I recently had a brother ask about incest in the bible and I told him I would do an article on it as I needed one. It is a fairly common question among people who are not born again as well as from the saints of God.
People ask "Why was incest allowed back then?"
When we examine the facts, I do not think it is all that complicated of a topic. Before we get to the topic of close family procreating / incest in the bible, to best get knowledge from God's word and not confusion, we need to understand who we are vs God. We are finite, dust, here for a short season then gone. James says:
Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
James 4:14
God is wisdom, power, infinite and eternal so He knows what is best and He will always have His way.
Job was told by God:
Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.
Job 38:4
My point is that before we go telling God what He should have done or not done, we best consider humbly that we are just the clay and He is the Master potter!
As many know, God created Adam and Eve in the beginning and we are all from that first couple. ( Genesis 2 & 3) So the question is always raised "Who did their children marry? The only possible answer, if you hold to God's Word, is the brothers and sisters married each other. By our standards today, this is incest, but was it sinful that at that time? The answer is no and here is why.
1) God ordained it to be so. Not sure we need to go any further as He holds the creation in His hand. Does God not have the right/authority to do as He sees fit with His handiwork? He does indeed but there is more to it.
2) The only way for us all to be related as one race was to come from one couple. God made us in His image he chose for all of mankind to be related. So the inner breeding for a short season was the ONLY way to make this happen. Look at the fighting we have and we are one race. Can you imagine the issues with man if God created say 30 Adams and Eves? You would of had wars over the many tribes or different man kinds. No, God wanted us all related and a short time of close family procreating was the only way it could happen.
3) There were no other humans around and no other choice to procreate so it was NOT sinful then. Usually incest today is about sexual control/abuse over younger family members for ill carnal motives. But back then it was just a man and a woman doing what God commanded they do; create for more humans all related. They would not have even thought about it as bad/sinful in any way as they knew nothing else but that.(You see it as sin/bad as you are alive today but not back then.)
4) Once "all men from one couple" was accomplished, God stopped the practice. (Noah's son's children had to do it as well.) In Leviticus 18:6-18 it was stopped and God made it a sin. Knowing this we can see it was NOT sinful or even incest until God commanded it to stop. Remember God makes the commands, not you and I. You do not have to understand it all fully but you HAVE to accept it or pride rules in you like satan and he was cast out.
5) The gene pool was near perfect back then so it was not a health concern as it would be today.
I think those 5 reasons alone should explain why it was done, why is was NOT sinful and why God stopped it and it is sinful today. Remember God never changes (He is just holy and righteous) but how He deals with man does change and this is another example of that.
I do have another important point to make about early close family breeding (now incest) in the bible. The entire Holy scriptures are about Jesus Christ to come and His genealogy was very important. (His blood line was predicted to come from the line of David) Since Jesus was going to come and be the Lamb of God who takes away the sins on the world ( John 1:29) it seems very key that Jesus would also be related to all of mankind. Remember, He was fully man (human) and God. The bible says this:
"And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit".
1 Cor 15:45
We all can rest knowing there was only one Adam (the first) and Jesus was in a long line of men, came to be the last Adam. Again, if God created many Adams and Eves, that lineage is not one but many and those people would not be related to Christ (as a man) making Him not part of them in creation. I hold it very dear that not only was Christ fully God but He came in the same blood line of humans as me to walk as a lowly man like me. If He came from another distant kind, group or tribe, it would change the relation we all have as one race. (You may need to ponder that one for awhile but do so)
*****In closing, there was a need for close family procreation for a short time but today there is NO reason for it.
I hope this short teaching helps you to see why God did allow what we call incest today for a short time before it was sinful. If you really seek after the truth with a open heart/mind and asking God for knowledge, He will give it. If you come with your own agenda to prove your way or thoughts are correct, you will walk away being foolish, frustrated, confused and often angry.
God's Word says:
But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
1 Cor 1:27
Lets accept the Holy Word and leave the awesome creation/holy commandment issues to the God who alone holds it all in His hands. We would be far better off striving to know His Word and obey Him in what we can control (our own lives) vs telling Him how to do things we cannot even do, amen?
Repent and obey the gospel today. (see it below)
God be praised
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