We continue a laundry list of commandments that are designed to set Israel apart from other nations.
The business of mixing animals, crops and fabrics has provoked endless debate, even among Jewish scholars. Nowhere else in Scripture is this explained. The only obvious reason for this prohibition is that it represents pagan religious practices. This section of verses seems to address a lot of that sort of thing.
The penalty for adultery with a concubine is much lower, especially for the woman. She’s not a free woman, but a servant or slave taken into the household as a concubine. Thus, she can be scourged, and it’s likely the man would be too, but he has the added penalty of a sin offering.
The prohibition of eating from fruit trees the first few years is a common practice today. So far as scholars can discern, it is simply good agricultural practice, since pruning is almost a necessity for the first few years to make the tree hardy and not drag its limbs on the ground. Some fruits don’t even produce for the first few years. The fourth year crop belongs wholly to God. Fifth and subsequent years, the Lord took a tithe from the first fruits. On the other hand, this prohibition had nothing to do with wild fruit, only cultivated trees.
The next few verses cover a range of idolatrous practices. Not eating blood is covered repeatedly because it was a vile pagan practice to seek magical powers from bloodshed. The term “divination” is a collection of dark practices that have to do with changing one’s voice to indicate another being is speaking through them, while “soothsaying” refers to any number of practices based on reading the future, like astrology, for example. The odd beard trimming, scars and tattoos were all well known pagan practices.
One of the most hideous practices was ordering one’s daughters to serve as temple prostitutes for a period prior to marriage. At least one religion demanded this as an annual sacrifice, when all women were encouraged to sell their bodies in exchange for offerings to the temple. The reaction to this is why genuine virginity is so prized by the Hebrew people. The people would have all they could do properly observing the Sabbath and treating the Tabernacle with respect; they didn’t need the slavery of pagan practices.
It was common to find pagans who claimed to have contact with spirit beings. The “medium” refers to any number of practices, but typically a ventriloquist. It was silly hocus-pocus. Another more dangerous practice was actually a person cultivated by a particular demon as their “familiar spirit” who would manifest at times with supposed messages from the dead. Jehovah says this is all threats of moral defilement.
Stand or rise in the presence of elders as a sign of respect, because God will take it as an insult if you are disrespectful to them. Aside from certain rituals prescribed elsewhere, treat a peaceful Gentile resident in your lands as one of your own, with due care and consideration. In other words, don’t drive them out. Give them a reason to reverence your God. He reminds them not to act like the Egyptians did, enslaving Israel just because they were a convenient labor source. Don’t cheat each other in commerce. Fall in love with honest measures, weights and scales.
All of this contributes to the image of what “holiness” means.
