Colin Wong Supporter Founder, eBible.com

The law against sibling intermarriage was not recognized until the period of Moses (Leviticus 18 through 20). All men and women are descendants of Adam and Eve. So we are all "related" by blood anyway, whether sibling or not.

One reason may be that by the time of Moses, because of our sin and our fallen nature, genetics have made it more harmful to inter-marry and thus a new law was given to stop sibling inter-marriage. Adam and Eve, on the other hand, did not "accumulate" genetic defects. They were physically perfect when God created them. But many generations down, because of sin, this "perfection" diluted.

June 07 2013 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Michele Straitiff Supporter Servant of The Lord Jesus Christ, 53, female

Because of deterioration of the human genome due to the curse. I have found reading material from "Institute for Creation Research" to be particularly helpful with such issues. Does not our Lord God always have our best in mind, even when we do not have the understanding to know why.

June 08 2013 • 1 response • Vote Up • Share • Report

Pat Cesar Supporter

Because thru generations of incest bad genes were starting to be passed down Adam and Eve were perfect without defect

June 09 2013 • 2 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Anonymous

If you think about it all man came from Adam and Eve but also all man was also from Noah and his wife as well man became evil and and defective and as the tribes grew there was no longer a necessity for incest

June 09 2013 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Jack Gutknecht Supporter ABC/DTS graduate, guitar music ministry Baptist church

In analyzing the book of Leviticus, I must keep in mind that in Leviticus the call to holiness involved regulations concerning the sanctity of the Tabernacle and blood (Lev 17), the prohibition of incest (18:1-18) and other sexual perversions (18:19-23).
Incest [NAVE]
INCEST. 
Defined and Forbidden
Lev. 18:6-18; Lev. 20:11, 12, 17, 19-21; Deut. 22:30; Deut. 27:20, 22, 23; Ezek. 22:11; 1 Cor. 5:1
Instances of
Lot with his daughters, Gen. 19:31-36.
Abraham, Gen. 20:12, 13.
Nahor, Gen. 11:29.
Reuben, Gen. 35:22; 49:4.
Amram, Ex. 6:20.
Judah, Gen. 38:16-18; 1 Chr. 2:4.
Amnon, 2 Sam. 13:14.
Absalom, 2 Sam. 16:21, 22.
Herod, Matt. 14:3, 4; Mark 6:17, 18; Luke 3:19.
Israel, Amos 2:7.
Instances of marriage of near of kin: Isaac with Rebekah, Gen. 24:15, 67.
Jacob with Leah and Rachel, Gen. 29:23, 30.
Rehoboam, 2 Chr. 11:18.

Incest according to Frank E. Hirsch in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia is a crime. 

It is designated in Hebrew by zimmah, "vice," "wickedness," "refined immorality" (Lev 18:17; 20:14); also "unnatural vice," tebhel, the same word that is used to designate the unnatural commingling with beasts. Amnon's deed is designated as checedh, indicating the degradation of the tenderness natural between brothers and sisters into a tenderness of an immoral character (2 Sam 13). The crime of sexual relation of persons within the degrees of relationship forbidden by the Levitical law, as for instance, that of Lot's daughters with their father (Gen 19:33); the son with his father's concubines, as for instance, Reuben (Gen 35:22), and Absalom (2 Sam 16:22; compare 1 Cor 5:1); that of the father-in-law with his daughter-in-law (Gen 38:15 ff; compare Ezek 22:11); of the brother with the sister or half-sister, as for instance, Amnon (2 Sam 13:14); of the brother-in-law with the sister-in-law (Mt 14:3); with the wife's mother, or the wife's daughter while living in apparent marriage with the mother (Lev 20:14; 18:17). Illicit relation with the brother's widow is designated (Lev 20:21) as a disgraceful deed, literally, "uncleanness" (excepting the levirate marriage). Such acts were forbidden on the ground that the Jews were to avoid the evil practices of the Canaanites and the Egyptians in regard to marriage within the specified limits, because this would naturally result in breaking down the sanctity of the bonds connecting near relatives, and in throwing open the flood gates of immorality among them. It is the Divine plan that the unions based on mutual choice and love, mingled with carnality, shall become clarified more and more into the purer love of close consanguineal relations; not vice versa. Then, too, such provisions would secure higher results in training and in the production of mentally and physically healthy children, the balancing and evening up of contrasts of Nature, and the production of new and improved types. The principle on which the prohibitions are imposed seems to be this: Marriage is forbidden between any person and a direct ancestor or a direct descendant or any close relative, such as brother or sister of either himself or any of his ancestors or any of his immediate descendants.

In GotQuestions S. Michael Houdmann succinctly states it summarily: It is undeniable that God allowed “incest” in the early centuries of humanity. Since Adam and Eve were the only two human beings on earth, their sons and daughters had no choice but to marry and reproduce with their siblings and close relatives. The second generation had to marry their cousins, just as after the flood the grandchildren of Noah had to intermarry amongst their cousins. One reason that incest is so strongly discouraged in the world today is the understanding that reproduction between closely related individuals has a much higher risk of causing genetic abnormalities. In the early days of humanity, though, this was not a risk due to the fact that the human genetic code was relatively free of defects.

April 27 2019 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report