Leviticus 19:27 Komentář

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 concerning judgment and mercy; for these are things which are manifest in every man's conscience; men's own thoughts are able to explain these, and to comment upon them. I. The laws of this chapter, which were peculiar to the Jews, are, 1. Concerning their peace-offerings (Lev 19:5-8). 2. Concerning the gleanings of their fields (Lev 19:9, Lev 19:10). 3. Against mixtures of their cattle, seed, and cloth (Lev 19:19). 4. Concerning their trees (Lev 19:23-25). 5. Against some superstitious usages (Lev 19:26-28). But, II. Most of these precepts are binding on us, for they are expositions of most of the ten commandments. 1. Here is the preface to the ten commandments, "I am the Lord," repeated fifteen times. 2. A sum of the ten commandments. All the first table in this, "Be you holy," (Lev 19:2). All the second table in this, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour" (Lev 19:18), and an answer to the question, "Who is my neighbour?" (Lev 19:33, Lev 19:34). 3. Something of each commandment. (1.) The first commandment implied in that which is often repeated here, "I am your God." And here is a prohibition of enchantment (Lev 19:26) and witchcraft (Lev 19:31), which make a god of the devil. (2.) Idolatry, against the second commandment, is forbidden, (Lev 19:4). (3.) Profanation of God's name, against the third (Lev 19:12). (4.) Sabbath-sanctification is pressed (Lev 19:3, Lev 19:30). (5.) Children are required to honour their parents (Lev 19:3), and the aged (Lev 19:32). (6.) Hatred and revenge are here forbidden, against the sixth commandment (Lev 19:17, Lev 19:18). (7.) Adultery (Lev 19:20-22), and whoredom (Lev 19:29). (8.) Justice is here required in judgment (Lev 19:15), theft forbidden (Lev 19:11), fraud and withholding dues (Lev 19:13), and false weights (Lev 19:35, Lev 19:36). (9.) Lying (Lev 19:11). Slandering (Lev 19:14). Tale-bearing, and false-witness bearing (Lev 19:16). (10.) The tenth commandment laying a restraint upon the heart, so does that (Lev 19:17), "Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart." And here is a solemn charge to observe all these statutes (Lev 19:37). Now these are things which need not much help for the understanding of them, but require constant care and watchfulness for the observing of them. "A good understanding have all those that do these commandments."

INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 19 This chapter contains various laws, ceremonial and moral, tending to the sanctification of men, in imitation of the holy God, Lev 19:1; as concerning the reverence of parents, and observing the sabbaths, Lev 19:3; against idolatry, Lev 19:4; about offering and eating of peace offerings, Lev 19:5; concerning harvest and gleaning of fields and vineyards, Lev 19:9; respecting the breach of several of the commandments of the law, as the eighth, ninth, and third, particularly, Lev 19:11; and others relating to the ill usage of the deaf and blind, and having respect to persons rich or poor in judgment, and acting the part of a tale bearer among people, Lev 19:14; and bearing hatred and ill will to any of their neighbours, Lev 19:17; and others forbidding mixtures in the generation of cattle, sowing fields, and wearing apparel, Lev 19:19; and concerning the punishment of a man that lay with a bondmaid, and the offering he should bring for his atonement, Lev 19:20; then follow certain laws concerning fruit trees, when the fruit of them should be eaten, Lev 19:23; and concerning eating with blood, using enchantments, and observing times, and managing the hair of the head and beard, and avoiding to make any marks, prints, and cuttings in the flesh for the dead, Lev 19:26; a caution not to prostitute a daughter to whoredom, and to observe the sabbath, and reverence the sanctuary of God, and pay no regard to wizards and familiar spirits, Lev 19:29; to show reverence to ancient persons, and not to vex and distress strangers, Lev 19:32; and to do no injustice in weight and measure, Lev 19:35; all which instructions are to be carefully observed, and put in execution, Lev 19:37.

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 as with a bowl; and so the Arabians cut their hair, as Herodotus (b) reports; see Gill on Jer 9:26, neither shall thou mar the corners of thy beard; by shaving them entirely; Jarchi and other Jewish writers say, there are five of them, two on the right, as Gersom reckons them, one on the upper jaw, the other on the nether, and two over against them on the left, and one in the place where the nether jaw joins the right to the left, the chin; the same observes, that it was the manner of idolaters to do the above things; and Maimonides (c) is of opinion that the reason of the prohibition is, because the idolatrous priests used this custom; but this law does not respect priests only, but the people of Israel in general; wherefore rather it was occasioned by the Gentiles in common cutting their hair, in honour of their gods, as the Arabians did, as Herodotus in the above place relates, in imitation of Bacchus, and to the honour of him; and so with others, it was usual for young men to consecrate their hair to idols; but inasmuch as such practices were used on account of the dead, as Aben Ezra observes, it seems probable enough that these things are forbidden to be done on their account, since it follows, (b) Thalia, sive, l. 3. c. 8. (c) Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c. 37. Hilchot Obede Cochabim, c. 12. sect. 1.

Exhortations to holiness, and a repetition of various laws, Lev 19:1, Lev 19:2 Duty to parents, and observance of the Sabbath, Lev 19:3. Against idolatry, Lev 19:4. Concerning peace-offerings, Lev 19:5-8. The gleanings of the harvest and vintage to be left for the poor, Lev 19:9, Lev 19:10. Against stealing and lying, Lev 19:11; false swearing, Lev 19:12; defrauding the hireling, Lev 19:13. Laws in behalf of the deaf and the blind, Lev 19:14. Against respect of persons in judgment, Lev 19:15; tale-bearing, Lev 19:16; hatred and uncharitableness, Lev 19:17; revenge, Lev 19:18; unlawful mixtures in cattle, seed, and garments, Lev 19:19. Laws relative to the bondmaid that is betrothed, Lev 19:20-22. The fruit of the trees of the land not to be eaten for the first three years, Lev 19:23; but this is lawful in the fourth and fifth years, Lev 19:24, Lev 19:25. Against eating of blood, and using incantations, Lev 19:26; superstitious cutting of the hair, Lev 19:27; and cutting of the flesh in the times of mourning, Lev 19:28; prostitution, Lev 19:29. Sabbaths to be reverenced, Lev 19:30. Against consulting those who are wizards, and have familiar spirits, Lev 19:31. Respect must be shown to the aged, Lev 19:32. The stranger shall not be oppressed, Lev 19:33, Lev 19:34. They shall keep just measures, weights, and balances, Lev 19:35, Lev 19:36. Conclusion, Lev 19:37.

Ye shall not round the corners your heads - This and the following verse evidently refer to customs which must have existed among the Egyptians when the Israelites sojourned in Egypt; and what they were it is now difficult, even with any probability, to conjecture. Herodotus observes that the Arabs shave or cut their hair round, in honor of Bacchus, who, they say, had his hair cut in this way, lib. iii., cap. 8. He says also that the Macians, a people of Libya, cut their hair round, so as to leave a tuft on the top of the head, lib. iv., cap. 175. In this manner the Chinese cut their hair to the present day. This might have been in honor of some idol, and therefore forbidden to the Israelites. The hair was much used in divination among the ancients, and for purposes of religious superstition among the Greeks; and particularly about the time of the giving of this law, as this is supposed to have been the era of the Trojan war. We learn from Homer that it was customary for parents to dedicate the hair of their children to some god; which, when they came to manhood, they cut off and consecrated to the deity. Achilles, at the funeral of Patroclus, cut off his golden locks which his father had dedicated to the river god Sperchius, and threw them into the flood: - Στας απανευθε πυρης ξονθην απεκειρατο χαιτην, Την ῥα Σπερχειῳ ποταμῳ τρεφε τηλεθοωσαν· Οχθησας δ' αρα ειπεν, ιδων επι οινοπα ποντον· Σπερχει', αλλως σοι γε πατηρ ηρησατο Πηλευς. κ. τ. λ. Iliad, 1. xxiii., ver. 142, etc. But great Achilles stands apart in prayer, And from his head divides the yellow hair, Those curling locks which from his youth he vowed, And sacred threw to Sperchius' honored flood. Then sighing, to the deep his looks he cast, And rolled his eyes around the watery waste. Sperchius! whose waves, in mazy errors lost, Delightful roll along my native coast! To whom we vainly vowed, at our return, These locks to fall, and hecatombs to burn So vowed my father, but he vowed in vain, No more Achilles sees his native plain; In that vain hope these hairs no longer grow; Patrocius bears them to the shades below. Pope. From Virgil we learn that the topmost lock of hair was dedicated to the infernal gods; see his account of the death of Dido: - "Nondum illi flavum Proserpina vertice crinem Abstulerat, Stygioque caput damnaverat orco - Hunc ego Diti Sacrum jussa fero; teque isto corpore solvo. Sic ait, et dextra crinem secat." Aeneid, lib. iv., ver. 698. The sisters had not cut the topmost hair, Which Proserpine and they can only know. Nor made her sacred to the shades below - This offering to the infernal gods I bear; Thus while she spoke, she cut the fatal hair. Dryden. If the hair was rounded, and dedicated for purposes of this kind, it will at once account for the prohibition in this verse. The corners of thy beard - Probably meaning the hair of the cheek that connects the hair of the head with the beard. This was no doubt cut in some peculiar manner, for the superstitious purposes mentioned above. Several of our own countrymen wear this said hair in a curious form; for what purposes they know best: we cannot say precisely that it is the ancient Egyptian custom revived. From the images and paintings which remain of the ancient Egyptians, we find that they were accustomed to shave the whole hair off their face, except merely that upon the chin, which last they cut off only in times of mourning.

A REPETITION OF SUNDRY LAWS. (Lev. 19:1-37) Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel--Many of the laws enumerated in this chapter had been previously announced. As they were, however, of a general application, not suited to particular classes, but to the nation at large, so Moses seems, according to divine instructions, to have rehearsed them, perhaps on different occasions and to successive divisions of the people, till "all the congregation of the children of Israel" were taught to know them. The will of God in the Old as well as the New Testament Church was not locked up in the repositories of an unknown tongue, but communicated plainly and openly to the people. Ye shall be holy: for I . . . am holy--Separated from the world, the people of God were required to be holy, for His character, His laws, and service were holy. (See Pe1 1:15).

Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, &c.--It seems probable that this fashion had been learned by the Israelites in Egypt, for the ancient Egyptians had their dark locks cropped short or shaved with great nicety, so that what remained on the crown appeared in the form of a circle surrounding the head, while the beard was dressed into a square form. This kind of coiffure had a highly idolatrous meaning; and it was adopted, with some slight variations, by almost all idolaters in ancient times. (Jer 9:25-26; Jer 25:23, where "in the utmost corners" means having the corners of their hair cut.) Frequently a lock or tuft of hair was left on the hinder part of the head, the rest being cut round in the form of a ring, as the Turks, Chinese, and Hindus do at the present day. neither shalt thou mar, &c.--The Egyptians used to cut or shave off their whiskers, as may be seen in the coffins of mummies, and the representations of divinities on the monuments. But the Hebrews, in order to separate them from the neighboring nations, or perhaps to put a stop to some existing superstition, were forbidden to imitate this practice. It may appear surprising that Moses should condescend to such minutiÃ&brvbr as that of regulating the fashion of the hair and the beard--matters which do not usually occupy the attention of a legislator--and which appear widely remote from the province either of government or of a religion. A strong presumption, therefore, arises that he had in mind by these regulations to combat some superstitious practices of the Egyptians.

Holiness of Behaviour Towards God and Man. - However manifold the commandments, which are grouped together rather according to a loose association of ideas than according to any logical arrangement, they are all linked together by the common purpose expressed in Lev 19:2 in the words, "Ye shall be holy, for I am holy, Jehovah your God." The absence of any strictly logical arrangement is to be explained chiefly from the nature of the object, and the great variety of circumstances occurring in life which no casuistry can fully exhaust, so that any attempt to throw light upon these relations must consist more or less of the description of a series of concrete events.