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It’s time, dear friends, to address another

(*dramatic heavy metal intro*)

CLOBBER TEXT.

Clobber texts, for those who don’t know, are the verses used to beat people over the head and tell them, mostly, that they are bad and wrong for being gay, bi, queer, pan, trans, lesbian, or elsewise LGBT2QIA+.

The biggest ones are Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13. I’ve already discussed at length why the sin of Sodom isn’t sodomy. And I will not address the New Testament verses that get used to clobber because that is Not My Lane (tm) but I will send you to QueerTheology & QueerGrace (and NB QG’s great book list) for that particular set of, well, queries.

Ok. Translations mine. Translations are interpretations. All of them. Though I’m trying to be as literal as possible. I’m sure other Hebrew readers will disagree with my choices—less literal in brackets.

וְאֶת־זָכָר לֹא תִשְׁכַּב מִשְׁכְּבֵי אִשָּׁה תּוֹעֵבָה הִוא׃

A male—do not lie with the lyings of a woman; it is a toevah/terrible thing. (Leviticus 18:22)

וְאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר יִשְׁכַּב אֶת־זָכָר מִשְׁכְּבֵי אִשָּׁה תּוֹעֵבָה עָשׂוּ שְׁנֵיהֶם מוֹת יוּמָתוּ דְּמֵיהֶם בָּם׃

If a man who lies with a male the lyings of a woman—both of them have committed a toevah/terrible thing: die, they will die [they will certainly die]; their blood is in them [upon them]. (Leviticus 20:13)

Firstly. Yeah, I made the choice not to translate toevah as “abomination” as a way of pulling you out of habituated ways of thinking and maybe pull off some of what you’ve decided “abomination” means without thinking about what toevah might mean in context.

Second, what might it mean in context?

Well, let’s see what else is toevah, shall we?

• The Egyptians might not eat bread with the Israelites; for that is a toevah to the Egyptians. (Genesis 43:32)

• Every shepherd was toevah unto the Egyptians [presumably (?) because the ram was the sacred animal of two Egyptian gods, Amun and Khnum.] (Genesis 46:34).

• Pharaoh was so moved by the fourth plague, that while he refused the demand of Moses, he offered a compromise, granting to the Israelites permission to hold their festival and offer their sacrifices in Egypt. This permission could not be accepted, because Moses said they would have to sacrifice "the toevah of the Egyptians" (Exodus 8:22). 1

Yes, these things are toevah to the Egyptians. They’re fine for the Israelites, but toevah from the Egyptian POV.

Toevah is also used elsewhere the Torah or more broadly in Hebrew Bible to refer to:

• idolatry or idols (Deuteronomy 7:25, Deuteronomy 13:14, Isaiah 44:19)
• adultery (Ezekiel 22:11)
• illicit marriage (Deuteronomy 24:2-4)
• cultic prostitution (1 Kings 14:24)
• child sacrifice to Molech (Jeremiah 32:35)
• cross-dressing -- likely for the sake of confusing a person for illicit reasons (Rashi on Deuteronomy 22:5)
• cheating in the market by using rigged weights (Deuteronomy 25:13-19, Proverbs 11:1)
• dishonesty (Proverbs 12:22)
• dietary violations (Deuteronomy 14:3)— So yeah. Bacon.
• stealing, murder, adultery, swearing falsely, committing idolatry (Jeremiah 7:9,10)
• usury, violent robbery, murder, oppressing the poor and needy, etc. (Ezekiel 18:10-13)
• Proverbs 6:16-19 lists seven things which are also toevah: "haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are swift in running to mischief, a false witness who utters lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers."

This is not to say “hey, but they condemn a lot of things with this word” is a queer-positive read, necessarily, just want to start out by making it clear that this word is not used for “unique thing that only applies in this one case.”

Because in the days when drag bans are getting passed and gun bans aren’t, knowing your text inside and out matters.

We have to fight against the encroaching theocracy in many ways at once. One of those ways includes disemboweling bad readings of sacred texts—especially the bad readings that are used to harm people—at every available opportunity.

So. toevah notwithstanding, what do we think is going on in this verse, really?