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, Leviticus 18:1; and they are instructed particularly to avoid incestuous mar... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD SPAKE UNTO MOSES,.... He continued speaking to him, after he had delivered to him the laws respecting the day of atonement, and the bringing of the sacrifices to the door of the tabernacle, and particularly concerning the Israelites not worshipping devils, as they had done in Egypt: the... [ Continue Reading ]
SPEAK UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL,.... To the heads of their tribes, that they might deliver to them the following laws; or Moses is bid to publish them among them, either by word of mouth, or by writing, or both: AND SAY UNTO THEM, I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD; with which they were to be introduced; sho... [ Continue Reading ]
AFTER THE DOINGS OF THE LAND OF EGYPT, WHEREIN YE DWELT, SHALL YE NOT DO,.... Where they had dwelt many years, and were just come out from thence, and where they had learned many of their evil practices; not only their idolatrous ones referred to in the preceding chapter, which it is certain they fo... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SHALL DO MY JUDGMENTS,.... Which are just and right, and according to the rules of justice and equity; these are things, as Jarchi observes, which are said in the law with judgment, or are laws framed with the highest reason, even by the judgment of God himself, whose judgment is always according... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SHALL THEREFORE KEEP MY STATUTES, AND MY JUDGMENTS,.... The same as before; these they were to keep in their minds and memories, and to observe them and do them: WHICH IF A MAN DO HE SHALL LIVE IN THEM; live a long life in the land of Canaan, in great happiness and prosperity, see Deuteronomy 30... [ Continue Reading ]
NONE OF YOU SHALL APPROACH TO ANY THAT IS NEAR OF KIN TO HIM,.... Or to all "the rest of his flesh" t, which together with his make one flesh, who are of the same flesh and blood with him, and are united together in the bonds of consanguinity; and such, with respect to a man, are his mother, sister,... [ Continue Reading ]
THE NAKEDNESS OF THY FATHER, OR THE NAKEDNESS OF THY MOTHER, SHALL THOU NOT UNCOVER,.... By uncovering a father's nakedness is not meant anything similar to what befell Noah, which Ham beheld with pleasure, and the other two sons of Noah studiously and with reverence to their father covered; nor an... [ Continue Reading ]
THE NAKEDNESS OF THY FATHER'S WIFE SHALT THOU NOT UNCOVER,.... That is, who is indeed a man's father's wife, but not his own mother, but a stepmother or mother-in-law; or otherwise this law would coincide with the former; a man lying with such an one is accursed by the law, Deuteronomy 27:23; such... [ Continue Reading ]
THE NAKEDNESS OF THY SISTER,.... To lie with one in so near a relation is exceeding criminal, and for which the law curses a man, Deuteronomy 27:22; and to marry her is not lawful; for though it was necessary for the propagation of mankind that a man should marry his sister, for who else could Cain... [ Continue Reading ]
THE NAKEDNESS OF THY SON'S DAUGHTER, OR OF THY DAUGHTER'S DAUGHTER,.... A man might not marry his granddaughter, whether a descendant of his son or of his daughter, nor any further off descending from him in a right line, not his great-granddaughter, and so on; and if he might not marry his granddau... [ Continue Reading ]
THE NAKEDNESS OF THY FATHER'S WIFE'S DAUGHTER,.... Either the daughter of his father by another wife, which seems to be countenanced by what follows: BEGOTTEN OF THY FATHER, SHE [IS] THY SISTER; but then this coincides with what is prohibited, Leviticus 18:9, "the daughter of thy father"; that is,... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALT NOT UNCOVER THE NAKEDNESS OF THY FATHER'S SISTER,.... His aunt by his father's side, an instance of which we have in Amram, Exodus 6:20; and Maimonides says i, an aunt was forbidden whether she was a father's sister in lawful wedlock or in fornication: SHE [IS] THY FATHER'S NEAR KINSWOMA... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALT NOT UNCOVER THE NAKEDNESS OF THY MOTHER'S SISTER,.... Which is the same relation as before, an aunt by the mother's side; wherefore, if such a marriage was unlawful, this must also, and for the same reason: FOR SHE [IS] THY MOTHER'S NEAR KINSWOMAN; the same phraseology is used here as in... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALT NOT UNCOVER THE NAKEDNESS OF THY FATHER'S BROTHER,.... Which Gersom understands of committing sodomy with him, on which account he was doubly guilty, partly because of lying with a male, and partly because of uncovering the nakedness of his father's brother; but it rather seems at first s... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALL NOT UNCOVER THE NAKEDNESS OF THY DAUGHTER IN LAW,.... Shall not he with her in his son's lifetime, or marry her after his death: SHE [IS] THAT SON'S WIFE; and so one flesh with him, and who is of the same flesh and blood with his father, and therefore the nearness of the relation forbids... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALT NOT UNCOVER THE NAKEDNESS OF THY BROTHER'S WIFE,.... Neither debauch her nor after the death of the brother marry her, that is, unless he dies without issue; and then, by another law, he was obliged to marry her, Deuteronomy 25:5; hence the Targum of Jonathan adds; by way of explanation.... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALL NOT UNCOVER THE NAKEDNESS OF A WOMAN AND HER DAUGHTER,.... That is, if a man marries a woman, and she has a daughter, which is the man's daughter-in-law, after the death of his wife he may not marry this daughter; for this daughter is of the same flesh with her mother, who became one fles... [ Continue Reading ]
NEITHER SHALT THOU TAKE A WIFE TO HER SISTER,.... Both of them together, as Jarchi; two sisters at one and the same time; so the Targum of Jonathan, "a woman in the life of her sister thou shall not take;'' that is, in marriage, that sister being his wife; for the sense of the Targumist can never... [ Continue Reading ]
ALSO THOU SHALL NOT APPROACH UNTO A WOMAN,.... Not even a man to his own wife, and much less to another woman: TO UNCOVER HER NAKEDNESS, AS LONG AS SHE IS PUT APART FOR HER UNCLEANNESS; in her monthly courses; and the time of her separation from her husband on that account was seven days, Leviticus... [ Continue Reading ]
MOREOVER, THOU SHALT NOT LIE CARNALLY WITH THY NEIGHBOUR'S WIFE,.... Which is adultery, and a breach of the seventh command, Exodus 20:14: TO DEFILE THYSELF WITH HER; not only adultery is a defiling a man's wife, as it is sometimes called, but the adulterer defiles himself: all sin is of a defilin... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THOU SHALT NOT LET ANY OF THY SEED PASS THROUGH [THE FIRE] TO MOLECH,.... The name of an image or idol, according to Aben Ezra, who observes, that their wise men interpret it as a general name for everyone whom they made to reign over them; and it is right, he says, that it is the abomination of... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALL NOT LIE WITH MANKIND AS WITH WOMANKIND,.... By carnal knowledge of them, and carnal copulation with them, and mixing bodies in like manner: this is the sin commonly called sodomy, from the inhabitants of Sodom, greatly addicted to it, for which their city was destroyed by fire: those that... [ Continue Reading ]
NEITHER SHALL THOU LIE WITH ANY BEAST, TO DEFILE THYSELF THEREWITH,.... A female one, as Aben Ezra notes, as a mare, cow, or ewe, or any other beast, small or great, as Ben Gersom, or whether tame or wild, as Maimonides b; and even fowls are comprehended, as the same writers observe: NEITHER SHALL... [ Continue Reading ]
DEFILE NOT YE YOURSELVES IN ANY OF THESE THINGS,.... In incestuous copulations and marriages, in adultery, corporeal and spiritual, and bestiality: FOR IN ALL THESE THE NATIONS ARE DEFILED WHICH I CAST OUT BEFORE YOU; that is, the seven nations of the land of Canaan, which God was about to eject ou... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LAND IS DEFILED,.... The inhabitants of it, with the immoralities and idolatries before mentioned: THEREFORE I DO VISIT THE INIQUITY THEREOF UPON IT; or punish the inhabitants that are on it for their sins: AND THE LAND ITSELF VOMITETH OUT HER INHABITANTS; as a stomach loaded with corrupt... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SHALL THEREFORE KEEP MY STATUTES AND MY JUDGMENTS,.... Before observed to them, whether of a ceremonial nature, and enjoined them according to his sovereign will and pleasure; or of a moral nature, and founded in justice and equity, and so worthy of their regard, and obligatory upon them; as well... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR ALL THESE ABOMINATIONS HAVE THE MEN OF THE LAND DONE,.... The then present inhabitants of Canaan, who dwelt in it before the Israelites came into it; these were guilty of unclean copulations, of incestuous, marriages, of fornication and adultery, and of bestiality and idolatry: WHICH [WERE] BEF... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT THE LAND SPEW NOT YOU OUT ALSO, WHEN YE DEFILE IT,.... By sinning on it, and so rendering it obnoxious to the curse of God, as the whole earth originally was for the sin of man; and so be cast out of it, as Adam was out of paradise, and as the Israelites might expect to be cast out of Canaan, a... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WHOSOEVER SHALL COMMIT ANY OF THESE ABOMINATIONS,.... Before particularly forbid, any of them, be it which it will, they all being very heinous and vile, and especially these last mentioned: EVEN THE SOULS THAT COMMIT [THEM]; whether male or female, as Jarchi observes; for the above things conc... [ Continue Reading ]
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 commi... [ Continue Reading ]