As They Do in Egypt and Canaan
1 Yahweh said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘I am Yahweh your God. 3 You 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. 4 You shall do my ordinances. You shall keep my statutes and walk in them. I am Yahweh your God. 5 You shall therefore keep my statutes and my ordinances, which if a man does, he shall live in them. I am Yahweh. 6 “‘None of you shall approach any close relatives, to uncover their nakedness: I am Yahweh. 7 “‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, nor the nakedness of your mother: she is your mother. You shall not uncover her nakedness. 8 “‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife. It is your father’s nakedness. 9 “‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your sister, the daughter of your father, or the daughter of your mother, whether born at home or born abroad. 10 “‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your son’s daughter, or of your daughter’s daughter, even their nakedness; for theirs is your own nakedness. 11 “‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife’s daughter, conceived by your father, since she is your sister. 12 “‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister. She is your father’s near kinswoman. 13 “‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s near kinswoman. 14 “‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother. You shall not approach his wife. She is your aunt. 15 “‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law. She is your son’s wife. You shall not uncover her nakedness. 16 “‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife. It is your brother’s nakedness. 17 “‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter. You shall not take her son’s daughter, or her daughter’s daughter, to uncover her nakedness. They are near kinswomen. It is wickedness. 18 “‘You shall not take a wife in addition to her sister, to be a rival, to uncover her nakedness, while her sister is still alive. 19 “‘You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness, as long as she is impure by her uncleanness. 20 “‘You shall not lie carnally with your neighbor’s wife, and defile yourself with her. 21 “‘You shall not give any of your children as a sacrifice to Molech. You shall not profane the name of your God. I am Yahweh. 22 “‘You shall not lie with a man as with a woman. That is detestable. 23 “‘You shall not lie with any animal to defile yourself with it. No woman may give herself to an animal, to lie down with it: it is a perversion. 24 “‘Don’t defile yourselves in any of these things; for in all these the nations which I am casting out before you were defiled. 25 The land was defiled. Therefore I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out her inhabitants. 26 You therefore shall keep my statutes and my ordinances, and shall not do any of these abominations; neither the native-born, nor the stranger who lives as a foreigner among you 27 (for the men of the land that were before you had done all these abominations, and the land became defiled), 28 that the land not vomit you out also, when you defile it, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. 29 “‘For whoever shall do any of these abominations, even the souls that do them shall be cut off from among their people. 30 Therefore you shall keep my requirements, that you do not practice any of these abominable customs which were practiced before you, and that you do not defile yourselves with them. I am Yahweh your God.’”
The sexual laws are framed by two countries and one warning: the land itself expels whoever defiles it, whoever they are.
The frame is set before any law is given. You 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 Leviticus 18:3.
A people is standing between EGYPT and CANAAN, two cultures, formed by one and about to enter the other, and the chapter is written for that position. What is forbidden is not invented for the occasion; it is what the neighbors did in both directions.
The positive statement comes next and it is the one Paul and others return to: you shall therefore keep my statutes and my ordinances, which if a man does, he shall live in them Leviticus 18:5.
The bulk of the chapter is a list of relatives a man may not approach, and the arrangement is worth noticing. It is addressed to men, it covers the household in widening circles, and it protects exactly the people who lived under a man's roof and could not refuse him. In a world where households were large and authority absolute, that is where the danger was.
Molech is named in the middle of the list Leviticus 18:21, and the placement is deliberate — child sacrifice belongs with what a man does to his own family.
The closing section is where the chapter's reasoning is exposed, and it is not what a reader might expect.
24 “‘Don’t defile yourselves in any of these things; for in all these the nations which I am casting out before you were defiled. 25 The land was defiled. Therefore I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out her inhabitants.
The Canaanites are being removed for these practices, and they had no covenant, no law given at a mountain, and no prophet. So the standard applied to them is not Israel's special legislation but something they were answerable to anyway.
And the same standard is then turned on the newcomers: that the land not vomit you out also, when you defile it, as it vomited out the nation that was before you Leviticus 18:28.
The figure is of a country with a stomach. It does not distinguish between occupants, and Israel is warned in the same sentence that describes its predecessors' fate. Nothing in the chapter offers the incoming nation an exemption, and the whole of the later history is the working out of that warning.
The rules are also applied to the stranger who lives as a foreigner among you Leviticus 18:26 — because if the land reacts to the conduct rather than to the people, the resident foreigner's conduct affects it too.
settled What this mark means