XX. (1) AND THE LORD SPAKE UNTO MOSES. — It is difficult to account for the position of this chapter. Naturally we should expect it to follow Leviticus 18. If Leviticus 20 contains the penalties attached to the sins enumerated in Leviticus 18, we should expect it immediately to follow that chapter.... [ Continue Reading ]
AGAIN, THOU SHALT SAY. — Better, _And thou shalt say._ WHOSOEVER HE BE. — Better, _What man soever there be,_ as the Authorised Version renders this phrase in Leviticus 17:3. (See Note on Leviticus 17:8.) THAT GIVETH ANY OF HIS SEED UNTO MOLECH. — It will be seen that whilst in Leviticus 18:21 the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WILL SET MY FACE AGAINST THAT MAN. — That is, make him feel my anger. (See Leviticus 17:10.) AND WILL CUT HIM OFF. — As the preceding verse describes the offender as having been stoned to death by the people, the declaration on the part of God that He will cut off the sinner has occasioned so... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF THE PEOPLE OF THE LAND... — In the former verse the Legislator treated of cases where there was insufficient evidence. Here he declares what God would do if the community itself, whose duty it is to execute the sentence, either from culpable indifference or criminal sympathy with the sin, con... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN I WILL SET MY FACE. — In that case God himself will show His anger. (See Leviticus 20:3, and Leviticus 17:10.) He will interpose to execute just judgment. AND AGAINST HIS FAMILY. — Because they would naturally be privy to it, and aid and abet the father in this crime, they, as well as all thos... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE SOUL THAT TURNETH AFTER SUCH AS HAVE FAMILIAR SPIRITS. — The same punishment will be visited upon the man who consults necromancers. For the nature of this sin, see Leviticus 19:31, and for the execution of this sentence see 1 Chronicles 10:13. The soothsayers themselves were stoned to death... [ Continue Reading ]
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... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR EVERY ONE THAT CURSETH HIS FATHER. — Though the administrators of the Law during the second Temple have laid down the most minute regulation with regard to filial obedience (see Leviticus 19:3), and though nothing can exceed the tenderness with which they instilled into the hearts of children th... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL BE SURELY PUT TO DEATH — That is, by stoning. (See Leviticus 20:2.) This precept is also to be found in Exodus 21:17; Proverbs 20:20, and is referred to by our Lord (Matthew 15:14; Mark 7:10). HIS BLOOD SHALL BE UPON him — That is, he has brought it upon himself to be killed. (See Joshua 2:19.... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS FATHER’S WIFE. — Here the penalty is enacted for the sin prohibited in Leviticus 18:8.... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH HIS DAUGHTER IN LAW. — See Notes on Leviticus 18:15.... [ Continue Reading ]
MANKIND. — See Leviticus 18:22.... [ Continue Reading ]
A WIFE AND HER MOTHER. — See Leviticus 18:17. THEY SHALL BE BURNT WITH FIRE. — This, as we have seen, is the second of the four modes of capital punishment. (See Leviticus 20:2.) In the following ten cases those guilty of the sins specified suffered this punishment: (1) the unchaste high priest’s da... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH A BEAST. — See Leviticus 18:23_. _... [ Continue Reading ]
TAKE HIS SISTER. — See Leviticus 18:9.... [ Continue Reading ]
HAVING HER SICKNESS. — See Leviticus 15:24; Leviticus 18:19.... [ Continue Reading ]
THY MOTHER’S sister. — See Leviticus 18:12.... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS UNCLE’S WIFE. — See Leviticus 18:14.... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS BROTHER’S WIFE. — See Leviticus 18:16.... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SHALL THEREFORE KEEP ALL MY statutes. — Like the prohibitions (see Leviticus 18:26), the penalties here enacted for transgressing them conclude with an appeal to the Israelites to keep the Divine precepts, and not to be guilty of the crimes for which the former inhabitants of the land have been c... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT I HAVE SAID UNTO YOU. — That is, promised to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and also to you, that he would expel the Canaanites, and give the land to the Israelites as an inheritance.... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SHALL THEREFORE PUT DIFFERENCE. — Better, _Ye shall therefore separate._ It is the same word which is used at the end of the preceding verse, and which is rendered “separate” in the Authorised Version. It is important that the word should be translated by the same expression, since it not only sh... [ Continue Reading ]
AND YE SHALL BE HOLY UNTO ME. — Rather, _And ye shall be my holy ones,_ in harmony with the remark in the last clause of this verse, where God says that He had separated them for the purpose that “ye should be mine” The phrase only occurs here, and is different from the one which has been used in Le... [ Continue Reading ]
A MAN ALSO OR WOMAN. — Better, _And a man or a woman._ The departure from the literal translation of the conjunction in the Authorised version is both unnecessary and obscures the meaning of the sentence. It ought rather to be translated “but;” that is, but because the Israelites are God’s holy ones... [ Continue Reading ]