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Several laws repeated.

1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

2 Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy for I the LORD your God am holy.

3 Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I am the LORD your God.

4 Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the LORD your God.

5 And if ye offer a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD, ye shall offer it at your own will. 6 It shall be eaten the same day ye offer it, and on the morrow and if ought remain until the third day, it shall be burnt in the fire.

7 And if it be eaten at all on the third day, it is abominable; it shall not be accepted.

8 Therefore every one that eateth it shall bear his iniquity, because he hath profaned the hallowed thing of the LORD: and that soul shall be cut off from among his people.

9 And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest.

10 And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vine

yard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God.

11 Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another.

12 And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD.

13 Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning.

14 Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am the LORD.

15 Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour. 16 Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighhour: I am the LORD.

17 Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.

18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

LECTURE 217.

The Law addressed to the heart.

Several laws already given in this book, or in the book of Exodus, are here repeated; and others of a like kind are added. Wherein we shall do well to note especially those points which

now for the first time occur, remarking in them the same spirit of justice, mercy, and truth, which pervades all the laws revealed by Moses. The ordinance of meats clean and unclean had already been sanctioned by the solemn command, "Ye shall be holy; for I am holy." Ch. 11. 44. This same declaration, here repeated, shews us that in the commands which follow, God designed, both to separate his people from the evil practices of the nations round about them, and also to conform them as far as possible to his own divine image and perfections. And that this general injunction is binding upon us, even because it was revealed by Moses, we know from the exhortation of St. Peter," as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written," that is to say, in the book of Leviticus, " Be ye holy; for I am holy." I Pet. 1. 15, 16. Far be it then from us to suppose ourselves unconcerned in all the words of this elder covenant! Far be it from us not to study it attentively, in order to learn from it, as far as it can teach us," what the will of the Lord is." Eph. 5. 17.

Now in the passage before us, we may learn that God would have his people respect their parents, mother as well as father; that He repeatedly urges them to beware of idolatry; that He desires them to offer their sacrifices of their own free will, and insists on their offering them in exact conformity to the rules by Him revealed; that He would have abundant gleanings left in the harvest field and vineyard, " for the poor and stranger;" that He repeatedly forbids stealing, fraud, falsehood, perjury, and profanation of his name; that as the Helper of the helpless, He takes under his protection the deaf and blind, and will be a terror to such as prey or practise on their infirmities; that in the administration of justice He will have no partiality shewn to the rich as against the poor, neither to the poor as against the rich; that He denounces the talebearer and malicious informer, and would have us tell our brethren faithfully of their sins, instead of reporting their sins to others; and that instead of avenging or bearing grudge against one another, He demands of us that we love our neighbours as ourselves. Well might St. John say, in his second Epistle, ver. 5, that the commandment to love one another was not new, "but that which we had from the beginning." Well may we apply to the beginning of the Law, what He seems to have said of the beginning of the Gospel. And when we meet with these forcible appeals, directed to the hearts of the Israelites, and especially this watchfulness enjoined against allowing each other in their sins, well may we declare with the Psalmist, in admiration of these holy statutes, "the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." Ps. 19. 7.

0. T. VOL. I. PART 11.

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Several laws, at once moral and political.

19 Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee.

20 And whosoever lieth carnally with a woman, that is a bondmaid, betrothed to an husband, and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her; she shall be scourged; they shall not be put to death, because she was not free.

21 And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the LORD, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, even a ram for a trespass offering.

22 And the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before the LORD for his sin which he hath done: and the sin which he hath done shall be forgiven him.

23 And when ye shall come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then ye shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised: three years shall it be as uncircumcised unto you it shall not be eaten of.

24 But in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy to praise the LORD withal.

25 And in the fifth year shall ye eat of the fruit thereof, that it may yield unto you the increase thereof: I am the LORD your God.

26 Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times.

27 Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard. 28 Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.

29 Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness.

30 Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD.

31 Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.

32 Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the LORD.

33 And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him.

34 But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

35 Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure.

36 Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have: I am the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt.

37 Therefore shall ye observe all mystatutes, and all my judgments, and do them: I am the LORD.

LECTURE 218.

God provides in these laws for the happiness of all.

We have already seen that God abhors "confusion." Ch. 18. 23. He would not have the beauty and well ordered variety of his works interfered with by the vile affections, or perverse ingenuity of his creatures. In order to enforce more strongly this abhorrence of unnatural confusion, He forbids mingling, even in matters of indifference, such as seed sown in a field, or linen and wool woven into cloth. The law which follows, relating to the punishment of an offence approaching to adultery, in case the woman were a bondmaid, expressly states that scourging is substituted for death, "because she was not free." The state of slavery degrades the condition of our fellow creatures, enfeebles their minds, and vitiates their principles. And thus the Israelites were not strangers to the Gospel rule of equity, that where less is given, less will be required. See Luke 12. 48. The command not to eat the fruit of their newly planted trees for the first three years, after their settlement in the land of Canaan, is given in figurative language, which would make the ordinance itself more fit to give the people an impression, that the land was polluted by the sins of its inhabitants. The laws which follow are expressly levelled against practices connected with idolatry; or uphold the honour of God's worship, by demanding reverence for his sanctuary and his sabbaths; or forbid an offence most unnatural, but alas not unheard of, the prostitution of a daughter by her parents; or denounce them that have recourse to any kind of enchantments. Then comes a command that they should honour the aged, one recognized for just and good by the wise of every age and nation, but nowhere else insisted on as our duty to God; then that they should not vex a stranger sojourning amongst them, but love him as themselves, and this affecting reason given, " for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt;" then that they should commit no injustice, either in legal proceedings, wherein Christian pleaders are often heard to confound right and wrong, or in weights and measures, in which Christian traders are frequently well known to defraud each other. How tender a concern does God here manifest, in all these minute directions, not only for the prosperity of the state, but also for the holiness and happiness of every single member thereof! What a watchful provision did He make in his commandments against every occasion of offence, which either the practices of their neighbours might be apt to minister, or their own evil propensities! And how powerfully does He enforce those laws which are of the most importance by these few impressive words, "I am the Lord!" In every commandment we receive of God, and every time we are required to obey it, let us call to mind who it is that has revealed it; let us hear his voice proclaim for our support and comfort, I am thy God.

The punishments ordained for transgressors.
LORD your God.

1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

2 Again, thou shalt say to the children of Israel, Whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth any of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones. 3 And I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people; because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, to defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy name. 4 And if the people of the land do any ways hide their eyes from the man, when he giveth of his seed unto Molech, and kill him

not:

5 Then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go a whoring after him, to commit whoredom with Molech, from among their people.

6 And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.

8 And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the LORD which sanctify you.

9 For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death: he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him.

10 And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

11 And the man that lieth with his father's wife hath uncovered his father's nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

12 And if a man lie with his daughter in law, both of them shall surely be put to death: they have wrought confusion; their blood shall be upon them.

13 If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

14 And if a man take a wife and her mother, it is wickedness: they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they; that there be no wickedness among you. LECTURE 219.

7 Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the

The certainty and severity of the judgment to come. Already have these several offences been forbidden, under pain of the most severe displeasure of God. See ch. 18. He now decrees certain punishments, to be inflicted on the offenders, by the magistrates and community at large, under the authority of Himself their Sovereign. The giving of seed, or children to Molech, was of the nature of a human sacrifice; the children being either burnt to death, in honour of the idol Molech, or dedicated as offerings by being made to pass through fire with some possibility of escaping. Cruel as was this custom, and therefore hateful unto

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