XIX. (1) AND THE LORD SPAKE UNTO MOSES. — The prohibitions in the preceding chapter, which are designed to regulate the moral conduct of relations and connections towards each other in their family circles, are now followed by precepts which affect the Israelite’s life in all its bearings, both towa... [ Continue Reading ]
SPEAK UNTO ALL THE CONGREGATION OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. — The importance which the Lawgiver Himself attaches to this epitome of the whole Law, as this section is called, may be seen from the fact that God commands Moses to address these precepts “to all _the congregation_ of the children of Israe... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SHALL FEAR EVERY MAN HIS MOTHER, AND HIS FATHER. — The first means to attain to the holiness which is to make the Israelite reflect the holiness of God, is uniformly to reverence his parents. Thus the group of precepts contained in this chapter opens with the fifth commandment in the Decalogue (E... [ Continue Reading ]
TURN YE NOT UNTO IDOLS. — As the Lord is their God, and there is no other God besides Him, the Israelites must never turn their affections nor address prayers or enquiries to idols. This part of the verse therefore corresponds with the first commandment of the Decalogue (Exodus 20:3). The expression... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF YE OFFER A SACRIFICE. — From Leviticus 17:3, it will be seen that the Israelites were in the habit of sacrificing to idols the animals intended for private consumption, and that this practice gave rise to the enactment that when any of the three kinds of quadrupeds are to be slaughtered for d... [ Continue Reading ]
IT SHALL BE EATEN THE SAME DAY... AND ON THE MORROW. — The fact that the flesh of the animal might be eaten both on the day on which it was offered and on the following day, according to the authorities during the second Temple, shows that the second class of peace-offering is here meant, described... [ Continue Reading ]
IF IT BE EATEN AT ALL ON THE THIRD DAY. — See Leviticus 7:18.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE EVERY ONE THAT EATETH IT. — See Leviticus 7:18. THAT SOUL SHALL BE CUT OFF FROM AMONG HIS PEOPLE. — Better, _That soul shall be cut off from his people,_ as the Authorised Version renders it in four out of the six instances (see Leviticus 7:20; Leviticus 7:25; Leviticus 7:27) in which this... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN YE REAP. — Benevolent consideration for the poor is another means whereby the Israelite is to attain to that holiness which will enable him to reflect the holiness of God. As the Lord is merciful to all, and provides for the wants of every living creature (Psalms 145:15), the Israelite, too... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THOU SHALT NOT GLEAN THY VINEYARD. — In gathering in the vine care is to be taken only to cut off’ the large clusters, but not the _infantas,_ as the expression literally denotes, which is here rendered by “glean.” Those branches or twigs which had only one or two grapes on them were to be left... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SHALL NOT STEAL. — This injunction, which forms the eighth commandment of the Decalogue (Exodus 20:15), most probably has here a primary reference to the conduct of the owners of fields and vineyards. They are cautioned that by depriving the poor of his prescribed right to the corner of the field... [ Continue Reading ]
AND YE SHALL NOT SWEAR. — This corresponds with the third commandment of the Decalogue (Exodus 20:7).... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALT NOT DEFRAUD. — Here oppression by fraud and oppression by violence are forbidden. It is probably in allusion to this passage that John the Baptist warned the soldiers who came to him: “And he said to them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages”... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALT NOT CURSE THE DEAF. — To revile one who cannot hear, and is therefore unable to vindicate himself, is both inexpressibly mean and wicked. The term deaf also includes the absent, and hence out of hearing (Psalms 38:14). According to the administrators of the law during the second Temple, t... [ Continue Reading ]
DO NO UNRIGHTEOUSNESS IN JUDGMENT. — That is, the judges are not to abuse the authority vested in them by virtue of their office, by administering what ought to be justice in an arbitrary manner. THOU SHALT NOT RESPECT THE PERSON OF THE POOR. — The general statement in the preceding clause is here m... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALT NOT GO UP AND DOWN AS A TALE-BEARER. — Better, _Thou shalt not go about slandering,_ as the Authorised Version has it in Jeremiah 6:28; Jeremiah 9:4; Ezekiel 22:9, Margin. Whilst giving just evidence in a court of justice is demanded by the law, it prohibits the circulation of slanderous... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALT NOT HATE THY BROTHER IN THINE HEART. — From the outward acts denounced in the preceding verse, the legislator now passes to inward feelings. Whatever wrong our neighbour has inflicted upon us, we are not to harbour hatred against him. THOU SHALT IN ANY WISE REBUKE. — Better, _thou shalt by all... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALT NOT AVENGE. — As the preceding verse enjoins upon us to reprove the offender, this verse forbids us to avenge the wrong even when the rebuke has proved ineffectual, thus demanding the greatest sacrifice on the part of the injured person. The administrators of the law during the second Tem... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SHALL KEEP MY STATUTES — that is, the following ordinances, which though not of the same high moral nature as the precepts laid down in the preceding verses, are yet necessary to attain to holiness. The Holy God has made everything “after its kind” (Genesis 1:11; Genesis 1:21; Genesis 1:24, &c.),... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHOSOEVER LIETH. — Better, _If a man lie,_ as the same phrase is translated in the Authorised Version, Leviticus 22:14; Leviticus 24:19; Leviticus 25:29; Leviticus 27:14. BETROTHED TO AN HUSBAND. — Better, _betrothed to a man._ From the law about the mixed seeds the Lawgiver passes to heterogene... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SHALL BRING HIS TRESPASS OFFERING. — Unlike the woman, the man had to bring this sacrifice under any circumstances, whether he sinned ignorantly or presumptuously. She was exempted from offering a sacrifice because she was her master’s property, and not being her own, she had no property. UN... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE PRIEST SHALL MAKE AN ATONEMENT. — Having offered the trespass offering according to the prescribed ritual by the priest, the sinner expiated for his sin, and was declared free by the officiating son of Aaron. (See Leviticus 4:20; Leviticus 4:26.)... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN YE SHALL COME. — Rather, _And when ye be come,_ as the Authorised Version renders the same phrase in Leviticus 14:34. This is one of the four instances in Leviticus of a law being given prospectively having no immediate bearing on the condition of the people of Israel (viz., Leviticus 14:34... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IN THE FOURTH YEAR. — Like the second tithes the fruits of the fourth year were taken up to Jerusalem, and there eaten by the owner, in company with the poor and needy whom he invited to the repast. The owner, however, was also allowed to redeem them. In this case he had to add the fifth part of... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IN THE FIFTH YEAR. — It was only in the fifth year that the owner was permitted to eat the fruits without redeeming them. THAT IT MAY YIELD UNTO YOU THE INCREASE THEREOF. — That is, refraining from using the fruits during the first three years, and consecrating to the Lord the fruit of the four... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SHALL NOT EAT ANY THING WITH THE BLOOD. — According to the administrators of the law during the second Temple, there are no less than five different things forbidden here. It prohibits (1) eating the flesh of a legally slaughtered animal as long as its life is not quite gone, or whilst the flesh... [ Continue Reading ]
ROUND THE CORNERS OF YOUR HEADS. — That is, they are not to shave off the hair around the temples and behind the ears, so as to leave the head bald except a dish-like tuft upon the crown, thus imparting to their heads the form of a hemisphere. This was done by the Arabs, and other worshippers of the... [ Continue Reading ]
CUTTINGS IN YOUR FLESH FOR THE DEAD. — It was not only the custom for mourners to let their hair grow long and wear it in a disorderly manner (see Leviticus 10:6), but the bereaved in the East to this day make cuts and incisions in their bodies in mourning for the dead. The Israelite, however, who i... [ Continue Reading ]
DO NOT PROSTITUTE THY DAUGHTER. — This refers to the degrading worship of Astarte which prevailed in ancient times, and which at times also broke out among the Jews.... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SHALL KEEP MY SABBATHS. — The greatest safeguard against the above-named abomination, and the surest way to fulfil the Divine commands, is by keeping the Sabbath day, and following the instruction imparted on this day of rest. (See Leviticus 19:3.) AND REVERENCE MY SANCTUARY — which the Israelite... [ Continue Reading ]
REGARD NOT. — Better, _Turn ye not unto,_ as the Authorised Version renders this very phrase in Leviticus 19:4. THEM THAT HAVE FAMILIAR SPIRITS. — This phrase represents the single word _oboth_ in the original, and the translators of our Authorised Version by adopting it implied that those who prac... [ Continue Reading ]
RISE UP BEFORE THE HOARY HEAD. — But though no regard is to be paid to these soothsayers and cunning men, the greatest reverence is to be shown to the aged, for “with the old is wisdom, and in length of days understanding” (Job 12:12; Job 32:7, &c.). If we, therefore, are to attain to the holiness w... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF A STRANGER SOJOURN WITH THEE. — The stranger, for whose benefit the legislators enacted so many humane and benign laws, and with regard to whom the book of Leviticus has laid down so many precepts, is one of non-Jewish origin, but who had joined the Jewish faith. He had, therefore, to undergo... [ Continue Reading ]
(34)BUT THE STRANGER THAT DWELLETH. — Better, _The stranger that sojourneth._ The word “but” is not in the original, and its insertion mars the flow of the passage, whilst the expression rendered in the Authorised Version by “dwelleth” is the same which is translated “sojourn in the preceding verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SHALL DO NO UNRIGHTEOUSNESS IN JUDGMENT. — It will be seen that the Lawgiver uses here exactly the same phrase with regard to meting out right measure which he used in connection with the administration of justice in Leviticus 19:15. He, therefore, who declares that a false measure is a legal mea... [ Continue Reading ]
JUST BALANCES, JUST WEIGHTS. — That is, they were to be the same for buying as for selling. JUST EPHAH. — The ephah is the dry measure, and contained ten omers. (See Leviticus 14:10.) It is the same measure as the _bath_ is for liquids. A JUST HIN. — The hin, which was a measure for liquids, conta... [ Continue Reading ]