Why were Israelites not to mix with Canaanites? God gave the reason in these words:
For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth (Deuteronomy 7:6).
You shall be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be (Leviticus 20:26).
“I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples.”
The word “holy” means “set apart” for God. God Himself is good and pure, set apart from all that is evil and sinful. Therefore, His people had to be like Him.
“You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy” (Leviticus 19:2).
God loved His people and wanted to be with them.
Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. … I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them (Exodus 25:8; 29:45-46).
God designed the tabernacle or sacred tent as His “sanctuary,” the place where He would symbolically dwell and the center for formal worship. God gave detailed instructions for building the tabernacle with its fabulous materials and furnishings. Their earthly beauty would dimly reflect God’s beauty and majesty. The tabernacle’s true glory would be God’s presence (Exodus 40:34).
While the tabernacle represented God’s love for His people, it also reminded them that God separates Himself from sin. The tabernacle was partitioned into different spaces to show God’s holiness. God was pictured as dwelling in the innermost room, called the Holy Place or the Holy of Holies (Exodus 25:8, 22). That space was so holy that only one man, the high priest, was permitted to enter it. He could enter only once a year on the Day of Atonement, and only after all his sins had been removed ceremonially by animal blood (Leviticus 16).
The next space within the tabernacle was for the priests. They, like the high priest, were descendants of Aaron, Israel’s first high priest. Among many families in the tribe of Levi, just one family could serve as priests. All others were excluded. Anyone else trying to take over priestly roles was sentenced to death (Numbers 3:10, 38; 18:7). Levites were assigned to assist the Aaronic priests in moving the tabernacle and guarding it. No other Israelite could help with the tabernacle. “If any outsider comes near, he shall be put to death” (Numbers 1:51). All Israelites were required to love and worship God. But, besides the Levites, all tribes had to gather outside the tabernacle for their part in formal worship. The holy God imposed this series of separations and animal sacrifices because of the nation’s sinfulness (Leviticus 4; Numbers 18:22).