17 'The nakedness of a woman and her daughter thou dost not uncover; her son's daughter, and her daughter's daughter thou dost not take to uncover her nakedness; they 'are' her relations; it 'is' wickedness. 18 'And a woman unto another thou dost not take, to be an adversary, to uncover her nakedness beside her, in her life.
19 'And unto a woman in the separation of her uncleanness thou dost not draw near to uncover her nakedness. 20 'And unto the wife of thy fellow thou dost not give thy seed of copulation, for uncleanness with her.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Leviticus 18:17-20
Chapter Contents
Unlawful marriages and fleshly lusts.
Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross sin. The grace of God only will secure us; that grace is to be expected only in the use of the means of grace. Nor does He ever leave any to their hearts' lusts, till they have left him and his services.