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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

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Leviticus 19:30-37

Here is, I. A law for the preserving of the honour of the time and place appropriated to the service of God, Lev. 19:30. This would be a means to secure them both from the idolatries and superstitions of the heathen and from all immoralities in conversation. 1. Sabbaths must be religiously observed, and not those times mentioned (Lev. 19:26) to which the heathen had a superstitious regard. 2. The sanctuary must be reverenced: great care must be taken to approach the tabernacle with that purity... 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

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 19:30

Ye shall keep my sabbaths ,.... By attending to the worship and service of God on sabbath days, they and their children would be preserved from the idolatry of the Gentiles, and all the filthy practices attending it: and reverence my sanctuary ; and not defile it by such impurities as were committed in the temples of idols: the sanctuary being an holy place, sacred to him whose name is holy and reverend, and where was the seat of his glorious Majesty, and therefore not to be defiled by... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 19:31

Regard not them that have familiar spirits ,.... The word used signifies "bottles", and that sort of diviners here intended go by this name, either because what they sat on when they divined was in the form of a bottle, or they divined by one, or they were swelled and inflated as bottles when they delivered out their answers, or spoke as out of a bottle or hollow place; hence they are called masters or mistresses of the bottle: they seem to be the same with the ventriloquists, and so the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 19:32

Thou shall rise up before the hoary head ,.... Or "before old age" F17 מפני שיבה "ante canitiem", Pagninus; so Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. , which may be discerned by the hoary or grey hairs upon the head; that is, before a grey-headed man, or an old man, and one was reckoned so when he was of seventy years of age; for so it is said F18 Pirke Abot, c. 5. sect. 21. , one of sixty years is arrived to old age, and one of seventy to grey hairs. Fagius... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 19:33

And if a stranger sojourn with you in your land ,.... Ben Gersom, and others, understand this of a proselyte of righteousness, who was circumcised, and in all things conformed to the Jewish religion; but it may be interpreted of a proselyte of the gate, who was not an idolater, since he is described as one sojourning with them, and indeed of any stranger, who for a time was providentially cast among them: ye shall not vex him : with hard and grievous words, upbraiding him with his former... read more

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