Lev. 19 Israelites must be holy, Lev. 19:1–2; must honour their parents, and keep sabbaths, Lev. 19:3; shun idolatry, Lev. 19:4; duly to stay and eat their peace-offerings, Lev. 19:5–8; in harvest-time leave gleanings for the poor and stranger, Lev. 19:9–10; not steal, deceive, or lie, Lev.

Ye shall be holy, separated from all the forementioned defilements, and entirely consecrated to God, and obedient to all his laws and statutes. I the Lord your God am holy, both in my essence, and in all my laws, which are holy and just and good, and in all my actions; whereas the gods of the…

The mother is put first, partly because the practice of this duty begins there, mothers, by perpetual converse, being more and sooner known to their children than their fathers; and partly because this duty is most commonly neglected to the mother, upon whom children have not so much dependence as…

Turn not your hearts and faces from me, whom alone you pretend to respect, unto them. He intimates, that their turning to idols is a turning from God, and that they could not serve both God and idols. Unto idols: the word signifies such as are no gods, or nothings, as they are called, 1 Cor.

Or, according to your own good pleasure, what you think fit; for though this in the general was required, yet it was left to their choice to determine the particulars. Lev. 7:16. Or rather, to your acceptation, i.e.

And on the morrow; by which clause it appears that he speaks here only of that sort of peace-offerings which were offered either by vow, or freely for the obtaining of some mercy desired; for the other sort, which was by way of gratitude for mercies received, were to be eaten the same day, Lev.

His iniquity, i.e. the punishment of his iniquity; instead of acceptation he shall receive punishment.

Who gave you all these things with a reservation of my authority over you, and right in them, and with a charge of giving part of them to the poor.

Or, one against another, to the defrauding of him of any of his goods, to which kind of lying the words foregoing and following seem here to restrain it, though it be true that all sorts of lying are unlawful.

Ye shall not swear by my name falsely: this is here added, to show how one sin draws on another, and that when men will lie for their own advantage, they will easily be induced to perjury. Neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God, by any unholy use of it.

The wages, Heb. the work, put for the wages, as Deut. 24:15, Job 7:2, Jer. 22:13. Shall not abide with thee all night, because his urgent necessities require it for present subsistence.

Nor put a stumbling-block before the blind, to make them fall. Under these two particulars are manifestly and especially forbidden all injuries done to such as are unable to right or defend themselves; of whom God here takes the more care, because they are not able to secure themselves; who both…

Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, so as through pity to him to give an unrighteous sentence. Compare Deut. 1:17, Deut. 10:17, Prov. 24:23.

As a tale-bearer, who makes it his business to go up and down from one to another, and divulge evil and false reports concerning others, which, though many times it proceeds only from levity and talkativeness, yet apparently tends to the great injury of our neighbour. See Prov. 11:13, Jer.

To prevent murder, last spoken of, he forbids hatred, which is the common cause, and a degree of murder, 1 John 3:15. Thy brother; the same with neighbour, as it follows, i.e. every man, Matt. 5:44; for it is manifest that God’s law commanded them to love strangers no less than Israelites.

Nor bear any grudge, Heb. nor keep, either, 1. The injury here supposed in thy memory: so it is opposed to those who say they will forgive, but not forget an injury. Or, 2. Anger or hatred in thy heart: so this verb is used Jer. 3:12, Nah. 1:2.

Ye shall keep my statutes; either, 1. My laws. So this is fitly premised, because otherwise some of the following commands might seem trifling, and obedience to them unnecessary. Or, 2.

Betrothed to an husband; or, reproached or despised, and therefore forsaken, of her husband. For as his continuance with her in his and her master’s family and service is mentioned as an evidence that he loved her, Ex.

As uncircumcised, i.e. as unclean, not to be eaten, but cast away, and counted abominable, as the foreskins are. Three years. This precept was serviceable, 1.

Consecrated to the Lord, as the first-fruits and tithes were, and therefore given to the priests and Levites, Num. 18:12–13, Deut. 18:4; yet so that part of them were communicated to the poor widows, and fatherless, and strangers. See Deut. 14:28–29.

That it may yield unto you the increase thereof; that God may be pleased to give his blessing, which alone can make them fruitful.

With the blood, i. e. any flesh out of which the blood is not first poured. See 1 Sam. 14:32. The Jews write, that the Egyptians and other nations, when they offered sacrifices to the devils, did eat part of the sacrifices, beside the blood which was kept in basons for that end, which also they…

The corners of your heads; i.e. your temples: Ye shall not cut off the hair of your heads round about your temples. This the Gentiles did, either for the worship of the devils or idols, to whom young men used to consecrate their hair, being cut off from their heads, as Homer, Plutarch, and many…

Any cuttings in your flesh, which the Gentiles commonly did both in the worship of their idols, and in their solemn mournings, Jer. 16:6. For the dead; Heb. for a soul, i.e. either, 1. Improperly, for a dead body; as that word is sometimes used, as Lev. 19:28, Lev. 21:1, Num. 6:6; or, 2.

This the Gentiles frequently did for the honour of some of their idols, to whom divers women were consecrated, and publicly prostituted.

Not presuming to approach it without reverence, or with any kind of uncleanness upon you.

Them that have familiar spirits; that have entered into covenant with the devil, by whose help they foretell many things to come, and acquaint men with secret things. See Lev. 20:27, Deut. 18:11, 1 Sam. 28:3, 1 Sam. 28:7, 1 Sam. 28:9, 2 Kings 21:6.

Thou shalt rise up, to do them reverence when they pass by, for which end they were obliged, as the Jews say, presently to sit down again when they were past, that it might be manifest they arose out of respect to them.

Either with opprobrious expressions, or grievous exactions.

As one born among you; either, 1. As to the matters of common right, as it here follows: so it reacheth to all strangers. Or, 2. As to church privileges: so it concerns only those who were proselytes of righteousness.

In meteyard; in the measuring of lands, or any dry and continued things, as cloth, ribband, &c. In measure; in the measuring of liquid or such dry things as are not continued, only contiguous, as of corn or wine, &c. Or, the former may note greater, the latter, less measures.

A just ephah, and a just hin; these two measures are named as most common, the former for dry, the latter for moist things; but under them he manifestly comprehends all other measures.

Therefore; because my blessings and deliverances are not indulgences to sin, but greater obligations to all duties to God and men. So that if religion and righteousness were utterly lost in the world, they ought in all reason to be found among you as my peculiar people and freed men.