18:1–20:27 Review · Holiness of People:Aspects of sexuality were introduced in chapters 12 and 15, where the focus was on separating remediable physical ritual impurity from the holy sphere centered at the sanctuary. Here the concern is with avoiding moral impurity (18:24, 30), for which there is no ritual remedy.

18:1–30 · Leviticus 18 begins by explaining the purpose of the instructions that follow. God’s laws are good for his people, so by cause and effect, those who keep his laws can live (18:5). This means that his principles enable the people to live long in the land that he has given them (cf. Exod. 20:12) rather than be expelled from it and die as the Canaanites do (18:24–30). This is not a legalistic approach to gaining eternal life through one’s own works. Gaining eternal life fac…