Leviticus 19:14

_YE SHALL NOT STEAL, NEITHER DEAL FALSELY, NEITHER LIE ONE TO ANOTHER._ Ye shall not steal ... neither lie one to another, х_ 'IYSH_ (H376) _ BA`ªMIYTOW_ (H5997)] - a man by his neighbour. A variety of social duties are inculcated in this passage, chiefly in reference to common and little-thought-of vices to which mankind are exceedingly prone-such as committing petty frauds, or not scrupling to violate truth in transactions of business, ridiculing bodily infirmities, or circulating stories to the prejudice of others. In opposition to these bad habits, a spirit of humanity and brotherly kindness is strongly enforced. Verse 12. YE SHALL NOT SWEAR BY MY NAME FALSELY. Since this prohibition occurs frequently in this and the two following chapters, it may be observed that the section relates principally to the sanctification of God. Verse 13....

Since the Law comprehends under the word murder, all the wrongs whereby men are unjustly injured, that cruelty was especially to be condemned by which those wretched persons are afflicted, whose calamity ought rather to conciliate our compassion. For, if any particle of humanity exists in us, when we meet a blind man we shall be solicitous lest he should stumble or fall, and, if he goes astray, we shall stretch out our hands to him and try to bring him back into the way; we shall also spare the deaf, for to insult them is no less absurd or barbarous than to assail stones with reproaches. It is, therefore, gross brutality to increase the ills of those whom our natural sense impels us to relieve, and who are already troubled more than enough. Let us, then, learn from these words, that the weaker people are, the more secure ought they to be from all oppression or injury, and that, when we a...

Verse Leviticus 19:14. _THOU SHALT NOT CURSE THE DEAF_] Or _speak evil_ of him, because he cannot _hear_, and so cannot vindicate his own character. _NOR PUT A STUMBLING-BLOCK BEFORE THE BLIND_] He who is capable of doing this, must have a heart cased with cruelty. The spirit and design of these precepts are, that no man shall in any case take advantage of the ignorance, simplicity, or inexperience of his neighbour, but in all things do to his neighbour as he would, on a change of circumstances, that his neighbour should do to him....

The meaning appears to be, “Thou shalt not utter curses to the deaf because he cannot hear thee, neither shalt thou put a stumbling-block in the way of the blind because he cannot see thee (compare Deuteronomy 27:18), but thou shalt remember that though the weak and poor cannot resist, nor the deaf hear, nor the blind see, God is strong, and sees and hears all that thou doest.” Compare Job 29:15....

EXPOSITION From the prohibition of moral uncleanness exhibiting itself in the form of incest and licentiousness, the legislator proceeds to a series of laws and commandments against other kinds of immorality, inculcating piety, righteousness, and kindness. Leviticus 19:1 may be regarded as an extension of the previous chapter in this direction, after which the subject of Leviticus 18:1, is again taken up in Leviticus 20:1. The precepts now given are not arranged systematically, though, as Keil has remarked, "while_ _grouped together rather according to a loose association of ideas than according to any logical arrangement, they are all linked together by the common purpose expressed in th

THOU SHALT NOT CURSE THE DEAF,.... Who are naturally so, born deaf, or become so through some accident, and cannot hear what is objected to them, and they are cursed for; and so cannot reply in their own defence, and remove the calumny cast upon them, if it be such which is the cause of their being cursed; and therefore there is something mean and base as well as wicked in cursing such: the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan render it, "him that heareth not", and respects any absent person who is not within the hearing of the curse, and so equally incapable of answering for himself as a deaf man: Gersom observes, that this is a caution not to curse any Israelite; for if we are cautioned, says he, not to curse a deaf man who hears not, and therefore cannot be moved at it, much less should we curse him that is not deaf, from whence quarrels and fightings arise: NOR PUT A STUMBLINGBLOCK BEFOR...

FEAR (_ See Scofield) - (Psalms 19:9). _...

2. DIFFERENT DUTIES CHAPTER 19 _ 1. Honoring parents and fearing God (Leviticus 19:1)_ 2. The care of the poor (Leviticus 19:9) 3. Against stealing and lying (Leviticus 19:11) 4. Against oppression (Leviticus 19:13) 5. Against unrighteousness in judgment (Leviticus 19:15) 6. Thou shalt love thy neighbor (Leviticus 19:17) 7. Different commands and prohibitions ...

HUMANITY AND UPRIGHTNESS. Gleaning is to be encouraged, both in field and vineyard. It may well be that the corners of the field were originally left so as to avoid driving out the vegetation spirit. [See article _Corners_ by Barton in ERE, and Frazer, _Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild_, i. 234f. Frazer suggests that the original intention may have been to leave some of the corn for the nourishment of the corn spirits on whom the coming of next year's harvest depended, who might starve and die if the field was completely stripped. Similarly with the regulation of Deuteronomy 24:21. A. S. P.]. That motive is now forgotten; the practice remains, and a new motive, characteristic of the codifier and the period, is found. Honesty in word and deed is to be maintained, and swearing falsely is prohibited; it is noteworthy that here, though not in the Decalogue, this prohibition

Cp. Deuteronomy 24:14-15; Malachi 3:5; James 5:4. Precepts expressed in 2nd pers. sing. against unjust dealing, and taking advantage of a neighbour's infirmities. Though the deaf cannot hear, the curse must not be uttered, and the helpless condition of the blind calls for protection and the removal of stumblingblocks (cp. Deuteronomy 27:18). Cp. Job's description of his conduct, -I was eyes to the blind" (Job 29:15)....