INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 19 This chapter contains various laws, ceremonial and moral, tending to the sanctification of men, in imitation of the holy God, Leviticus 19:1; as concerning the reverence of parents, and observing the sabbaths, Leviticus 19:3; against idolatry, Leviticus 19:4; about off... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD SPAKE UNTO MOSES,.... About the same, or quickly after he had delivered the above laws to him; and there are many in this chapter, which were before given, and here repeated: SAYING; as follows.... [ Continue Reading ]
SPEAK UNTO ALL THE CONGREGATION OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL,.... They could not be all spoke to together, but tribe after tribe, or family after family; or rather the heads of the tribes, and at most the heads of families were convened, and the following instructions were given, to be communicated to... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SHALL FEAR EVERY MAN HIS MOTHER AND HIS FATHER,.... This has respect to the fifth command, which is the first with promise, and is here referred to first, because a man has his beginning in the world from his parents, and by them he is trained up in the observance of all the other laws of God, eq... [ Continue Reading ]
TURN YE NOT UNTO IDOLS,.... From the one only true and living God to them that are not gods, as the word used signifies, who are nothing; for, as the apostle says, an idol is nothing in the world, 1 Corinthians 8:4, is of no worth and value, of no consequence and importance, of no avail and usefulne... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF YE OFFER A SACRIFICE OF PEACE OFFERINGS UNTO THE LORD,.... Which were of three sorts, a thanksgiving, a vow, and a voluntary offering, Leviticus 7:11; the latter seems to be here meant, as appears by what follows: YE SHALL OFFER IT AT YOUR OWN WILL; a voluntary freewill offering, of their ow... [ Continue Reading ]
IT SHALL BE EATEN THE SAME DAY YE OFFER IT, AND ON THE MORROW,.... The meaning is, that if it could be, it was best to eat it all up the same day it was offered, but if not, the remainder was to be eaten on the morrow, but by no means to be kept any longer; this shows that that sort of peace offerin... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF IT BE EATEN AT ALL ON THE THIRD DAY,.... Or "in eating be eaten" k any of it be eaten, the least bit of it: IT [IS] ABOMINABLE; it is as any common thing, as if it was no sacrifice; yea, as if it was corrupt and putrefied flesh; nay, as what is abominable to God: and therefore it follows, I... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE [EVERYONE] THAT EATETH IT SHALL BEAR HIS INIQUITY,.... Be chargeable with sin, be pronounced guilty, and endure the punishment, which is cutting off, Leviticus 7:20: BECAUSE HE HATH PROFANED THE HALLOWED THING OF THE LORD; the flesh of the peace offerings, by keeping it longer than the fi... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN YE REAP THE HARVEST OF YOUR LAND,.... Of the land of Canaan, when come into it, which having sown, and it was harvest, either barley harvest or wheat harvest, or both, and especially the latter, to which reaping seems best to agree: THOU SHALL NOT WHOLLY REAP THE CORNER OF THE FIELD; but a... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THOU SHALT NOT GLEAN THY VINEYARD,.... Or cut off the little clusters which are, as Aben Ezra observes, like an infant, as the word signifies, infant clusters, which were small in comparison of the large ones, as infants are to men; those which had but a grape or two, or very few upon them, were... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SHALL NOT STEAL,.... Which is the eighth command; Exodus 20:15; though Jarchi thinks something different from that law is here intended; that this is a caution against stealing of money, that in the decalogue against stealing of souls, or men. And it may be observed, that one is expressed in the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND YE SHALL NOT SWEAR BY MY NAME FALSELY,.... Or "to a falsehood" x, to any of the above cases; as that a man has not the deposit of another's in his hands, when he has; or that such a man owes him so much money, when he does not, or any other false thing. Stealing, dealing falsely, lying, and fals... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALT NOT DEFRAUD THY NEIGHBOUR, NEITHER ROB [HIM],.... Not defraud him secretly, nor rob him openly and by force, as Aben Ezra; not defraud him in buying and selling, in retaining wages due to him, and refusing to return to him what has been committed to trust, or to repay him what has been bo... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALT NOT CURSE THE DEAF,.... Who are naturally so, born deaf, or become so through some accident, and cannot hear what is objected to them, and they are cursed for; and so cannot reply in their own defence, and remove the calumny cast upon them, if it be such which is the cause of their being... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SHALL DO NO UNRIGHTEOUSNESS IN JUDGMENT,.... This is said with respect to judges and witnesses, as Aben Ezra notes; that the one should not bear false witness in a court of judicature to the perversion of justice, and the other should not pronounce an unrighteous sentence, justifying the wicked a... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALL NOT GO UP AND DOWN [AS] A TALEBEARER AMONG THY PEOPLE,.... The word used signifies a merchant, and particularly one that deals in drugs and spices, and especially a peddler in those things, that goes about from place to place to sell them; and such having an opportunity and making use of... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALT NOT HATE THY BROTHER IN THINE HEART,.... Although no hatred may be expressed either by words or deeds, yet being in the heart is a breach of the sixth command, see Matthew 5:21; and of this a man may be guilty, when he does not attempt to save the life of his neighbour, either by bearing... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALT NOT AVENGE,.... That is, not avenge ourselves on him that has done us an ill thing, but leave it to him to whom vengeance belongs, see Romans 12:19; which is done when a man does an ill thing for another, or denies to grant a favour which he has been denied by another; Jarchi thus illustr... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SHALL KEEP MY STATUTES,.... Those which follow, and which are of a different sort from what are last mentioned, of a moral nature, and are planted in the heart, as Aben Ezra says; are agreeably to the law and light of nature, and part of the work of the law written on the heart, as the apostle ca... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHOSOEVER LIETH CARNALLY WITH A WOMAN,.... Has carnal knowledge of her: a man and woman are expressed, signifying those that are of age, Aben Ezra observes, that according to the mystical exposition of these words, this same carnally lying is as of divers kinds, of a free man with a bondwoman, a... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SHALL BRING HIS TRESPASS OFFERING UNTO THE LORD,.... To the priest of the Lord, to offer it for him; he, and not she, as the Targum of Jonathan has it; Leviticus 19:20: UNTO THE DOOR OF THE TABERNACLE OF THE CONGREGATION; where all offerings were to be brought, Leviticus 17:4; [EVEN] A RAM FOR... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE PRIEST SHALL MAKE AN ATONEMENT FOR HIM,.... By offering his sacrifice for him, typical of the atoning sacrifice of Christ: WITH THE RAM OF HIS TRESPASS OFFERING BEFORE THE LORD; presented before him at the door of the tabernacle, and offered up on his altar: FOR HIS SIN WHICH HE HATH DONE;... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN YE SHALL COME INTO THE LAND,.... The land of Canaan, whither they were now going: AND SHALL HAVE PLANTED ALL MANNER OF TREES FOR FOOD; such that brought forth fruit that was eatable, as figs, grapes, olives, c. so that all such trees as did not bear fruit fit for man's food came not under... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IN THE FOURTH YEAR ALL THE FRUIT THEREOF SHALL BE HOLY,.... Separated and devoted to the service of God, to be given to the priest, or to be bought again of him; wherefore the Targum of Jonathan adds, at the end of the verse, "redeemed from the priest", a redemption price being given to the prie... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IN THE FIFTH YEAR SHALL YE EAT OF THE FRUIT THEREOF,.... And so in all succeeding years as long as the tree lasted and bore: THAT IT MAY YIELD UNTO YOU THE INCREASE THEREOF; may be so abundantly blessed, and produce so large an increase as to answer the three years' want of any fruit from it, a... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SHALL NOT EAT [ANYTHING] WITH THE BLOOD,.... Or upon, over, or by the blood s, for this law seems different from that in Genesis 9:4, and from those in Leviticus 3:17; and is variously interpreted by the Jewish writers; some of not eating flesh, the blood not being rightly let out of it, as not b... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SHALL NOT ROUND THE CORNERS OF YOUR HEADS,.... The extremities of the hairs of the head, round about, on the forehead, temples, and behind the ears; this is done, as Jarchi says, when any one makes his temples, behind his ears, and his forehead alike, so that the circumference of his head is foun... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SHALL NOT MAKE ANY CUTTINGS IN YOUR FLESH FOR THE DEAD,.... Either with their nails, tearing their cheeks and other parts, or with any instrument, knife, razor, c. Jarchi says, it was the custom of the Amorites, when anyone died, to cut their flesh, as it was of the Scythians, as Herodotus d rela... [ Continue Reading ]
DO NOT PROSTITUTE THY DAUGHTER, TO CAUSE HER TO BE A WHORE,.... Not by delaying to marry her, which is the sense the Jews give l, but it refers to a wicked practice among the Phoenicians or Canaanites, Athanasius m speaks of, whose women used to prostitute themselves in the temples of their idols; a... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SHALL KEEP MY SABBATHS,.... By attending to the worship and service of God on sabbath days, they and their children would be preserved from the idolatry of the Gentiles, and all the filthy practices attending it: AND REVERENCE MY SANCTUARY; and not defile it by such impurities as were committed... [ Continue Reading ]
REGARD NOT THEM THAT HAVE FAMILIAR SPIRITS,.... The word used signifies "bottles", and that sort of diviners here intended go by this name, either because what they sat on when they divined was in the form of a bottle, or they divined by one, or they were swelled and inflated as bottles when they de... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALL RISE UP BEFORE THE HOARY HEAD,.... Or "before old age" q, which may be discerned by the hoary or grey hairs upon the head; that is, before a grey-headed man, or an old man, and one was reckoned so when he was of seventy years of age; for so it is said r, one of sixty years is arrived to o... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF A STRANGER SOJOURN WITH YOU IN YOUR LAND,.... Ben Gersom, and others, understand this of a proselyte of righteousness, who was circumcised, and in all things conformed to the Jewish religion; but it may be interpreted of a proselyte of the gate, who was not an idolater, since he is described... [ Continue Reading ]
[BUT] A STRANGER THAT DWELLETH WITH YOU SHALL BE UNTO YOU AS ONE BORN AMONG YOU,.... Especially if a proselyte of righteousness; for then he enjoyed the same privileges, civil and religious, the Israelites did, for there was one law for them both, Exodus 12:49: AND THOU SHALT LOVE HIM AS THYSELF; a... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SHALL DO NO UNRIGHTEOUSNESS IN JUDGMENT,.... This is repeated from Leviticus 19:15; and in order to lead on to some other laws and instructions; though Aben Ezra thinks this is said in connection with the preceding words, and in reference to the stranger, agreeably to Deuteronomy 1:16; but Jarchi... [ Continue Reading ]
JUST BALANCES, JUST WEIGHTS,.... Which were for such sort of things as were bought and sold by weight, and these were to be according to the custom and usage which universally obtained among them, or were fixed and settled by them; they were to be neither lighter nor heavier; they were not to have o... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE SHALL YE OBSERVE ALL MY STATUTES, AND ALL MY JUDGMENTS,.... Delivered in this and the preceding Chapter s, and elsewhere, whether ceremonial or judicial, or moral, as there were of each, which had been delivered to them; and which are all comprehended in these two words, "statutes", or ord... [ Continue Reading ]