Leviticus 19:26

_YE SHALL NOT EAT ANY THING WITH THE BLOOD: NEITHER SHALL YE USE ENCHANTMENT, NOR OBSERVE TIMES._ Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood, х_ `AL_ (H5921) _ HADAAM_ (H1818)] - upon the blood. This phrase may be understood as prohibiting the use of flesh with any of the blood remaining in it; and in this respect the precept will not be a mere repetition of that in Leviticus 17:10 (see the notes on that passage: cf. Deuteronomy 12:23; 1 Samuel 14:32; Ezekiel 33:25). [The Septuagint has here, mee esthete a

Verse Leviticus 19:26. _NEITHER SHALL YE USE ENCHANTMENT_] לא תנחשו _lo_ _thenachashu_. Conjecture itself can do little towards a proper explanation of the terms used in this verse. נחש _nachash_; Genesis 3:1, 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 OBSERVE TIMES._] ולא תעוננו _velo teonenu_, ye shall _not_ _divine by clouds_, which was also a superstition much in practice among the heathens, as well as divination by the _flight of_ _birds_. What these prohibitions may par

Certain pagan customs, several of them connected with magic, are here grouped together. The prohibition to eat anything with the blood may indeed refer to the eating of meat which had not been properly bled in slaughtering (Leviticus 7:26; Leviticus 17:10, etc.): but it is not improbable that there may be a special reference to some sort of magical or idolatrous rites. Compare Ezekiel 33:25. Leviticus 19:26 OBSERVE TIMES - It is not clear whether the original word refers to the fancied distinction between lucky and unlucky days, to some mode of drawing

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

YE SHALL NOT EAT [ANYTHING] WITH THE BLOOD,.... Or upon, over, or by the blood s, 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 t, and so comes under the notion of things strangled; others of not eating of sacrifices until the blood stands in the basin u; and others of not eating any flesh whose blood is not sprinkled on the altar, if near the holy place w: some think it refers to the custom of murderers who eat over the person slain, that the avengers of the slain may not take vengeance on them, supposing something superstitious in it, because of what follows x; though it rather has respect to an idolatrous pra

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 ...

MISCELLANEOUS PRECEPTS, all found elsewhere, except the last. Most of the forbidden actions have some magical significance, _e.g._ cutting the hair in a special fashion, or maiming oneself (originally, to delude the dangerous spirits of the dead while they are still near, at or after a funeral, or perhaps as a respectful offering to them, see p. 110). Leviticus 19:29 probably refers to the licentious cults of nature and other pagan deities. For Leviticus 19:31, _cf_. 1 Samuel 28:8 ff., Deuteronomy 18:11; Isaiah 8:19. Note that w

OBSERVE TIMES: i.e. watch clouds, or days, for good or ill luck, e.g. not commencing. journey on. Friday. See note on Leviticus 19:31 below....

Miscellaneous precepts in reference to the various circumstances of every-day life....

NOR OBSERVE TIMES— This should certainly be read, _nor augur_ or _divine by clouds;_ which is well known to have been a general practice among the heathens. That this is the precise meaning of the original word, see Parkhurst on עונן....