“After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances.”
You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices. The negative frame: Israel must not follow the practices of Egypt (the land they are leaving) or Canaan (the land they are entering). The sexual ethics of Leviticus 18 are not culturally neutral; they are explicitly counter-cultural: both the empire behind them and the culture ahead of them practiced what the covenant prohibits. The covenant community's sexual ethics will distinguish them from both their origin and their destination. The distinctiveness is intentional and divinely commanded.
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
Publish a note on this verse
0/2000
No notes on this verse yet. Be the first to write one!