(7, 8) Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy.--Rather, Ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy, as the same phrase is rendered in the Authorised Version in Leviticus 11:44. Though it is immaterial which of the two renderings is adopted, it is important that it should be the same in both passages, since the phrase is exactly the same in the original. It is only by keeping the Divine ordinances that the Israelites will attain to that state of holiness which will not only arm them to resist the abominable rites and idolatrous practices denounced in the foregoing verses, but which will enable them to reflect the holiness of their Lord.

Verses 7, 8. - A positive command, Sanctify yourselves therefore, and he ye holy: for I am the Lord your God, is introduced early in the list of penalties to show what is the main purpose of the latter. The only way in which the nation can recover holiness lost by the sins of its members, is by the punishment of the latter, or by their purification by means of sacrifice, according to the nature of the offense.

20:1-9 Are we shocked at the unnatural cruelty of the ancient idolaters in sacrificing their children? We may justly be so. But are there not very many parents, who, by bad teaching and wicked examples, and by the mysteries of iniquity which they show their children, devote them to the service of Satan, and forward their everlasting ruin, in a manner even more to be lamented? What an account must such parents render to God, and what a meeting will they have with their children at the day of judgment! On the other hand, let children remember that he who cursed father or mother was surely put to death. This law Christ confirmed. Laws which were made before are repeated, and penalties annexed to them. If men will not avoid evil practices, because the law has made these practices sin, and it is right that we go on that principle, surely they should avoid them when the law has made them death, from a principle of self-preservation. In the midst of these laws comes in a general charge, Sanctify yourselves, and be ye holy. It is the Lord that sanctifies, and his work will be done, though it be difficult. Yet his grace is so far from doing away our endeavours, that it strongly encourages them. Work out your salvation, for it is God that worketh in you.Sanctify yourselves therefore,.... By abstaining from such impious and idolatrous practices, and separating themselves from all that gave into them, as well as by observing the holy commandments of the Lord; otherwise internal sanctification is not the work of man, but of the Lord himself, as in Leviticus 20:8,

and be ye holy; or a separate people from all others in worship and conversation:

for I am the Lord your God; who is a holy God, and therefore it became them to be holy, in imitation of him, Leviticus 19:2.