Holiness as separation from the worldly

Israel is to be set apart from other nations

Leviticus 20:23–26 NKJV

And you shall not walk in the statutes of the nation which I am casting out before you; for they commit all these things, and therefore I abhor them. But I have said to you, “You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from the peoples. You shall therefore distinguish between clean animals and unclean, between unclean birds and clean, and you shall not make yourselves abominable by beast or by bird, or by any kind of living thing that creeps on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean. And you shall be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.

See also Ex 33:15–16; Le 15:31; Le 18:29–30; Dt 7:1–6; Dt 23:9–14; Ezr 9:1–2; Ezr 9:10–12; Is 52:11

Common things are designated clean or unclean by ritual law

Clean and unclean animals

Leviticus 11:46–47 NKJV

‘This is the law of the animals and the birds and every living creature that moves in the waters, and of every creature that creeps on the earth, to distinguish between the unclean and the clean, and between the animal that may be eaten and the animal that may not be eaten.’ ”

See also Le 11:1–23; Mk 7:14–19; Ac 10:14

Infectious skin diseases

Le 13:2–3; Le 14:2

Mildew

Le 13:47–49; Le 14:33–36

Bodily discharges

Le 12:2; Le 15:2

Corpses

Le 5:2–3; Le 11:31–40; Le 21:1; Le 21:11

What is holy must be kept separate

The Israelites must distinguish between the holy and the common

Le 10:10–11; Eze 44:23

Contact with the profane desecrates the holy

Acts 21:28 NKJV

crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, the law, and this place; and furthermore he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”

See also Je 51:51

Unclean people and things must be removed

Nu 5:1–3; Ezr 10:10–11

See also Le 7:22–27; Le 13:45–46; Le 19:5–8; Nu 19:13; Nu 19:20; Dt 23:10–14; 2 Ch 26:21

Unclean people are not to approach what is sacred

Le 7:20–21; Le 22:3–6

The holy must be treated with respect

Unintentional defilement of the holy carries a penalty

Leviticus 5:14–16 NKJV

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “If a person commits a trespass, and sins unintentionally in regard to the holy things of the Lord, then he shall bring to the Lord as his trespass offering a ram without blemish from the flocks, with your valuation in shekels of silver according to the shekel of the sanctuary, as a trespass offering. And he shall make restitution for the harm that he has done in regard to the holy thing, and shall add one-fifth to it and give it to the priest. So the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering, and it shall be forgiven him.

Warnings against contempt for the holy

Leviticus 22:1–2 NKJV

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and his sons, that they separate themselves from the holy things of the children of Israel, and that they do not profane My holy name by what they dedicate to Me: I am the Lord.

See also Ex 19:10–13; Ex 28:42–43; Ex 30:18–21; Ex 31:14–15; Nu 4:15; Nu 4:17–20; Heb 10:28–29

Examples of contempt for the holy

Le 10:1–2; Nu 16:1–7; Nu 16:18–35; 1 Sa 6:19–20; 2 Sa 6:6–7; Eze 22:26; Eze 22:31; Ac 5:1–10

Christians are called to be separate from the ways of the world

Jn 15:19; Jas 4:4; 1 Pe 2:9–11

See also Jn 17:14–16; 2 Co 6:14–7:1; 2 Ti 2:19; Jas 1:27