mh_parser/vol_split/3 - Leviticus/Chapter 20.xml

<div2 id="Lev.xxi" n="xxi" next="Lev.xxii" prev="Lev.xx" progress="59.46%" title="Chapter XX">
<h2 id="Lev.xxi-p0.1">L E V I T I C U S</h2>
<h3 id="Lev.xxi-p0.2">CHAP. XX.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Lev.xxi-p1">The laws which before were made are in this
chapter repeated and penalties annexed to them, that those who
would not be deterred from sin by the fear of God might be deterred
from it by the fear of punishment. If we will not avoid such and
such practices because the law has made them sin (and it is most
acceptable when we go on that principle of religion), surely we
shall avoid them when the law has made them death, from a principle
of self-preservation. In this chapter we have, I. Many particular
crimes that are made capital. I. Giving their children to Moloch,
<scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.1-Lev.20.5" parsed="|Lev|20|1|20|5" passage="Le 20:1-5">ver. 1-5</scripRef>. 2. Consulting
witches, <scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.6 Bible:Lev.20.27" parsed="|Lev|20|6|0|0;|Lev|20|27|0|0" passage="Le 20:6,27">ver. 6, 27</scripRef>. 3.
Cursing parents, <scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.9" parsed="|Lev|20|9|0|0" passage="Le 20:9">ver. 9</scripRef>. 4.
Adultery, <scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.10" parsed="|Lev|20|10|0|0" passage="Le 20:10">ver. 10</scripRef>. 5.
Incest, <scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.11-Lev.20.12 Bible:Lev.20.14 Bible:Lev.20.17 Bible:Lev.20.19-Lev.20.21" parsed="|Lev|20|11|20|12;|Lev|20|14|0|0;|Lev|20|17|0|0;|Lev|20|19|20|21" passage="Le 20:11,12,14,17,19-21">ver. 11, 12,
14, 17, 19-21</scripRef>. 6. Unnatural lusts, <scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.13 Bible:Lev.20.15 Bible:Lev.20.16 Bible:Lev.20.18" parsed="|Lev|20|13|0|0;|Lev|20|15|0|0;|Lev|20|16|0|0;|Lev|20|18|0|0" passage="Le 20:13,15,16,18">ver. 13, 15, 16, 18</scripRef>. II. General
commands given to be holy, <scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.7-Lev.20.8 Bible:Lev.20.22-Lev.20.26" parsed="|Lev|20|7|20|8;|Lev|20|22|20|26" passage="Le 20:7,8,22-26">ver.
7, 8, 22-26</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Lev.xxi-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20" parsed="|Lev|20|0|0|0" passage="Le 20" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Lev.xxi-p1.9" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.1-Lev.20.9" parsed="|Lev|20|1|20|9" passage="Le 20:1-9" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.20.1-Lev.20.9">
<h4 id="Lev.xxi-p1.10">Moral Laws. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxi-p1.11">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xxi-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxi-p2.1">Lord</span>
spake unto Moses, saying,   2 Again, thou shalt say to the
children of Israel, Whosoever <i>he be</i> of the children of
Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth
<i>any</i> 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.
  7 Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I
<i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxi-p2.2">Lord</span> your God.  
8 And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxi-p2.3">Lord</span> 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
<i>shall be</i> upon him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxi-p3">Moses is here directed to say that again to
the children of Israel which he had in effect said before,
<scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.2" parsed="|Lev|20|2|0|0" passage="Le 20:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. We are sure it
was no vain repetition, but very necessary, that they might <i>give
the more earnest heed to the things that were spoken,</i> and might
believe them to be of great consequence, being so often inculcated.
<i>God speaketh once, yea, twice,</i> and what he orders to be said
again we must be willing to hear again, because <i>for us it is
safe,</i> <scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Phil.3.1" parsed="|Phil|3|1|0|0" passage="Php 3:1">Phil. iii. 1</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxi-p4">I. Three sins are in these verses
threatened with death:—</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxi-p5">1. Parents abusing their children, by
sacrificing them to Moloch, <scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.2-Lev.20.3" parsed="|Lev|20|2|20|3" passage="Le 20:2,3"><i>v.</i>
2, 3</scripRef>. There is the grossest absurdity that can be in all
the rites of idolatry, and they are all a great reproach to men's
reason; but none trampled upon all the honours of human nature as
this did, the burning of children in the fire to the honour of a
dunghill-god. It was a plain evidence that their gods were devils,
who desired and delighted in the misery and ruin of mankind, and
that the worshippers were worse than the beasts that perish,
perfectly stripped, not only of reason, but of natural affection.
Abraham's offering Isaac could not give countenance, much less
could it give rise to this barbarous practice, since, though that
was commanded, it was immediately countermanded. Yet such was the
power of the god of this world over the children of disobedience
that this monstrous piece of inhumanity was generally practised;
and even the Israelites were in danger of being drawn into it,
which made it necessary that this severe law should be made against
it. It was not enough to tell them they might spare their children
(the fruit of their body should never be accepted for the sin of
their soul), but they must be told, (1.) That the criminal himself
should be put to death as a murderer: <i>The people of the land
shall stone him with stones</i> (<scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.2" parsed="|Lev|20|2|0|0" passage="Le 20:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), which was looked upon as the
worst of capital punishments among the Jews. If the children were
sacrificed to the malice of the devil, the parents must be
sacrificed to the justice of God. And, if either the fact could not
be proved or the magistrates did not do their duty, God would take
the work into his own hands: <i>I will cut him off,</i> <scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.3" parsed="|Lev|20|3|0|0" passage="Le 20:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. Note, Those that escape
punishment from men, yet shall not escape the righteous judgments
of God; so wretchedly do those deceive themselves that promise
themselves impunity in sin. How can those escape against whom God
sets his face, that is, whom he frowns upon, meets as an enemy, and
fights against? The heinousness of the crime is here set forth to
justify the doom: it <i>defiles the sanctuary,</i> and <i>profanes
the holy name</i> of God, for the honour of both which he is
jealous. Observe, The malignity of the sin is laid upon that in it
which was peculiar to Israel. When the Gentiles sacrificed their
children they were guilty of murder and idolatry; but, if the
Israelites did it, they incurred the additional guilt of defiling
the sanctuary (which they attended upon even when they lay under
this guilt, as if there might be an agreement between the temple of
God and idols), and of <i>profaning the holy name of God,</i> by
which they were called, as if he allowed his worshippers to do such
things, <scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p5.4" osisRef="Bible:Rom.2.23" parsed="|Rom|2|23|0|0" passage="Ro 2:23">Rom. ii. 23, 24</scripRef>.
(2.) That all his aiders and abetters should be cut off likewise by
the righteous hand of God. If his neighbours concealed him, and
would not come in as witnesses against him,—if the magistrates
connived at him, and would not pass sentence upon him, rather
pitying his folly than hating his impiety,—God himself would
reckon with them, <scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p5.5" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.4-Lev.20.5" parsed="|Lev|20|4|20|5" passage="Le 20:4,5"><i>v.</i> 4,
5</scripRef>. Misprision of idolatry is a crime cognizable in the
court of heaven, and which shall not go unpunished: <i>I will set
my face against that man</i> (that magistrate, <scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p5.6" osisRef="Bible:Jer.5.1" parsed="|Jer|5|1|0|0" passage="Jer 5:1">Jer. v. 1</scripRef>) <i>and against his family.</i>
Note, [1.] The wickedness of the master of a family often brings
ruin upon a family; and he that should be the house-keeper proves
the house-breaker. [2.] If magistrates will not do justice upon
offenders, God will do justice upon them, because there is danger
that many will <i>go a whoring after those</i> who do but
countenance sin by winking at it. And, if the sins of leaders be
leading sins, it is fit that their punishments should be exemplary
punishments.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxi-p6">2. Children's abusing their parents, by
cursing them, <scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.9" parsed="|Lev|20|9|0|0" passage="Le 20:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>.
If children should speak ill of their parents, or wish ill to them,
or carry it scornfully or spitefully towards them, it was an
iniquity to be punished by the judges, who were employed as
conservators both of God's honour and of the public peace, which
were both attacked by this unnatural insolence. See <scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.30.17" parsed="|Prov|30|17|0|0" passage="Pr 30:17">Prov. xxx. 17</scripRef>, <i>The eye that mocks
at his father the ravens of the valley shall pick out,</i> which
intimates that such wicked children were in a fair way to be not
only hanged, but hanged in chains. This law of Moses Christ quotes
and confirms (<scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Matt.15.4" parsed="|Matt|15|4|0|0" passage="Mt 15:4">Matt. xv. 4</scripRef>),
for it is as direct a breach of the fifth commandment as wilful
murder is of the sixth. The same law which requires parents to be
tender of their children requires children to be respectful to
their parents. He that despitefully uses his parents, the
instruments of his being, flies in the face of God himself, the
author of his being, who will not see the paternal dignity and
authority insulted and trampled upon.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxi-p7">3. Persons abusing themselves by consulting
such as have <i>familiar spirits,</i> <scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.6" parsed="|Lev|20|6|0|0" passage="Le 20:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. By this, as much as any thing, a
man diminishes, disparages, and deceives himself, and so abuses
himself. What greater madness can there be than for a man to go to
a liar for information, and to an enemy for advice? Those do so who
turn after those that deal in the black art, and know the depths of
Satan. This is spiritual adultery as much as idolatry is, giving
that honour to the devil which is due to God only; and the jealous
God will give a bill of divorce to those that thus <i>go a whoring
from him,</i> and will <i>cut them off,</i> they having first cut
themselves off from him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxi-p8">II. In the midst of these particular laws
comes in that general charge, <scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.7-Lev.20.8" parsed="|Lev|20|7|20|8" passage="Le 20:7,8"><i>v.</i> 7, 8</scripRef>, where we have,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxi-p9">1. The duties required; and they are two:—
(1.) That in our principles, affections, and aims, we be holy:
<i>Sanctify yourselves and be you holy.</i> We must cleanse
ourselves from all the pollutions of sin, consecrate ourselves to
the service and honour of God, and conform ourselves in every thing
to his holy will and image: this is to <i>sanctify ourselves.</i>
(2.) That in all our actions, and in the whole course of our
conversation, we be obedient to the laws of God: <i>You shall keep
my statutes.</i> By this only can we make it to appear that we have
sanctified ourselves and are holy, even by our keeping God's
commandments; <i>the tree is known by its fruit.</i> Nor can we
<i>keep God's statutes,</i> as we ought, unless we first sanctify
ourselves, and be holy. Make the tree good, and the fruit will be
good.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxi-p10">2. The reasons to enforce these duties.
(1.) "<i>I am the Lord your God;</i> therefore be holy, that you
may resemble him whose people you are, and may be pleasing to him.
Holiness becomes his house and household." (2.) <i>I am the Lord
who sanctifieth you.</i> God sanctified them by peculiar
privileges, laws, and favours, which distinguished them from all
other nations, and dignified them as a people set apart for God. He
gave them his word and ordinances to be means of their
sanctification, and his good Spirit to instruct them; therefore
they must be holy, else they received the grace of God herein in
vain. Note, [1.] God's people are, and must be, persons of
distinction. God has distinguished them by his holy covenant, and
therefore they ought to distinguish themselves by their holy
conversation. [2.] God's sanctifying us is a good reason why we
should sanctify ourselves, that we may comply with the designs of
his grace, and not walk contrary to them. If it be the Lord that
sanctifies us, we may hope the work shall be done, though it be
difficult: the manner of expression is like that, <scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.5.5" parsed="|2Cor|5|5|0|0" passage="2Co 5:5">2 Cor. v. 5</scripRef>, <i>He that hath wrought
us for the self-same thing is God.</i> And his grace is so far from
superseding our care and endeavour that it most strongly engages
and encourages them. <i>Work out your salvation, for it is God that
worketh in you.</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="Lev.xxi-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20" parsed="|Lev|20|0|0|0" passage="Le 20" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Lev.xxi-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.10-Lev.20.21" parsed="|Lev|20|10|20|21" passage="Le 20:10-21" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.20.10-Lev.20.21">
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xxi-p11">10 And the man that committeth adultery with
<i>another</i> man's wife, <i>even he</i> 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 <i>shall be</i> 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 <i>shall be</i> 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
<i>shall be</i> upon them.   14 And if a man take a wife and
her mother, it <i>is</i> wickedness: they shall be burnt with fire,
both he and they; that there be no wickedness among you.   15
And if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death: and
ye shall slay the beast.   16 And if a woman approach unto any
beast, and lie down thereto, thou shalt kill the woman, and the
beast: they shall surely be put to death; their blood <i>shall
be</i> upon them.   17 And if a man shall take his sister, his
father's daughter, or his mother's daughter, and see her nakedness,
and she see his nakedness; it <i>is</i> a wicked thing; and they
shall be cut off in the sight of their people: he hath uncovered
his sister's nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity.   18 And
if a man shall lie with a woman having her sickness, and shall
uncover her nakedness; he hath discovered her fountain, and she
hath uncovered the fountain of her blood: and both of them shall be
cut off from among their people.   19 And thou shalt not
uncover the nakedness of thy mother's sister, nor of thy father's
sister: for he uncovereth his near kin: they shall bear their
iniquity.   20 And if a man shall lie with his uncle's wife,
he hath uncovered his uncle's nakedness: they shall bear their sin;
they shall die childless.   21 And if a man shall take his
brother's wife, it <i>is</i> an unclean thing: he hath uncovered
his brother's nakedness; they shall be childless.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxi-p12">Sins against the seventh commandment are
here ordered to be severely punished. These are sins which, of all
others, fools are most apt to make a mock at; but God would teach
those the heinousness of the guilt by the extremity of the
punishment that would not otherwise be taught it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxi-p13">I. Lying with another man's wife was made a
capital crime. The adulterer and the adulteress that had joined in
the sin must fall alike under the sentence: they shall both be
<i>put to death,</i> <scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.10" parsed="|Lev|20|10|0|0" passage="Le 20:10"><i>v.</i>
10</scripRef>. Long before this, even in Job's time, this was
reputed a <i>heinous crime</i> and an <i>iniquity to be punished by
the judges,</i> <scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.31.11" parsed="|Job|31|11|0|0" passage="Job 31:11">Job xxxi.
11</scripRef>. It is a presumptuous contempt of an ordinance of
God, and a violation of his covenant, <scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:Prov.2.17" parsed="|Prov|2|17|0|0" passage="Pr 2:17">Prov. ii. 17</scripRef>. It is an irreparable wrong to
the injured husband, and debauches the mind and conscience of both
the offenders as much as any thing. It is a sin which headstrong
and unbridled lusts hurry men violently to, and therefore it needs
such a powerful restraint as this. It is a sin which defiles a land
and brings down God's judgments upon it, which disquiets families,
and tends to the ruin of all virtue and religion, and therefore is
fit to be animadverted upon by the conservators of the public
peace: but see <scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p13.4" osisRef="Bible:John.8.3-John.8.11" parsed="|John|8|3|8|11" passage="Joh 8:3-11">John viii.
3-11</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxi-p14">II. Incestuous connections, whether by
marriage or not. 1. Some of them were to be punished with death, as
a man's <i>lying with his father's wife,</i> <scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.11" parsed="|Lev|20|11|0|0" passage="Le 20:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. Reuben would have been put to
death for his crime (<scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.22" parsed="|Gen|35|22|0|0" passage="Ge 35:22">Gen. xxxv.
22</scripRef>) if this law had been then made. It was the sin of
the incestuous Corinthian, for which he was to be <i>delivered unto
Satan,</i> <scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p14.3" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.5.1 Bible:1Cor.5.5" parsed="|1Cor|5|1|0|0;|1Cor|5|5|0|0" passage="1Co 5:1,5">1 Cor. v. 1, 5</scripRef>.
A man's debauching his daughter-in-law, or his mother-in-law, or
his sister, was likewise to be punished with death, <scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p14.4" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.12 Bible:Lev.20.14 Bible:Lev.20.17" parsed="|Lev|20|12|0|0;|Lev|20|14|0|0;|Lev|20|17|0|0" passage="Le 20:12,14,17"><i>v.</i> 12, 14, 17</scripRef>. 2. Others
of them God would punish with the curse of barrenness, as a man's
defiling his aunt, or his brother's wife (<scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p14.5" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.19-Lev.20.21" parsed="|Lev|20|19|20|21" passage="Le 20:19-21"><i>v.</i> 19-21</scripRef>): <i>They shall die
childless.</i> Those that keep not within the divine rules of
marriage forfeit the blessings of marriage: <i>They shall commit
whoredom, and shall not increase,</i> <scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p14.6" osisRef="Bible:Hos.4.10" parsed="|Hos|4|10|0|0" passage="Ho 4:10">Hos. iv. 10</scripRef>. Nay it is said, <i>They shall
bear their iniquity,</i> that is, though they be not immediately
cut off by the hand either of God or man for this sin, yet the
guilt of it shall lie upon them, to be reckoned for another day,
and not be purged with sacrifice or offering.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxi-p15">III. The unnatural lusts of sodomy and
bestiality (sins not to be mentioned without horror) were to be
punished with death, as they are at this day by our law, <scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.13 Bible:Lev.20.15 Bible:Lev.20.16" parsed="|Lev|20|13|0|0;|Lev|20|15|0|0;|Lev|20|16|0|0" passage="Le 20:13,15,16"><i>v.</i> 13, 15, 16</scripRef>. Even the
beast that was thus abused was to be killed with the sinner, who
was thereby openly put to the greater shame: and the villany was
thus represented as in the highest degree execrable and abominable,
all occasions of the remembrance or mention of it being to be taken
away. Even the unseasonable use of the marriage, if presumptuous,
and in contempt of the law, would expose the offenders to the just
judgment of God: they <i>shall be cut off,</i> <scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.18" parsed="|Lev|20|18|0|0" passage="Le 20:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. For this is the will of God,
that <i>every man should possess his vessel</i> (and the wife is
called the weaker vessel) <i>in sanctification and honour,</i> as
becomes saints.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Lev.xxi-p15.3" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.22-Lev.20.27" parsed="|Lev|20|22|20|27" passage="Le 20:22-27" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.20.22-Lev.20.27">
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xxi-p16">22 Ye shall therefore keep all my statutes, and
all my judgments, and do them: that the land, whither I bring you
to dwell therein, spue you not out.   23 And ye shall not walk
in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they
committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them.  
24 But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I
will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk
and honey: I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxi-p16.1">Lord</span> your
God, which have separated you from <i>other</i> people.   25
Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean,
and between unclean fowls and clean: and ye shall not make your
souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any manner of living
thing that creepeth on the ground, which I have separated from you
as unclean.   26 And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxi-p16.2">Lord</span> <i>am</i> holy, and have severed you
from <i>other</i> people, that ye should be mine.   27 A man
also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard,
shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones:
their blood <i>shall be</i> upon them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxi-p17">The last verse is a particular law, which
comes in after the general conclusion, as if omitted in its proper
place: it is for the putting of those to death that dealt with
familiar spirits, <scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.27" parsed="|Lev|20|27|0|0" passage="Le 20:27"><i>v.</i>
27</scripRef>. It would be an affront to God and to his lively
oracles, a scandal to the country, and a temptation to ignorant bad
people, to consult them, if such were known and suffered to live
among them. Those that are in league with the devil have in effect
made a covenant with death and an agreement with hell, and so shall
their doom be.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxi-p18">The rest of these verses repeat and
inculcate what had been said before; for to that unthinking
forgetful people it was requisite that there should be line upon
line, and that general rules, with their reasons, should be
frequently insisted on, for the enforcement of particular laws, and
making them more effectual. Three things we are here reminded
of:—</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxi-p19">I. Their dignity. 1. They had the <i>Lord
for their God,</i> <scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.24" parsed="|Lev|20|24|0|0" passage="Le 20:24"><i>v.</i>
24</scripRef>. They were his, his care, his choice, his treasure,
his jewels, his kingdom of priests (<scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.26" parsed="|Lev|20|26|0|0" passage="Le 20:26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>): <i>That you should be
mine.</i> Happy the people, and truly great, that are in such a
case. 2. Their God was a holy God (<scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p19.3" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.26" parsed="|Lev|20|26|0|0" passage="Le 20:26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>), infinitely advanced above all
others. His holiness is his glory, and it was their honour to be
related to him, while their neighbours were the infamous
worshippers of impure and filthy spirits. 3. The great God had
separated them from other people (<scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p19.4" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.24" parsed="|Lev|20|24|0|0" passage="Le 20:24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>), and again, <scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p19.5" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.26" parsed="|Lev|20|26|0|0" passage="Le 20:26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>. Other nations were the common;
they were the enclosure, beautified and enriched with peculiar
privileges, and designed for peculiar honours; let them therefore
value themselves accordingly, preserve their honour, and not lay it
in the dust, by walking in the way of the heathen.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxi-p20">II. Their duty; this is inferred from their
dignity. God had done more for them than for others, and therefore
expected more from them than from others. And what is it that the
Lord their God requires, in consideration of the great things done
and designed? 1. <i>You shall keep all my statutes</i> (<scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.22" parsed="|Lev|20|22|0|0" passage="Le 20:22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>); and there was all the
reason in the world that they should, for the statutes were their
honour, and obedience to them would be their lasting comfort. 2.
<i>You shall not walk in the manners of nations,</i> <scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.23" parsed="|Lev|20|23|0|0" passage="Le 20:23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. Being separated from
them, they must not associate with them, nor learn their ways. The
manners of the nations were bad enough in them, but would be much
worse in God's people. 3. You shall <i>put a difference between
clean and unclean,</i> <scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p20.3" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.25" parsed="|Lev|20|25|0|0" passage="Le 20:25"><i>v.</i>
25</scripRef>. This is holiness, to discern between things that
differ, not to live at large, as if we might say and do any thing,
but to speak and act with caution. 4. <i>You shall not make your
souls abominable,</i> <scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p20.4" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.25" parsed="|Lev|20|25|0|0" passage="Le 20:25"><i>v.</i>
25</scripRef>. Our constant care must be to preserve the honour, by
preserving the purity, of our own souls, and never to do any thing
to make them abominable to God and to our own consciences.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxi-p21">III. Their danger. 1. They were going into
an infected place (<scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.24" parsed="|Lev|20|24|0|0" passage="Le 20:24"><i>v.</i>
24</scripRef>): <i>You shall inherit their land,</i> a land
<i>flowing with milk and honey,</i> which they would have the
comfort of if they kept their integrity; but, withal, it was a land
full of idols, idolatries, and superstitious usages, which they
would be apt to fall in love with, having brought from Egypt with
them a strange disposition to take that infection. 2. If they took
the infection, it would be of pernicious consequence to them. The
Canaanites were to be expelled for these very sins: <i>They
committed all these things, therefore I abhorred them,</i>
<scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.23" parsed="|Lev|20|23|0|0" passage="Le 20:23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. See what an
evil thing sin is; it provokes God to abhor his own creatures,
whereas otherwise he delights in the work of his hands. And, if the
Israelites trod in the steps of their impiety, they must expect
that the land would spue them out (<scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p21.3" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.22" parsed="|Lev|20|22|0|0" passage="Le 20:22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>), as he had told them before,
<scripRef id="Lev.xxi-p21.4" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.28" parsed="|Lev|18|28|0|0" passage="Le 18:28"><i>ch.</i> xviii. 28</scripRef>. If
God spared not the natural branches, but broke them off, neither
would he spare those who were grafted in, if they degenerated. Thus
the rejection of the Jews stands for a warning to all Christian
churches to take heed lest the kingdom of God be taken from them.
Those that sin like others must expect to smart like them; and
their profession of relation to God will be no security to
them.</p>
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