Leviticus 19:27

_YE SHALL NOT ROUND THE CORNERS OF YOUR HEADS, NEITHER SHALT THOU MAR THE CORNERS OF THY BEARD._ Ye shall not round ... It seems probable that this fashion had been learned by the Israelites in Egypt; because the ancient Egyptians had their dark locks cropped short or shaved with great nicety, so that what remained on the crown appeared in the form of a circle surrounding the head, whilst the beard was dressed into a square form. This kind of coiffure had a highly idolatrous meaning; and it was adopted, with some slight variations, by the Arabs and other idolaters in ancient times (Jeremiah 9:25; Jeremiah 25:23, where "in the utmost corners" means having the extremity of their hair along the forehead, temples, or behind the ears, cut in a circular form: see Robinson's 'Biblical Resea

27._Ye shall not round the corners. _It clearly appears that God had no other object than by the interposition of this obstacle to sever His people from heathen nations. For there is nothing to which men are more prone than to conform themselves to the customs of others; and hence it arises, that they mutually communicate each other’s vices. Wherefore care was especially to be taken lest the people of Israel should adopt foreign habits, and by this pliableness should fall away from the true worship of God; from whence too the ordinary phrase has arisen, that the word “common” should be used for “unclean.” God then strictly forbids them from declining to the habits of the Gentiles, and confounding the distinction which He had Himself placed between them. There is no doubt but that it was usual for the Gentiles, out of superstition, to cut marks (31) upon their faces, to trim the hair in c...

Verse Leviticus 19:27. _YE SHALL NOT ROUND THE CORNERS YOUR HEADS_] This and the following verse evidently refer to customs which must have existed among the Egyptians when the Israelites sojourned in Egypt; and what they were it is now difficult, even with any probability, to conjecture. _Herodotus_ observes that the Arabs _shave_ or _cut their hair round_, in honour of Bacchus, who, they say, had his hair cut in this way, lib. iii., cap. 8. He says also that the _Macians_, a people of Libya, _cut their hair round_, so as to leave a _tuft_ on the top of the head, lib. iv., cap. 175. In this manner the Chinese cut their hair to the present day. This might have been in honour of some idol, and therefore forbidden to the Israelites. The _hair_ was much used in divination among the ancients, and for purposes of religious superst

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 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 b reports, Jeremiah 9:26; NEITHER SHALL THOU MAR THE CORNERS OF THY BEARD; by shaving them entirely; Jarchi and other Jewish writers say, there are five of them, two on the right, as Gersom reckons them, one on the upper jaw, the other on the nether, and two over against them on the left, and one in the place where the nether jaw joins the right to the left, the chin; the same observes, that it was the manner of idolaters to do the above things; and Maimonides c is

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

NOT ROUND THE CORNERS OF YOUR HEADS: i.e. to cut round, so as to have. tuft of hair, like the Canaanitish priests. Compare Jeremiah 9:26; Jeremiah 25:23; Jeremiah 49:32. CORNERS OF THY BEARD. whiskers, as Egyptians did. Compare Genesis 41:14....

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