Context No. 2725 of 4322 · Leviticus

Leviticus 18:1-5: in context

1The LORD said to Moses, 2“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘I am the LORD your God. 3You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived. You shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. You shall not follow their statutes. 4You shall do my ordinances. You shall keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the LORD your God. 5You shall therefore keep my statutes and my ordinances, which if a man does, he shall live in them. I am the LORD.

Before Leviticus 18 begins its hard list of forbidden relationships, it lays down the frame that governs every line of it: I am the LORD your God. You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, nor as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Keep my statutes and my ordinances.

Israel is caught between two cultures, the one behind them and the one ahead, and God tells them to take their pattern from neither. Their identity is not their past and not their new surroundings, but their belonging to him. And notice how the law is framed: statutes which, if a man does them, he shall live in them. This is not a cage but a way of life, something to live inside, not merely under.

Do I take my sense of what is normal from the culture behind me or the one around me, rather than from belonging to God?

Sources

Romans 12:2: "Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."
Leviticus 18:5: "You shall therefore keep my statutes and my ordinances, which if a man does, he shall live in them."
Deuteronomy 30:20: "For he is your life, and the length of your days."