LEV259 … the Torah expresses great antagonism toward the Canaanite nations, including a call to destroy their idolatrous temples, and either eject them from the land of Israel [The Bible clearly wanted to preserve the highest standard of monotheistic religion in Israel in the same way that Muslims expect Islam to be observed more strictly in the holy city of Mecca, and Catholics expect Catholicism to be practiced more purely in the Vatican. In addition, the Bible warned that if the Canaanites remained in the land they would influence many Israelites to practice idolatry. They did indeed remain in the land and influenced the ancient Hebrews to follow them (See, for example, Judges 2:11–13; II Kings 21:6 records that King Manesseh, deeply influenced by local idolatry, even sacrificed one of his sons) or destroy them. People commonly assume that the Bible's position on idolatry is solely due to its theological error in positing many gods instead of one. But a close reading of the text shows this to be false; the Bible's opposition was primarily directed against the immorality sanctioned by Canaanite idolatry. One looks in vain for passages in the Torah mocking the multiplicity of gods worshiped by the ancient Canaanites. What one finds instead is abhorrence at Canaanite practices such as child sacrifice (Deuteronomy 12:31) and bestiality [this and previous verses], along with the fear that, if the Canaanites remain in the land, "they [will] lead you into doing all the abhorrent things that they have done for their gods… (Deuteronomy 20:18). When committed by non-Israelites, the theological error of idolatry, as opposed to its moral misbehavior, was not particularly troublesome to the Torah. Thus, Moses, in his farewell address, warns the Israelites against being lured into worshiping the sun, moon, or the stars, but then says: "These the Lord your God allotted to other peoples everywhere under the heaven" (Deuteronomy 4:19) (The prophet Micah comments in a similarly nonjudgmental fashion: "Though all peoples walk each in the name of its gods, we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever" (4:5). The clear implication is that while Israel must worship God alone, the Lord was not troubled--at that point in time--by other nations worshiping His creations, such as the sun [the word for "sun" in Hebrew, shemesh, is related to the word shamash (to serve) implying that the sun, which others worship as a god, is simply a servant of God.) What God does not condone for Israelites and non-Israelites alike is immorality and cruelty. The prophets reinforced the Torah's view of idolatry. While they, like the Torah, do not generally criticize the non-Israelite nations for worshiping other gods, they condemn them for acts of cruelty. Thus, the citizens of Edom might have been idolaters, but what really incensed the prophet Amos is that they pursued their adversaries with the sword "And repressed all pity" (Amos 1:11). Similarly the nearby state of Ammon is announced for ripping "open the pregnant women of Gilead, in order to enlarge their own territory" (1:13). The same is true of Amos's critique of the ancient kingdoms of Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, and Moab (Chapters one and two).

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LEV261 Many of the nonobservant Jews in Israel believe that the land is special in that it provides a homeland for the Jewish people, but [that] there is nothing intrinsic about the land that makes it special. This is not the Jewish approach. There is something unique about this land that makes it respond differently from any other soil in the world. It is the only land that responds physically to moral behavior. Each day, the Jews twice say the second paragraph of the Shema (Deut. 13:18) that if the Jewish people observe the Commandments and behave morally, the land will respond by having enough rain and producing enough crops. If the Jews stray from God, they will be forced to leave the land. This same idea is repeated many times in The Torah, including the beginning of the portion of Bechukotai (Leviticus 26:3-5) where it says that the reward for keeping the Torah's statutes will be proper rain and enough crops to eat until one is satiated. Therefore, the quantity and quality of crops the land of Israel will produce depends on the behavior of its inhabitants. This idea is echoed in a different context when it says [this verse] that the land will "vomit" out its inhabitants if they act in an abominable manner (referring to improper sexual behavior). Although people normally associate that Divine Providence of God is in relation to people, when it comes to the land of Israel, God declares (Deut. 11:12) that there is Divine Providence. He watches the land constantly from the beginning until the end of the year, seeking the land out. It is then apparent that the land of Israel, from a Jewish perspective, is unique and cannot be looked upon as "just another piece of earth." The land of Israel is linked to the Jewish people only through Judaism and the mitzvot.

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LEV260 See [[LEV261]] Leviticus 18:25 vomit AMEMEI 126

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LEV262 See [[LEV795]] Leviticus 19:34 love OXFORD 46-7

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LEV263 See [[DEUT363]] Deuteronomy 7:26 abomination TZADIK 29-31

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LEV264 In the biblical rationalization of Israel's conquest of Canaan there are a number of ethical implications. (a) It rejects the self-glorification of the conqueror, the spirit of "My power and the might of mine own hand has given me all this" (Deuteronomy 8:17). (b) It sets up an objective standard equally applicable to all. Israel was ultimately rationally compelled to apply to itself what it believed to be a divinely ordained principle. God, who permitted and even commanded Israel to dispossess the Canaanites, could summon others to exile Israel if it sank to the spiritual level of the inhabitants it replaced (this and previous verses). Israel applied the same measuring rod to itself when it was expelled from the land first by the Babylonians and later by the Romans. On every Sabbath and Festival the synagogue liturgy reminds Jews that it was not the power of the Babylonian or Roman armies which deprived them of their homeland, but their own sins. Sabbath and Festival Prayer Book, pp. 140, 150. They failed in their responsibility to do their share as God's partners in maintaining the integrity of the foundations of His throne, and he acted through His appointed messengers to compensate for their failure.

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LEV265 People are moved [to repentance] in four different ways: ... 3. By witnessing the punishment of others... When a person observes the testing and severe punishment inflicted by the Creator on one who took the route he himself had taken in deviating from His service, he learns a lesson from [the plight of] his fellow and turns back to God, for fear of His punishment and fierce vengeance. He is like a servant who flees from his master and then hears an account of the punishment inflicted on another who also had fled. He takes the lesson to heart and returns to his master, to beg his forgiveness and pardon, before he too should suffer punishment. Scripture therefore says, “So that the land not vomit you out for defiling it, as it vomited out the nation that was before you” Vayikra 18:28).

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LEV266 See [[LEV230]] Leviticus 18:6 nakedness DORFFLOV 174-5

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LEV267 See [[LEV230]] Leviticus 18:6 nakedness DORFFLOV 174-5

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LEV268 (Continued from [[DEUT416]] Deuteronomy 10:12 request GATES 167). The Rabbinic decrees and the restrictions are the basis [for following] the path to fear of Hashem. They create a fence and a distancing, preventing one from contact with a prohibition of the Torah, just the way an owner of a field fences in his field, because of its prized value, for he fears lest people enter his property and turn it into a place for the grazing of cattle and the roaming of sheep (Yeshayahu 7:25). [The above stated concept] is similar to what it says: "'You shall safeguard my restrictions' [this verse]--make a safeguard for My safeguards" (Yevamos 21a). Extreme vigilance, a fence, and distancing from prohibitions is fundamental to fearing Hashem; one who expands on his vigilance will come to the great reward, as the pasuk says (Tehillim 19:12), "Moreover, Your servant is careful with them; in safeguarding them there is abounding reward."

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