“I said to their children
In the wilderness.
‘Do not follow
The statutes
Of your parents!
Do not observer
Their ordinances!
Do not defile yourselves
With their idols!’”
Yahweh had warned the children of Israel during the wilderness travel. They were not to follow the statutes of their parents, since Yahweh was going to give them new ones. These young children were not to observe the various ordinances and customs of their parents that they had followed in Egypt. Finally, they were not to defile themselves with the Egyptian idols of their parents.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 