Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Leviticus
Book: Leviticus
Chapter: 19
Overview:
Various laws.
- There are some ceremonial precepts in this
Chapter, but most
of these precepts are binding
On us, for they are explanations
of
The Ten Commandments. It is required that
Israel be a holy
people, because the
God of
Israel is a holy
God, ver. 2. To
teach real separation from the world and the
Flesh, and entire
devotedness to
God. This is now the
Law of
Christ; may the
Lord
bring every thought within us into obedience to it! Children are
to be obedient to their parents, ver. 3. The fear here
required includes inward reverence and esteem, outward respect
and obedience, care to please them and to make them easy.
God
only is to be worshipped, ver. 4. Turn not from the true
God
to false ones, from the
God who will make you holy and happy, to
those that will deceive you, and make you for ever miserable.
Turn not your eyes to them, much less your
Heart. They should
leave the gleanings of their
Harvest and vintage for the
Poor,
ver. 9.
Works of
Piety must be always attended with
Works of
Charity, according to our ability. We must not be covetous,
griping, and greedy of every thing we can lay claim to, nor
insist upon our right in all things. We are to be honest and
true in all our dealings, ver. 11. Whatever we have in the
world, we must see that we get it honestly, for we cannot be
truly rich, or long rich, with that which is not
So. Reverence
to the sacred name of
God must be shown, ver. 12. We must not
detain what belongs to another, particularly the
Wages of the
Hireling, ver. 13. We must be tender of the credit and safety
of those that cannot help themselves, ver. 14. Do
No hurt to
any, because they are unwilling or unable to avenge themselves.
We ought to take heed of doing any thing which may occasion our
weak
Brother to fall. The fear of
God should keep us from doing
wrong things, though they will not expose us to men's
Anger.
Judges, and all in authority, are commanded to give
Judgment
without partiality, ver. 15. To be a
Tale-bearer, and to sow
discord among neighbours, is as bad an office as a
Man can
Put
himself into. We are to rebuke our neighbour in
Love, ver. 17.
Rather rebuke him than hate him, for an injury done to thyself.
We incur guilt
By not reproving; it is hating our
Brother. We
should say, I will do him the kindness to tell him of his
faults. We are to
Put off all malice, and to
Put On brotherly
Love, ver. 18. We often wrong ourselves, but we soon forgive
ourselves those wrongs, and they do not at all lessen our
Love
to ourselves; in like manner we should
Love our neighbour. We
must in many cases deny ourselves for the good of our neighbour.
Ver. 31: For Christians to have their fortunes told, to use
spells and charms, or the like, is a sad affront to
God. They
must be grossly ignorant who ask, "What harm is there in these
things?" Here is a charge to young people to show respect to the
aged, ver. 32. Religion teaches good manners, and obliges us
to honour those to whom honour is due. A charge was given to the
Israelites to be very tender of strangers, ver. 33. Strangers,
and the
Widows and fatherless, are
God's particular care. It is
at our peril, if we do them any wrong. Strangers shall be
welcome to
God's
Grace; we should do what we can to recommend
religion to them.
Justice in
Weights and measures is commanded,
ver. 35. We must make
Conscience of obeying
God's precepts. We
are not to pick and choose our duty, but must aim at standing
complete in all the will of
God. And the nearer our lives and
tempers are to the precepts of
God's
Law, the happier shall we
be, and the happier shall we make all around us, and the better
shall we adorn the
Gospel.