Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. The theological rationale for the entire sexual ethics list: the nations of Canaan became defiled through these practices, and their defilement is part of why God is driving them out. The defile yourselves warning communicates that Israel faces the same consequence as the nations if they practice the same things. The holiness of the promised land is at stake: a land occupied by a defiled community cannot remain the land of the holy God's covenant community.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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