Leviticus 19-20

What’s Happening?

God commands Israel to be holy—or set apart—like him. God is not like the other gods of the nations. He’s not deceptive, murderous, envious, or sexually exploitative. He’s not cruel, indifferent, or self-serving. God is completely set apart from wickedness and the death it brings into the world. So when God says, “Be holy as I am holy,” he is calling Israel to set themselves apart from the wicked nations surrounding them—and in doing so, to reflect what he is like.

This is the heartbeat of Leviticus 19–20. Israel is being invited to embody a new Eden in the land of Canaan—a place where God dwells, life flourishes, and people thrive. But this Eden will exist in the midst of violent, exploitative, and death-filled cultures. To bring life to these death-soaked lands, Israel must live differently. They must be holy, set apart.

The chapter opens by revisiting and expanding the Ten Commandments (Leviticus 19:1-18). The first ten commands God gave his people set a framework for how to be set apart like God. The Ten Commandments begin with God claiming Israel for himself, having rescued them from the nation of Egypt and its gods (Exodus 20:2). Now, they are to be like him since they belong to him. As they honor their parents, keep the Sabbath, and refuse to participate in idolatry, Israel will embody a way of life set apart from their soon-to-be Canaanite neighbors (Leviticus 19:1-8). As they care for the poor, the foreigner, and their Israelite neighbors they will begin to treat one another in the set apart ways God treats them (Leviticus 19:9-18). Each command forms a counter-culture to the violent empires of Canaan. Where the nations lie, steal, and exploit, Israel is to be truthful, generous, and just. Where the nations tear down, Israel is to build up. They are to image their holy God, who brings order, not chaos; life, not death.

Israel’s mission to be set apart from the wicked nations does not just in their moral actions, but to the normal stuff of life. They are not to mix two fabrics when making clothes. They are not to mix two types of animals when breeding. They are not to mix two types of seed when sowing a field (Leviticus 19:19). These practices all emphasize how Israel is not to mix with the nations, but be set apart from them—uncompromised. Israel’s identity is not to be a blend of Canaanite culture and God’s commandments. They must not mix the ways of death with the ways of life. Even the act of farming or dressing becomes a daily reminder: “We are set apart.”

This idea continues with the commands about fruit trees in the land (Leviticus 19:23–25). When Israel enters Canaan, they’re not to harvest from newly planted trees for the first three years. In the fourth year, the fruit belongs to God, made holy by offering it to him. Only in the fifth year may Israel eat from it. Even the soil of Canaan—once soaked in the practices of the nations—must be made holy before Israel can enjoy its produce.

This is all commanded because the nations that Israel is called to displace are filled with unspeakable wickedness. These cultures practice child sacrifice, killing their own sons and daughters to gain favor from their gods (Leviticus20:1–5). Their sexual practices were not only immoral but civilization-destroying—incest, adultery, bestiality, and other violations that broke families and corroded communities (Leviticus 20:10–21). These weren’t just private sins; they were society-shaping evils that led entire cultures into collapse and judgment.

God’s response is stark: if Israel adopts the same practices, they will meet the same fate. “I will set my face against them and cut them off from their people” (v. 3). If they choose the ways of death, they will be set apart—not for life, but for the same fate as the nations. They can set themselves apart for God, or set themselves apart from God. They can set themselves apart from the nations, or set themselves apart into the nations. Holiness is not optional. It is life or death.

Where is the Gospel?

This is the story Jesus enters. When Jesus begins preaching, He echoes this passage: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 4:17). He announces a new kingdom—a new holy Eden—breaking into a world still ruled by death and the violent gods of the nations. Jesus is the holy God who comes near. He is not mixed with sin. He does not exploit, deceive, or destroy. He is fully set apart—and yet he comes to those who have been cut off.

We were the ones set apart from the garden, trapped in the lands of death. We were entangled in the same sins of idolatry, injustice, and immorality. But Jesus came to those living set apart from him. He lived a holy life, perfectly reflecting the set-apart character of God. And then, in love, he went to the ultimate place of our separation. He stepped into the place where all of us are cut off: the grave itself. 

There, the Holy One met the unholy. And rather than being set apart from God, he brought us near to God. He made us holy, set us apart, so that we could be restored to God’s new kingdom he is building. Through his Spirit, Jesus now lives in us like God once lived in Eden and in the tabernacle. By his Spirit, he transforms us to reflect God’s holy image.

Set apart in him, we are no longer defined by the nations’ ways of death but by God’s life. We become living reflections of his holiness—bringing truth where there is deceit, generosity where there is exploitation, and life where there is death. In Jesus, God is still creating a holy people, set apart to reflect his character to the world.

See for Yourself

I pray that the Holy Spirit would open your eyes to see the God who is set apart from all other beings. And may you see Jesus as the one who came near us to set us apart to become holy like him.