Is female homosexuality against the Law of Moses?

Question

While there are a few passages in the Old Testament that are taken to condemn male homosexuality (e.g. Lev 18:22, 20:13), I am not aware of any that condemn female homosexuality. It seems to me that all the Biblical arguments against female homosexuality must either rely on:

1. a single NT passage, Romans 1:26-27 (is an NT passage good evidence for what the law of Moses says? - assuming this passage even is about female homosexuality), or
2. more indirect arguments (e.g. Adam and Eve as an ideal that all human beings are required to conform) - the very indirectness of these arguments supports doubting them
3. Traditional Judaism considers female homosexuality to be prohibited, but there is disagreement about whether this is a biblical or post-biblical prohibition (and if the prohibition is post-biblical, then it has little value for those outside of rabbinical Judaism)

So is it fair to say that female homosexuality is not prohibited by the Law of Moses?

Answer 1

Quite simply, no, it's not fair to say that. I do not know Hebrews, but I do know that in Greek, the word anthropos indicates a generic man or person, while aner means specifically a person who is male. If we went through the entire Bible and applied an exclusive gender wherever it said "man", it would be nonsensical.

Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image. Genesis 9:6 ESV

So, capital punishment if anyone kills a man, but no punishment for killing a woman?

Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.” Jeremiah 9:23-24 ESV

So, men should not boast about wealth or wisdom or strength, but women can?

I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps. Jeremiah 10:23 ESV

And a man's life is not his own, but woman's life is?

So, again, no, we cannot exclude female homosexuality as being lawful under Mosaic Law just because the word "man" is employed. At best, it would be an argument from silence, but it really isn't from silence.

Answer 2

After reading the answers already given, I think there are some points and some exegetical contexts that have been over looked or misrepresented. To answer the original question "So is it fair to say that female homosexuality is not prohibited by the law of Moses?", I would say Yes and No. Yes in that scripture does not prohibit all female/female relations, but No in that female/female only relations ARE prohibited. Allow me to expand:

It was said earlier in an answer that when scripture says “man” that it is referring to all mankind including women and citing Genesis 9:6 as a prooftext. However, this is untrue. But, let us examine it to see why.

Genesis 9:6 The Scriptures 1998+ (6) “Whoever sheds man’s [H120] blood, by man his blood is shed, for in the image of Elohim has He made man.

Strong’s H120

אדם

'âdâm

aw-dawm'

From H119; ruddy, that is, a human being (an individual or the species, mankind, etc.): - X another, + hypocrite, + common sort, X low, man (mean, of low degree), person.

Here we can see in the original Hebrew that the word translated into the English is a word meaning a human being as a part of all humanity. So the standard English translation here is fairly ambiguous without knowing the meaning of the original Hebrew. Now let us take a look at another verse..

Leviticus 18:22 KJV Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.

Here a clear distinction can easily be made from the English translation, but we can only make the distinction due to the fact that both terms “mankind” and “womankind” are used in the same verse. However, if only the word “mankind” were used here in the English translation then the reader could easily be made to think that “mankind” was referring to all of humanity if the reader did not understand the original Hebrew. Fortunately the original texts use the words referring specifically to males only first and then to females only. Neither word is referring to the human race as a whole.

Now what can we understand from this verse as relating to the question at hand? Here we get the clear command that men are not to have sexual relations with other men as they do with women. However, there is never such a command given in either the Torah or the entire Tanakh (aka Old Testament). There are sexual prohibitions for women, but none relate to women having sexual relations with women. For instance, a woman is prohibited from having sexual relations with an animal.

Leviticus 18:23 The Scriptures 1998+ (23) ‘And do not have intercourse with any beast, to defile yourself with it. And a woman does not stand before a beast to mate with it, it is a perversion.

Here the text is sure to include both men and women, specifically in fact, in the prohibition of beastiality. But we never see such a prohibition against women have relations with women as we do with the prohibition of men and men or humans and animals.

The Messianic Scriptures, Brit HaDasha, or New Testament goes even further in clarification on this issue.

Romans 1:26-27 The Scriptures 1998+ (26) Because of this Elohim gave them over to degrading passions. For even their women exchanged natural relations for what is against nature, (27) and likewise, the men also, having left natural relations with woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing indecency, and receiving back the reward which was due for their straying.

From these verses we can see that men left the natural use of a woman and committed indecency with other men (i.e. sexual relations). Similarly we see that women left the natural use of men for unnatural relations. Notice here the distinctions though. Scripture clearly makes it a point to say in the case of the men that it was “men with men” and that they were “committing indecency”. In contrast, when speaking about the women, all scripture states is that “women exchanged natural relations for what is against nature”.

As proven earlier, we know that scripture up until this point never prohibited women being with women. We also know that scripture does not contradict itself. So how do we reconcile the passages from the Tanakh (aka Old Testament) and the Messianic Scriptures (aka New Testament)? It is actually rather straight forward when one takes the context of the entire Bible into account with what all of scripture says about men/husbands and women/wives. We know that men are to be the heads/leaders of their household (Genesis 3:16, 1 Corinthians 11:3) and that wives are to submit to their husbands (Ephesians 5:22, Colossians 3:18). So natural relations for a woman would be under the headship of their husband, submitted to their husband, being a helpmate to their husband, and helping to reproduce. To leave natural relations would be to completely leave the man out of the equation altogether.

But how does a woman do such? Currently, in this day and age, it would be what we call “lesbianism”. Lesbians only go for women with women. In such a relationship, no reproduction is possible (which is unnatural), there is no husband in the relationship so there is no head (which is unnatural), and there is no husband to submit to (which is unnatural). So woman/woman only (lesbianism) is anti-scriptural as it is completely unnatural and circumvents the commands of scripture (headship, reproduction, submission, etc).

However, this is where we get into the other part of the answer. Given everything we have learned so far, scripture does not prohibit bisexuality for women. As long as a woman is submitting to her husband as her head/leader, being a helpmate to him, and helping him with reproduction of the human race (be fruitful and multiply), then if that same woman has relations with another woman, then she is not breaking scripture. There is nothing in scripture to prohibit such a situation.

Answer 3

A matter of interpretation

As to whether female homosexuality is prohibited by the Law of Moses, that is a matter of interpretation, which we can't determine or answer on this site.

It is hotly debated whether the Hebrew Bible (or the Greek Bible, for that matter) even contains the concept of homosexuality—that is, an internal romantic and sexual attraction to people of the same sex—or whether it deals only with physical sexual relations between people of the same sex.

But when it comes to specific commandments, the answer is "No."

However, if the intent of the question is to ask more specifically whether there is any commandment against female homosexuality, or of sexual relations between two females, in the Law of Moses, the answer is "No."

Specific commandments about same-sex sexual relations in the Law of Moses

"The Law of Moses" refers primarily to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

However, even if we expand the scope to the entire Hebrew Bible, there are only two verses that contain commandments relating to same-sex sexual relations. Here they are, in the translation found in Young's Literal Translation (YLT), in order to get as close as possible in English to the original Hebrew:

And with a male thou dost not lie as one lieth with a woman; abomination it [is]. (Leviticus 18:22)

And:

And a man who lieth with a male as one lieth with a woman; abomination both of them have done; they are certainly put to death; their blood [is] on them. (Leviticus 20:13)

These passages do not use the generic Hebrew term for a human being: אָדָם ('adam), which is commonly used to refer to men and women generally.

Rather:

• Where the YLT uses the word "man" in Leviticus 20:13, it is a translation of the Hebrew word אִישׁ ('iysh), whose primary meanings are "man, male (in contrast to woman, female)" and "husband."

• Where the YLT uses the word "male" in both passages, it is a translation of the Hebrew word זָכָר (zakar), which refers specifically to a male human being or animal.

These two prohibitions specifically prohibit a man from having sex with another man. There is no parallel commandment prohibiting a woman from having sex with another woman.

Further, these two verses are the only two places in the entire Hebrew Bible where any explicit commandment is given regarding same-sex sexual relations. Nor are these two verses commented on, explained, or expanded upon anywhere else in the Hebrew Bible.

The Hebrew Bible never mentions female same-sex sexual relations

The only other passage in the Hebrew Bible that clearly refers to same-sex sexual relations is found in the story of the attempted gang rape of Lot's two angel visitors by the men of Sodom, told in Genesis 19:1–11. And though the Hebrew Bible itself makes it clear in Ezekiel 16:49–50 that homosexuality, or homosexual sex, was not the primary sin of Sodom, this story does include men attempting to have sex with men.

There is no parallel story anywhere in the Hebrew Bible of women attempting to have, or having, sex with women.

Conclusion

Based on these facts about the text of the Hebrew Bible, if we consider the question we can answer here:

Is there a commandment against female homosexuality, or against women having sex with women, in the Law of Moses?

The answer to that question is:

No, there is no commandment in the Law of Moses, or in the entire Hebrew Bible, prohibiting women from having sex with women.

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For further reference

For more in-depth analyses of homosexuality in the Bible, and of the story of Sodom in particular, please see my articles:

• What is the Sin of Sodom?
• Homosexuality, the Bible, and Christianity

I have also posted an answer here on Christianity StackExchange that summarizes the main points contained in the second article:

Why do some Christians believe it is moral to be a homosexual?

Answer 4

This may largely depend on what you determine purpose of the Law of Moses to be as it pertains to this issue. For example, many believe that large portions of the Law of Moses were handed down to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Many argue that this is why Kosher laws are no longer necessary - Because we know how to prevent things like botulism and have pasturization technology which prevents diseases and bacteria from growing in milk (for example) and many other technological advances.

If one interprets the prohibitions on Homosexuality similarly with the understanding that anal sex has certain hygienic considerations, the the answer is "No." Naturally lesbians engaged in intercourse would not have same hygenic concerns that gay men would, so it makes sens that this might only extend to men. Women would of course still need to follow the purity customs outlined in Leviticus 18:19 and 20:18 however.

On the other hand, if you interpret this passage to apply to mankind for moral reasons then the answer would be "Yes," this passage applies equally to both genders.