Ye shall keep my statutes,.... Those which follow, and which are of a different sort from what are last mentioned, of a moral nature, and are planted in the heart, as Aben Ezra says; are agreeably to the law and light of nature, and part of the work of the law written on the heart, as the apostle calls it, Romans 2:15; but the following are of...
And whosoever lieth carnally with a woman,.... Has carnal knowledge of her: a man and woman are expressed, signifying those that are of age, Aben Ezra observes, that according to the mystical exposition of these words, this same carnally lying is as of divers kinds, of a free man with a bondwoman, and so follows upon the above law and in...
He shall bring his trespass offering unto the Lord,.... To the priest of the Lord, to offer it for him; he, and not she, as the Targum of Jonathan has it; [See comments on Leviticus 19:20]: unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation; where all offerings were to be brought, Leviticus 17:4; [even] a ram for a trespass offering; which was...
And the priest shall make an atonement for him,.... By offering his sacrifice for him, typical of the atoning sacrifice of Christ: with the ram of his trespass offering before the Lord; presented before him at the door of the tabernacle, and offered up on his altar: for his sin which he hath done; or "sinned", which is so expressed, according to...
And when ye shall come into the land,.... The land of Canaan, whither they were now going: and shall have planted all manner of trees for food; such that brought forth fruit that was eatable, as figs, grapes, olives, c. so that all such trees as did not bear fruit fit for man's food came not under the following law nor such as grew up of...
But in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy,.... Separated and devoted to the service of God, to be given to the priest, or to be bought again of him; wherefore the Targum of Jonathan adds, at the end of the verse, "redeemed from the priest", a redemption price being given to the priest; and, as Jarchi observes, as the tithe was not...
And in the fifth year shall ye eat of the fruit thereof,.... And so in all succeeding years as long as the tree lasted and bore: that it may yield unto you the increase thereof; may be so abundantly blessed, and produce so large an increase as to answer the three years' want of any fruit from it, and the dedication of the fruit of the fourth year...
Ye shall not eat [anything] with the blood,.... Or upon, over, or by the blood (s), for this law seems different from that in Genesis 9:4, and from those in Leviticus 3:17; and is variously interpreted by the Jewish writers; some of not eating flesh, the blood not being rightly let out of it, as not being thoroughly cleared of it (t), and so comes...
Ye shall not round the corners of your heads,.... The extremities of the hairs of the head, round about, on the forehead, temples, and behind the ears; this is done, as Jarchi says, when any one makes his temples, behind his ears, and his forehead alike, so that the circumference of his head is found to be round all about, as if they had been cut...
Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead,.... Either with their nails, tearing their cheeks and other parts, or with any instrument, knife, razor, c. Jarchi says, it was the custom of the Amorites, when anyone died, to cut their flesh, as it was of the Scythians, as Herodotus (d) relates, even those of the royal family for a king...
Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore,.... Not by delaying to marry her, which is the sense the Jews give (l), but it refers to a wicked practice among the Phoenicians or Canaanites, Athanasius (m) speaks of, whose women used to prostitute themselves in the temples of their idols; and to such filthy services, in a religious...
Ye shall keep my sabbaths,.... By attending to the worship and service of God on sabbath days, they and their children would be preserved from the idolatry of the Gentiles, and all the filthy practices attending it: and reverence my sanctuary; and not defile it by such impurities as were committed in the temples of idols: the sanctuary being an...
Regard not them that have familiar spirits,.... The word used signifies "bottles", and that sort of diviners here intended go by this name, either because what they sat on when they divined was in the form of a bottle, or they divined by one, or they were swelled and inflated as bottles when they delivered out their answers, or spoke as out of a...
Thou shall rise up before the hoary head,.... Or "before old age" (q), which may be discerned by the hoary or grey hairs upon the head; that is, before a grey-headed man, or an old man, and one was reckoned so when he was of seventy years of age; for so it is said (r), one of sixty years is arrived to old age, and one of seventy to grey hairs....
And if a stranger sojourn with you in your land,.... Ben Gersom, and others, understand this of a proselyte of righteousness, who was circumcised, and in all things conformed to the Jewish religion; but it may be interpreted of a proselyte of the gate, who was not an idolater, since he is described as one sojourning with them, and indeed of any...
[But] a stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you,.... Especially if a proselyte of righteousness; for then he enjoyed the same privileges, civil and religious, the Israelites did, for there was one law for them both, Exodus 12:49: and thou shalt love him as thyself; and show it by doing all the good things for him...
Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment,.... This is repeated from Leviticus 19:15; and in order to lead on to some other laws and instructions; though Aben Ezra thinks this is said in connection with the preceding words, and in reference to the stranger, agreeably to Deuteronomy 1:16; but Jarchi refers it to what follows concerning weights and...
Just balances, just weights,.... Which were for such sort of things as were bought and sold by weight, and these were to be according to the custom and usage which universally obtained among them, or were fixed and settled by them; they were to be neither lighter nor heavier; they were not to have one sort to buy with, and another to sell with,...
Therefore shall ye observe all my statutes, and all my judgments,.... Delivered in this and the preceding chapters, and elsewhere, whether ceremonial or judicial, or moral, as there were of each, which had been delivered to them; and which are all comprehended in these two words, "statutes", or ordinances, which were the determinations of his...