39 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Leviticus 19 This chapter contains various laws, ceremonial and moral, tending to the sanctification of men, in imitation of the holy God, Leviticus 19:1; as concerning the reverence of parents, and observing the sabbaths, Leviticus 19:3; against idolatry, Leviticus 19:4; about offering and eating of peace offerings, Leviticus...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... About the same, or quickly after he had delivered the above laws to him; and there are many in this chapter, which were before given, and here repeated: saying; as follows.
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
Some ceremonial precepts there are in this chapter, but most of them are moral. One would wonder that when some of the lighter matters of the law are greatly enlarged upon (witness two long chapters concerning the leprosy) many of the weightier matters are put into a little compass: divers of the single verses of this chapter contain whole laws...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel,.... They could not be all spoke to together, but tribe after tribe, or family after family; or rather the heads of the tribes, and at most the heads of families were convened, and the following instructions were given, to be communicated to their respective tribes and families. Jarchi says...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Ye shall fear every man his mother and his father,.... This has respect to the fifth command, which is the first with promise, and is here referred to first, because a man has his beginning in the world from his parents, and by them he is trained up in the observance of all the other laws of God, equally to be respected; and the fear of them is...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Turn ye not unto idols,.... From the one only true and living God to them that are not gods, as the word used signifies, who are nothing; for, as the apostle says, an idol is nothing in the world, 1 Corinthians 8:4, is of no worth and value, of no consequence and importance, of no avail and usefulness to its devotees; wherefore to turn from the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And if ye offer a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the Lord,.... Which were of three sorts, a thanksgiving, a vow, and a voluntary offering, Leviticus 7:11; the latter seems to be here meant, as appears by what follows: ye shall offer it at your own will; a voluntary freewill offering, of their own accord, and not by force, as Aben Ezra; and in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
It shall be eaten the same day ye offer it, and on the morrow,.... The meaning is, that if it could be, it was best to eat it all up the same day it was offered, but if not, the remainder was to be eaten on the morrow, but by no means to be kept any longer; this shows that that sort of peace offering is intended, which was either a vow or a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And if it be eaten at all on the third day,.... Or "in eating be eaten" (k) any of it be eaten, the least bit of it: it [is] abominable; it is as any common thing, as if it was no sacrifice; yea, as if it was corrupt and putrefied flesh; nay, as what is abominable to God: and therefore it follows, it shall not be accepted; of the Lord, but...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Therefore [everyone] that eateth it shall bear his iniquity,.... Be chargeable with sin, be pronounced guilty, and endure the punishment, which is cutting off, Leviticus 7:20: because he hath profaned the hallowed thing of the Lord; the flesh of the peace offerings, by keeping it longer than the fixed time for it, when it was liable to corruption...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when ye reap the harvest of your land,.... Of the land of Canaan, when come into it, which having sown, and it was harvest, either barley harvest or wheat harvest, or both, and especially the latter, to which reaping seems best to agree: thou shall not wholly reap the corner of the field; but a part was to be left for the poor. This follows...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard,.... Or cut off the little clusters which are, as Aben Ezra observes, like an infant, as the word signifies, infant clusters, which were small in comparison of the large ones, as infants are to men; those which had but a grape or two, or very few upon them, were not to be cut off, but left for the poor: and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Ye shall not steal,.... Which is the eighth command; [See comments on Exodus 20:15]; though Jarchi thinks something different from that law is here intended; that this is a caution against stealing of money, that in the decalogue against stealing of souls, or men. And it may be observed, that one is expressed in the singular number, the other in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And ye shall not swear by my name falsely,.... Or "to a falsehood" (x), to any of the above cases; as that a man has not the deposit of another's in his hands, when he has; or that such a man owes him so much money, when he does not, or any other false thing. Stealing, dealing falsely, lying, and false swearing, are mentioned together, as...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob [him],.... Not defraud him secretly, nor rob him openly and by force, as Aben Ezra; not defraud him in buying and selling, in retaining wages due to him, and refusing to return to him what has been committed to trust, or to repay him what has been borrowed of him: the Vulgate Latin is, "thou shall...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thou shalt not curse the deaf,.... Who are naturally so, born deaf, or become so through some accident, and cannot hear what is objected to them, and they are cursed for; and so cannot reply in their own defence, and remove the calumny cast upon them, if it be such which is the cause of their being cursed; and therefore there is something mean and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment,.... This is said with respect to judges and witnesses, as Aben Ezra notes; that the one should not bear false witness in a court of judicature to the perversion of justice, and the other should not pronounce an unrighteous sentence, justifying the wicked and condemning the righteous: thou shalt not...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thou shall not go up and down [as] a talebearer among thy people,.... The word used signifies a merchant, and particularly one that deals in drugs and spices, and especially a peddler in those things, that goes about from place to place to sell them; and such having an opportunity and making use of it to carry stories of others, and report them to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart,.... Although no hatred may be expressed either by words or deeds, yet being in the heart is a breach of the sixth command, see Matthew 5:21; and of this a man may be guilty, when he does not attempt to save the life of his neighbour, either by bearing a testimony for him, or by delivering from...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thou shalt not avenge,.... That is, not avenge ourselves on him that has done us an ill thing, but leave it to him to whom vengeance belongs, see Romans 12:19; which is done when a man does an ill thing for another, or denies to grant a favour which he has been denied by another; Jarchi thus illustrates it, one says to him (his neighbour) lend me...