Lev 17:7 | TNotes | STEP | 17:7 be unfaithful (Hebrew zanah , “commit fornication”): Israel was not to worship any god but the Lord (Exod 20:3 ). Israel’s covenant relationship to the Lord was even compared to a marriage (see Hos 1:2 ), and worshiping other gods could be described as spiritual adultery. In addition, many of the Canaanite religions were fertility cults. This verb reflects the prostitution conducted at Canaanite shrines to induce fertility in the land through rites of magic involving sexual intercourse. • The Hebrew word translated goat idols is the plural for a male goat. In the ancient world, the male goat was often a symbol of fertility or of a god of the underworld. During the reign of Jeroboam I, many Levites from the northern kingdom moved south to Jerusalem; they had been appalled by the use of goats and bulls in the northern kingdom’s worship (2 Chr 11:15-16 ).

bExod 20:3►

cHos 1:2►

d2 Chr 11:15-16►

‏ Leviticus 17:7

17:7 ^a be unfaithful (Hebrew zanah, “commit fornication”): Israel was not to worship any god but the Lord (Exod 20:3 ^b). Israel’s covenant relationship to the Lord was even compared to a marriage (see Hos 1:2 ^c), and worshiping other gods could be described as spiritual adultery. In addition, many of the Canaanite religions were fertility cults. This verb reflects the prostitution conducted at Canaanite shrines to induce fertility in the land through rites of magic involving sexual intercourse.

• The Hebrew word translated goat idols is the plural for a male goat. In the ancient world, the male goat was often a symbol of fertility or of a god of the underworld. During the reign of Jeroboam I, many Levites from the northern kingdom moved south to Jerusalem; they had been appalled by the use of goats and bulls in the northern kingdom’s worship (2 Chr 11:15-16 ^d).