What is “to anger Him”? Rabbi Elazar said: They would sit and calculate which forbidden relation is more egregious,43This calculation was made so that they could violate the most egregious prohibition and thereby anger God (Etz Yosef). as it is stated: “One [committed an abomination] with his neighbor’s wife, and [one] defiled [his daughter-in-law] with lewdness” (Ezekiel 22:11). What is “with lewdness”?
With forethought. They would say: One who consorts with a married woman is executed with strangulation, and one who consorts with his daughter-in-law is executed with stoning. The daughter-in-law is more egregious than the married woman. Rabbi Yishmael taught: “A man and his father go to the same young woman [in order to profane My holy name]” (Amos 2:7).
Could it be for lust? The verse states: “In order to profane My holy name” – that is “to anger Him.” Rabbi Levi said: Israel were not exiled until seven patrilineal houses became wicked: “Children” – two; “children’s children” – two; “and you will have been long in the land, and you will act corruptly and craft,” that is seven.44The plural term “children” indicates two, and the various verbs employed in the verse indicating sinful activity refer to an additional wicked household.
The Gemara (Gittin 88a) indicates that these seven patrilineal houses refer to seven dynasties of wicked kings of Israel: (1) Yerovam ben Nevat and his household; (2) Baasha ben Aḥiya and his household; (3) Omri and his household; (4)Yehu and his household; (5) Menaḥem and his household; (6) Pekaḥ and his household; and (7) Hoshea and his household.