Leviticus 20 commentary

Are we shocked at the unnatural cruelty of the ancient idolaters in sacrificing their children? We may justly be so. But are there not very many parents, who, by bad teaching and wicked examples, and by the mysteries of iniquity which they show their children, devote them to the service of Satan, and forward their everlasting ruin, in a manner even more to be lamented? What an account must such parents render to God, and what a meeting will they have with their children at the day of judgment! On the other hand, let children remember that he who cursed father or mother was surely put to death. This law Christ confirmed. Laws which were made before are repeated, and penalties annexed to them. If men will not avoid evil practices, because the law has made these practices sin, and it is right that we go on that principle, surely they should avoid them when the law has made them death, from a principle of self-preservation. In the midst of these laws comes in a general charge, Sanctify yourselves, and be ye holy. It is the Lord that sanctifies, and his work will be done, though it be difficult. Yet his grace is so far from doing away our endeavours, that it strongly encourages them. Work out your salvation, for it is God that worketh in you.

These verses repeat what had been said before, but it was needful there should be line upon line. What praises we owe to God that he has taught the evil of sin, and the sure way of deliverance from it! May we have grace to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things; may we have no fellowship with unfruitful works of darkness, but reprove them.

1. And the Lord spake. The prohibition of this superstition was previously expounded in its proper place. God here commands the punishment to be inflicted, if any one should have polluted himself with it. And surely it was a detestable sacrilege to enslave to idols that offspring, which was begotten to God, and which He had adopted in the loins of Abraham, since in this way they not only despoiled God of His right, but, so far as they could, blotted out the grace of adoption. What He had then generally pronounced, He now specially applies, viz., that they should be stoned who offered their seed to Molech; for otherwise they would have tried to escape on the pretense that they had no intention of revolting to other gods. Just as now-a-days, under the Papacy, whatever is alleged from Scripture against their impious and corrupt worship, is coldly and contemptuously received; because they varnish over their idolatries, and so indulge themselves in them in security. But after God has commanded His judges to punish this crime severely, He at the same time declares that, if perchance they should connive at it, and encourage it by their lenity, He Himself will avenge it, so as to punish much more heavily those who may have escaped from the hands of men; and not only so, but that He would implicate all those who might have been aware of it in the same con-detonation.

Exodus 12

Exodus 12:15, 19

15. ... Whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.

15. Quicunque comederit fermentatum a die primo usque ad diem septimum, excidetur anima illa ex Israel.

19. ... Whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land.

19. Quicunque comederit fermentatum, exterminabitur anima illa e coetu Israel: tam peregrinus quam indigena terre.

Nothing new occurs here, for the object of Moses was, by the enactment of penalties, to sanction the instruction lately given. By previously condemning incestuous marriages, he would cite the Israelites before God, in order that their consciences might abhor the crime, although he gave them nothing to fear from earthly judges; whereas now he alarms them by the dread of punishment, in case any should indulge themselves with too great security. He does not chastise the incestuous with rods, as if they were only guilty of a light offense; but he pronounces it to be a capital crime, if any had sinned against the law of nature; and first he condemns the step-mother and step-son to death, if they should have had connection with each other; he then makes the same decree with reference to the father-in-law and daughter-in-law; and, thirdly, the step-father and step-daughter. But when, if a man cohabits at the same time with a mother and her daughter, he extends the punishment to the mother also, it must be understood, provided she also consents to the abominable medley; for, if a man, against the mother’s will, seduces her daughter, and the mother is unable to resist it if she would, she is free from guilt. The same punishment is awarded to brother and sister, and nephew and aunt, and it is extended also to affinity; if any should cohabit with the wife of his uncle or his brother. We have elsewhere explained the meaning of the expression, “their blood shall be upon them;” i.e., that the cause of their death is to be imputed to none but the gross criminals themselves, lest their judges, under the cloak of humanity, should shrink from being severe, since it often happens that those who do not sufficiently weigh the atrocity of the evil, are led away by an empty show of clemency. “Sont ployables, et faciles a pardoner;” are pliable and easily disposed to pardon. — Fr. Moreover, Moses indirectly hints that if the guilty be pardoned, vengeance will be thus provoked against the whole people, since iniquity is fostered by impunity, until it bursts out like a deluge. The penalty of childlessness corresponds with the crime, for it is just that those should be exterminated in barrenness from the world, who have endeavored to corrupt the holy race of Abraham with their adulterous seed.

13. If a man also The Supplements of the Seventh Commandment are differently divided in the Fr. There is no such heading as “Judicial Supplements,” and this passage, as well as several others, is removed into a separate class, headed “Political Supplements.” God had hitherto taught what was right, in order to restrain the people from sin, not only from fear of punishment, but for conscience’ sake. But whereas all do not voluntarily dispose themselves to obedience, the awards severe punishments to those wicked despisers in whom there is no effort to be religious. And it is astonishing that almost all the Gentiles have so sunk into stupid and brutal folly, that they have tolerated with little less than impunity unnatural crimes, detestable in their very name.

I admit that even the wickedest of them were ashamed to justify so gross a crime; but although it was practiced with impunity, it was a common reproach to make even against the very public tribunals, that it ought to be more severely punished than other crimes, which they did not spare.

Both of the offending parties were subjected to the same punishment, because it is a pollution which ought by no means to be borne. Nay, if a man or woman offend with a beast, in order that, all may the more abhor and beware of the unnatural crime, the penalty is extended even to the harmless animal; as we have before seen that a goring ox is condemned to death if it had killed a man. Hence we infer how greatly displeasing to God is this kind of crime, since its iniquity is confirmed by the death of guiltless animals.

Leviticus 19

Leviticus 19:29

29. Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness.

29. Non pollues filiam tuam prostituendo eam: neque scortetur terra, et impleatur ipsa scelere.

Leviticus 20:18. And if a man shall lie This passage considered further on in Fr., under the head of “Political Supplements.” The enormity of the crime is seen by the severity of the punishment; and surely, when a man and woman abandon themselves to so disgraceful an act, it is plain that there are no remains of modesty in them. God, therefore, does not only regard the offense itself, but the brutal impulse of lust, whereby men are so carried away as to degenerate from the very feelings of nature. For what wickedness would he abstain from who yields to such impurity, that he breaks through an obstacle in his fury which restrains the brutes themselves? Let us not wonder, then, that God is a severe avenger of such obscenity.

This precept This commentary is, in Fr., appended to Leviticus 18:19, and included previously under the General Supplements of the Commandment. has no other tendency than that believers should be kept far from all filthiness, and that chastity may flourish among them. It is indeed true that a woman, under these circumstances, is withheld from connection with a man by the very foulness of the disease, whilst there is also danger of contagion; but God rather chooses here to be an instructor in decency to His people, than to perform the office of a physician. It must be remembered, therefore, that men are warned against all indelicacy, which is abhorrent to the natural sense; and, by synecdoche, married persons are exhorted to restrain themselves from all immodest lasciviousness, and that the husband should enjoy his wife’s embraces with delicacy and propriety.

Leviticus 18

Leviticus 18:1-4, 6-18

1. And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,

1. Loquutus est autem Jehova ad Mosen, dicendo:

2. Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the Lord your God.

2. Alloquere filios Israel et die eis, Ego Jehova Deus vester.

3. After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do; and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do; neither shall ye walk in their ordinances.

3. Secundum opus terrae Aegypti in qua habitastis, ne feceritis: neque secundum opus terrae Chanaan in quam ego introduco vos, feceritis: et in statutis eorum ne ambuletis.

4. Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk there-in: I am the Lord your God.

4. Judicia mea facite, et statuta mea observate, ut in ipsis ambuletis: ego Jehova Deus vester.

6. None of you shall approach to any that is near of kill to him, to uncover their nakedness: I am the Lord.

6. Nemo ad propinquam carnis suae accedat ad revelandam turpitudinem: ego Jehova.

7. The nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover: she is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.

7. Turpitndinem patris tui et turpitudinem matris tuae non revelabis: mater tua est, non revelabis turpitudinem ejus:

8. The nakedness of thy father’s wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father’s nakedness.

8. Turpitudinem uxoris patris tui non revelabis: turpitudo patris tui est.

9. The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father, or daughter of thy mother, whether she be born at home, or born abroad, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover.

9. Turpitudinem sororis tuae, filiae patris tui, aut filiae matris tuae, quae genita est domi vel genita est foris, non revelabis turpitudinem earum.

10. The nakedness of thy son’s daughter, or of thy daughter’s daughter, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover: for theirs is thine own nakedness.

10. Turpitudinem filiae filii tui, vel filiae tuae non revelabis, quia turpitudo tua sunt.

11. The nakedness of thy father’s wife’s daughter, begotten of thy father, (she is thy sister,) thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.

11. Turpitudinem filiae uxoris partis tui, prolis patris tui, quae soror tua est, non revelabis.

12. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s sister: she is thy father’s near kinswoman.

12. Turpitudinem sororis patris tui non revelabis: nam consanguinea patris tui est.

13. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother’s sister: for she is thy mother’s near kinswoman.

13. Turpitudinem sororis matris tuae non revelabis, nam consanguinea matris tuae est.

14. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s brother, thou shalt not approach to his wife: she is thine aunt.

14. Turpitudinem fratris patris tui non revelabis, ad uxorem ejus non accedes: nam uxor fratris patris tui est.

15. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy daughter-in-law: she is thy son’s wife; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.

15. Turpitudinem nurus tuae non revelabis: uxor filii tui est, non revelabis turpitudinem ejus.

16. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother’s wife: it is thy brother’s nakedness.

16. Turpitudinem uxoris fratris tui non revelabis, quia turpitudo fratris tui est.

17. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, neither shalt thou take her son’s daughter, or her daughter’s daughter, to uncover her nakedness; for they are her near kinswomen: it is wickedness.

17. Turpitudinem mulieris et filiae ejus non revelabis: filiam filii ejus et filiam filiae ejus non accipies ad revelandam turpitudinem ejus: consanguineae sunt, scelus est.

18. Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister, to vex her, to uncover her nakedness, besides the other in her life-time

18. Mulierem quoque cum sorore sua non accipies ad affligendum et revelandum turpitudinem ejus contra eam (vel, super eam) in vita sua.

22. Ye shall therefore keep all my statutes He now warns the Israelites, for the third time, not to imitate the Gentiles, and exhorts them to keep themselves within the limits of the Law. I have already pointed out that this was not done without reason, since otherwise they might have easily fallen away into the approval of their evil habits. Moreover, lest they should shake off God’s yoke, after He has said that the nations of Canaan were destroyed on account of similar abominations, He adds, that they were made the inheritors of the land on condition that they should separate themselves from heathen nations.

A Political Supplement

Deuteronomy 25 Considered in Fr., under the General Supplements.

Deuteronomy 25:11, 12

11. When men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draweth near for to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and putteth forth her hand, and taketh him by the secrets;

11. Quum rixati fuerunt viri simul alter cum altero, et accesserit uxor unius ut eruat maritum suum e manu percutientis eum, et immiserit manum suam, apprehenderitque pudenda ejus:

12. Then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall not pity her

12. Tunc abscindes manum illius, nec oculus tuus parcet.

Leviticus 20:25. Ye shall therefore put difference. I have no doubt but that this sentence depends on the end of the foregoing verse; for although that verse contains a reason to deter them from incest, of which he had been speaking, still it refers also to the doctrine before us, and stands in the shape of preface to it. In a word, it connects two things, for God here briefly declares His will, not only with respect to unlawful and improper intercourse, but also why He forbids His people to eat of unclean animals. Therefore He says, “I am the Lord your God, which have separated you from other people.” Whence it follows, that for no other reason were they prohibited from eating those animals, except that they thence may learn to take more diligent heed, and to withdraw themselves far from all the pollutions of the Gentiles. He had before recommended purity by various symbols, and now extends it even to the very animals. And this reason must be carefully marked, that the distinction between meats is propounded to them in order that they may study purity. For there would be something unmeaning in what is here said, if we did not know that this interdiction was imposed with this object, that they should not mix themselves promiscuously with the Gentiles. Therefore it is again repeated, that they were severed, that they might be God’s inheritance; and hence it is inferred, that holiness was to be cultivated by them, that they might conform themselves to the example of their God. Now it cannot be questioned, that the distinction of meats which is prescribed, is a supplement to the First Commandment, wherein the rule for worshipping God duly and purely is laid down; and thus religion is rescued from all admixtures of superstition.

Leviticus 11

Leviticus 11:1-47

1. And the LORD spake unto Moses and to Aaron, saying unto them,

1. Et loquutus est Jehova ad Mosen et Aharon, dicendo ad eos:

2. Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, These are the beasts which ye shall eat among all the beasts that are on the earth.

2. Loquimini ad filios Israel, dicendo, Haec sunt animalia quae comedetis ex omnibus animalibus quae sunt super terram:

3. Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat.

3. Omne dividens ungulam et findens fissuram ungularum, et ruminans inter animalia, illud come-detis.

4. Nevertheless these shall ye not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the hoof: as the camel, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you.

4. Veruntamen hoc non comedetis ex his quae ruminant, et ex his quae dividunt ungulam, camelum, quia ruminat, et ungulam ipse non divi-dit: immundus erit vobis.

5. And the coney, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you.

5. Et cuniculum: quia ruminat, et ungulam non dividit, immundus erit vobis.

6. And the hare, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you.

6. Et leporem: quia ruminat, et ungulam non dividit, imnmndus erit vobis.

7. And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is unclean to you.

7. Suem quoque: quia dividit ungulam, et findit fissuram ungulae, ipse vero non ruminat, immundus erit vobis.

8. Of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcase shall ye not touch; they are unclean to you.

8. De carne eorum non comedetis, neque cadaver eorum tangetis: immunda erunt vobis.

9. These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: Whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat.

9. Hoe autem comedetis ex omnibus quae sunt in aquis: onmia quibus sunt pinnae et squamae in aquis maris, et in fluminibus, illa comedetis.

10. And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you:

10. Omnia vero quibus non sunt pinnae et squamae in mari, et in fluminibus, tam de omni reptili aquatili, quam de omni anima vivente quae est in aquis: abominatio erunt vobis.

11. They shall be even an abomination unto you; ye shall not eat of their flesh, but ye shall have their carcases in abomination.

11. Abominatio, inquam, erunt vobis: de carne eorum non comedetis, et cadaver eorum abomina-bimini.

12. Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the waters, that shall be an abomination unto you.

12. Quicquid non habet pinnas et squamas in aquis, abominatio erit vobis.

13. And these are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray,

13. Haec autem abominabimini ex volatilibus, (non comedetur: quia abominatio sunt:) aquilam, et gry-phum, et haliaeetum,

14. And the vulture, and the kite after his kind;

14. Et vulturem, et milvum secundum speciem suam.

15. Every raven after his kind;

15. Et omnem corvum secundum speciem suam.

16. And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind,

16. Et filiam struthionis, et noctuam, et larum: et accipitrem secundum speciem suam.

17. And the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl,

17. Et nycticoracem, et mergulum, et ibin,

18. And the swan, and the pelican, and the gier-eagle,

18. Et porphyrionem, et pellicanum, et cygnum,

19. And the stork, the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat.

19. Et ciconiam, charadrium secundum speciem suam, et upupam, et vespertilionem.

20. All fowls that creep, going upon all four, shall be an abomination unto you.

20. Omne reptile alatum ambulans super quatuor pedes, abominatio erit vobis.

21. Yet these may ye eat of every flying creeping thing that goeth upon all four, which have legs above their feet, to leap withal upon the earth;

21. Veruntamen hoc comedetis ex omni reptili alato quod gradietur super quatuor pedes, cui sunt crura super pedes suos, quibus saliant super terram.

22. Even these of them ye may eat; the locust after his kind, and the bald locust after his kind, and the beetle after his kind, and the grasshopper after his kind.

22. Haec ex illis comedetis, locustam juxta speciem suam, et attacum juxta speciem suam, et ophiomacum secundum speciem suam, et bruchum secundum speciem suam.

23. But all other flying creeping things, which have four feet, shall be an abomination unto you.

23. Omne autem reliquum reptile alatum cui sunt quatuor pedes, abominatio erit vobis.

24. And for these ye shall be unclean: whosoever toucheth the carcase of them shall be unclean until the even.

24. Et his polluetis vos: quicunque tetigerit cadaver eorum, immundus erit usque ad vesperam

25. And whosoever beareth ought of the carcase of them shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even.

25. Et quicunque portaverit cadavera, lavabit vestimenta sua, et immundus erit usque advesperam.

26. The carcases of every beast which divideth the hoof, and is not clovenfooted, nor cheweth the cud, are unclean unto you: every one that toucheth them shall be unclean.

26. Omne animal quod dividit ungulam, et fissuram non findit., et non ruminat, immunda erunt vobis: quicunque tetigerit ea, immundus erit.

27. And whatsoever goeth upon his paws, among all manner of beasts that go on all four, those are unclean unto you: whoso toucheth their carcase shall be unclean until the even.

27. Et quicquid graditur super volas suas inter omnes feras quae gradiuntur super quatuor pedes, immunda erunt vobis: quicunque tetigerit cadavera eorum, immundus erit usque ad vesperam.

28. And he that beareth the carcase of them shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: they are unclean unto you.

28. Et qui portaverit cadavera eorum, lavabit vestimenta, immundusque erit usque ad vesperam: immunda erunt vobis.

29. These also shall be unclean unto you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth; the weasel, and the mouse, and the tortoise after his kind,

29. Et haec vobis immunda erunt inter reptilia quae reptant super terram, mustella, et mus, et rubeta secundum speciem suam.

30. And the ferret, and the chameleon, and the lizard, and the snail, and the mole.

30. Et mygale, et chameleon, et stellio, et lacerta, et talpa.

31. These are unclean to you among all that creep: whosoever doth touch them, when they be dead, shall be unclean until the even.

31. Ista immunda sunt vobis inter omnia reptilia: quicunque tetigerit illa postquam mortua fuerit, im-mundus erit usqne ad vesperam.

32. And upon whatsoever any of them, when they are dead, doth fall, it shall be unclean; whether it be any vessel of wood, or raiment, or skin, or sack, whatsoever vessel it be, wherein any work is done, it must be put into water, and it shall be unclean until the even; so it shall be cleansed.

32. Et omne super quod tetigerit aliquid ex eis postquam mortua fuerint, immudum erit, tam vas lineum quam vestis, aut pellis, aut saccus: omne vas in quo fieri solet opus, in aquam mittetur, et immundum erit usque ad vesperam, et mundabitur.

33. And every earthen vessel, whereinto an.y of them falleth, whatsoever is in it shall be unclean; and ye shall break it.

33. Omne praeterea vas testaceum intra quod occiderit aliquid ex eis, quicquid erit in illo immundum erit, et ipsum confringetis.

34. Of all meat which may be eaten, that on which such water cometh shall be unclean: and all drink that may be drunk in every such vessel shall be unclean.

34. Omnis cibus qui comeditur, super quem venerit aqua, immundus erit, et omnis potus qui potatur in omni vase impuro, imnmndus erit.

35. And every thing whereupon any part of their carcase falleth shall be unclean; whether it be oven, or ranges for pots, they shall be broken down: for they are unclean, and shall be unclean unto you.

35. Et omne super quo ceciderit quicquam de cadavere eorum, imundum erit: clibanus et chytro-podes diruentur, immunda sunt, et immunda erunt vobis.

36. Nevertheless a fountain or pit, wherein there is plenty of water, shall be clean: but that which toucheth their carcase shall be unclean.

36. Veruntamen fons et cisterna congregationis aquarum erit munda: at quod tetigerit cadaver eorum, immundum erit.

37. And if any part of their carcase fall upon any sowing-seed which is to be sown, it shall be clean.

37. Praeterea si ceciderit quicquam de cadavere eorum super aliquod semen satum, quod seminabi-tur, mundum erit.

38. But if any water be put upon the seed, and any part of their carcase fall thereon, it shall be unclean unto you.

38. At quum fusa fuerit aqua super semen, et ceciderit quicquam de cadavere eorum super illud, immundum erit vobis.

39. And if any beast of which ye may eat, die; he that toucheth the carcase thereof shall be unclean until the even.

39. Quum autem mortuum fuerit aliquod animal quod sit vobis in cibum, qui tetigerit cadaver ejus, immundus erit usque ad vesperam.

40. And he that eateth of the carcase of it shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: he also that beareth the carcase of it shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even.

40. Et qui comederit de cadavere ejus, lavabit vestimenta sua, immundusque erit usque ad vesperam: is quoque qui extulerit cadaver, lavabit vestimenta sua, atque immundus erit usque ad vesperam.

41. And every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth shall be an abomination; it shall not be eaten.

41. Et omne reptile reptans super terram, abominatio est, non comedetur.

42. Whatsoever goeth upon the belly, and whatsoever goeth upon all four, or whatsoever hath more feet among all creeping things that creep upon the earth, them ye shall not eat; for they are an abomination.

42. Quicquid item graditur super pectus, et quicquid incedit super quatuor aut plures pedes inter omnia reptilia quae reptant super terram, non comedetis: quia abominatio sunt.

43. Ye shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creepeth, neither shall ye make yourselves unclean with them, that ye should be defiled thereby.

43. Ne impuras reddatis animas vestras in omni reptili quod reptat, nec polluatis vos in eis, neque coinquinetis vos per ea.

44. For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

44. Quia ego Jehova Deus vester, sanctificate ergo vos, et estote sancti, quia sanctus sum: et ne polluatis animas vestras per aliqua reptilia quae reptant super terram.

45. For I am the LORD that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.

45. Ego enim sum Jehova, qui eduxi vos e terra AEgypti, ut essem vobis in Deum, et essetis sancti, quia sanctus sum.

46. This is the law of the beasts, and of the fowl, and of every living creature that moveth in the waters, and of every creature that creepeth upon the earth:

46. Haec est lex animalium terrestrium, et volatilium, atque omnium animalium viventium qae reptant, et omnium animantium reptantium super terram.

47. To make a difference between the unclean and the clean, and between the beast that may be eaten and the beast that may not be eaten.

47. Ad distinguendum inter im-mundum et mundum, et inter bes-tias qum comedi possunt, et bestias qum comedi non possunt.

CHAPTER 20

Le 20:1-27. Giving One's Seed to Molech.

2. Whosoever ... giveth any of his seed unto Molech--(See on Le 18:21).

the people of the land shall stone him with stones, &c.--Criminals who were condemned to be stoned were led, with their hands bound, without the gates to a small eminence, where was a large stone placed at the bottom. When they had approached within ten cubits of the spot, they were exhorted to confess, that, by faith and repentance, their souls might be saved. When led forward to within four cubits, they were stripped almost naked, and received some stupefying draught, during which the witnesses prepared, by laying aside their outer garments, to carry into execution the capital sentence which the law bound them to do. The criminal, being placed on the edge of the precipice, was then pushed backwards, so that he fell down the perpendicular height on the stone lying below: if not killed by the fall, the second witness dashed a large stone down upon his breast, and then the "people of the land," who were by-standers, rushed forward, and with stones completed the work of death (Mt 21:44; Ac 7:58).

4. If the people of the land do any ways hide their eyes from the man, &c.--that is, connive at their countrymen practising the horrid rites of Molech. Awful was it that any Hebrew parents could so violate their national covenant, and no wonder that God denounced the severest penalties against them and their families.

7-19. Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy--The minute specification of the incestuous and unnatural crimes here enumerated shows their sad prevalence amongst the idolatrous nations around, and the extreme proneness of the Israelites to follow the customs of their neighbors. It is to be understood, that, whenever mention is made that the offender was "to be put to death" without describing the mode, stoning is meant. The only instance of another form of capital punishment occurs in Le 20:14, that of being burnt with fire; and yet it is probable that even here death was first inflicted by stoning, and the body of the criminal afterwards consumed by fire (Jos 7:15).

20. they shall die childless--Either by the judgment of God they shall have no children, or their spurious offspring shall be denied by human authority the ordinary privileges of children in Israel.

24. I ... have separated you from other people--Their selection from the rest of the nations was for the all-important end of preserving the knowledge and worship of the true God amid the universal apostasy; and as the distinction of meats was one great means of completing that separation, the law about making a difference between clean and unclean beasts is here repeated with emphatic solemnity.

That giveth any of his seed unto Molech - To what has been said in the note on Lev 18:21 (note), we may add, that the rabbins describe this idol, who was probably a representative or emblematical personification of the solar influence, as made of brass, in the form of a man, with the head of an ox; that a fire was kindled in the inside, and the child to be sacrificed to him was put in his arms, and roasted to death. Others say that the idol, which was hollow, was divided into seven compartments within; in one of which they put flour, in the second turtle-doves, in the third a ewe, in the fourth a ram, in the fifth a calf, in the sixth an ox, and in the seventh a child, which, by heating the statue on the outside, were all burnt alive together. I question the whole truth of these statements, whether from Jewish or Christian rabbins. There is no evidence of all this in the sacred writings. And there is but presumptive proof, and that not very strong, that human sacrifices were at all offered to Molech by the Jews. The passing through the fire, so frequently spoken of, might mean no more than a simple rite of consecration to the service of this idol. Probably a kind of ordeal was meant, the persons passing suddenly through the flame of a large fire, by which, though they might be burnt or scorched, yet they were neither killed nor consumed. Or they might have passed between two large fires, as a sort of purification. See the notes on Lev 20:14; See the notes on Lev 18:21. Caesar, in his history of the Gallic war, lib. vi., c. 16, mentions a custom of the Druids similar to this. They made an image of wickerwork, enclosed those in it whom they had adjudged to death, and, setting the whole on fire, all were consumed together.

Familiar spirits - See the notes on Lev 19:31; and Exo 22:18 (note).

Curseth his father or his mother - See the notes on Gen 48:12, and Exo 20:12 (note). He who conscientiously keeps the fifth commandment can be in no danger of this judgment. The term יקלל yekallel signifies, not only to curse, but to speak of a person contemptuously and disrespectfully, to make light of; so that all speeches which have a tendency to lessen our parents in the eyes of others, or to render their judgment, piety, etc., suspected and contemptible, may be here included; though the act of cursing, or of treating the parent with injurious and opprobrious language, is that which is particularly intended.

Committeth adultery - To what has been said in the note on See Exo 20:14 (note), we may add, that the word adultery comes from the Latin adulterium, which is compounded of ad, to or with, and alter, another, or, according to Minshieu, of ad alterius forum, he that approaches to another man's bed.

They have wrought confusion - See Leviticus 18, and especially the note on Lev 18:6 (note).

They shall be burnt with fire - As there are worse crimes mentioned here, (see Lev 20:11 and Lev 20:17), where the delinquent is ordered simply to be put to death, or to be cut off, it is very likely that the crime mentioned in this verse was not punished by burning alive, but by some kind of branding, by which they were ever after rendered infamous. I need not add that the original, באש ישרפו baesh yishrephu, may, without violence to its grammatical meaning, be understood as above, though in other places it is certainly used to signify a consuming by fire. But the case in question requires some explanation; it is this: a man marries a wife, and afterward takes his mother-in-law or wife's mother to wife also: now for this offense the text says all three shall be burnt with fire, and this is understood as signifying that they shall be burnt alive. Now the first wife, we may safely presume, was completely innocent, and was legally married: for a man may take to wife the daughter if single, or the mother if a widow, and in neither of these cases can any blame attach to the man or the party he marries; the crime therefore lies in taking both. Either, therefore, they were all branded as infamous persons, and this certainly was severe enough in the case of the first wife; or the man and the woman taken last were burnt: but the text says, both he and they; therefore, we should seek for another interpretation of they shall be burnt with fire, than that which is commonly given. Branding with a hot iron would certainly accomplish every desirable end both for punishment and prevention of the crime; and because the Mosaic laws are so generally distinguished by humanity, it seems to be necessary to limit the meaning of the words as above.

If a woman approach unto any beast - We have the authority of one of the most eminent historians in the world, Herodotus, to say that this was a crime not unknown in Egypt; yea, that a case of this nature actually took place while he was there. Εγενετο δ' εν τῳ νο μῳ τουτῳ επ' εμευ τουτο το τερας, Γυναικι Τραγος εμισγετο αναφανδον. Τουτο ες επιδειξιν ανθρωπων απικετο. - Herod. in Euterp., p. 108. Edit. Gale, Lond. 1679. "In this district, within my own recollection, this portentous business took place: a goat coupled so publicly with a woman that every person knew it," etc. After this, need we wonder that God should have made laws of this nature, when it appears these abominations were not only practiced among the Egyptians, but were parts of a superstitious religious system? This one observation will account for many of those strange prohibitions which we find in the Mosaic law; others, the reasons of which are not so plain, we should see the propriety of equally, had we ampler historic records of the customs that existed in that country.

The land, whither I bring you to dwell therein, spue you not out - See this energetic prosopopoeia explained in the note on Lev 18:25 (note). From this we learn that the cup of the iniquities of the Canaanitish nations was full; and that, consistently with Divine justice, they could be no longer spared.

A land that floweth with milk and honey - See this explained Exo 3:8 (note).

Between clean beasts and unclean - See the notes on Leviticus 11 (note).

A familiar spirit - A spirit or demon, which, by magical rites, is supposed to be bound to appear at the call of his employer. See the notes on Gen 41:8; Exo 7:11 (note), Exo 7:22 (note), Exo 7:25 (note); and Lev 19:31 (note). From the accounts we have of the abominations both of Egypt and Canaan, we may blush for human nature; for wherever it is without cultivation, and without the revelation of God, it is every thing that is vile in principle and detestable in practice. Nor would any part of the habitable globe materially differ from Egypt and Canaan, had they not that rule of righteousness, the revealed Law of God, and had not life and immortality been brought to light by the Gospel among them. From these accounts, for which we could easily find parallels in ancient Greece and Italy, we may see the absolute need of a Divine revelation, without which man, even in his best estate, differs little from the brute.

The people - Here follow the punishments of the crimes forbidden in the former chapters.

I will set my face against that man - Deal with him as an enemy, and make him a monument of my justice. To defile my sanctuary - Because the sanctuary was defiled by gross abominations committed in that city or land where God's sanctuary was: or because by these actions they declared to all men that they esteemed the sanctuary and service of God abominable and vile, by preferring such odious idolatry before it. And to profane my name - Partly by despising it themselves, partly by disgracing it to others, and giving them occasion to blaspheme it, and to abhor the true religion.

Hide their eyes - Wink at his fault, and forbear to accuse and punish him.

To go a whoring - To seek counsel or help from them.

Who sanctify you - Who separate you from all nations, and from their impurities and idolatries, to be a peculiar people to myself; and who give you my grace to keep my statutes.

Curseth - This is not here meant of every perverse expression, but of bitter reproaches or imprecations. His blood shall be upon him - He is guilty of his own death: he deserves to die for so unnatural a crime.

Confusion - By perverting the order which God hath appointed, and making the same off - spring both his own child and his grandchild.

Put to death - Except the one party was forced by the other. See Deu 22:25.

They - All who consented to it.

Slay the beast - Partly for the prevention of monstrous births, partly to blot out the memory of so loathsome a crime.

See her nakedness - In this and several of the following verses, uncovering nakedness plainly appears to mean not marriage, but fornication or adultery.

They shall die childless - Either shall be speedily cut off ere they can have a child by that incestuous conjunction; if this seem a less crime than most of the former incestuous mixtures, and therefore the magistrate forbear to punish it with death; yet they shall either have no children from such an unlawful bed, or their children shall die before them.

His brother's wife - Except in the case allowed by God, Deu 25:5.

A man or a woman that hath a familiar spirit, shall surely be put to death - They that are in league with the devil, have in effect made a covenant with death: and so shall their doom be.

2 Again, thou shalt say to the children of Israel , ▪ Whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth any of his seed unto Molech , he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones.

Here follow the punishments of the crimes forbidden in the former chapters.

Not onely such as were Proselytes, but all others, these being gross immoralities▪ and such as the precepts of Noah reached to, and such as the laws of nature and nations obliged them to. And therefore the toleration of such actions was not onely against reason of state and the interest of the commonwealth of Israel, and dangerous to the infection and destruction of the Israelites by the imitation of such examples, but also against the light of nature and laws of humanity.

Or to any other Idol, for the reason of the law equally concerns all. See Levit. 18. 21.

Marginal references: chap. 18. 21.; Deut. 18. 10. 2 Kin. 17. 17. and 23. 10. Jer. 32. 35.

3 And I will set my face against that man , and will cut him off from among his people : because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, to defile my sanctuary , and to prophane my holy Name .

(i. e.) Deal with him as an enemy, and make him a monument of my justice▪ either by punishing him immediately and eminently, when the Magistrate cannot or will not do it, or by adding to his corporal punishments my curse upon his soul and name. See Lev. 17. 10.

From the number of his people, of what nation or kindred soever he was, or, from the land of the living.

Which was done by this wickedness, either because such persons did, for the cover of their Idolatry, come into Gods Sanctuary, as the rest did: See Lev. 15. 31. or because the Sanctuary was and was said to be defiled by gross abominations committed in that city or land where Gods Sanctuary was: or because by these actions they did pronounce and declare to all men that they esteemed the sanctuary and service of God abominable and vile, by preferring such odious and pernicious Idolatry before it.

Partly by despising it themselves, and partly by disgracing it to others and giving them occasion to blaspheme it, and to abhor the true religion, because they saw it deserted and condemned by those that best knew it and once embraced it.

4 And if the people of the land do any wayes hide their eyes from the man , when he giveth of his seed unto Molech, and kill him not [illegible: 1 word]

(i. e.) Wink at his fault, and forbear to accuse and punish him. Compare Act. 17. 30.

5 Then I will set my face against that man, and against his family , and will cut him off, and all that go a whoring after him, to commit whoredom with Molech, from among their people.

(i. e.) Either 1. his posterity, whom God threatned to punish for their fathers Idolatry, Exod. 20. Or 2. his people, as that word is used, Ier. 8. 3. Mic. 2. 3. to wit, the people of that land, who by their connivance make themselves guilty of his sin, ver. 4. Or 3. his disciples and followers, who are oft called the sons or children of their masters. And so it may be seem to be explained in the following words, all that go a whoring after him, as the first clause which concerns the head or chief person himself, I will set my face against that man, is explained by these words, I will cut him off.

Marginal references: Exod. 20. 5.

6 And . the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits and after wizards, to go a whoring after them , I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.

To seek knowledge or counsel or help from them.

Marginal references: chap. 19. 31.

8 And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the LORD which sanctifie you .

(i. e.) Who separated you from all nations and from their impurities and Idolatries to be a peculiar people to my self, and therefore I will not suffer you to follow their examples. Or, who really sanctify you, and give you my grace to do what I require, i. e. to keep my statutes. Or the argument is this, Those idols and Idolatries will defile you and make you worse, but I onely and my service will sanctify you and make you better.

9 For every one that curseth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death: he hath cursed his father, or his mother, his blood shall be upon him .

Or, surely, as that praticle, chi, is oft used, as Iob 8. 6. and 20. 20. So there needs no dispute about the connexion, or what this is a reason of.

Which is not meant of every perverse expression, but of bitter reproaches or imprecations.

Heb. and put for or, as hath been noted before.

He is guilty of his own death: he deserves to die for so unnatural a crime.

Marginal references: Exod. 21. 1[illegible: 1+ letters]. Deut. 2[illegible: 1+ letters]. 16. Prov. 20. 20. Mat. 15. 4,

12 And if a man lie with his daughter in law, both of them shall surely be put to death: they have wrought confusion , their blood shall be upon them.

By perverting the order which God hath appointed, and mixing the blood which God would have separated, and making the same off-spring both his own immediate child and his grandchild.

Marginal references: chap. 18. 15. Deut. 27. 23.

13 If a man lie also with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death ; their blood shall be upon them.

Except the one party was forced by the other. See Deut. 22. 25.

Marginal references: chap. 18. 22.

14 And if a man take a wife, and her mother, it is wickedness : they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they , that there be no wickedness among you.

(i. e.) Abominable and extraordinary wickedness, as the singularity of the punishment sheweth.

Either, or both or all of them, if they consented to it.

Marginal references: chap. 18. 17;

15 And if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death: and ye shall slay the beast .

Partly for the prevention of monstrous Births, partly to blot out the memory of so loathsome a crime, and partly that by so severe a punishment of that creature which was onely a passive instrument to mans sin, men might be assured that a more dreadful punishment than corporal death was reserved for them, if they repented not.

Marginal references: chap. 18. 23. Deut. 27. 21.

17 And if a man shall take his sister, his fathers daughter, or his mothers daughter, and see her nakedness , and she see his nakedness, it is a wicked thing, and they shall be cut off in the sight of their people : he hath uncovered his sisters nakedness, he shall bear his iniquity.

Seeing is here understood, either 1. properly, and so God would cut off the occasions of further filthiness. Or rather 2. improperly for touching her or lying with her; for 1. the sence of seeing is o[illegible: 1+ letters]t put for other sences, as for hearing, Ger▪ 42. 1. compared with Act. 7. 12. Exod. 2[illegible: 1+ letters]. 18. Rev. 1. 12. and for touching, as Ioh. 2[illegible: 1+ letters]. 25, 29. 2. that act is expressed by words parallel to this of seeing, as by [illegible: 1 word] or discovering, and by knowing, Gen. 4. 1. 3. so it is directly explained▪ in the following words, [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] uncovered [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] ▪ which manifestly signifies lying with her. [illegible: 1+ letters]. it is not probable that an equal punishment [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] dest sight, and to the highest act of filthiness. 5. nor seems there to be any reason why this crime should be restrained to this rather than to any other relations, when it was as great yea a greater crime in some other relations.

(i. e.) Publickly, for the terrour and caution of others.

Marginal references: chap. 18. 9; Deut. 27. 23.

18 And if a man shall lie with a woman having her sickness , and shall uncover her nakedness: he hath discovered her fountain , and she hath uncovered the fountain of her blood: and both of them shall be cut off from among their people.

Wittingly and willingly. See on Lev. 15. 24. and 18. 19.

(i. e.) her monethly infirmity.

Or her issue. Thus the fountain of blood in Mark 5. 29. is the issue of blood, Luk. 8. 44. the fountain put for the stream, the cause for the effect, which is common.

Marginal references: chap. 18. 19. See ch. 15. 24.; Heb. made naked.

20 And i[illegible: 1+ letters] a man shall lie with his uncles wife, he hath uncovered his uncles nakedness: they shall bear their sin, they shall die childless .

(i. e.) Either shall be speedily cut off ere they can have a child by that incestuous conjunction, that the remembrance of the fact may be blotted out: or, if this seem a less crime than most of the former incestuous mixtures, because the relation is more remote, and therefore the Magistrate shall forbear to punish it with death, yet they shall either have no children from such an unlawful bed, or their children shall die before them, Hos. 9. 11, 12. or shall not be reputed their genuine children, but bastards, and therefore excluded from the congregation of the Lord, Deut. 23. 2.

Marginal references: chap. 18. 14.

21 And if a man shall take his brothers wife ; it is an unclean thing : he hath uncovered his brothers nakedness, they shall be childless.

Except in the case allowed by God, Deut. 25. 5.

An abominable thing, like the uncleanness of a menstruous woman, which is oft expressed by this word: Heb▪ a separation, or removing, i. e. a thing deserving separation or exclusion from society with others, or a thing to be removed out of sight or out of the world.

Marginal references: chap. 18. 16.; Heb. a separation.

24 But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk, and honey: I am the LORD your God, which have separated you from other people .

By my special grace and favour vouchsafed to you above all people in glorious and miraculous works wrought for you and among you, and in ordinances and other singular priviledges and blessings imparted to you, all which calls for your special love and service.

25 Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts, and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean: and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean .

(i. e.) As things which by my sentence I have made unclean, and which you must avoid as such.

Marginal references: chap. 11. 2. Deut. 14. 4.; Or, moveth.

Lev 20:1

Punishments for the Vices and crimes Prohibited in Ch. 18 and 19. - The list commences with idolatry and soothsaying, which were to be followed by extermination, as a practical apostasy from Jehovah, and a manifest breach of the covenant.

Lev 20:2

Whoever, whether an Israelite or a foreigner in Israel, dedicated of his seed (children) to Moloch (see Lev 18:21), was to be put to death. The people of the land were to stone him. בּאבן רגם, lapide obruere, is synonymous with סקל, lit., lapidem jacere: this was the usual punishment appointed in the law for cases in which death was inflicted, either as the result of a judicial sentence, or by the national community.

Lev 20:3

By this punishment the nation only carried out the will of Jehovah; for He would cut off such a man (see at Lev 17:10 and Lev 18:21) for having defiled the sanctuary of Jehovah and desecrated the name of Jehovah, not because he had brought the sacrifice to Moloch into the sanctuary of Jehovah, as Movers supposes, but in the same sense in which all the sins of Israel defiled the sanctuary in their midst (Lev 15:31; Lev 16:16).

Lev 20:4-5

If the people, however (the people of the land), should hide their eyes from him (on the dagesh in חעלּם and יעלּימוּ see the note on Lev 4:13-21), from an unscrupulous indifference or a secret approval of his sin, the Lord would direct His face against him and his family, and cut him off with all that went a whoring after him.

Lev 20:6

He would also do the same to every soul that turned to familiar spirits and necromantists (Lev 19:31, cf. Exo 22:17), “to go a whoring after them,” i.e., to make himself guilty of idolatry by so doing, such practices being always closely connected with idolatry.

Lev 20:7-8

For the Israelites were to sanctify themselves, i.e., to keep themselves pure from all idolatrous abominations, to be holy because Jehovah was holy (Lev 11:44; Lev 19:2), and to keep the statutes of their God who sanctified them (Exo 31:13).

Lev 20:9-18

Whoever cursed father or mother was to be punished with death (Lev 19:3); “His blood would be upon him.” The cursing of parents was a capital crime (see at Lev 17:4, and for the plural דּמיו Exo 22:1 and Gen 4:10), which was to return upon the doer of it, according to Gen 9:6. The same punishment was to be inflicted upon adultery (Lev 20:10, cf. Lev 18:20), carnal intercourse with a father’s wife (Lev 20:11, cf. Lev 18:7-8) or with a daughter-in-law (Lev 20:12, cf. Lev 18:17), sodomy (Lev 20:13, cf. Lev 18:22), sexual intercourse with a mother and her daughter, in which case the punishment was to be heightened by the burning of the criminals when put to death (Lev 20:14, cf. Lev 18:17), lying with a beast (Lev 20:15, Lev 20:16, cf. Lev 18:23), sexual intercourse with a half-sister (Lev 20:17, cf. Lev 18:9 and Lev 18:11), and lying with a menstruous woman (Lev 20:18, cf. Lev 18:19). The punishment of death, which was to be inflicted in all these cases upon both the criminals, and also upon the beast that had been abused (Lev 20:15, Lev 20:16), was to be by stoning, according to Lev 20:2, Lev 20:27, and Deu 22:21.; and by the burning (Lev 20:14) we are not to understand death by fire, or burning alive, but, as we may clearly see from Jos 7:15 and Jos 7:25, burning the corpse after death. This was also the case in Lev 21:9 and Gen 38:24.

Lev 20:19-21

No civil punishment, on the other hand, to be inflicted by the magistrate or by the community generally, was ordered to follow marriage with an aunt, the sister of father or mother (Lev 20:19, cf. Lev 18:12-13), with an uncle’s wife (Lev 20:20, cf. Lev 18:4), or with a sister-in-law, a brother’s wife (Lev 20:21, cf. Lev 18:16). In all these cases the threat is simply held out, “they shall bear their iniquity,” and (according to Lev 20:20, Lev 20:21) “die childless;” that is to say, God would reserve the punishment to Himself (see at Lev 18:14). In the list of punishments no reference is made to intercourse with a mother (Lev 18:7) or a granddaughter (Lev 18:10), as it was taken for granted that the punishment of death would be inflicted in such cases as these; just as marriage with a daughter or a full sister is passed over in the prohibitions in ch. 18.

Lev 20:22-26

The list of punishments concludes, like the prohibitions in Lev 18:24., with exhortations to observe the commandments and judgments of the Lord, and to avoid such abominations (on Lev 18:22 cf. Lev 18:3-5, Lev 18:26, Lev 18:28, Lev 18:30; and on Lev 18:23 cf. Lev 18:3 and Lev 18:24). The reason assigned for the exhortations is, that Jehovah was about to give them for a possession the fruitful land, whose inhabitants He had driven out because of their abominations, and that Jehovah was their God, who had separated Israel from the nations. For this reason (Lev 18:25) they were also to sever (make distinctions) between clean and unclean cattle and birds, and not make their souls (i.e., their persons) abominable through unclean animals, with which the earth swarmed, and which God had “separated to make unclean,” i.e., had prohibited them from eating or touching when dead, because they defiled (see ch. 11). For (Lev 18:26) they were to be holy, because Jehovah their God was holy, who had severed them from the nations, to belong to Him, i.e., to be the nation of His possession (see Exo 19:4-6).

Lev 20:27

But because Israel was called to be the holy nation of Jehovah, every one, ether man or woman, in whom there was a heathenish spirit of soothsaying, was to be put to death, viz., stoned (cf. Lev 19:31), to prevent defilement by idolatrous abominations. Holiness of the Priests, of the Holy Gifts, and of Sacrifices - Leviticus 21-22

The Sanctification of the Priests. - As the whole nation was to strive after sanctification in all the duties of life, on account of its calling as a nation of God, the priests, whom Jehovah had chosen out of the whole nation to be the custodians of His sanctuary, and had sanctified to that end, were above all to prove themselves the sanctified servants of the Lord in their domestic life and the duties of their calling. (1) They were not to defile themselves by touching the dead or by signs of mourning (Lev 21:1-6 and Lev 21:10-12); (2) they were to contract and maintain a spotless marriage (Lev 21:7-9 and Lev 21:13-15); and (3) those members of the priesthood who had any bodily failings were to keep away from the duties of the priests’ office (Lev 21:16-24).

Moral Laws. (b. c. 1490.)

1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Again, thou shalt say to the children of Israel, Whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth any of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones. 3 And I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people; because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, to defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy name. 4 And if the people of the land do any ways hide their eyes from the man, when he giveth of his seed unto Molech, and kill him not: 5 Then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go a whoring after him, to commit whoredom with Molech, from among their people. 6 And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people. 7 Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the Lord your God. 8 And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the Lord which sanctify you. 9 For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death: he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him.

Moses is here directed to say that again to the children of Israel which he had in effect said before, v. 2. We are sure it was no vain repetition, but very necessary, that they might give the more earnest heed to the things that were spoken, and might believe them to be of great consequence, being so often inculcated. God speaketh once, yea, twice, and what he orders to be said again we must be willing to hear again, because for us it is safe, Phil. iii. 1.

I. Three sins are in these verses threatened with death:—

1. Parents abusing their children, by sacrificing them to Moloch, v. 2, 3. There is the grossest absurdity that can be in all the rites of idolatry, and they are all a great reproach to men's reason; but none trampled upon all the honours of human nature as this did, the burning of children in the fire to the honour of a dunghill-god. It was a plain evidence that their gods were devils, who desired and delighted in the misery and ruin of mankind, and that the worshippers were worse than the beasts that perish, perfectly stripped, not only of reason, but of natural affection. Abraham's offering Isaac could not give countenance, much less could it give rise to this barbarous practice, since, though that was commanded, it was immediately countermanded. Yet such was the power of the god of this world over the children of disobedience that this monstrous piece of inhumanity was generally practised; and even the Israelites were in danger of being drawn into it, which made it necessary that this severe law should be made against it. It was not enough to tell them they might spare their children (the fruit of their body should never be accepted for the sin of their soul), but they must be told, (1.) That the criminal himself should be put to death as a murderer: The people of the land shall stone him with stones (v. 2), which was looked upon as the worst of capital punishments among the Jews. If the children were sacrificed to the malice of the devil, the parents must be sacrificed to the justice of God. And, if either the fact could not be proved or the magistrates did not do their duty, God would take the work into his own hands: I will cut him off, v. 3. Note, Those that escape punishment from men, yet shall not escape the righteous judgments of God; so wretchedly do those deceive themselves that promise themselves impunity in sin. How can those escape against whom God sets his face, that is, whom he frowns upon, meets as an enemy, and fights against? The heinousness of the crime is here set forth to justify the doom: it defiles the sanctuary, and profanes the holy name of God, for the honour of both which he is jealous. Observe, The malignity of the sin is laid upon that in it which was peculiar to Israel. When the Gentiles sacrificed their children they were guilty of murder and idolatry; but, if the Israelites did it, they incurred the additional guilt of defiling the sanctuary (which they attended upon even when they lay under this guilt, as if there might be an agreement between the temple of God and idols), and of profaning the holy name of God, by which they were called, as if he allowed his worshippers to do such things, Rom. ii. 23, 24. (2.) That all his aiders and abetters should be cut off likewise by the righteous hand of God. If his neighbours concealed him, and would not come in as witnesses against him,—if the magistrates connived at him, and would not pass sentence upon him, rather pitying his folly than hating his impiety,—God himself would reckon with them, v. 4, 5. Misprision of idolatry is a crime cognizable in the court of heaven, and which shall not go unpunished: I will set my face against that man (that magistrate, Jer. v. 1) and against his family. Note, [1.] The wickedness of the master of a family often brings ruin upon a family; and he that should be the house-keeper proves the house-breaker. [2.] If magistrates will not do justice upon offenders, God will do justice upon them, because there is danger that many will go a whoring after those who do but countenance sin by winking at it. And, if the sins of leaders be leading sins, it is fit that their punishments should be exemplary punishments.

2. Children's abusing their parents, by cursing them, v. 9. If children should speak ill of their parents, or wish ill to them, or carry it scornfully or spitefully towards them, it was an iniquity to be punished by the judges, who were employed as conservators both of God's honour and of the public peace, which were both attacked by this unnatural insolence. See Prov. xxx. 17, The eye that mocks at his father the ravens of the valley shall pick out, which intimates that such wicked children were in a fair way to be not only hanged, but hanged in chains. This law of Moses Christ quotes and confirms (Matt. xv. 4), for it is as direct a breach of the fifth commandment as wilful murder is of the sixth. The same law which requires parents to be tender of their children requires children to be respectful to their parents. He that despitefully uses his parents, the instruments of his being, flies in the face of God himself, the author of his being, who will not see the paternal dignity and authority insulted and trampled upon.

3. Persons abusing themselves by consulting such as have familiar spirits, v. 6. By this, as much as any thing, a man diminishes, disparages, and deceives himself, and so abuses himself. What greater madness can there be than for a man to go to a liar for information, and to an enemy for advice? Those do so who turn after those that deal in the black art, and know the depths of Satan. This is spiritual adultery as much as idolatry is, giving that honour to the devil which is due to God only; and the jealous God will give a bill of divorce to those that thus go a whoring from him, and will cut them off, they having first cut themselves off from him.

II. In the midst of these particular laws comes in that general charge, v. 7, 8, where we have,

1. The duties required; and they are two:— (1.) That in our principles, affections, and aims, we be holy: Sanctify yourselves and be you holy. We must cleanse ourselves from all the pollutions of sin, consecrate ourselves to the service and honour of God, and conform ourselves in every thing to his holy will and image: this is to sanctify ourselves. (2.) That in all our actions, and in the whole course of our conversation, we be obedient to the laws of God: You shall keep my statutes. By this only can we make it to appear that we have sanctified ourselves and are holy, even by our keeping God's commandments; the tree is known by its fruit. Nor can we keep God's statutes, as we ought, unless we first sanctify ourselves, and be holy. Make the tree good, and the fruit will be good.

2. The reasons to enforce these duties. (1.) "I am the Lord your God; therefore be holy, that you may resemble him whose people you are, and may be pleasing to him. Holiness becomes his house and household." (2.) I am the Lord who sanctifieth you. God sanctified them by peculiar privileges, laws, and favours, which distinguished them from all other nations, and dignified them as a people set apart for God. He gave them his word and ordinances to be means of their sanctification, and his good Spirit to instruct them; therefore they must be holy, else they received the grace of God herein in vain. Note, [1.] God's people are, and must be, persons of distinction. God has distinguished them by his holy covenant, and therefore they ought to distinguish themselves by their holy conversation. [2.] God's sanctifying us is a good reason why we should sanctify ourselves, that we may comply with the designs of his grace, and not walk contrary to them. If it be the Lord that sanctifies us, we may hope the work shall be done, though it be difficult: the manner of expression is like that, 2 Cor. v. 5, He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God. And his grace is so far from superseding our care and endeavour that it most strongly engages and encourages them. Work out your salvation, for it is God that worketh in you.

10 And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. 11 And the man that lieth with his father's wife hath uncovered his father's nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. 12 And if a man lie with his daughter in law, both of them shall surely be put to death: they have wrought confusion; their blood shall be upon them. 13 If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. 14 And if a man take a wife and her mother, it is wickedness: they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they; that there be no wickedness among you. 15 And if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death: and ye shall slay the beast. 16 And if a woman approach unto any beast, and lie down thereto, thou shalt kill the woman, and the beast: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. 17 And if a man shall take his sister, his father's daughter, or his mother's daughter, and see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness; it is a wicked thing; and they shall be cut off in the sight of their people: he hath uncovered his sister's nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity. 18 And if a man shall lie with a woman having her sickness, and shall uncover her nakedness; he hath discovered her fountain, and she hath uncovered the fountain of her blood: and both of them shall be cut off from among their people. 19 And thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother's sister, nor of thy father's sister: for he uncovereth his near kin: they shall bear their iniquity. 20 And if a man shall lie with his uncle's wife, he hath uncovered his uncle's nakedness: they shall bear their sin; they shall die childless. 21 And if a man shall take his brother's wife, it is an unclean thing: he hath uncovered his brother's nakedness; they shall be childless.

Sins against the seventh commandment are here ordered to be severely punished. These are sins which, of all others, fools are most apt to make a mock at; but God would teach those the heinousness of the guilt by the extremity of the punishment that would not otherwise be taught it.

I. Lying with another man's wife was made a capital crime. The adulterer and the adulteress that had joined in the sin must fall alike under the sentence: they shall both be put to death, v. 10. Long before this, even in Job's time, this was reputed a heinous crime and an iniquity to be punished by the judges, Job xxxi. 11. It is a presumptuous contempt of an ordinance of God, and a violation of his covenant, Prov. ii. 17. It is an irreparable wrong to the injured husband, and debauches the mind and conscience of both the offenders as much as any thing. It is a sin which headstrong and unbridled lusts hurry men violently to, and therefore it needs such a powerful restraint as this. It is a sin which defiles a land and brings down God's judgments upon it, which disquiets families, and tends to the ruin of all virtue and religion, and therefore is fit to be animadverted upon by the conservators of the public peace: but see John viii. 3-11.

II. Incestuous connections, whether by marriage or not. 1. Some of them were to be punished with death, as a man's lying with his father's wife, v. 11. Reuben would have been put to death for his crime (Gen. xxxv. 22) if this law had been then made. It was the sin of the incestuous Corinthian, for which he was to be delivered unto Satan, 1 Cor. v. 1, 5. A man's debauching his daughter-in-law, or his mother-in-law, or his sister, was likewise to be punished with death, v. 12, 14, 17. 2. Others of them God would punish with the curse of barrenness, as a man's defiling his aunt, or his brother's wife (v. 19-21): They shall die childless. Those that keep not within the divine rules of marriage forfeit the blessings of marriage: They shall commit whoredom, and shall not increase, Hos. iv. 10. Nay it is said, They shall bear their iniquity, that is, though they be not immediately cut off by the hand either of God or man for this sin, yet the guilt of it shall lie upon them, to be reckoned for another day, and not be purged with sacrifice or offering.

III. The unnatural lusts of sodomy and bestiality (sins not to be mentioned without horror) were to be punished with death, as they are at this day by our law, v. 13, 15, 16. Even the beast that was thus abused was to be killed with the sinner, who was thereby openly put to the greater shame: and the villany was thus represented as in the highest degree execrable and abominable, all occasions of the remembrance or mention of it being to be taken away. Even the unseasonable use of the marriage, if presumptuous, and in contempt of the law, would expose the offenders to the just judgment of God: they shall be cut off, v. 18. For this is the will of God, that every man should possess his vessel (and the wife is called the weaker vessel) in sanctification and honour, as becomes saints.

22 Ye shall therefore keep all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: that the land, whither I bring you to dwell therein, spue you not out. 23 And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them. 24 But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey: I am the Lord your God, which have separated you from other people. 25 Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean: and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean. 26 And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the Lord am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine. 27 A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them.

The last verse is a particular law, which comes in after the general conclusion, as if omitted in its proper place: it is for the putting of those to death that dealt with familiar spirits, v. 27. It would be an affront to God and to his lively oracles, a scandal to the country, and a temptation to ignorant bad people, to consult them, if such were known and suffered to live among them. Those that are in league with the devil have in effect made a covenant with death and an agreement with hell, and so shall their doom be.

The rest of these verses repeat and inculcate what had been said before; for to that unthinking forgetful people it was requisite that there should be line upon line, and that general rules, with their reasons, should be frequently insisted on, for the enforcement of particular laws, and making them more effectual. Three things we are here reminded of:—

I. Their dignity. 1. They had the Lord for their God, v. 24. They were his, his care, his choice, his treasure, his jewels, his kingdom of priests (v. 26): That you should be mine. Happy the people, and truly great, that are in such a case. 2. Their God was a holy God (v. 26), infinitely advanced above all others. His holiness is his glory, and it was their honour to be related to him, while their neighbours were the infamous worshippers of impure and filthy spirits. 3. The great God had separated them from other people (v. 24), and again, v. 26. Other nations were the common; they were the enclosure, beautified and enriched with peculiar privileges, and designed for peculiar honours; let them therefore value themselves accordingly, preserve their honour, and not lay it in the dust, by walking in the way of the heathen.

II. Their duty; this is inferred from their dignity. God had done more for them than for others, and therefore expected more from them than from others. And what is it that the Lord their God requires, in consideration of the great things done and designed? 1. You shall keep all my statutes (v. 22); and there was all the reason in the world that they should, for the statutes were their honour, and obedience to them would be their lasting comfort. 2. You shall not walk in the manners of nations, v. 23. Being separated from them, they must not associate with them, nor learn their ways. The manners of the nations were bad enough in them, but would be much worse in God's people. 3. You shall put a difference between clean and unclean, v. 25. This is holiness, to discern between things that differ, not to live at large, as if we might say and do any thing, but to speak and act with caution. 4. You shall not make your souls abominable, v. 25. Our constant care must be to preserve the honour, by preserving the purity, of our own souls, and never to do any thing to make them abominable to God and to our own consciences.

III. Their danger. 1. They were going into an infected place (v. 24): You shall inherit their land, a land flowing with milk and honey, which they would have the comfort of if they kept their integrity; but, withal, it was a land full of idols, idolatries, and superstitious usages, which they would be apt to fall in love with, having brought from Egypt with them a strange disposition to take that infection. 2. If they took the infection, it would be of pernicious consequence to them. The Canaanites were to be expelled for these very sins: They committed all these things, therefore I abhorred them, v. 23. See what an evil thing sin is; it provokes God to abhor his own creatures, whereas otherwise he delights in the work of his hands. And, if the Israelites trod in the steps of their impiety, they must expect that the land would spue them out (v. 22), as he had told them before, ch. xviii. 28. If God spared not the natural branches, but broke them off, neither would he spare those who were grafted in, if they degenerated. Thus the rejection of the Jews stands for a warning to all Christian churches to take heed lest the kingdom of God be taken from them. Those that sin like others must expect to smart like them; and their profession of relation to God will be no security to them.

CHAP. XX.

ANd Iehovah spake unto Moses, saying. And thou shalt say, unto the sons of Israel; Every man of the sonnes of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, that giveth of his feed, unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land, shall stone him with stones. And I, will set my face, against that man; and will cut him off, from among his people: because he hath given, of his seed unto Molech; that hee might defile my sanctuary; and to prophane, the name of my holinesse. And if the people of the land, hiding shall hide their eyes from that man, when hee giveth of his seed unto Molech; that they put him not to death: Then I, will set my face, against that man, and against his familie: and will cut off him, and all that goe-a-whoring after him, to goe-a-whoring after Molech, from among their people. And the soule, that turneth unto (them that have) familiar spirits, and unto wizards; to goe-a-whoring after them: I will also set my face, against that soule; and will cut him off, from among his people. And yee shall sanctifie your selves; and be holy: for I am Iehovah, your God. And yee shall keepe, my statutes; and doe them: I am Iehovah, that sanctifieth you. For every man, that curseth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death: hee hath cursed, his father or his mother, his bloods shall be upon him. And the man, that committeth-adulterie with a mans wife; that committeth-adulterie, with his neighbours wife: the adulterer, and the adulteresse, shall surely bee put to death. And the man that lyeth with his fathers wife, hath uncovered his fathers nakednesse: both of them shall be surely put to death, their bloods shall be upon them. And the man, that lyeth with his daughter-in-law; both of them shal be surely put to death: they have wrought confusion, their bloods shall be upon them. And the man, that lyeth with a male, like copulation with a woman; they have done abhomination, both of them: they shall be surely put to death, their bloods shall be upon them. And the man that taketh a wife, and her mother, it is wickednes: they shall burne him and them, with fire: that there be no wickednes, among you. And the man that giveth his copulation with a beast; hee shall surely bee put to death: and yee shall kill the beast. And the woman, that approcheth unto any beast, to lye downe thereto; thou shalt even kill the woman, & the beast: they shal surely be put to death, their bloods shall be upon them. And the man that taketh his sister, his fathers daughter or his mothers daughter, and seeth her nakednes, and shee see his nakednesse, it is impietie; and they shal be cut off, in the eyes of the sonnes of their people; he hath uncovered, his sisters nakednes, he shall beare his iniquity. And the man, that lyeth with a woman having-her sicknes, and uncovereth her nakednes, discovereth bee fountaine; and she, uncovereth the fountaine of her bloods: even both of them shall be cut-off, from among their people. And thou shalt not uncover the nakednes of thy mothers sister, or of thy fathers sister: for he discouereth his neere-kinne, they shall beare their iniquity. And the man, that lyeth with his aunt; hee hath uncovered, his uncles nakednes; they shall beare their sinne, they shall dye childles. And the man, that taketh his brothers wife, it is uncleannes: he hath uncovered his brothers nakednes, they shall bee childles. And ye shall keepe all my statutes, and all my judgments, and doe them: that the land spue you not out; which I bring you thither, to dwell therein. And ye shall not walke, in the statutes of the nation; which I send out, from before you: for all these things, have they done; and I am yrked with them. And I have said unto you; you, shall inherit their land; and I, will give it unto you, to inherit it; a land that floweth with milke, and honey: I, am Iehovah your God; which have separated you, from the peoples. And yee shall separate, betweene the cleane beast and the uncleane, and betweene the uncleane fowle, and the cleane: and yee shall not make your soules abominable, by beast or by fowle; or by any thing that creepeth on the ground; which I have separated unto you, for uncleane. And ye shall be holy unto me, for I Iehovah, am holy: and have separated you, from the peoples, to be mine. And man or woman, when there is in them a familiar-spirit, or (that is) a wizard, they shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones, their bloods shall be upon them.

Annotations. EVery man] or Any man whosoever. Hebr. man [illegible: 1 word]; as Levit. 17. 3. Targum Ionathan explaineth it, yong man or old man; the Greeke hath, If any. Here God appointeth punishments for the transgression of such Lawes, as were given in the two former chapters. that sojourneth] or, that is a stranger: in Greeke, proselytes. of his seed] that is, any of his children. Molech] an Idoll to which the heathens offred their children; whereof see Lev. 18. 21. he shall surely be put to death] or, he shal be put to dye the death: Heb. dying he shall be made to dye. So after in verse 9. 10. 11. 12. &c. the people of the land] the Chaldee expounds it, the people of the house of Israel. stone him] his sinne being proved before the Iudges by witnesses, the hands of the witnesses were first to be upon him, and afterward the hands of all the people, Deut. 17. 6. 7. Foure manner of deaths were in Israel for malefactors, Stoning, Burning, Killing with the sword, and Strangling: And the Hebrewes reckon eighteen euil doers which were to be stoned, (& that was the sorest death;) sundry of them are mentioned in this chapter: of all the rest, see the notes on Exodus 21. 12. The manner of stoning is said to be thus; when the malefactor came within foure cubits of the place of execution, they stript him out of his clothes, but covered his nakednesse before; and a woman was not stoned naked, but in one linnen garment. The place of stoning was high; unto which the malefactor with his witnesses went up: his hands being tyed: One of the witnesses stroke him behinde upon his loynes; if that kild him not, the other witnesses threw a great stone upon his heart; if hee dyed not with it, all Israel threw stones upon him. Talmud Bab. in Sanhedrin, chap. 6. and Maimony in Sanhedrin, chapter 15. section 1. Vers. 3. And I will set] Heb. will give; that is, will oppose and set firmly: for which in verse 5. Moses useth the word set. This is meant, if the sinne were not knowne, or could not be proved by witnesses sufficiently before men, that God himselfe would cut off the sinner, which the Chaldee and Greeke doe interpret destroy, or make to perish. So Chazkuni expoundeth it, I will set my face, when he transgresseth without witnesses and evident-proofe. The Hebrewes reckon sixe and thirtie which for their sins are threatned by the law to be cut off; and they are these, 1. Hee that lyeth with his mother; 2. or with his fathers wife; 3. or with his daughter-in-law; 4. or with mankinde; 5. or with a beast; 6. and the woman that lyeth downe to a beast; 7. hee that lyeth with a woman and her daughter; 8. or with another mans wife; 9. or with his sister; 10. or with his fathers sister; 11. or with his mothers sister; 12, or with his wives sister; 13. or with the wife of his fathers brother; 14. or with the wife of his mothers brother; 15. or with a woman that hath her sicknesse; 16. The blasphemer; 17. the Idol-server; 18. he that giveth of his seed to Molech; 19. hee that followeth him that hath a familiar spirit; 20. hee that prophaneth the Sabbath; 21. the uncleane person that eateth the holy thing; 22. the uncleane person that commeth into the Sanctuarie. 23. Hee that eateth fat; 24. or blood; 25. or that eateth that which remaineth of the sacrifices, when it is a polluted thing; 26. or that eateth uncleane meats; 27. Hee that slayeth sacrifices without the sanctuarie; 28. & be that offreth them without; 29. He that eateth Leaven at the Passeover; 30. he that eateth any thing on Atonement day; 31. or that worketh on that day; 32. Hethat maketh an Oile, like the holy oile of the Sanctuary; 33. or maketh anincense like the holy incense; 34. or, that anointeth mans flesh with the holy oile of the Sanctuary; 35. He that observeth not the Passeover, 36. or that observeth not the Law of circumcision. For these they are guilty to be cut off, if they transgresse presumptuously, if ignorātly, they must bring a sinoffring, &c. Thalmad Bab. in Ch[illegible: 2 letters] it hu[illegible: 2 letters]. chap. 1. All these are expressed in Moses Law, and yet hee that gathered these in the Thalmud, (as Maimony in his Annotations upon the same place observeth,) reckoneth but the generals, and leaveth the particulars. For where he saith, He that lyeth with a woman and her daughter; he implieth also, a woman with her sonne: so a woman and her sons daughter, a woman and her daughters daughter: and his mother, and his mothers mother, and his fathers mother, and his daughter, and his sons daughter, and his daughters daughter. And under the name of the Idolserver, is implied hee that poureth out a drink-offring, or that burneth incense, or that boweth downe, or that sacrificeth, and such like. So hee speaketh of him that hath a Familiar spirit, and not of the Wizard [who is in the same estate, Lev. 20. 6.] Of these forementioned, some are to dye by the hand of the magistrate, some are to be beaten, but not put to death; as elsewhere is observed. defile my Sanctuary] that is, the Tabernacle, (Exod. 25. 8.) or Temple: which was defiled, when God was sacrificed unto other where, or by other wayes then he commanded, (Levit. 17. 4. 5.) or when they sacrificed to idols, and yet would come into the Sanctuarie to serve God also; whereas the Temple of God, hath no agreement with Idols, 2 Cor. 6. 16. And thus the Prophet reproveth them, for that they burned incense to Baal, and walked after other gods; and yet came and stood before him in the house whereupon his name was called, Ier. 7. 9. 10. and to prophane] that is, as the Greek explaineth it, and that he might prophane. Of prophaning Gods name, see Levit. 18. 21. Vers. 4. the people of the land] which the Chaldee expoundeth the people of the house of Israel: and so the Greeke saith, the homeborne of the land. hiding shall hide] that is, shall any waies hide; the Greeke explaineth it, with winking shall winke at; that is, neglect, or not regard no punish. That word Paul useth, in Act. 17. 30. the times of this ignorance, God wincked at. Vers. 5. my face] the Chaldee expoundeth it, mine anger: and so face often signifieth, Psal. 21. 10. and 34. 17. Lam. 4. 16. See the notes on Gen. 32. 20. his familie] in Greeke, his kinred; and so the word familie signifieth, in Gen. 24. 38. the Chaldee translateth it, his helpers; that is, such as tooke part with him; as the next words doe declare. that goe a whoring after him] that is, commit idolatrie, as the Chaldec explaineth it, that erre: so in verse 6. the Greeke translateth, all that consent unto him. This judgment God executed upon the Iewes; for this idolatrie, and their other sins: as he signified by his Prophet, that he would give their city Ierusalem into the hand of the Chaldeans, who should set fire upon it, and burne it with the houses, upon whose roofes they had burnt incense unto Baal, &c. Because they, their Kings, their Princes, their Priests, and their Prophets, and the men of Iudah, and the inhabitants of Ierusalem, had set their abhominations in the house which was called by his Name, to defile it; and built the high places of Baal, to cause their sonnes and their daughters to passe through (the fire) unto Molech, &c. therefore it should be delivered into the hand of the King of Babylon; by the sword and by the famine, and by the pestilence. Ier. 32. 28. 29. 32. 34. 35. 36. Vers. 6. the soule] that is, as the Chaldee expoundeth, the man. that turneth unto] or, looketh after; in Greeke followeth: meaning that consulteth with them, as Deut. 18. 11. familiar spirits] Targum Ionathan expoundeth it, them that aske of familiar spirits. Of these; and the wizards following (whom the Greeke calleth Inchanters,) see the annotations on Leviticus 19. 31. and Deuteronomie 18. 11. set my face] Hebr. give my face: in Chaldee, give mine anger against that man, and destroy him. This judgment was executed upon K. Saul, who dyed, for asking counsell of one that had a familiar spirit. 1 Chron. 10. 13. 1 Sam. 28. Vers. 7. And] This may bee a reason of the former, Therefore ye shall sanctifie your selves; by abstaining from all evill, and doing good. be holy] or, be saints: for I am Iehovah, to weet, that sanctifieth you, as vers. 8. or, for I am holy, as the Greeke addeth, and as Moses wrote before, in Lev. 19. 2. Vers. 9. For every man] or, any man: Hebr. man man, meaning any whosoever, as vers. 2. And this is inferred upon the former precept, be holy: For, otherwise judgements abide you. curseth] or revileth; speaketh evill, as the Greeke translateth; which the holy Ghost approveth in Acts 23. 5. See the notes on Exodus 21. 17. or] Hebrew, and, which the Greeke translateth or; and so in Matthew 15. 4. For death was his due, if he cursed either of them, and they are distinguished, to make him guilty for the one without the oth[illegible: 1 letter]r, as Chazkuni here explaineth it, and as Iarchi addeth, though it be after his parents death. Whose curseth his father, or his mother; his Lamp shall be p[illegible: 1 letter]tout, in obscure darkenesse. Prov. 20. 20. his bloods shall be upon him] that is, his death shall be upon his owne head; for he hath caused it by his sinne. So the Greeke translateth, he shall be guilty: and the Chaldee, he is guilty (or worthy,) to be killed; so after often in this chapter. The manner of his death was stoning; as is noted, upon Exod. 21. 10. and as Moses after sheweth for the rebellious sonne, Deut. 21. 21. And it is observed as a generall [illegible: 1 word], by the Hebrew doctors. Every place where it is [illegible: 1 word] in the Law, they shall be put to death, THEIR BLOODS VPON THEM, it is meant, by stoning. Maimony Issureibiah, c. 1. s. 6, and Sol. Iarchi on Lev. 20. 9. Vers. 10. that committeth adultery] the Greek addeth in the second place, or that commits-adul[illegible: 1 span]ry with his neighbours wife. It is expouuded in Deut. 22. 22. a woman maried to an husband. dye the death] the manner of their death, is not set downe, either here, or in Deuter. 22. 22. unlesse by that which is before and after, (for other unlawfull copulations) we say it is meant stoning to death: as the man that lyeth with a beast, vers. 15. is to bee stoned, because the wom[illegible: 1 letter]n for like beastlinesse is to be stoned, verse 16. The Pharisees which brought unto Christ a woman taken in adulterie, said, Moses commanded that such should be stoned, Ioh. 8. 4. 5. but whether that were this very case, is to bee considered. Also to lye with a bettothed woman, the punishment was stoning, as for humbling his neighbours wife, Deut. 22. 24. Howbeit the latter Pharisees, say the adulterers death was Strangling: Maimony in Sanhedrin, chap. 15. sect. 13. And in another place, he openeth this and the other like [illegible: 2 letters]wes more fully, thus. Who so presumptuously committeth any of all the unlawfull copulations spoken of in the l[illegible: 1 letter]w, is guilty of cutting off, Levit. 18. 29. and if they doe it ignorantly, they are bound to bring the Sinoffring appointed. And there be some of the Nakednesses [that is, the unlawfull copulations] which deserve death by the Iudges; more then the cutting-off, which is meet for them all. Of those which are to be put to death by the Iudges, some are to dye by stoning, and some by burning, and some by strangling. And these are they that are put to death by stoning: He that lyeth with his mother, or with his fathers wife, or with his sonnes wife, which is called his daughter-in-law; he that lyeth with mankinde; or with a beast; and the woman that lyeth downe to a beast. And these are burnt to death; He that lyeth with his wives daughter, whiles his wife liveth; or with her daughters daughter; or with her sons daughter; or with his wives mother; or with her mothers mother; or with her fathers mother. He that lyeth with his daughter; or with his daughters daughter, or with his sons daughter. Thou hast no unlawfull copulation puni[illegible: 1 letter]hed with Strangling, but for lying with a mans wife onely, Levit. 20. 10. And the death which the Law speaketh of absolutely, [that is, without naming what kinde of death it shal be,] is Strangling. And if she be a Priests daughter, she is burned, Levit. 21. 9. and he that lay with her, is strangled: and if shee be a betrothed maid, they are both of them stoned, Deuter. 22. 24. and wheresoever the Law saith, Their bloods upon them; that is by stoning, For all other unlawfull copulations, there is cutting-off onely; and not death by the Magistrate. Therefore if there be witnesses and evidence, the Iudges are to beat them: for all that deserve cutting-off, are to be beaten. Maimony in Issurei biah chap. 1. sect. 1.—7. Thus by their owne grant, this case is singular: and there is no other reason of the adulterers strangling, then the commanding of their death absolutely. Among the heathens also, adulterie was punished with death, as the King of Babylon rosted Zedekiah and Ahab in the fire, because they committed adultery with their neighbours wives, &c. Ieremie 29. 22. 23. This sinne is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and will root out all a mans increase; Iob 31. 12. Hee that d[illegible: 1 span]h it, destroyeth his owne soule, Prov. 6. 32. Vers. 11. their bloods upon them] that is, they shall be stoned: in Greeke, both of them are guilty; and the Chaldee saith, worthy to be killed. So in the rest that follow. Vers. 12. wrought] or, done confusion, which the Greeke translateth, have done-impiously. Vers. 13. like copulation with a woman] Hebr. with the lyings (or copulations) of a woman: see Levit. 18. 22. Vers. 14. wickednesse] or, a wicked purpose: in Chaldee counsell of sinnes: in Greeke, an unlawfull act. See Levit. 18. 17. Vers. 17. impietie] or, reproach, ignominie, as the Greeke and Chaldee doe translate it. cut-off] in Greeke, destroyed before the sonnes of their kinne: that is, soone and openly; to weet by the hand of God: and to be beaten by the Magistrate, as the Hebrewes say. See the notes on verse 10. his iniquitie] that is, the punishment due thereunto: as Gen. 19. 15. Vers. 18. having her sicknesse] her menstrual-infirmitie, for which she was separated as uncleane, even from her husband: therefore the Greeke translateth it put-apart, and the Chaldee, uncleane. See the annotations on Levit. 12. 2. and 15. 19.—24. the fountaine] or well, figuratively so called, because of the issve, as in Levit. 12 7. The Greeke here in the first place, keepeth the metaphore, hee hath uncovered her fountaine, the Chaldee saith, her ignominie: in the second place, the Greeke translateth, she hath uncovered the issue of her blood, where the Chaldee saith, the uncleannesse of her blood. The Holy Ghost also explaineth it so, for where it is said, in Marke 5. 29. the fountaine of her blood was dried up: an other Evangelist saith, her issue of blood stanched, Luke 8. 44. By the Hebrew doctors, the wombe wherein the childe is formed, is called the Fountaine. Maimony in Issureibiah, chap. 5. sect. 3. Therfore also they exempt virgins from this pollution; as is noted on Levit. 15. 19. cut-off] in the Greek and Chaldee, destroyed; to weet by the hand of God, for presumptuous doing against this Law: Levit. 15. 31. and by the Magistrates, (if it were knowne,) she was beaten. Maimony in Issureibiah, chap. 1. sect. 22. And from the Law for washing her in Levit. 15. they teach, that the woman which hath her sicknesse, or hath an issue, or hath borne achilde, if shee wash not her selfe in water; who so lyeth with any one of them, though it be after many yeeres, is guilty of cutting-off. Maimony ibidem chap. 4. sect. 3. But those legall washings, figured our better cleansing by the blood of Christ, Esa. 4. 4. 1 Ioh. 1. 7. Vers. 20. his aunt] which the Chaldee expoundeth his uncles (or fathers-brothers) wife: see Levit. 18. 14. childlesse] meaning either that God will give them no children, or soon take them away if he doe give them. For, by the Hebrew canons, the Magistrates might not put them to death, but beat them onely for this sinne. See the notes on verse 10. Verse 21. shall be childlesse] the Greeke translateth, shall dye childlesse; as verse 20. Sol. Iarchi hereupon noteth; Childlesse, meaneth, if he have children, he shall bury them; if he have no children, hee shall dye without children: therefore the scripture differeth, saying (in verse 20.) they shall dye childlesse; and (in verse 21.) they shall be childlesse. They shall die childelesse, if he have any at the time of transgression, he shall have none at his death, for he shall bury them whiles he liveth: they shall be childlesse, for if hee have none when he transgresseth, he shall be all his daies, as he now is. Vers. 22. And] or, Therefore ye shall keepe. spue] or, vomit you not out; which the Greeke and Chaldee turne, loathe, or abhorre you. See Levit. 18. 25. 26. 28. Verse 23. nation] in Greeke, nations, in Chaldee, peoples. amyrked] or, am grieved with, and consequently doe abhorre them, as the Greeke translateth it: and the Chaldee, my Word abhorreth them. Thus also God was affected with Israel and complained, Fortie yeeres I was yrked with that generation, Psal. 95. 10. Vers. 24. milke and honey] that is, all good and comfortable blessings; which were also figures of heavenly graces: see the notes on Exod. 3. 8. separated] in Greeke disparted (or disbounded) you from all the nations. Gods lawes are as a wall and hedge to keepe his people from the statutes and manners of the wicked. So Solomon said, Thou didst separate them to thy selfe for an inheritance; from all the peoples of the earth: 1 King. 8. 53. Vers. 25. separate betweene the cleane beast] that is, put difference, by eating the cleane and refraining from the uncleane: according to the Law in Levit. 11. which thing is here spoken of upon their separation from the peoples, because their abstinence from uncleane beasts, figured their abstaining from the communion of uncleane peoples; as Act. 10. 12. 28. and as is shewed on Levit. 11. The Hebrewes say, this is mentioned after the unlawfull copulations aforesaid, because who so defileth him-selfe with them, degenerateth and is as it were transformed into the nature of uncleane beasts, &c. R. Menachem on Levit. fol. 151. for uncleane] that is, that you should count them unclean, and abstaine from them. The Greeke translateth, in uncleannesse. Vers. 26. from the peoples] in Gre[illegible: 1 letter]ke, from all the nations; as in verse 24. to be mine] or, to bee unto me: which the Chaldee interpreteth, to serve before me. Vers. 27. familiar spirit] or spirit of divination: see Levit. 19. 31. their bloods upon them] in Greeke, they are guiltie: in Chaldee, worthy to be killed. See before on verse 9.