Leviticus 19

Le 19:1-37.

A

REPETITION OF

SUNDRY

LAWS.

2. Speak unto all the congregation of the children of

Israel--Many of the laws enumerated in this chapter had been

previously announced. As they were, however, of a general application,

not suited to particular classes, but to the nation at large, so Moses

seems, according to divine instructions, to have rehearsed them,

perhaps on different occasions and to successive divisions of the

people, till "all the congregation of the children of Israel" were

taught to know them. The will of God in the Old as well as the New

Testament Church was not locked up in the repositories of an unknown

tongue, but communicated plainly and openly to the people.

Ye shall be holy: for I . . . am holy--Separated from

the world, the people of God were required to be holy, for His

character, His laws, and service were holy. (See

1Pe 1:15).

3. Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my

sabbaths--The duty of obedience to parents is placed in connection

with the proper observance of the Sabbaths, both of them lying at the

foundation of practical religion.

5-8. if ye offer a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the Lord, ye

shall offer it at your own will--Those which included thank

offerings, or offerings made for vows, were always freewill offerings.

Except the portions which, being waved and heaved, became the property

of the priests (see

Le 3:1-17),

the rest of the victim was eaten by the offerer and his friend, under

the following regulations, however, that, if thank offerings, they were

to be eaten on the day of their presentation; and if a freewill

offering, although it might be eaten on the second day, yet if any

remained of it till the third day, it was to be burnt, or deep

criminality was incurred by the person who then ventured to partake of

it. The reason of this strict prohibition seems to have been to prevent

any mysterious virtue being superstitiously attached to meat offered on

the altar.

9, 10. And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not

wholly reap the corners of thy field--The right of the poor in

Israel to glean after reapers, as well as to the unreaped corners of

the field, was secured by a positive statute; and this, in addition to

other enactments connected with the ceremonial law, formed a beneficial

provision for their support. At the same time, proprietors were not

obliged to admit them into the field until the grain had been carried

off the field; and they seem also to have been left at liberty to

choose the poor whom they deemed the most deserving or needful

(Ru 2:2, 8).

This was the earliest law for the benefit of the poor that we read of

in the code of any people; and it combined in admirable union the

obligation of a public duty with the exercise of private and voluntary

benevolence at a time when the hearts of the rich would be strongly

inclined to liberality.

11-16. Ye shall not steal--A variety of social duties are

inculcated in this passage, chiefly in reference to common and

little-thought-of vices to which mankind are exceedingly prone; such as

committing petty frauds, or not scrupling to violate truth in

transactions of business, ridiculing bodily infirmities, or circulating

stories to the prejudice of others. In opposition to these bad habits,

a spirit of humanity and brotherly kindness is strongly enforced.

17. thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour--Instead of

cherishing latent feelings of malice or meditating purposes of revenge

against a person who has committed an insult or injury against them,

God's people were taught to remonstrate with the offender and endeavor,

not suffer sin upon him--literally, "that ye may not participate

in his sin."

18. thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself--The word

"neighbour" is used as synonymous with "fellow creature." The

Israelites in a later age restricted its meaning as applicable only to

their own countrymen. This narrow interpretation was refuted by our

Lord in a beautiful parable

(Lu 10:30-37).

19. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse

kind--This prohibition was probably intended to discourage a

practice which seemed to infringe upon the economy which God has

established in the animal kingdom.

thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed--This also was

directed against an idolatrous practice, namely, that of the ancient

Zabians, or fire-worshippers, who sowed different seeds, accompanying

the act with magical rites and invocations; and commentators have

generally thought the design of this and the preceding law was to put

an end to the unnatural lusts and foolish superstitions which were

prevalent among the heathen. But the reason of the prohibition was

probably deeper: for those who have studied the diseases of land and

vegetables tell us, that the practice of mingling seeds is injurious

both to flowers and to grains. "If the various genera of the natural

order Gramineæ, which includes the grains and the grasses, should

be sown in the same field, and flower at the same time, so that the

pollen of the two flowers mix, a spurious seed will be the consequence,

called by the farmers chess. It is always inferior and unlike

either of the two grains that produced it, in size, flavor, and

nutritious principles. Independently of contributing to disease the

soil, they never fail to produce the same in animals and men that feed

on them" [WHITLAW].

neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon

thee--Although this precept, like the other two with which it is

associated, was in all probability designed to root out some

superstition, it seems to have had a further meaning. The law, it is to

be observed, did not prohibit the Israelites wearing many different

kinds of cloths together, but only the two specified; and the

observations and researches of modern science have proved that "wool,

when combined with linen, increases its power of passing off the

electricity from the body. In hot climates, it brings on malignant

fevers and exhausts the strength; and when passing off from the body,

it meets with the heated air, inflames and excoriates like a blister"

[WHITLAW]. (See

Eze 44:17, 18).

23-25. ye shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised; three

years . . . it shall not be eaten of--"The wisdom of this

law is very striking. Every gardener will teach us not to let fruit

trees bear in their earliest years, but to pluck off the blossoms: and

for this reason, that they will thus thrive the better, and bear more

abundantly afterwards. The very expression, 'to regard them as

uncircumcised,' suggests the propriety of pinching them off; I do not

say cutting them off, because it is generally the hand, and not

a knife, that is employed in this operation" [MICHAELIS].

26. shall not eat any thing with the blood--(See on

Le 17:10).

neither . . . use enchantment, nor observe times--The

former refers to divination by serpents--one of the earliest forms of

enchantment, and the other means the observation, literally, of

clouds, as a study of the appearance and motion of clouds was a

common way of foretelling good or bad fortune. Such absurd but

deep-rooted superstitions often put a stop to the prosecution of

serious and important transactions, but they were forbidden especially

as implying a want of faith in the being, or of reliance on the

providence of God.

27. Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, &c.--It seems

probable that this fashion had been learned by the Israelites in Egypt,

for the ancient Egyptians had their dark locks cropped short or shaved

with great nicety, so that what remained on the crown appeared in the

form of a circle surrounding the head, while the beard was dressed into

a square form. This kind of coiffure had a highly idolatrous meaning;

and it was adopted, with some slight variations, by almost all

idolaters in ancient times.

(Jer 9:25, 26; 25:23,

where "in the utmost corners" means having the corners of their hair

cut.) Frequently a lock or tuft of hair was left on the hinder part of

the head, the rest being cut round in the form of a ring, as the Turks,

Chinese, and Hindus do at the present day.

neither shalt thou mar, &c.--The Egyptians used to cut or shave

off their whiskers, as may be seen in the coffins of mummies, and the

representations of divinities on the monuments. But the Hebrews, in

order to separate them from the neighboring nations, or perhaps to put

a stop to some existing superstition, were forbidden to imitate this

practice. It may appear surprising that Moses should condescend to such

minutiæ as that of regulating the fashion of the hair and the

beard--matters which do not usually occupy the attention of a

legislator--and which appear widely remote from the province either of

government or of a religion. A strong presumption, therefore, arises

that he had in mind by these regulations to combat some superstitious

practices of the Egyptians.

28. Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the

dead--The practice of making deep gashes on the face and arms and

legs, in time of bereavement, was universal among the heathen, and it

was deemed a becoming mark of respect for the dead, as well as a sort

of propitiatory offering to the deities who presided over death and the

grave. The Jews learned this custom in Egypt, and though weaned from

it, relapsed in a later and degenerate age into this old superstition

(Isa 15:2;

Jer 16:6; 41:5).

nor print any marks upon you--by tattooing, imprinting

figures of flowers, leaves, stars, and other fanciful devices on

various parts of their person. The impression was made sometimes by

means of a hot iron, sometimes by ink or paint, as is done by the Arab

females of the present day and the different castes of the Hindus. It

is probable that a strong propensity to adopt such marks in honor of

some idol gave occasion to the prohibition in this verse; and they were

wisely forbidden, for they were signs of apostasy; and, when once made,

they were insuperable obstacles to a return. (See allusions to the

practice,

Isa 44:5;

Re 13:17; 14:1).

30. Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary--This

precept is frequently repeated along with the prohibition of idolatrous

practices, and here it stands closely connected with the superstitions

forbidden in the previous verses.

31. Regard not them that have familiar spirits--The

Hebrew word, rendered "familiar spirit," signifies the belly,

and sometimes a leathern bottle, from its similarity to the belly. It

was applied in the sense of this passage to ventriloquists, who

pretended to have communication with the invisible world. The Hebrews

were strictly forbidden to consult them as the vain but high

pretensions of those impostors were derogatory to the honor of God and

subversive of their covenant relations with Him as His people.

neither seek after wizards--fortunetellers, who pretended, as

the Hebrew word indicates, to prognosticate by palmistry (or an

inspection of the lines of the hand) the future fate of those who

applied to them.

33, 34. if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not

vex him--The Israelites were to hold out encouragement to strangers

to settle among them, that they might be brought to the knowledge and

worship of the true God; and with this in view, they were enjoined to

treat them not as aliens, but as friends, on the ground that they

themselves, who were strangers in Egypt, were at first kindly and

hospitably received in that country.

37. I am the Lord--This solemn admonition, by which these

various precepts are repeatedly sanctioned, is equivalent to "I, your

Creator--your Deliverer from bondage, and your Sovereign, who have

wisdom to establish laws, have power also to punish the violation of

them." It was well fitted to impress the minds of the Israelites with a

sense of their duty and God's claims to obedience.