INTRODUCTION TO Leviticus 24 This chapter treats of the oil for the lamps, and the ordering of them, Leviticus 24:1; of the making of the shewbread cakes, and the setting of them on the table, Leviticus 24:5; and an Israelite having blasphemed the name of the Lord, and inquiry being made what should be done to him, he, and so any other person...
And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... After he had delivered to him the laws concerning the purity of the priests, and the perfection of the sacrifices they were to offer, and concerning the feasts the people were to keep, he spoke to Moses of some other things which concerned both people and priests: saying; as follows.
In this chapter we have, I. A repetition of the laws concerning the lamps and the show-bread, ver. 1-9. II. A violation of the law against blasphemy, with the imprisonment, trial, condemnation, and execution, of the blasphemer, ver. 10-14, with ver. 23. III. The law against blasphemy reinforced (ver. 15, 16), with sundry other laws, ver. 17, &c....
Command the children of Israel,.... Moses was the chief magistrate under God, and being clothed with authority from him, had power to command the children of Israel to do what the Lord required of them: that they bring unto thee pure oil olive, beaten, for the light; this was to be at the public expense, and it belonged to the community to supply...
Without the vail of the testimony,.... That is, on the outside of the vail which divided between the holy and holy of holies, and which was before the ark in which the testimony or law was: in the tabernacle of the congregation; which the apostle calls the first, namely, the holy place in which the candlestick, with its lamps, stood, Hebrews 9:2;...
He shall order the lamps on the pure candlestick,.... So called, as Jarchi suggests, for these two reasons, partly because it was made of pure gold, and partly because it was to be kept pure and clean, and free from ashes, by the priest; see Exodus 25:31; before the Lord continually; which both respects the situation of the candlestick, and the...
And thou shalt take fine flour,.... Of wheat, and the finest of it: and bake twelve cakes thereof; answerable to the twelve tribes, as the Targum of Jonathan, which were typical of the spiritual Israel of God; two tenth deals shall be in one cake; that is, two tenth parts of an ephah, which were two omers, one of which was as much as a man could...
And thou shalt set them in two rows,.... The twelve cakes: six on a row; not by the side of each other, but six upon one another: upon the pure table; the shewbread table, so called because overlaid with pure gold, and kept clean and bright, Exodus 25:24; before the Lord; for this stood in the holy place, in the same place as the candlestick did,...
And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon [each] row,.... Two cups of frankincense, in each of which was an handful of it, and which were set by each row of the cakes, as Jarchi observes: that it may be on the bread for a memorial; or "for the bread", instead of it, for a memorial of it; that being to be eaten by the priests, and this to be burned...
Every sabbath he shall set it in order before the Lord continually,.... That is, the priest or priests then ministering, who should bring new cakes and place them in the above order, having removed the old ones, which was done in this manner; four priests went in, two had in their hands the two rows (of bread), and two had in their hands two cups...
And it shall be Aaron's and his sons',.... The twelve cakes of the old bread, when taken off the shewbread table; these were divided between the courses of the priests that carried in and brought out; and the high priest had half from each course, so that the half was for Aaron or the high priest, and the other half for his sons, or the priests...
And the son of an Israelitish woman,.... Whose name, and the name of his mother, are afterwards given; whose father [was] an Egyptian; Jarchi says, this is the Egyptian whom Moses slew, Exodus 2:12; and so others in Abendana: went out among the children of Israel; went out of Egypt with them, according to the Targum of Jonathan, and so was one of...
And the Israelitish woman's son blasphemed the name [of the Lord], and cursed,.... As they were striving together, or when the trial was over, he being cast, fell into outrageous blasphemies against God, who made such laws for the civil polity of Israel, and cursed the judges that had given sentence against him; so the Targum of Jonathan; and so...
And they put him in ward,.... In some prison, a place known in the camp, as Aben Ezra observes: that the mind of the Lord might be shewed them; for, though this was a breach of the third command, in which God declares he would not hold such an one guiltless, Exodus 20:7; yet no particular punishment being expressed, it was not a clear case whether...
And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... From off the mercy seat in the holy of holies, where he had promised to meet him and commune with him about anything he should inquire of him, as he did at this time: saying; as follows.
Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp,.... To show that he had no part nor lot in Israel, and that he was unworthy to be a member of their civil community, or of their church state; and, besides, the place of stoning, or where malefactors suffered any kind of death, was without the camp, as afterwards without the city, see Hebrews...
And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel,.... On this occasion, and gave them some laws and rules concerning the above affair, and other things: saying, whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin; which some understand of anyone of another nation, that cursed the God he used to serve in his own country; but it can hardly be thought that...
And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord,.... Or, "but he that blasphemeth", c. from whence the Jews gather, that the name Jehovah must be expressed, or it is no blasphemy so Jarchi; but it is not bare using or expressing the word Jehovah that is blasphemy, but speaking ill and contemptuously of God, with respect to any of his names, titles,...
And he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death. With the sword, as the Targum of Jonathan adds; which restrains it to any man of the children of Israel, but wrongly; for the original law respects any man whatever, Genesis 9:6; and so it does here; [See comments on Exodus 21:12].
And he that killeth a beast shall make it good,.... Pay for it, give the value of it, or another as good as that instead of it, as follows: beast for beast; or "soul for soul"; life for life, that is, a living one for that the life of which is taken away, and one every way as good as that.