ABSTRACT
In the penultimate chapter of Leviticus, God reminds the Israelites that they will be rewarded if they follow His laws, and severely punished if they do not, and He again reminds them of the prohibition against idolatry. Most argue that the main purpose of the Holiness code was to separate the Israelites from the inhabitants of the Promised Land. God makes a covenant with the Israelites, but he will protect them only if they obey his laws. Abraham tells Abimelech that he did not lie when he said that Sarah was his sister, because she had the same father. Controversies about homosexuality, especially about same-sex marriage, remain important in the United States, and throughout the world people with what Ronald Inglehart calls materialist values are more negative toward homosexuality than those he calls postmaterialists. Although God through Moses establishes a covenant with all of the Israelites, Leviticus spells out rules for the priests.
