Sexuality in the Old Testament: strong as death, unquenchable as fire

Currents in Theology and Mission, Feb, 2003 by Esther M. Menn

Because women generally possess less overt power, physically at least if not always socially, their manipulation of sexuality to the harm of another generally involves subterfuge. Potiphar's wife, for example, is unrequited in her desire for sexual attentions from Joseph, her husband's handsome employee, since he will not listen to his mistress's crude command, "Lie with me!" or even more literally, "Lay me!" (Gen 39:7, 12). She therefore uses the garment that she pulls off Joseph's body to convince her husband that his employee attempted to rape her, and Joseph lands in prison on trumped-up charges. In the long run, though, Joseph's unjust incarceration indirectly leads to his rise to second in command over all of Egypt; in prison Joseph meets Pharaoh's butler, who later recommends him as an interpreter of dreams to Pharaoh himself (Genesis 40-41).

Another unforgettable deceiver is Delilah, Samson's Philistine girlfriend, whose nagging accusations that he doesn't love her eventually lead the mighty hero to disclose the basis of his phenomenal strength, making him vulnerable to capture by Philistines (Judges 16). In this case, too, Samson's degradation leads ultimately to greater, although Pyrrhic, victory, because once his hair has grown out and his strength has returned he is able to pull down the Philistine temple upon himself and more Philistines than he ever killed in life. Unlike in classical Greek literature where the rage of slighted women precipitates the murders of husbands and children, there is relatively less expression in the Old Testament of a fear of women's misuse of male vulnerability within sexual relationships. In these biblical stories of deceiving women, even if in the short term things look bad for the hero, ultimately things work out for the best.

Sexuality and power. The social and political dimensions of sexuality are especially clear in the Old Testament. Sex had consequences, not just for the individuals involved, as our culture tends to assume, but for the larger community. These consequences included the creation of family lines important for inheritance, group coherence, and political alliances. Women who restore genealogies broken by tragedy and legal impasse are therefore applauded, even if they use deceptive and morally ambiguous means. Such is the case with David's ancestress Tamar (after whom David named his own daughter discussed above), who posed as a prostitute in order to sleep with her father-in-law and bear sons to continue the family line (Genesis 38).

Incidentally, Genesis 38 is another of those misunderstood scriptural passages that has contributed to the Christian vocabulary of sexual sins. Onan, Tamar's brother-in-law, lent his name to "onanism," a term traditionally signifying masturbation--although it has become somewhat archaic now that disapprobation of the practice has diminished. Onan spilled his seed on the ground rather than fulfill his obligation to impregnate his sister-in-law Tamar in accordance with the levirate law, which holds a dead man's brother responsible for producing heirs on behalf of the deceased (Deut 25:5-10). The offspring Onan had with Tamar would legally be his elder brother Er's children, and as heirs of the eldest son they would inherit a double portion of the family's wealth, thus leaving less for remaining brothers, including Onan himself. What God saw as "evil" in Onan's coitus interuptus was his selfish refusal to meet his legal and social obligation, not the technical aspects of the sex act itself. An accurate definiti on of "onanism" based on Genesis 38 would therefore be one who withdraws before ejaculation when having socially sanctioned sex with his sister-in-law in order to produce heirs for her dead husband. This shows how much things have changed as far as the social structures within which human sexuality is legitimately expressed! There is no explicit prohibition against masturbation in the Old Testament.