Leviticus 19:3

_YE SHALL FEAR EVERY MAN HIS MOTHER, AND HIS FATHER, AND KEEP MY SABBATHS: I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD._ Ye shall fear every man. The duty of obedience to parents is placed in connection with the proper observance of the Sabbaths, as both of them lying at the foundation of practical religion....

Since this passage unquestionably relates to the explanation of the Fifth Commandment, it confirms what I have before shown, that the honor which God-commands to be paid to parents, does not consist in reverence only, but also embraces obedience. For the reverence which He now prescribes will render children submissive and compliant. Now, then, we more clearly understand how parents are to be honored, when God exhorts their children to beware of offending them; for this is, in a word, the true manifestation of filial piety, calmly to bear the yoke of subjection, and to prove by acts a sincere desire to obey....

Verse Leviticus 19:3. _YE SHALL FEAR EVERY MAN HIS MOTHER, C._] Ye shall have the profoundest reverence and respect for them. Genesis 48:12, Genesis 48:12 _"_Exodus 20:8_"_; and _"_Exodus 20:12_"_....

Compare Exodus 20:8, Exodus 20:12; Exodus 31:13. The two laws repeated here are the only laws in the Decalogue which assume a positive shape, all the others being introduced by the formula, “Thou shalt not.” These express two great central points, the first belonging to natural law and the second to positive law, in the maintenance of the well-being of the social body of which Yahweh was the acknowledged king....

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 FEAR EVERY MAN HIS MOTHER AND HIS FATHER,.... This has respect to the fifth command, which is the first with promise, and is here referred to first, because a man has his beginning in the world from his parents, and by them he is trained up in the observance of all the other laws of God, equally to be respected; and the fear of them is not servile, but filial, joined with love and affection to them, and includes an inward esteem and reverence of them, an outward respect unto them, a readiness to obey their commands, and giving due and equal honour unto them; Exodus 20:12; Pythagoras, Phocylides, and other Heathens, next to honouring God, exhort to the honour and reverence of parents: AND KEEP MY SABBATHS; this is expressed in the plural number, because there were various sabbaths. The seventh day sabbath, and the seventh year sabbath, and the jubilee, which was on

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 ...

HOLINESS, PIETY, IDOLATRY, PEACE-OFFERINGS. Note the mention of the mother first. On the Sabbath, see pp. 101f., Exodus 20:8 *. Idols, lit. things of nought; only here and in Leviticus 26:1 in Pentateuch; common in 2 Isaiah (_cf._ 44:9ff.). Molten, specially prohibited also in Exodus 34:17; not in Exodus 20:4. On consumption of peace offerings, see Leviticus 7:15, which, however, only allows this latitude for a vow. Since peace offerings alone were consumed in part) by laymen, this restriction has its place in a manual of holiness for laymen....

MAN. Hebrew. _'ish_. App-14....

_his mother, and his father_ The command in the Decalogue is to -honour," here to -fear," or act reverently towards parents. The mother is put first, as in Leviticus 21:2. This order probably indicates diversity of origin. But Rashi, on the authority of the Midrashic commentary, _Mechilta_, on Exodus 20, accounts for this order on the ground that the child by _nature_fears the father more than the mother. _ye shall keep my sabbaths_ Repeated in Leviticus 19:30. For the sabbath law cp. Leviticus 26:2; Exodus 31:13. It has been remarked th