Levitikus 24:8 Kommentar

In this chapter we have, I. A repetition of the laws concerning the lamps and the show-bread (Lev 24:1-9). II. A violation of the law against blasphemy, with the imprisonment, trial, condemnation, and execution, of the blasphemer (Lev 24:10-14, with Lev 24:23). III. The law against blasphemy reinforced (Lev 24:15, Lev 24:16), with sundry other laws (Lev 24:17, etc.).

INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 24 This chapter treats of the oil for the lamps, and the ordering of them, Lev 24:1; of the making of the shewbread cakes, and the setting of them on the table, Lev 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 guilty of the same, is ordered to be stoned to death, Lev 24:10; on occasion of which several laws are repeated concerning killing a man or a beast, or doing injury to any man, Lev 24:17.

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 (of frankincense); four went before these, two to take away the two rows (of the old bread), and two to take away the two cups (of frankincense); and they that carried in stood in the north, and their faces to the south and they that brought out stood in the south, and their faces to the north; these drew away (the old bread) and they put them (the new), and the hand of the one was over against the hand of the other, as it is said, "before me continually", Exo 25:30 (h); that is, at the same time the hands of the one were employed in taking away, the hands of the other were employed in setting on; so that there was always bread upon the table: being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant; God requiring it of them, and they agreeing to give it, as they did, either in meal or in money; for this was at the expense of the community. (h) Menachot, c. 11. sect. 7.

The loaves are properly commanded to be changed before the Lord every sabbath day. For surely the loaves that were set out on the table of the Lord through the six days of work are exchanged for new loaves on the sabbath when all the teachers in the holy church, once the time of their holy labor is completed, are rewarded in heaven with eternal peace and leave others behind them in the same work, laboring in the word with the hope of the same reward. And in this way it is brought to pass that the table of the Lord is never left destitute of bread, but as soon as one loaf is taken away another is put in its place, as long as the churches never lack ministers of the word who follow one another in succession. In their words and in their deeds, they always manifest the faith of apostolic piety and the purity of apostolic action, continuing as in that most beautiful verse in which it is said in praise of that same holy church: “Instead of your fathers, sons are born to you; you will make them princes over all the earth.” In other words, that is as if it were being said to the tabernacle of the Lord: “Instead of your old loaves, new ones are prepared for you; you will designate them for the refreshment of the spiritual hearts of the faithful in all the world.”

Pure olive oil must be provided for the lamps, Lev 24:1, Lev 24:2. Aaron is to take care that the lamps be lighted from evening to morning continually, Lev 24:3, Lev 24:4. How the shew-bread is to be made and ordered, Lev 24:5-8. Aaron and his sons shall eat this bread in the holy place, Lev 24:9. Of the son of Shelomith, an Israelitish woman, who blasphemed the name, Lev 24:10, Lev 24:11. He is imprisoned till the mind of the Lord should be known, Lev 24:12. He is commanded to be stoned to death, Lev 24:13, Lev 24:14. The ordinance concerning cursing and blaspheming the Lord, Lev 24:15, Lev 24:16. The law against murder, Lev 24:17. The lex talionis, or law of like for like, repeated, Lev 24:18-21. This law to be equally binding both on themselves and on strangers, Lev 24:22. The blasphemer is stoned, Lev 24:23.

OIL FOR THE LAMPS. (Lev. 24:1-23) Command the children of Israel--This is the repetition of a law previously given (Exo 27:20-21). pure oil olive beaten--or cold-drawn, which is always of great purity.

The directions concerning the oil for the holy candlestick (Lev 24:1-4) and the preparation of the shew-bread (Lev 24:5-9) lose the appearance of an interpolation, when we consider and rightly understand on the one hand the manner in which the two are introduced in Lev 24:2, and on the other their significance in relation to the worship of God. The introductory formula, "Command the children of Israel that they fetch (bring)," shows that the command relates to an offering on the part of the congregation, a sacrificial gift, with which Israel was to serve the Lord continually. This service consisted in the fact, that in the oil of the lamps of the seven-branched candlestick, which burned before Jehovah, the nation of Israel manifested itself as a congregation which caused its light to shine in the darkness of this world; and that in the shew-bread it offered the fruits of its labour in the field of the kingdom of God, as a spiritual sacrifice to Jehovah. The offering of oil, therefore, for the preparation of the candlestick, and that of fine flour for making the loaves to be placed before Jehovah, formed part of the service in which Israel sanctified its life and labour to the Lord its God, not only at the appointed festal periods, but every day; and the law is very appropriately appended to the sanctification of the Sabbaths and feast-days, prescribed in ch. 23. The first instructions in Lev 24:2-4 are a verbal repetition of Exo 27:20-21, and have been explained already. Their execution by Aaron is recorded at Num 8:1-4; and the candlestick itself was set in order by Moses at the consecration of the tabernacle (Exo 40:25).