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Leviticus 19 - Benson Joseph - Bible Commentary

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Leviticus 19

1 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

2 Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them, You shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy.

3 You shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I am the LORD your God.

4 Turn you not to idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the LORD your God.

5 And if you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD, you shall offer it at your own will.

6 It shall be eaten the same day you offer it, and on the morrow: and if ought remain until the third day, it shall be burnt in the fire.

7 And if it be eaten at all on the third day, it is abominable; it shall not be accepted.

8 Therefore every one that eats it shall bear his iniquity, because he has profaned the hallowed thing of the LORD: and that soul shall be cut off from among his people.

9 And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, neither shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest.

10 And you shall not glean your vineyard, neither shall you gather every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God.

11 You shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another.

12 And you shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shall you profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.

13 You shall not defraud your neighbor, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with you all night until the morning.

14 You shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but shall fear your God: I am the LORD.

15 You shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: you shall not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.

16 You shall not go up and down as a talebearer among your people: neither shall you stand against the blood of your neighbor; I am the LORD.

17 You shall not hate your brother in your heart: you shall in any wise rebuke your neighbor, and not suffer sin on him.

18 You shall not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.

19 You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle engender with a diverse kind: you shall not sow your field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woolen come on you.

20 And whoever lies carnally with a woman, that is a female slave, betrothed to an husband, and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her; she shall be scourged; they shall not be put to death, because she was not free.

21 And he shall bring his trespass offering to the LORD, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, even a ram for a trespass offering.

22 And the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before the LORD for his sin which he has done: and the sin which he has done shall be forgiven him.

23 And when you shall come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then you shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised: three years shall it be as uncircumcised to you: it shall not be eaten of.

24 But in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy to praise the LORD with.

25 And in the fifth year shall you eat of the fruit thereof, that it may yield to you the increase thereof: I am the LORD your God.

26 You shall not eat any thing with the blood: neither shall you use enchantment, nor observe times.

27 You shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shall you mar the corners of your beard.

28 You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks on you: I am the LORD.

29 Do not prostitute your daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to prostitution, and the land become full of wickedness.

30 You shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD.

31 Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.

32 You shall rise up before the hoary head, and honor the face of the old man, and fear your God: I am the LORD.

33 And if a stranger sojourn with you in your land, you shall not vex him.

34 But the stranger that dwells with you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

35 You shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in length, in weight, or in measure.

36 Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall you have: I am the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt.

37 Therefore shall you observe all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: I am the LORD.

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Leviticus 19

Leviticus 19:1

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

Leviticus 19:2

Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy. Leviticus 19:2. Ye shall be holy — Separated from all the forementioned defilements, and entirely consecrated to God, and obedient to all his laws. I am holy — Both in my essence, and in all my laws, which are holy, and just, and good.

Leviticus 19:3

Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I am the LORD your God. Leviticus 19:3. His mother — The mother is put first, partly because the practice of this duty begins there, mothers, by perpetual converse, being sooner known to their children than their fathers; and partly because this duty is commonly neglected to the mother, upon whom children have not so much dependance as they have upon their father. And this fear includes the two great duties of reverence and obedience. And keep my sabbaths — This is added, to show that, whereas it is enjoined to parents that they should take care the sabbath be observed both by themselves and their children, it is the duty of children to fear and obey their parents in this matter. But that, if parents should neglect their duty therein, or by their command, counsel, or example, draw them to pollute the sabbath, the children in that case must keep the sabbath, and prefer the command of God, before the command of their parents.

Leviticus 19:4

Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the LORD your God. Leviticus 19:4. Turn ye not unto idols — Hebrew, אלילם, Elilim, No gods, or nothings, as the word signifies, and as idols are called, (1 Corinthians 8:4,) many of them having no being but in the fancy of their worshippers, and all of them having no virtue or power to do good or evil, Isaiah 41:23.

Leviticus 19:5

And if ye offer a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD, ye shall offer it at your own will. Leviticus 19:5. At your own will — Or, According to your own pleasure, what you think fit; for though this sacrifice, in general, was required, it was left to their choice to determine the particulars. But the original word may be rendered, For favour to you; that is, in order to procure you the divine favour; or in such a manner as God has prescribed and will accept. And thus it is understood by Le Clerc, after the LXX., the Vulgate, Syriac, and Arabic versions.

Leviticus 19:6

It shall be eaten the same day ye offer it, and on the morrow: and if ought remain until the third day, it shall be burnt in the fire.

Leviticus 19:7

And if it be eaten at all on the third day, it is abominable; it shall not be accepted.

Leviticus 19:8

Therefore every one that eateth it shall bear his iniquity, because he hath profaned the hallowed thing of the LORD: and that soul shall be cut off from among his people.

Leviticus 19:9

And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest. Leviticus 19:9-10. Thou shalt not gather the gleanings of thy harvest — They were not to be exact in carrying all off, but were to leave some part to be gleaned and reaped by their poor neighbours, whether Israelites or Gentiles. And thou shall not glean thy vineyard — When they had cut off the great bunches, they were not to examine the vine over again for the scattered grapes or small clusters, but leave them for the poor and stranger. Strangers are joined with the poor, because they could have no possessions of land among the Hebrews, and therefore were often poor. I am the Lord your God — Who gave you all these things, with a reservation of my right in them, and with a charge of giving part of them to the poor. This, and many other laws which provide for the indigent, the widow, the orphan, and the stranger, show the genius of the Jewish religion to have been much more humane than we are apt to conceive, from examining the lives of its narrow-minded professors.

Leviticus 19:10

And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God.

Leviticus 19:11

Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another.

Leviticus 19:12

And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD. Leviticus 19:12. Ye shall not swear falsely — This is added to show how one sin draws on another, and that when men will lie for their own advantage, they will easily be induced to perjury. Profane the name — By any unholy use of it. So it is an additional precept, thou shall not abuse my holy name by swearing either falsely or rashly.

Leviticus 19:13

Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning.

Leviticus 19:14

Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am the LORD. Leviticus 19:14. Before the blind — To make them fall. Under these two particulars are manifestly forbidden all injuries done to such as are unable to right or defend themselves; of whom God here takes the more care, because they are not able to secure themselves. Fear thy God — Who both can and will avenge them.

Leviticus 19:15

Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour. Leviticus 19:15. The poor — So as, through pity to him, to give an unrighteous sentence.

Leviticus 19:16

Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I am the LORD. Leviticus 19:16. Stand against the blood — In judgment, as a false accuser, or false witness, for accusers and witnesses use to stand, while the judges sit, in courts of judicature.

Leviticus 19:17

Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. Leviticus 19:17. Thou shalt not hate — As thou dost, in effect, if thou dost not rebuke him. Thy brother — The same as thy neighbour; that is, every man. If thy brother hath done wrong, thou shalt neither divulge it to others, nor hate him, and smother that hatred by sullen silence; nor flatter him therein, but shalt freely, and in love, tell him of his fault. And not suffer sin upon him — Not suffer him to lie under the guilt of any sin, which thou, by rebuking him, and thereby bringing him to repentance, couldst free him from.

Leviticus 19:18

Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD. Leviticus 19:18. Thy neighbour — Every man, as plainly appears, 1st, By comparing this place with Leviticus 19:34, where this law is applied to strangers. 2d, Because the word neighbour is explained by another man, Leviticus 20:10; Romans 13:8. As thyself — With the same sincerity, though not equality of affection.

Leviticus 19:19

Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee. Leviticus 19:19. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender — This was prohibited, partly to restrain the curiosity and boldness of men, who might attempt to amend or change the works of God; partly that by the restraint here laid, even upon brute creatures, men might be taught to abhor all unnatural lusts; partly to teach the Israelites to avoid mixtures with other nations, either in marriage or in religion, which also may be signified by the following prohibitions.

Leviticus 19:20

And whosoever lieth carnally with a woman, that is a bondmaid, betrothed to an husband, and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her; she shall be scourged; they shall not be put to death, because she was not free. Leviticus 19:20. She shall be scourged — Hebrew, There shall be a scourging, which probably may belong to both of them; for, 1st, Both were guilty; 2d, It follows, they shall not be punished with death, which may seem to imply that they were to be punished by some other common and considerable punishment, which scourging indeed was; but the paying of a ram was a small penalty, and very unsuitable to the greatness of the offence. And the offering of the ram, as a trespass-offering for the sin against God, is not inconsistent with making satisfaction other ways for the injury done to men, but only added here as a further punishment to the man, either because he only could do this, and not the woman, who being a bond- woman had nothing of her own to offer; or because his sex and his freedom aggravated his sin. Not put to death — Which they should have been, had she been free, Deuteronomy 22:23-24. The reason of this difference is not from any respect which God gives to persons, for bond and free are alike to him, but because bond-women were scarcely wives, and their marriages were scarcely true marriages, being neither made by their choice, but their masters’ authority, nor continued beyond the year of release, but at their masters’ or husbands’ pleasure.

Leviticus 19:21

And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the LORD, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, even a ram for a trespass offering.

Leviticus 19:22

And the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before the LORD for his sin which he hath done: and the sin which he hath done shall be forgiven him.

Leviticus 19:23

And when ye shall come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then ye shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised: three years shall it be as uncircumcised unto you: it shall not be eaten of. Leviticus 19:23. As uncircumcised — That is, as unclean, not to be eaten, but cast away, because the fruit then was less wholesome, and because hereby men were taught to bridle their appetites; a lesson of great use and absolute necessity in a holy life.

Leviticus 19:24

But in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy to praise the LORD withal. Leviticus 19:24. Holy — Consecrated to the Lord, as the first-fruits and tithes were, and therefore given to the priests and Levites, Numbers 18:12,

13; Deuteronomy 18:4; yet so that part of them were communicated to the poor widows, and fatherless, and strangers, see Deuteronomy 14:28; to bless the Lord, by whose power and goodness the trees bring forth fruit to perfection.

Leviticus 19:25

And in the fifth year shall ye eat of the fruit thereof, that it may yield unto you the increase thereof: I am the LORD your God. Leviticus 19:25. That it may yield the increase — That God may be pleased to give his blessing, which alone could make them fruitful.

Leviticus 19:26

Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times. Leviticus 19:26. Any thing with the blood — Any flesh out of which the blood is not first poured. Neither shall ye use enchantments — It was unpardonable in them, to whom were committed the oracles of God, to ask counsel of the devil. And yet worse in Christians, to whom the Son of God is manifested, to destroy the works of the devil. For Christians to have their nativities cast, or their fortunes told, or to use charms for the cure of diseases, is an intolerable affront to the Lord Jesus, a support of idolatry, and a reproach both to themselves and to that worthy name by which they are called. Nor observe times — Superstitiously, esteeming some days lucky, others unlucky.

Leviticus 19:27

Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard. Leviticus 19:27. The corners of your heads — That is, your temples; ye shall not cut off the hair of your heads round about your temples. This the Gentiles did, either for the worship of their idols, to whom young men used to consecrate their hair, being cut off from their heads, as Homer, Plutarch, and many others write; or in funerals or immoderate mournings, as appears from Isaiah 15:2; Jeremiah 48:37. And the like is to be thought concerning the beard, or the hair in the corner, that is, corners of the beard. The reason then of this prohibition is, because God would not have his people agree with idolaters, neither in their idolatries, nor in their excessive sorrowing, nor so much as in the appearances of it.

Leviticus 19:28

Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD. Leviticus 19:28. Cuttings in your flesh — Which the Gentiles commonly did, both in the worship of their idols and in their solemn mournings, Jeremiah 16:6.

Leviticus 19:29

Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness. Leviticus 19:29. Do not prostitute — As the Gentiles frequently did for the honour of some of their idols, to whom women were consecrated, and publicly prostituted.

Leviticus 19:30

Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD.

Leviticus 19:31

Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God. Leviticus 19:31. Wizards — Them that have entered into covenant with the devil, by whose help they foretel many things to come, and acquaint men with secret things; see Leviticus 20:27; Deuteronomy 18:11; 1 Samuel 28:3; 1 Samuel 28:7; 1 Samuel 28:9; 2 Kings 21:6.

Leviticus 19:32

Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the LORD. Leviticus 19:32. Rise up — To do them reverence when they pass by, for which end they were obliged, as the Jews say, presently to sit down again when they were past, that it might be manifest they arose out of respect to them. Fear thy God — This respect is due to such, if not for themselves, yet for God’s sake, who requires this reverence, and whose singular blessing old age is.

Leviticus 19:33

And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. Leviticus 19:33. Vex him — Either with opprobrious expressions, or grievous exactions.

Leviticus 19:34

But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. Leviticus 19:34. As one born among you — Either, 1st, As to the matters of common right, so it reached to all strangers. Or, 2d, As to church privileges, so concerned only those who were proselytes. Ye were strangers — And therefore are sensible of the fears, distresses, and miseries of such; which call for your pity, and you ought to do to them, as you desired others should do to you, when you were such.

Leviticus 19:35

Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure. Leviticus 19:35. In mete-yard — In the measuring of lands, or dry things, as cloth, riband. In measure — In the measuring liquid or such dry things as are only contiguous, as corn or wine.

Leviticus 19:36

Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have: I am the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt. Leviticus 19:36. A just ephah and a just hin — These two measures are named as most common, the former for dry, the latter for moist things, but under them he manifestly comprehends all other measures.

Leviticus 19:37

Therefore shall ye observe all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: I am the LORD. Leviticus 19:37. Therefore — Because my blessings and deliverances are not indulgences to sin, but greater obligations to all duties to God and men.


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American King James Version (AKJV)

The American King James version of the Bible was placed into the public domain on November 8, 1999. Michael Peter (Stone) Engelbrite. A special thanks to Tye Rausch and Eve Engelbrite who helped tremendously on this project.

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