Culture of Canaan

Leviticus 18 consists largely of rules on sex-permitted degrees of consanguinity, prohibited sex acts like homosexual sodomy and bestiality and adultery. The chapter begins, though, with a more general warning against conforming to Egyptian and Canaanite ways of life. Verse 3 puts this in a series of parallel clauses (the translation follows the Hebrew word order):

a. According to the ma’aseh of the land of Egypt where you dwelt in her, do (‘asah) not;

b. according to the ma’aseh of the land of Canaan where I am bringing you there, do (‘asah) not;

c. in their statutes you shall not walk.

Israel is supposed to make a break with Egypt, the place they are leaving; but they are also to resist conformity to Canaan, the place they are entering. Yahweh commands a break with the past, and an ongoing struggle against the world in their immediate future.

Verse 4 puts the positive alternative:

a. My judgments you shall do;

b. my statutes you shall guard;

c. to walk in them.

As indicated in the translation above, the first two clauses use different forms of the root ‘asah, “to make or do.” The lifestyle of Egypt and Canaan is described as the ma’aseh of Egypt and Canaan, their makings or doings, and Israel is forbidden to ‘asah, to make or do, according to the pattern of their makings or doings.

This is the only use of ma’aseh in Leviticus, but the word is used thirty times in Exodus, the vast majority in the context of tabernacle construction. The tabernacle curtains are the ma’aseh of a weaver, and the furniture is the ma’aseh of woodworkers and goldsmiths. The uses in Exodus reflect the use in the first chapter of Genesis, where the verb form ‘asah describes the creative work of God (1:7, 11, 16, etc.) and occasionally the “making” done by created things (“bearing” in 1:12 is ‘asah—trees “make” fruit).

The tabernacle texts in Exodus lead directly into Leviticus; the latter starts with a waw, “and,” and its Hebrew name means “And He called.” Leviticus is a distinct book, but from another angle is a continuation of Exodus. Against this background, the “ma’aseh of Egypt and Canaan” refers to something more than “the moral standards of Egypt and Canaan.” The term takes on connotations of made-things as well as done-things. The word matches the Greek poiesis, a term that in its most expansive sense comes close to the modern concept of “culture.” Israel is called to resist the pressure of the things that Egypt and Canaan make/do; they are called to resist Egyptian and Canaanite habits, institutions, artifacts, and ways. Positively, they are supposed to conform to the customs (judgments, mishpatim) of Yahweh.

In Pauline terms, Leviticus 18:3-4 says: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.