John Calvin Commentary Leviticus 20:18

"And if a man shall lie with a woman having her sickness, and shall uncover her nakedness; he hath made naked her fountain, and she hath uncovered the fountain of her blood: and both of them shall be cut off from among their people." — Leviticus 20:18 (ASV)

And if a man shall lie⁸⁴ The enormity of the crime is seen by the severity of the punishment; and surely, when a man and woman abandon themselves to so disgraceful an act, it is clear that there are no remains of modesty in them.

God, therefore, regards not only the offense itself, but also the brutal impulse of lust, by which men are so carried away as to degenerate from the very feelings of nature. For from what wickedness would he abstain, who yields to such impurity that in his fury he breaks through an obstacle which restrains the animals themselves? Let us not wonder, then, that God is a severe avenger of such obscenity.

This precept ⁸⁵ serves no other purpose than that believers should be kept far from all filthiness, and that chastity may flourish among them. It is indeed true that a woman, under these circumstances, is withheld from connection with a man by the very foulness of the disease, while there is also danger of contagion; but God rather chooses here to be an instructor in decency to His people, than to perform the office of a physician. It must be remembered, therefore, that men are warned against all indelicacy, which is repugnant to natural feeling; and, by synecdoche, married persons are exhorted to restrain themselves from all immodest lasciviousness, and the husband to enjoy his wife’s embraces with delicacy and propriety.

⁸⁴ This passage considered further on in Fr., under the head of “Political Supplements.”., under the head of “Political Supplements.”

⁸⁵ This commentary is, in Fr., appended to ., appended to Leviticus 18:19, and included previously under the General Supplements of the Commandment., and included previously under the General Supplements of the Commandment.