CHAPTER XIX _Exhortations to_ holiness, _and a repetition of various laws_, 1, 2 _Duty to_ parents, _and observance of the_ Sabbath, 3. _Against_ idolatry, 4. _Concerning_ peace-offerings, 5-8. _The_ gleanings _of the_ harvest _and_ vintage _to be left for the_ _poor_, 9, 10. _Against_ steal... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Leviticus 19:3. _YE SHALL FEAR EVERY MAN HIS MOTHER, C._] Ye shall have the profoundest reverence and respect for them. Genesis 48:12, Genesis 48:12 _"_Exodus 20:8_"_; and _"_Exodus 20:12_"_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Leviticus 19:4. _TURN YE NOT UNTO IDOLS_] אלילם _elilim_, literally _nothings_; and to this St. Paul seems to allude 1 Corinthians 8:4, where he says, _We know that an idol is_ NOTHING _in the world_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Leviticus 19:5. _PEACE-OFFERINGS_] See at the conclusion of _Clarke's note "_Leviticus 7:38_"_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Leviticus 19:7. _IT IS BE EATEN - ON THE THIRD DAY_] Leviticus 7:15.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Leviticus 19:9. _WHEN YE REAP THE HARVEST_] Liberty for the poor to glean both the corn-fields and vineyards was a Divine institution among the Jews; for the whole of the Mosaic dispensation, like the Christian, breathed love to God and benevolence to man. The poor in Judea were to live by gle... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Leviticus 19:11. _YE SHALL NOT STEAL, C._] Exodus 20:15, Exodus 20:15.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Leviticus 19:13. _THE WAGES - SHALL NOT ABIDE WITH THEE ALL NIGHT_] For this plain reason, it is the support of the man's life and family, and they need to expend it as fast as it is earned.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Leviticus 19:14. _THOU SHALT NOT CURSE THE DEAF_] Or _speak evil_ of him, because he cannot _hear_, and so cannot vindicate his own character. _NOR PUT A STUMBLING-BLOCK BEFORE THE BLIND_] He who is capable of doing this, must have a heart cased with cruelty. The spirit and design of these pr... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Leviticus 19:16. _THOU SHALT NOT GO UP AND DOWN AS A TALE-BEARER_] רכיל _rachil_ signifies a _trader_, a _pedlar_, and is here applied to the person who travels about dealing in scandal and calumny, getting the secrets of every person and family, and _retailing_ them wherever he goes. A more d... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Leviticus 19:17. _THOU SHALT NOT HATE THY BROTHER_] Thou shalt not only not do him any kind of evil, but thou shalt harbour no hatred in thy heart towards him. On the contrary, _thou shalt_ _love him as thyself_, Leviticus 19:18. Many persons suppose, from misunderstanding our Lord's words, J... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Leviticus 19:19. _GENDER WITH A DIVERSE KIND_] These precepts taken literally seem to imply that they should not permit the _horse_ and the _she-ass_, nor the _he-ass_ and the _cow_, (as they do in the East,) to couple together; nor sow different kinds of _seeds_ in the same _field_ or _garde... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Leviticus 19:20. _A WOMAN THAT_ IS _A BONDMAID_] Had she been _free_, the law required that she should be put to death; (see Deuteronomy 22:24;) but as she was a _slave_, she is supposed to have less self-command, and therefore less guilt: but as it is taken for granted she did not make resist... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Leviticus 19:23. _THREE YEARS SHALL IT BE AS UNCIRCUMCISED_] I see no great reason to seek for mystical meanings in this prohibition. The fruit of a young tree cannot be good; for not having arrived at a state of maturity, the juices cannot be sufficiently elaborated to produce fruit excellent... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Leviticus 19:26. _NEITHER SHALL YE USE ENCHANTMENT_] לא תנחשו _lo_ _thenachashu_. Conjecture itself can do little towards a proper explanation of the terms used in this verse. נחש _nachash_; Genesis 3:1, we translate _serpent_, and with very little propriety; but though the word may not signif... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Leviticus 19:27. _YE SHALL NOT ROUND THE CORNERS YOUR HEADS_] This and the following verse evidently refer to customs which must have existed among the Egyptians when the Israelites sojourned in Egypt; and what they were it is now difficult, even with any probability, to conjecture. _Herodotus... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 28. _ANY CUTTINGS IN YOUR FLESH FOR THE DEAD_] That the ancients were very violent in their grief, tearing the hair and face, beating the breast, c., is well known. Virgil represents the sister of Dido "tearing her face with her nails, and beating her breast with her fists." "Unguibus ora _so... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 29. _DO NOT PROSTITUTE THY DAUGHTER_] This was a very frequent custom, and with examples of it writers of antiquity abound. The Cyprian women, according to Justin, gained that portion which their husbands received with them at marriage by previous public prostitution. And the _Phoenicians_, ac... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 31. _REGARD NOT THEM THAT HAVE FAMILIAR SPIRITS_] The Hebrew word _oboth_ probably signifies a kind of _engastromuthoi_ or _ventriloquists_, or such as the Pythoness mentioned Leviticus 16:16; Leviticus 16:18; persons who, while under the _influence of their demon_, became greatly _inflated_,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 32. _BEFORE THE HOARY HEAD_] Genesis 48:12, Genesis 48:12.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 33. _IF A STRANGER SOJOURN_] This law to protect and comfort the stranger was at once humane and politic. None is so desolate as the stranger, and none needs the offices of benevolence and charity more: and we may add that he who is not affected by the desolate state of the stranger has neith... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Leviticus 19:35. _YE SHALL DO NO UNRIGHTEOUSNESS_] Ye shall not act contrary to the strictest justice in any case, and especially in the _four_ following, which properly understood, comprise all that can occur between a man and his fellow. 1. JUDGMENT in all cases that come before the civil m... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Leviticus 19:36. _JUST BALANCES_] _Scales, steel-yard_, c. _Weights_, אבנים abanim, stones, as the weights appear to have been originally formed out of stones. _Ephah, hin_, c., see before.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Leviticus 19:37. _SHALL YE OBSERVE ALL MY STATUTES_] חקתי _chukkothi_, from חק _chak_, to _describe, mark_, or _trace out_; the righteousness which I have described, and the path of duty which I have traced out. _Judgments_, משפטי mishpatai, from _shaphat_, to _discern, determine, direct_, c.... [ Continue Reading ]