man. He performed a function in order "that the name of his brother which is dead may not be put out of Israel" (
Deuteronomy 25:6), "to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren" (
Ruth 3:10). The second husband's position may be compared to that of the concubine presented by Rachel to her husband. "Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her" (
Genesis 30:3). The whole object of the rule was that, as the elder brother could not keep up the flintily by begetting an heir, the younger brother should do it for him after his death.
Parallel Commentaries ...
Hebrew
You must notלֹ֣א(lō)Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808:Not, nohave sexual relations withעֶרְוַ֥ת(‘er·waṯ)Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 6172:Nakednessyour brother’sאָחִ֖יךָ(’ā·ḥî·ḵā)Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 251:A brother, )wife;אֵֽשֶׁת־(’ê·šeṯ-)Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 802:Woman, wife, femalethatהִֽוא׃(hî)Pronoun - third person feminine singular
Strong's 1931:He, self, the same, this, that, as, arewould shameעֶרְוַ֥ת(‘er·waṯ)Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 6172:Nakednessyour brother.אָחִ֖יךָ(’ā·ḥî·ḵā)Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 251:A brother, )
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OT Law: Leviticus 18:16 You shall not uncover the nakedness (Le Lv Lev.) 
