Sex in African and Israelite marriage system – Leviticus 1816 in Context

Abstract

Marriage in both African and Israelite cultures is a revered institution hence it is safeguarded by a host of laws and obligations which have to be observed for the survival of the societies. One law which cuts across both cultures finds expression in the biblical injunction: “You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; she is your brother’s nakedness” (Lev.18:16). While both societies adhere strictly to this law, one finds that there is a certain kind of conflict when it comes to the observance of this law in both cultures. In African society, Shona culture in Zimbabwean in particular, the tension usually comes out when one looks at the recognition of a practice called kupindira (poaching). Such recognition covers also death situations when a brother to the deceased person bears children for his brother with the deceased’s wife. In Israelite culture, we find the Sadducees alluding to the same practice when they argue that Moses wrote for them that if a man’s brother died, having a wife but no children, the man must take the wife and raise up children for his brother (Lk.20:28). It is the interest of this paper to explore this tension in both cultures adding more voice thus to the discussion on the hermeneutic of identification between African and biblical culture.