BIBLIOTHECA SACRA 147
(588) (1990): 437-54
Copyright © 1990 Dallas
Theological Seminary. Cited with permission.
A Critique of Prohomosexual
Interpretations
of the
Old Testament
Apocrypha
and Pseudepigrapha
James B. De Young
Professor of New
Testament Language and Literature
Western
Conservative Baptist Seminary,
The contemporary debate surrounding
homosexuality has many
facets, including sexual behavior, public morality, law,
civil rights,
public health, and the interpretation of Scripture.
The last facet is
particularly important, for the way
people perceive the relevance of
the Bible on the issue will determine in large
measure how the issue
will be addressed from the other perspectives.
In recent years interpretations of the
Scriptures have arisen that
challenge traditional teaching regarding
homosexuality. The
"prohomosexual"
interpretations are "revisionist" in that they ei-
ther (1) fail to find
homosexuality where it has been found before
(Gen.
19; Judg. 19; Ezek. 16; 1 Cor.
6; 1 Tim. 1; etc.), or (2) claim that
passages referring to homosexuality are
irrelevant to the Christian
church either because they concern
God
(e.g., Lev. 18; 20), or because they concern a form of homosexual-
ity (rape or pederasty)
unlike the modern phenomenon of mutual
adult relationships and hence have nothing to
contribute.
Somewhat surprisingly, this "prohomosexual" position is
founded on the witness of the Old Testament
Apocrypha and Pseude-
pigrapha. The claim is that the
Scriptures, excluding 2 Peter and
Jude,
do not link homosexuality to
ment Apocrypha. The Old
Testament Psetidepigrapha makes this
connection for the first time in reactions to the
homosexuality ram-
pant in Greco-Roman society. The Pseudepigrapha
subsequently in-
437
438
Bibliotheca Sacra /
October-December 1990
fluenced 2 Peter and Jude to
connect
tices. Therefore, according to
Bailey, "the traditional conception of
have followed Bailey in this approach. Scroggs indeed believes
that condemnations of Scripture concern pederasty,
not mutual, adult
homosexuality, on the basis of
interpretations found in the Pseude-
pigrapha. The New Testament,
like the Pseudepigrapha, is only
reacting to the pederasty of the surrounding
pagans.
The Old Testament Apocrypha consists of about 14
books or por-
tions found in the Septuagint,
the Greek translation of the Old Tes-
tament. These are books of
history (1 Esdras; 2 Esdras;
1, 2 Mac-
cabees); poetry and wisdom (Ecclesiasticus; Wisdom of Solomon); and
fiction having an edifying purpose (Judith; Tobit; Baruch and the
Epistle
of Jeremiah; Prayer of Manasseh; three additions to Daniel;
and additions to Esther). In 1546 the Roman
Catholic Church canon-
ized 11 of these books or
portions, while Jews and Protestants have
refused to view them as authoritative.
The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha
encompasses additional
books, most of which were written, like the
Apocrypha, between the
Testaments of canonical Scripture. Most are named after
Old Testa-
ment persons who purportedly
authored the books, though no one was
deceived by these false claims and no one
considered these writings
canonical. Nevertheless they provide encouragement
and insight
into the times, and many claim to set forth the
course of future events
in an apocalyptic genre.
It is clear that the proper interpretation of
the Apocrypha and
Pseudepigrapha is crucial to the
interpretation of Scripture on the
issue of homosexuality and to the modern debate over
homosexual-
ity, at least in its use of
Jewish and Christian Scriptures. This study
seeks to interpret all the references to
uality) found in this intertestamental literature and to critique "pro-
homosexual" use of it.
The Apocrypha
ECCLESIASTICUS
This book was written in Hebrew about 180 B.C.
and is also known
as Sirach or the Wisdom
of Joshua, son of Sirach. According to the
1 D.
Sherwin Bailey, Homosexuality and the
Western Christian Tradition (
Longmans,
Green, 1955), p. 10 (see also pp. 6-8, 27-28);
2 John Boswell, Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality (
versity of Chicago Press,
1980), p. 94, n. 7, and pp. 108-11.
3 Robin Scroggs, The New Testament and Homosexuality (
Press, 1983), chaps. 5, 6, esp. pp. 67,
83-84, 97-98.
A Critique of Prohomosexual
Interpretations 439
prologue it was translated into Greek by the
grandson of the author
in 132 B.C. Prohomosexual
interpreters cite Ecclesiasticus 16:8 as
making pride the sin of
edly "a more ancient
tradition."4 The pertinent lines are the follow-
ing: "He did not spare
the people among whom
whom he detested for their pride."5
In the context the author successively discussed
the judgment of
raelites who died in the
sojourn. It is obvious that he was not trying
to be exhaustive in giving the reason for judgment
in each case. For
example only the rebellion of the giants (16:7)
is given as the reason
for the judgment of the Flood (saying nothing about
violence, inter-
marriage, etc., as Genesis 6 relates).
Since Genesis 19 says nothing of pride, it is
clear that the author
of Ecclesiasticus was
interpreting when he assigned pride as the cause
of the overthrow. Yet he was not incorrect to do
so, as will be shown.
Moreover, the author of Ecclesiasticus
had a special reason for
giving pride as the cause of
especially abhorrent throughout, whereas wisdom is
extolled.
dom characterizes those who
fear the Lord and those who master
the Law (15:1). To fear the Lord is "the
source of wisdom" (
"all wisdom comes from the Lord" (1:1; cf.
Also
wisdom is "far from pride" (15:8). According to Ecclesiasticus
pride violates both wisdom and fear of the Lord. Thus
in the context
which includes
"pride" (16:8), "obstinacy" (
The author believed that God "will judge a
man by his doings"
(16:12;
cf.
some deeds in mind for which
pressions of its pride.
It is clear that "pride" cannot be
limited to a state of being or
disposition, but here must include "proud
behavior," and perhaps
even "sexual desire"6 The Greek term is u[perhfa<nia, which occurs as
a noun here (often including actions: 10:7,
12-13, 18; 15:8; 16:8;
48:18; 51:10) and in the Letter of Aristeas (262, 269) and in Mark
As
the noun so the verb u[perhfane<w can mean both "be
proud,
4 Boswell, Christianity,
Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality, p. 94, n. 7.
5 Edgar J. Goodspeed,
The Apocrypha (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1938),
p.252.
6 Even the English word "pride"
denotes this. See Webster's Third New Interna-
tional Dictionary (Springfield, MA: G. & C. Merriam Co.,
1971), p. 1799. An obsolete
meaning is "sexual desire." Also see
The Compact Edition of the
tionary (Glasgow: Oxford
University, 1971), 2:2297.
440
Bibliotheca Sacra /
October-December 1990
haughty," and "treat arrogantly and
disdainfully, despise" (4 Macc.
cognates.
The word "detested" ("whom he
detested for their pride") is e]b-
delu<cato. In
(bde<lugma). Since these cognates
are used in the Septuagint to refer
to sodomy (Lev.
to in Ecclesiasticus
11:2;
It seems certain that sodomy is the meaning of
the term in 49:2.
In
this verse the author praised King Josiah as a godly king. He
wrote, "He succeeded in converting the people,
and abolished the
wicked abominations."8
The last two terms translate bdelu<gmata
a]no<miaj. These same
terms are juxtaposed in Jeremiah 16:1.8 and are
translated, "detest-
able idols and abominations" (NASB). Snaith renders the terms in
Ecclesiasticus as
"loathsome and lawless deeds."9
It is important to note the event referred to by
the author in 49:2.
The
setting is 2 Kings 23:1-13, where the terms for "abolished" (vv.
5,
11) and "abomination" (v. 13) occur. In these verses Josiah, with
whom Jeremiah was a contemporary, is credited with
defiling the
abominable high places of Ashtoreth,
Chemosh, and Milcom (v.
13),
and ending the idolatrous priests and other idols
(vv. 5, 11). Yet the
significant statement is Josiah's being credited
with breaking down
"the houses of the male cult prostitutes which were in the
house of
the Lord, where the women were weaving hangings for
the
Asherah"
(v. 7).
This is a reference to religious prostitution between
males and constitutes sodomy (cf. 1 Kings
warned of such practices in Deuteronomy 23:17-18. It
is not unreason-
able to assume that the writer of Ecclesiasticus had in mind this
7 William F. Arndt and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New
Testament and Other
Early Christian Literature (
Press,
1957), pp. 848-49. Paul placed the adjective u[perh<fanoj between u[bri<sthj and
a]la<zwn
in a list of vices (Rom.
ceptually between the violently
insolent and the empty boasters. The noun occurs in
the New Testament only in the list of vices in Mark
7:22. See the Theological
Dictionary of the New
Testament,
S.v. "u[perh<fanoj,
u[perhfa<nia", by Georg Bertram,
8:525-29.
8 Goodspeed, The Apocrypha, p. 321. :
9 John G. Snaith, Ecclesiasticus or the Wisdom of Jesus Son of Sirach (
terms see James B. DeYoung,
"The Old Testament Witness to Homosexuality: A Criti-
cal Assessment of the Prohomosexual
Interpretation of the Old Testament," paper pre-
sented to the Northwest
Section, Evangelical Theological Society, May 4, 1985, Port-
land, OR.
A Critique of Prohomosexual
Interpretations 441
idolatrous, sexual vice when he used the term bde<lugma in 49:2.
Yet
probably the most significant passage for this study is
18.
The author wrote of the judgment on pride:
For pride begins with sin, and the man who
clings to it will rain
down abominations. For this
reason, the Lord brings unheard-of
calamities upon them, and
overturns them utterly. The Lord tears
down the thrones of rulers,
and seats the humble-minded in their
places. The Lord plucks up
nations by the roots, and plants the lowly in
their places. The Lord overturns
heathen countries, and destroys them
down to the foundations of the earth. He takes some of them
away, and
destroys them, and makes the
memory of them cease from the earth.
Pride was not created for men, nor fierce anger for those who are born
of women.10
The concepts here are similar to those in 16:8
("whom he de-
tested for their pride"). He wrote with sarcasm
that on those who
hold to pride, God will bring abominations (bde<lugma). The first line
of verse 13 enforces the interpretation of 16:8
that other sins are im-
plicit in the passage.
The second line of verse 13 is rendered by Box
and Oesterley as,
"And
its source overfloweth with depravity."11
The idea is that sin
pours forth every form of depravity.12
Another Greek manuscript
reads, "And fornication is the source of
both." Evidently the Hebrew
term for "depravity" is hmA.zi, used also in Ezekiel 16:27, 43, 58
("lewd-
ness"), and Judges 20:6, where the Levite
accused the men of Gibeah
of committing "a lewd act in
ual relationship.
Other verbal connections with Old Testament
contexts dealing
with
sin") the noun u[perhfa<nia occurs. In verse 17 the
verb e]ch<ranen occurs
("He
takes some of them away"). Both of these words and the pas-
sage as a whole support the idea that the author
alluded to Ezekiel
your sister
they were haughty and committed abominations before
Me. There-
fore I removed them when I saw it." The words
"arrogance" and "re-
moved" in the Septuagint are from the same Greek
terms as em-
ployed in Ecclesiasticus
In Ezekiel 16:56-57
10 Goodspeed, The Apocrypha, pp. 241-42.
11
G. H. Box and W. O. E. Oesterley,
"The Book of Sirach," in The Apocrypha and
Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament in English, ed. R. H. Charles, 2
vols. (
Clarendon
Press, 1913), 1:350.
12 Snaith renders the
second line of
depravity" (Ecclesiasticus or The Wisdom of Jesus Son of Sirach, p. 54).
442
Bibliotheca Sacra I
October-December 1990
(u[perhfa<nia)
in a verse linking
your sister
before your wickedness was uncovered." Here in a
context of har-
lotry, lewdness, and
abominations (v. 58)
fied as "pride"
just as
u[perhfa<nia
(used in Ezekiel only in
Hebrew NOxGA. In similar contexts it
means "arrogance, cynical insensi-
tivity to the needs of others,
and presumption. It is both a disposi-
tion and a type of conduct
(both of which are inextricably con-
nected)."13 The
contexts of Ezekiel and Ecclesiasticus confirm this
statement.
In Ecclesiasticus
of pride is to forsake the Lord, man's heart
revolting against his
Maker." Here "origin"
has the sense of "essence" (cf.
the essence of pride is revolt against God.
Persistence in pride then
increases the depravity (v. 13). Can there be any
doubt that or this
author "pride" includes conduct and
disposition? Is this not an apt
description of sodomy?
The graphic portrayal of God's judgment in
with the Greek terms employed, and their Hebrew
counterparts,
makes an allusion to the overthrow of
tremely probable. Even the
translators suggest this as a possibil-
ity.15 The writer of Ecclesiasticus appears to be faithful to the ac-
count of Genesis 19 via Ezekiel 16. For his own
theological purpose
he interprets the sin of
arrogant conduct and a violation of wisdom. For
Bailey and Boswell
to limit their discussion to Ecclesiasticus
16:8 is unfortunate. And for
them to limit the sin of
even more unfortunate.
WISDOM
OF SOLOMON
The Wisdom of Solomon is by an unknown author
and is probably
a composite work dated 50 B.C. to A.D. 10, or as
late as A.D. 40. The
passage most frequently discussed regarding
sodomy occurs in a list of
vices in 14:23-26. The context deals with the origin
and results of
idolatry. For the author there is a deliberate
connection between
13 R.
Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer, Jr., and Bruce K. Waltke,
eds., Theological
Wordbook of the Old
Testament,
2 vols. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1980), s.v. "hxAGA," by
Victor
P. Hamilton, 1:143.
14 Snaith, Ecclesiasticus, p. 56. So also Edward Lee Beavin, "Ecclesiasticus or
the
Wisdom
of Jesus the Son of Sirach," The Interpreter’s One-Volume Commentary on
the
Bible, ed. Charles M. Layman
(New York: Abingdon Press, 1971), p. 557.
15 "In 16b ('extirpateth
them,' etc.) there may be an allusion to
xvi. 49" (Box and Oesterley,
"The Book of Sirach," 1:350, n. 16).
A Critique of Prohomosexual
Interpretations 443
idolatry and sexual vice: "For the devising
of idols was the begin-
ning of fornication" (
vices (
For neither while they murder children in their
rites nor celebrate
secret mysteries, nor hold
frenzied revels with alien laws do they keep
their lives or marriages
pure, but one man waylays another and kills
him, or grieves him by
adultery. And it is all a confusion of blood and
murder, theft and fraud,
depravity, faithlessness, discord, perjury,
clamor at the good,
forgetfulness of favors, defilement of souls, confu-
sion of sex, irregularity in
marriage, adultery, and indecency. For the
worship of the unspeakable
idols is the beginning and cause and end of
every evil.16
It is often claimed by "prohomosexual"
interpreters that the
meaning of the phrase "confusion of
sex" (genese<wj e]nalla<gh) is
uncertain and should not be used to refer to
homosexuality. The
meaning is difficult to ascertain, primarily
because the phrase ap-
parently occurs nowhere else in
Greek literature. Research shows
that genese<wj
is somewhat common in classical and biblical Greek
and means "birth, origin, kind, family,
existence, generation, geneal-
ogy." "However, e]nalla<gh, while frequent in
classical Greek
("interchange, change, variation"), occurs nowhere else
in biblical
canonical or noncanonical
literature (although
Psalm
ual connotation, but only
one cognate (e@nallac) occurs in Scripture,
and then only once (Gen. 48:14, "crossing").17
There may be some connection with e]ndihllagme<nou ("changed"
of sex), used by
reference is to a male cult prostitute. There is
no Septuagintal text to
translate the Hebrew of 1 Kings 22:47-50.
The phrase seems similar to one found in Philo
utilizing
e]nalla<gh: "change of the
works of nature," according to Winston.18
16 Goodspeed, The Apocrypha, pp. 206-7. Samuel Holmes
also renders the key
phrase as "confusion of sex" ("The
Wisdom of Solomon," The Apocrypha
and Pseude-
pigrapha, 1:559). The RSV reads
"confusion over what is good." "Abuse of sex" is the
rendering of Edwin Cone Bissell (The Apocrypha of the Old Testament [
Charles
Scribner's Sons, 1880], p. 262). He cites the KJV's
"changing of kind" (marg.
"sex").
17 See H. G. Liddell and R. Scott, comps., A
Greek-English Lexicon, rev. H. S. Jones,
9th
ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1940), pp. 343, 554, 1288; Arndt and Gin-
grich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian
Lit-
erature, pp. 154,261; William
L. Holladay, ed., A Concise Hebrew and
Aramaic Lexi-
con of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans
Publishing Co., 1971), p.
352.
18 David Winston, The Wisdom of Solomon, The Anchor Bible (
Doubleday
& Co., 1979), p. 26. Ernest G. Clarke renders the phrase of
perversion" (The Wisdom of Solomon [
444
Bibliotheca Sacra /
October-December 1990
He
renders the phrase in
pares the phrase to "changed the order of
nature" (Test. Naph. 3:4
discussed later) and to "women exchanged
natural relations for un-
natural" (Rom.
Wisdom
14:26, "defilement of souls," has a moral sense, and the fol-
lowing phrase, "irregularity in marriage,"
points to sensual excess,
perhaps meaning "inordinate."
It seems that the phrase means
"interchange, change of kind or
sex." Bailey argues that it could mean
anything from "changing of
race" (a reference to Jewish apostasy) to
self-castration, effeminacy,
mixed marriages, homosexuality, or cultic transvestism. He argues
that "there seems no reason to suppose that it
has any special refer-
ence to homosexual
acts."19
Yet Bailey seems to deal inadequately with the
context. The
Wisdom
of Solomon clearly refers to
(10:6-9;
Also
the immediate context refers to immoral sexual practices. The
list in
both Testaments (e.g., Jer.
7:9; Rom.
Christian, and pagan literature.20
Homosexuality is often found in
such catalogs. Also the majority of translators and
commentaries
translate the phrase in a way that allows a
homosexual meaning.
In
Wisdom 19:13-17
referred to.21 The passage reads:
And upon the sinners came the punishments not
without tokens given
beforehand by the force of
thunders; for justly did they suffer through
their own exceeding
wickedness, for grievous indeed was the hatred
which they practiced toward
guests. For whereas certain men received
not strangers who came
among them, these made slaves of guests who
were their benefactors. And
not only so, but God shall visit the former
after another sort, since
they received as enemies them that were
aliens; whereas these first
welcomed with feastings, and then afflicted
with dreadful toils, them
that had already shared with them in the same
rights. And they too were
stricken with loss of sight (even as those
others at the righteous man's
doors), when, being compassed about
p, 97). He cites a similar list of immoralities
in Hosea 4:2. In Hosea
rendered "shrine prostitute" by the
term e]ndihllagme<nou,
"changed" (of sex).
19 Bailey, Homosexuality
and the Western Christian Tradition, p. 48. Scroggs
thinks the passage refers to homosexuality, but that
the text "puts no particular
weight on homosexuality, or any other specific
sin" (The New Testament and Homo-
sexuality, p. 92). This seems to
be beside the point.
20 Winston, The