Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance
Whatever the Lord appointed them and commanded, whether contained
in this chapter, or elsewhere: that [ye] commit not
[anyone] of these abominable customs;
for attending to the ordinances of God, and a close in them, they
would be preserved from the commission of such abominable things,
and giving in to such detestable customs as before warned
against: which were committed before you;
by the inhabitants of Canaan; and by the punishment on them for
them they might be deterred from doing the same: and that
ye defile not yourselves therein;
for though the land is so often said to be defiled, yet, properly
speaking, and chiefly, it was the inhabitants that were defiled
by their abominable customs; and so would the Israelites also,
should they observe the same, and thereby become abominable in
the sight of God, and incur his displeasure, and be liable to his
vengeance: I [am] the Lord your God;
who had a sovereign authority over them, and a right to give out
what commands he pleased, both negative and affirmative; and to
whom they were under obligations to obey, as the God of nature
and providence, from whom they had their beings, and were
supported in them, and as their covenant God, who had bestowed
special and spiritual favours on them.