Leviticus 18:30 Kommentar

Here is, I. A general law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen (Lev 18:1-5). II. Particular laws, 1. Against incest (Lev 18:6-18). 2. Against beastly lusts, and barbarous idolatries (Lev 18:19-23). III. The enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites (Lev 18:24-30).

INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 18 In this chapter the Israelites are directed in general not to imitate the customs and practices of the Egyptians and Canaanites, but to keep the ordinances, statutes, and judgments of the Lord, Lev 18:1; and they are instructed particularly to avoid incestuous marriages, Lev 18:6; carnal copulation with a menstruous woman, Lev 18:19; adultery, Lev 18:20; letting any of their seed pass through the fire to Molech, Lev 18:21; sodomy, Lev 18:22; and bestiality, Lev 18:23; and they are deterred from these things by observing to them the pollution and destruction which they brought on the inhabitants of Canaan, and would bring the same on them should they commit them, Lev 18:24.

Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance,.... Whatever the Lord appointed them and commanded, whether contained in this chapter, or elsewhere: that ye commit not anyone of these abominable customs; for attending to the ordinances of God, and a close in them, they would be preserved from the commission of such abominable things, and giving in to such detestable customs as before warned against: which were committed before you; by the inhabitants of Canaan; and by the punishment on them for them they might be deterred from doing the same: and that ye defile not yourselves therein; for though the land is so often said to be defiled, yet, properly speaking, and chiefly, it was the inhabitants that were defiled by their abominable customs; and so would the Israelites also, should they observe the same, and thereby become abominable in the sight of God, and incur his displeasure, and be liable to his vengeance: I am the Lord your God; who had a sovereign authority over them, and a right to give out what commands he pleased, both negative and affirmative; and to whom they were under obligations to obey, as the God of nature and providence, from whom they had their beings, and were supported in them, and as their covenant God, who had bestowed special and spiritual favours on them. Next: Leviticus Chapter 19

The people are commanded to avoid the doings of the Egyptians and Canaanites, Lev 18:1-3. They are to do God's judgments, and to keep his ordinances, that they may live, Lev 18:4, Lev 18:5. Marriages with those who are near of kin are prohibited, Lev 18:6. None to marry with his mother or step-mother, Lev 18:7, Lev 18:8; with his sister or step-sister, Lev 18:9; with his grand-daughter, Lev 18:10; nor with the daughter of his step-mother, Lev 18:11; nor with his aunt, by father or mother, Lev 18:12, Lev 18:13; nor with his uncle's wife, Lev 18:14; nor with his daughter-in-law, Lev 18:15; nor sister-in-law, Lev 18:16; nor with a woman and her daughter, son's daughter, or daughter's daughter, Lev 18:17; nor with two sisters at the same time, Lev 18:18. Several abominations prohibited, Lev 18:19-23, of which the Canaanites, etc., were guilty, and for which they were cast out of the land, Lev 18:24, Lev 18:25. The people are exhorted to avoid these abominations, lest they be treated as the ancient inhabitants of the land were treated, and so cast out, Lev 18:26-28. Threatenings against the disobedient, Lev 18:29, and promises to the obedient, Lev 18:30.

Shall ye keep mine ordinance - The only way to be preserved from all false worship is seriously to consider and devoutly to observe the ordinances of the true religion. He who in the things of God goes no farther than he can say, Thus it is written, and thus it behoves me to do, is never likely to receive a false creed, nor perform a superstitious act of worship. 1. How true is that word, The law of the Lord is Perfect! In a small compass, and in a most minute detail, it comprises every thing that is calculated to instruct, direct, convince, correct, and fortify the mind of man. Whatever has a tendency to corrupt or injure man, that it forbids; whatever is calculated to comfort him, promote and secure his best interests, that it commands. It takes him in all possible states, views him in all connections, and provides for his present and eternal happiness. 2. As the human soul is polluted and tends to pollution, the great doctrine of the law is holiness to the Lord: this it keeps invariably in view in all its commands, precepts, ordinances, rites, and ceremonies. And how forcibly in all these does it say, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength; and thy neighbor as thyself! This is the prominent doctrine of the preceding chapter; and this shall be fulfilled in all them who believe, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to them that believe. Reader, magnify God for his law, for by it is the knowledge of sin; and magnify him for his Gospel, for by this is the cure of sin. Let the law be thy schoolmaster to bring thee to Christ, that thou mayest be justified by faith; and that the righteousness of the law may be fulfilled in thee, and that thou mayest walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

UNLAWFUL MARRIAGES. (Lev. 18:1-30) I am the Lord your God--This renewed mention of the divine sovereignty over the Israelites was intended to bear particularly on some laws that were widely different from the social customs that obtained both in Egypt and Canaan; for the enormities, which the laws enumerated in this chapter were intended to put down, were freely practised or publicly sanctioned in both of those countries; and, indeed, the extermination of the ancient Canaanites is described as owing to the abominations with which they had polluted the land.

Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs--In giving the Israelites these particular institutions, God was only re-delivering the law imprinted on the natural heart of man; for there is every reason to believe that the incestuous alliances and unnatural crimes prohibited in this chapter were forbidden to all men by a law expressed or understood from the beginning of the world, or at least from the era of the flood, since God threatens to condemn and punish, in a manner so sternly severe, these atrocities in the practice of the Canaanites and their neighbors, who were not subject to the laws of the Hebrew nation. Next: Leviticus Chapter 19