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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Leviticus 19:19-29

Here is, I. A law against mixtures, Lev. 19:19. God in the beginning made the cattle after their kind (Gen. 1:25), and we must acquiesce in the order of nature God hath established, believing that is best and sufficient, and not covet monsters. Add thou not unto his works, lest he reprove thee; for it is the excellency of the work of God that nothing can, without making it worse, be either put to it or taken from it, Eccl. 3:14. As what God has joined we must not separate, so what he has... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 19:26

Ye shall not eat anything with the blood ,.... Or upon, over, or by the blood F19 על הדם "super sanguine", Montanus, Munster; "super sanguinem", Fagius. , 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 F20 Joseph. Antiqu. l. 6. c. 6. sect. 4. T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 63. 1.... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 19:27

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 F2 Thalia, sive, l. 3. c. 8. reports; see Gill on Jeremiah 9:26 , ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 19:28

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 F4 Melpomene, sive, l. 4. c. 71. relates, even those of the royal family; for a king they cut off a part of the ear, shaved the hair round about, cut the arms about, wounded the forehead... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 19:29

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 F12 Targ. Jon. in loc. T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 76. 1. , but it refers to a wicked practice among the Phoenicians or Canaanites, Athanasius F13 Contra Gentes, p. 21. speaks of, whose women used to prostitute themselves in the temples of their idols; and to such filthy services, in a religious way, the Israelites, in imitation of them, are forbid to expose... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Leviticus 19:26

Neither shall ye use enchantment - תנחשו לא lo thenachashu . Conjecture itself can do little towards a proper explanation of the terms used in this verse. נחש nachash ; See note at Genesis 3:1 ; (note), we translate serpent, and with very little propriety; but though the word may not signify a serpent in that place, it has that signification in others. Possibly, therefore, the superstition here prohibited may be what the Greeks called Ophiomanteia, or divination by serpents. Nor... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Leviticus 19:27

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... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Leviticus 19:28

Any cuttings in your flesh for the dead - That the ancients were very violent in their grief, tearing the hair and face, beating the breast, etc., is well known. Virgil represents the sister of Dido "tearing her face with her nails, and beating her breast with her fists." " Unguibus ora soror foedans, et pectora pugnis ." Aen., l. iv., ver. 672. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Leviticus 19:29

Do not prostitute thy daughter - This was a very frequent custom, and with examples of it writers of antiquity abound. The Cyprian women, according to Justin, gained that portion which their husbands received with them at marriage by previous public prostitution. And the Phoenicians, according to Augustine, made a gift to Venus of the gain acquired by the public prostitution of their daughters, previously to their marriage. " Veneri donum dabant, et prostitutiones filiarum, antequam... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Leviticus 19:27

Verse 27 27.Ye shall not round the corners. It clearly appears that God had no other object than by the interposition of this obstacle to sever His people from heathen nations. For there is nothing to which men are more prone than to conform themselves to the customs of others; and hence it arises, that they mutually communicate each other’s vices. Wherefore care was especially to be taken lest the people of Israel should adopt foreign habits, and by this pliableness should fall away from the... read more

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