ואת־זכר לא תשכב משכבי אשה תועבה הוא׃
Leviticus 18:22
Such a short verse. Only seven words, two and a half of them are auxilliaries of so little account that most dictionaries and concordances do not even index them.
The five words of consequence are:
ואת־זכר With the male/man
תשכב to lie
משכבי the lyings
אשה of the female/woman/wife
תועבה is taboo.
The meaning of the verse seems clear, especially if you already "know" what it is supposed to say: "Sex with a man is sin."
But there is some degree of controversy on four of the five words. I'll discuss the first three together, since together they define the act. I'll look at the fourth afterward
תשכב and משכבי -- these are not forms of the same word, although their respective root words both mean "to lie (down)" and, in fact, both are very closely related.
משכבי -- "the lyings" comes from a root word which simply means to lie down. משכבי appears 46 times in the Hebrew scriptures. 39 times it is translated "bed" or "couch" and usually refers either to a piece of furniture that one lies down on or "taking to one's bed" in illness or injury. Skipping over this verse and the related Leviticus 20:13, there are 8 verses (including three of the verses where it was translated as "bed") where it refers to someone with whom the subject has shared a bed, usually a wife or concubine.
תשכב -- "to lie" also comes from a root word which simply means to lie down. But when it is used in a clearly sexual situation there is almost always an element of non-consent involved, and often outright rape.
אשה -- "of the woman" can simply mean female as זכר means either man or male. But it can also mean woman in the particular sense of wife (or concubine). This can be important if you choose to translate "the lyings" as bed-partner.
So some possible translations of the taboo act are:
- Lying (sexually) with a man as you would with a woman;
- Lying (sexually) with a man in the bed you share with your wife;
- Lying (for any purpose, even sleep) with a man in the bed you share with your wife;
- Raping a man (even if in a manner that the Bible seems to allow for raping a woman);
- Raping a man in the bed you share with your wife;
- Lying (sexually) with your wife's lover;
- Lying (sexually) with your wife and her lover;
- Raping your wife's lover.
The most likely translation is the traditional one (1), although we can't entirely rule out (4), (6), (7), or even (2).
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תועבה -- "is taboo" was translated as "abomination" in the AV, before the word taboo entered the English language. Because of its familiarity, many modern translations also translate תועבה as "abomination," despite the fact that "abomination" has aquired a much stronger and visceral connotation in the last 400 years.
To appreciate the meaning ofתועבה we have to compare it with two other Hebrew words which are also often translated as "abomination": ושקץ and זמה.
ושקץ is a defilement which is temporary. You wash away the offending taboo and thereafter the person or object usually are considered unclean only until the next morning.
תועבה is a stronger defilement which requires a blood sacrifice to expiate. Usually it implies contamination not by a natural agent (such as a woman's menses or a man's sperm) as is the case of ושקץ, but by association with heathen practices, especially idolatry.
זמה is a moral (often sexual) transgression and is more often translated as wickedness rather than abomination.
So if the act was banned because it is an immoral sexual practice, it would be labelled זמה, wickedness, not תועבה, taboo. It is תועבה for the same reason that too close a fraternization with the heathens, or cross-dressing are תועבה -- it is a non-mixing law like not wearing mixed fabrics, to remind the Jews not to mix with the "Nations." This is confirmed in the verses in Leviticus 18, and 20 which follow after the lists of banned actions, of which "lying with a male" is just one.
[bible]Leviticus 20:22-26[/bible]