Leviticus 20:23
“You shall not walk in the customs of the nation, which I am casting out before you: for they did all these things, and therefore I abhorred them.”
What does Leviticus 20:23 mean?
God is telling the Israelites not to adopt the harmful practices of the people already living in Canaan, because those practices are precisely why he's removing them from the land. This isn't about cultural superiority, but about protecting his people from cycles of harm and cruelty that had become normalized in those societies. The deeper principle here is that we become like what we practice and live around. When destructive behaviors become routine and accepted, they corrupt everything they touch, which is why God wanted a clean break for Israel rather than a gradual blending. For us today, this might speak to the importance of noticing what influences we're absorbing and whether the habits, values, or attitudes we're picking up from those around us are actually leading us toward life or away from it.