Essay zu Wajikra 20:78

We move now into laws dealing with some of the more serious offenses against God in the biblical view: idolatry (including worship of the “Molekh” and consulting spirits), insulting parents, adultery, and sexual crimes. These are distinguished from the previous chapter by the inclusion of punishments; their seriousness is indicated by their capital nature. The reiteration of sexual laws forms a bracket with Chap. 18, thus highlighting the central position and rhetoric of 19. Another bracket, this time within the chapter, involves the chiasm of necromancy and the exhortation to be holy (vv.6–7 and 26–27). Finally, while the motifs of the Israelites avoiding pagan practices, and the land “vomiting out” its wrongdoers, return from Chap. 18, there is a further throwback (vv.24–26): to Chap. 11, where “separation” from the nations was a major issue in terms of diet.