Leviticus 18:4

4 Ye shall do my dooms, and ye shall keep my behests, and ye shall go in them; I am your Lord God. (Ye shall follow my laws, or my judgements, and ye shall obey my commands, and ye shall walk in them; I am the Lord your God.)

Leviticus 18:4 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 18:4

Ye shall do my judgments
Which are just and right, and according to the rules of justice and equity; these are things, as Jarchi observes, which are said in the law with judgment, or are laws framed with the highest reason, even by the judgment of God himself, whose judgment is always according to truth: Aben Ezra thinks, these are the judicial laws in ( Exodus 21:1-23:33 ) ; but though they may include them, they have more particular respect to the following laws: and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein:
which he had ordained and appointed of his own will and pleasure, which Jarchi calls the decree of the king, or which he decreed and determined as a king, having absolute power over his subjects to enact and enjoin what he pleased; wherefore some think these refer to ceremonial laws, which depended upon the will of the lawgiver, and were not founded in any natural sense or reason, wherefore it follows: I [am] the Lord your God:
who had a right to make what laws he pleased, being their Sovereign, and which they in gratitude as well as in justice ought to obey, he being their God, their covenant God, who had done great and good things for them.

Leviticus 18:4 In-Context

2 Speak thou to the sons of Israel, and thou shalt say to them, I am your Lord God; (Speak thou to the Israelites, and thou shalt say to them, I am the Lord your God;)
3 ye shall not do by the custom of the land of Egypt, in which ye dwelled; ye shall not do by the custom of the land of Canaan, to which I shall bring you in, neither ye shall go in the lawful things of them, that is, in the(ir) custom of worshipping (nor shall ye follow their laws, or their custom of worshipping).
4 Ye shall do my dooms, and ye shall keep my behests, and ye shall go in them; I am your Lord God. (Ye shall follow my laws, or my judgements, and ye shall obey my commands, and ye shall walk in them; I am the Lord your God.)
5 Keep ye my laws and dooms, which a man shall do, and he shall live in those; I am your Lord God. (Obey ye my laws and judgements, for those who follow them, shall have life; I am the Lord your God.)
6 A man shall not nigh to a nigh woman of his blood, that he show her filthhood (that he uncover her nakedness/so that they have intercourse); I am the Lord.
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.