mh_parser/vol_split/3 - Leviticus/Chapter 18.xml

<div2 id="Lev.xix" n="xix" next="Lev.xx" prev="Lev.xviii" progress="58.22%" title="Chapter XVIII">
<h2 id="Lev.xix-p0.1">L E V I T I C U S</h2>
<h3 id="Lev.xix-p0.2">CHAP. XVIII.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Lev.xix-p1">Here is, I. A general law against all conformity
to the corrupt usages of the heathen, <scripRef id="Lev.xix-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.1-Lev.18.5" parsed="|Lev|18|1|18|5" passage="Le 18:1-5">ver. 1-5</scripRef>. II. Particular laws, 1. Against
incest, <scripRef id="Lev.xix-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.6-Lev.18.18" parsed="|Lev|18|6|18|18" passage="Le 18:6-18">ver. 6-18</scripRef>. 2.
Against beastly lusts, and barbarous idolatries, <scripRef id="Lev.xix-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.19-Lev.18.23" parsed="|Lev|18|19|18|23" passage="Le 18:19-23">ver. 19-23</scripRef>. III. The enforcement of these
laws from the ruin of the Canaanites, <scripRef id="Lev.xix-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.24-Lev.18.30" parsed="|Lev|18|24|18|30" passage="Le 18:24-30">ver. 24-30</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Lev.xix-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18" parsed="|Lev|18|0|0|0" passage="Le 18" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Lev.xix-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.1-Lev.18.5" parsed="|Lev|18|1|18|5" passage="Le 18:1-5" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.18.1-Lev.18.5">
<h4 id="Lev.xix-p1.7">Cautions against Idolatrous
Practices. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xix-p1.8">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xix-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xix-p2.1">Lord</span>
spake unto Moses, saying,   2 Speak unto the children of
Israel, and say unto them, I am the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xix-p2.2">Lord</span> your God.   3 After the doings of the
land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the
doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do:
neither shall ye walk in their ordinances.   4 Ye shall do my
judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I <i>am</i>
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xix-p2.3">Lord</span> your God.   5 Ye shall
therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he
shall live in them: I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xix-p2.4">Lord</span>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xix-p3">After divers ceremonial institutions, God
here returns to the enforcement of moral precepts. The former are
still of use to us as types, the latter still binding as laws. We
have here, 1. The sacred authority by which these laws are enacted:
<i>I am the Lord your God</i> (<scripRef id="Lev.xix-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.1 Bible:Lev.18.4 Bible:Lev.18.30" parsed="|Lev|18|1|0|0;|Lev|18|4|0|0;|Lev|18|30|0|0" passage="Le 18:1,4,30"><i>v.</i> 1, 4, 30</scripRef>), and <i>I am the
Lord,</i> <scripRef id="Lev.xix-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.5-Lev.18.6 Bible:Lev.18.21" parsed="|Lev|18|5|18|6;|Lev|18|21|0|0" passage="Le 18:5,6,21"><i>v.</i> 5, 6,
21</scripRef>. "The Lord, who has a right to rule all; your God,
who has a peculiar right to rule you." Jehovah is the fountain of
being, and therefore the fountain of power, whose we are, whom we
are bound to serve, and who is able to punish all disobedience.
"Your God to whom you have consented, in whom you are happy, to
whom you lie under the highest obligations imaginable, and to whom
you are accountable." 2. A strict caution to take heed of retaining
the relics of the idolatries of Egypt, where they had dwelt, and of
receiving the infection of the idolatries of Canaan, whither they
were now going, <scripRef id="Lev.xix-p3.3" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.3" parsed="|Lev|18|3|0|0" passage="Le 18:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>.
Now that God was by Moses teaching them his ordinances there was
<i>aliquid dediscendum—something to be unlearned,</i> which they
had sucked in with their milk in Egypt, a country noted for
idolatry: <i>You shall not do after the doings of the land of
Egypt.</i> It would be the greatest absurdity in itself to retain
such an affection for their house of bondage as to be governed in
their devotions by the usages of it, and the greatest ingratitude
to God, who had so wonderfully and graciously delivered them. Nay,
as if governed by a spirit of contradiction, they would be in
danger, even after they had received these ordinances of God, of
admitting the wicked usages of the Canaanites and of inheriting
their vices with their land. Of this danger they are here warned,
<i>You shall not walk in their ordinances.</i> Such a tyrant is
custom that their practices are called <i>ordinances,</i> and they
became rivals even with God's ordinances, and God's professing
people were in danger of receiving law from them. 3. A solemn
charge to them to <i>keep God's judgments, statutes, and
ordinances,</i> <scripRef id="Lev.xix-p3.4" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.4-Lev.18.5" parsed="|Lev|18|4|18|5" passage="Le 18:4,5"><i>v.</i> 4,
5</scripRef>. To this charge, and many similar ones, David seems to
refer in the many prayers and professions he makes relating to
God's laws in the <scripRef id="Lev.xix-p3.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.119" parsed="|Ps|119|0|0|0" passage="Ps 119">119th
Psalm</scripRef>. Observe here, (1.) The great rule of our
obedience—God's statutes and judgments. These we must <i>keep to
walk therein.</i> We must keep them in our books, and keep them in
our hands, that we may practise them in our hearts and lives.
<i>Remember God's commandments to do them,</i> <scripRef id="Lev.xix-p3.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.103.18" parsed="|Ps|103|18|0|0" passage="Ps 103:18">Ps. ciii. 18</scripRef>. We must keep in them as our
way to travel in, keep to them as our rule to work by, keep them as
our treasure, as the apple of our eye, with the utmost care and
value. (2.) The great advantage of our obedience: <i>Which if a man
do, he shall live in them,</i> that is, "he shall be happy here and
hereafter." We have reason to thank God, [1.] That this is still in
force as a promise, with a very favourable construction of the
condition. If we keep God's commandments in sincerity, though we
come short of sinless perfection, we shall find that the way of
duty is the way of comfort, and will be the way to happiness.
Godliness has the <i>promise of life,</i> <scripRef id="Lev.xix-p3.7" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.4.8" parsed="|1Tim|4|8|0|0" passage="1Ti 4:8">1 Tim. iv. 8</scripRef>. Wisdom has said, <i>Keep my
commandments and live:</i> and <i>if through the Spirit we mortify
the deeds of the body</i> (which are to us as the usages of Egypt
were to Israel) <i>we shall live.</i> [2.] That it is not so in
force in the nature of a covenant as that the least transgression
shall for ever exclude us from this life. The apostle quotes this
twice as opposite to the faith which the gospel reveals. It is the
description of the <i>righteousness which is by the law, the man
that doeth them shall live</i> <b><i>en autois</i></b>—<i>in
them</i> (<scripRef id="Lev.xix-p3.8" osisRef="Bible:Rom.10.5" parsed="|Rom|10|5|0|0" passage="Ro 10:5">Rom. x. 5</scripRef>), and is
urged to prove that <i>the law is not of faith,</i> <scripRef id="Lev.xix-p3.9" osisRef="Bible:Gal.3.12" parsed="|Gal|3|12|0|0" passage="Ga 3:12">Gal. iii. 12</scripRef>. The alteration which the
gospel has made is in the last word: still <i>the man that does
them shall live,</i> but not live <i>in them;</i> for the law could
not give life, because we could not perfectly keep it; it was
<i>weak through the flesh,</i> not in itself; but now <i>the man
that does them</i> shall <i>live by the faith of the Son of
God.</i> He shall owe his life to the grace of Christ, and not to
the merit of his own works; see <scripRef id="Lev.xix-p3.10" osisRef="Bible:Gal.3.21-Gal.3.22" parsed="|Gal|3|21|3|22" passage="Ga 3:21,22">Gal.
iii. 21, 22</scripRef>. <i>The just shall live,</i> but they shall
live <i>by faith,</i> by virtue of their union with Christ, who is
their life.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Lev.xix-p3.11" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.6-Lev.18.18" parsed="|Lev|18|6|18|18" passage="Le 18:6-18" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.18.6-Lev.18.18">
<h4 id="Lev.xix-p3.12">Incest Defined and Forbidden; Against
Marrying Near Relations. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xix-p3.13">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xix-p4">6 None of you shall approach to any that is near
of kin to him, to uncover <i>their</i> nakedness: I <i>am</i> the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xix-p4.1">Lord</span>.   7 The nakedness of thy
father, or the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover: she
<i>is</i> thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.  
8 The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover: it
<i>is</i> thy father's nakedness.   9 The nakedness of thy
sister, the daughter of thy father, or daughter of thy mother,
<i>whether she be</i> born at home, or born abroad, <i>even</i>
their nakedness thou shalt not uncover.   10 The nakedness of
thy son's daughter, or of thy daughter's daughter, <i>even</i>
their nakedness thou shalt not uncover: for theirs <i>is</i> thine
own nakedness.   11 The nakedness of thy father's wife's
daughter, begotten of thy father, she <i>is</i> thy sister, thou
shalt not uncover her nakedness.   12 Thou shalt not uncover
the nakedness of thy father's sister: she <i>is</i> thy father's
near kinswoman.   13 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of
thy mother's sister: for she <i>is</i> thy mother's near kinswoman.
  14 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's
brother, thou shalt not approach to his wife: she <i>is</i> thine
aunt.   15 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy
daughter in law: she <i>is</i> thy son's wife; thou shalt not
uncover her nakedness.   16 Thou shalt not uncover the
nakedness of thy brother's wife: it <i>is</i> thy brother's
nakedness.   17 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of a
woman and her daughter, neither shalt thou take her son's daughter,
or her daughter's daughter, to uncover her nakedness; <i>for</i>
they <i>are</i> her near kinswomen: it <i>is</i> wickedness.  
18 Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister, to vex <i>her,</i>
to uncover her nakedness, beside the other in her life
<i>time.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xix-p5">These laws relate to the seventh
commandment, and, no doubt, are obligatory on us under the gospel,
for they are consonant to the very light and law of nature: one of
the articles, that of a man's having his father's wife, the apostle
speaks of as a sin <i>not so much as named among the Gentiles,</i>
<scripRef id="Lev.xix-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.5.1" parsed="|1Cor|5|1|0|0" passage="1Co 5:1">1 Cor. v. 1</scripRef>. Though some of
the incests here forbidden were practised by some particular
persons among the heathen, yet they were disallowed and detested,
unless among those nations who had become barbarous, and were quite
given up to vile affections. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xix-p6">I. That which is forbidden as to the
relations here specified is <i>approaching to them to uncover their
nakedness,</i> <scripRef id="Lev.xix-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.6" parsed="|Lev|18|6|0|0" passage="Le 18:6"><i>v.</i>
6</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xix-p7">1. It is chiefly intended to forbid the
marrying of any of these relations. Marriage is a divine
institution; this and the sabbath, the eldest of all, of equal
standing with man upon the earth: it is intended for the comfort of
human life, and the decent and honourable propagation of the human
race, such as became the dignity of man's nature above that of the
beasts. It is <i>honourable in all,</i> and these laws are for the
support of the honour of it. It was requisite that a divine
ordinance should be subject to divine rules and restraints,
especially because it concerns a thing wherein the corrupt nature
of man is as apt as in any thing to be wilful and impetuous in its
desires, and impatient of check. Yet these prohibitions, besides
their being enacted by an incontestable authority, are in
themselves highly reasonable and equitable. (1.) By marriage two
were to become one flesh, therefore those that before were in a
sense one flesh by nature could not, without the greatest
absurdity, become one flesh by institution; for the institution was
designed to unite those who before were not united. (2.) Marriage
puts an equality between husband and wife. "Is she not thy
companion taken out of thy side?" Therefore, if those who before
were superior and inferior should intermarry (which is the case in
most of the instances here laid down), the order of nature would be
taken away by a positive institution, which must by no means be
allowed. The inequality between master and servant, noble and
ignoble, is founded in consent and custom, and there is no harm
done if that be taken away by the equality of marriage; but the
inequality between parents and children, uncles and nieces, aunts
and nephews, either by blood or marriage, is founded in nature, and
is therefore perpetual, and cannot without confusion be taken away
by the equality of marriage, the institution of which, though
ancient, is subsequent to the order of nature. (3.) No relations
that are equals are forbidden, except brothers and sisters, by the
whole blood or half blood, or by marriage; and in this there is not
the same natural absurdity as in the former, for Adam's sons must
of necessity have married their own sisters; but it was requisite
that it should be made by a positive law unlawful and detestable,
for the preventing of sinful familiarities between those that in
the days of their youth are supposed to live in a house together,
and yet cannot intermarry without defeating one of the intentions
of marriage, which is the enlargement of friendship and interest.
If every man married his own sister (as they would be apt to do
from generation to generation if it were lawful), each family would
be a world to itself, and it would be forgotten that <i>we are
members one of another.</i> It is certain that this has always been
looked upon by the more sober heathen as a most infamous and
abominable thing; and those who had not this law yet were herein a
law to themselves. The making use of the ordinance of marriage for
the patronizing of incestuous mixtures is so far from justifying
them, or extenuating their guilt, that it adds the guilt of
profaning an ordinance of God, and prostituting that to the vilest
of purposes which was instituted for the noblest ends. But,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xix-p8">2. Uncleanness, committed with any of these
relations out of marriage, is likewise, without doubt, forbidden
here, and no less intended than the former: as also all lascivious
carriage, wanton dalliance, and every thing that has the appearance
of this evil. Relations must love one another, and are to have free
and familiar converse with each other, but it must be with all
purity; and the less it is suspected of evil by others the more
care ought the persons themselves to take that <i>Satan do not get
advantage against them,</i> for he is a very subtle enemy, and
seeks all occasions against us.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xix-p9">II. The relations forbidden are most of
them plainly described; and it is generally laid down as a rule
that what relations of a man's own he is bound up from marrying the
same relations of his wife he is likewise forbidden to marry, for
they two are one. That law which forbids marrying a brother's wife
(<scripRef id="Lev.xix-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.16" parsed="|Lev|18|16|0|0" passage="Le 18:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>) had an
exception peculiar to the Jewish state, that, if a man died without
issue, his brother or next of kin should marry the widow, and raise
up seed to the deceased (<scripRef id="Lev.xix-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.25.5" parsed="|Deut|25|5|0|0" passage="De 25:5">Deut. xxv.
5</scripRef>), for reasons which held good only in that
commonwealth; and therefore now that those reasons have ceased the
exception ceases, and the law is in force, that a man must in no
case marry his brother's widow. That article (<scripRef id="Lev.xix-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.18" parsed="|Lev|18|18|0|0" passage="Le 18:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>) which forbids a man to <i>take
a wife to her sister</i> supposes a connivance at polygamy, as some
other laws then did (<scripRef id="Lev.xix-p9.4" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.10 Bible:Deut.21.15" parsed="|Exod|21|10|0|0;|Deut|21|15|0|0" passage="Ex 21:10,De 21:15">Exod.
xxi. 10; Deut. xxi. 15</scripRef>), but forbids a man's marrying
two sisters, as Jacob did, because between those who had before
been equal there would be apt to arise greater jealousies and
animosities than between wives that were not so nearly related. If
the sister of the wife be taken for the concubine, or secondary
wife, nothing can be more vexing in her life, or as long as she
lives.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Lev.xix-p9.5" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18" parsed="|Lev|18|0|0|0" passage="Le 18" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Lev.xix-p9.6" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.19-Lev.18.30" parsed="|Lev|18|19|18|30" passage="Le 18:19-30" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.18.19-Lev.18.30">
<h4 id="Lev.xix-p9.7">Laws against Iniquity. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xix-p9.8">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xix-p10">19 Also thou shalt not approach unto a woman to
uncover her nakedness, as long as she is put apart for her
uncleanness.   20 Moreover thou shalt not lie carnally with
thy neighbour's wife, to defile thyself with her.   21 And
thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through <i>the fire</i> to
Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I <i>am</i>
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xix-p10.1">Lord</span>.   22 Thou shalt not
lie with mankind, as with womankind: it <i>is</i> abomination.
  23 Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself
therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down
thereto: it <i>is</i> confusion.   24 Defile not ye yourselves
in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled
which I cast out before you:   25 And the land is defiled:
therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land
itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.   26 Ye shall therefore
keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit <i>any</i>
of these abominations; <i>neither</i> any of your own nation, nor
any stranger that sojourneth among you:   27 (For all these
abominations have the men of the land done, which <i>were</i>
before you, and the land is defiled;)   28 That the land spue
not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations
that <i>were</i> before you.   29 For whosoever shall commit
any of these abominations, even the souls that commit <i>them</i>
shall be cut off from among their people.   30 Therefore shall
ye keep mine ordinance, that <i>ye</i> commit not <i>any one</i> of
these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that
ye defile not yourselves therein: I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xix-p10.2">Lord</span> your God.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xix-p11">Here is, I. A law to preserve the honour of
the marriage-bed, that it should not be unseasonably used
(<scripRef id="Lev.xix-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.19" parsed="|Lev|18|19|0|0" passage="Le 18:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>), nor invaded
by an adulterer, <scripRef id="Lev.xix-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.20" parsed="|Lev|18|20|0|0" passage="Le 18:20"><i>v.</i>
20</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xix-p12">II. A law against that which was the most
unnatural idolatry, causing their children to <i>pass through the
fire to Moloch,</i> <scripRef id="Lev.xix-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.21" parsed="|Lev|18|21|0|0" passage="Le 18:21"><i>v.</i>
21</scripRef>. Moloch (as some think) was the idol in and by which
they worshipped the sun, that great fire of the world; and
therefore in the worship of it they made their own children either
sacrifices to this idol, burning them to death before it, or
devotees to it, causing them to pass between two fires, as some
think, or to be thrown through one, to the honour of this pretended
deity, imagining that the consecrating of but one of their children
in this manner to Moloch would procure good fortune for all the
rest of their children. Did idolaters thus give their own children
to false gods, and shall we think any thing too dear to be
dedicated to, or to be parted with for, the true God? See how this
sin of Israel (which they were afterwards guilty of,
notwithstanding this law) is aggravated by the relation which they
and their children stood in to God. <scripRef id="Lev.xix-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.20" parsed="|Ezek|16|20|0|0" passage="Eze 16:20">Ezek. xvi. 20</scripRef>, <i>Thou hast taken thy sons
and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these thou
hast sacrificed.</i> Therefore it is here called <i>profaning the
name of their</i> God; for it looked as if they thought they were
under greater obligations to Moloch than to Jehovah; for to him
they offered their cattle only, but to Moloch their children.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xix-p13">III. A law against unnatural lusts, sodomy
and bestiality, sins not to be named nor thought of without the
utmost abhorrence imaginable, <scripRef id="Lev.xix-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.22-Lev.18.23" parsed="|Lev|18|22|18|23" passage="Le 18:22,23"><i>v.</i> 22, 23</scripRef>. Other sins level men
with the beasts, but these sink them much lower. That ever there
should have been occasion for the making of these laws, and that
since they are published they should ever have been broken, is the
perpetual reproach and scandal of human nature; and the giving of
men up to these vile affections was frequently the punishment of
their idolatries; so the apostle shows, <scripRef id="Lev.xix-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.1.24" parsed="|Rom|1|24|0|0" passage="Ro 1:24">Rom. i. 24</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xix-p14">IV. Arguments against these and the like
abominable wickednesses. He that has an indisputable right to
command us, yet because he will deal with us as men, and <i>draw
with the cords of a man,</i> condescends to reason with us. 1.
Sinners defile themselves with these abominations: <i>Defile not
yourselves in any of these things,</i> <scripRef id="Lev.xix-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.24" parsed="|Lev|18|24|0|0" passage="Le 18:24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. All sin is defiling to the
conscience, but these are sins that have a peculiar turpitude in
them. Our heavenly Father, in kindness to us, requires of us that
we keep ourselves clean, and do not wallow in the dirt. 2. <i>The
souls that commit them shall be cut off,</i> <scripRef id="Lev.xix-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.29" parsed="|Lev|18|29|0|0" passage="Le 18:29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>. And justly; for, <i>if any man
defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy,</i> <scripRef id="Lev.xix-p14.3" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.3.17" parsed="|1Cor|3|17|0|0" passage="1Co 3:17">1 Cor. iii. 17</scripRef>. Fleshly lusts war
against the soul, and will certainly be the ruin of it if God's
mercy and grace prevent not. 3. <i>The land is defiled,</i>
<scripRef id="Lev.xix-p14.4" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.25" parsed="|Lev|18|25|0|0" passage="Le 18:25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>. If such
wickednesses as these be practised and connived at, the land is
thereby made unfit to have God's tabernacle in it, and the pure and
holy God will withdraw the tokens of his gracious presence from it.
It is also rendered unwholesome to the inhabitants, who are hereby
infected with sin and exposed to plagues and it is really nauseous
and loathsome to all good men in it, as the wickedness of Sodom was
to the soul of righteous Lot. 4. These have been the abominations
of the former inhabitants, <scripRef id="Lev.xix-p14.5" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.24 Bible:Lev.18.27" parsed="|Lev|18|24|0|0;|Lev|18|27|0|0" passage="Le 18:24,27"><i>v.</i> 24, 27</scripRef>. Therefore it was
necessary that these laws should be made, as antidotes and
preservatives from the plague are necessary when we go into an
infected place. And therefore they should not practise any such
things, because the nations that had practised them now lay under
the curse of God, and were shortly to fall by the sword of Israel.
They could not but be sensible how odious those people had made
themselves who wallowed in this mire, and how they stank in the
nostrils of all good men; and shall a people sanctified and
dignified as Israel was make themselves thus vile? When we observe
how ill sin looks in others we should use this as an argument with
ourselves with the utmost care and caution to preserve our purity.
5. For these and the like sins the Canaanites were to be destroyed;
these filled the measure of the Amorites' iniquity (<scripRef id="Lev.xix-p14.6" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.16" parsed="|Gen|15|16|0|0" passage="Ge 15:16">Gen. xv. 16</scripRef>), and brought down that
destruction of so many populous kingdoms which the Israelites were
now shortly to be not only the spectators, but the instruments of:
<i>Therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it,</i> <scripRef id="Lev.xix-p14.7" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.25" parsed="|Lev|18|25|0|0" passage="Le 18:25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>. Note, The tremendous
judgments of God, executed on those that are daringly profane and
atheistical, are intended as warnings to those who profess religion
to take heed of every thing that has the least appearance of, or
tendency towards, profaneness or atheism. Even the ruin of the
Canaanites is an admonition to the Israelites not to do like them.
Nay, to show that not only the Creator is provoked, but the
creation burdened, by such abominations as these, it is added
(<scripRef id="Lev.xix-p14.8" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.25" parsed="|Lev|18|25|0|0" passage="Le 18:25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>), <i>The land
itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.</i> The very ground they went
upon did, as it were, groan under them, and was sick of them, and
not easy till it had discharged itself of these <i>enemies of the
Lord,</i> <scripRef id="Lev.xix-p14.9" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.24" parsed="|Isa|1|24|0|0" passage="Isa 1:24">Isa. i. 24</scripRef>. This
bespeaks the extreme loathsomeness of sin; sinful man indeed
<i>drinks in iniquity like water,</i> but the harmless part of the
creation even heaves at it, and rises against it. Many a house and
many a town have spued out the wicked inhabitants, as it were, with
abhorrence, <scripRef id="Lev.xix-p14.10" osisRef="Bible:Rev.3.16" parsed="|Rev|3|16|0|0" passage="Re 3:16">Rev. iii. 16</scripRef>.
Therefore take heed, saith God, <i>that the land spue not you out
also,</i> <scripRef id="Lev.xix-p14.11" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.28" parsed="|Lev|18|28|0|0" passage="Le 18:28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>. It
was secured to them, and entailed upon them, and yet they must
expect that, if they made the vices of the Canaanites their own,
with their land their fate would be the same. Note, Wicked
Israelites are as abominable to God as wicked Canaanites, and more
so, and will be as soon spued out, or sooner. Such a warning as was
here given to the Israelites is given by the apostle to the Gentile
converts, with reference to the rejected Jews, in whose room they
were substituted (<scripRef id="Lev.xix-p14.12" osisRef="Bible:Rom.11.19" parsed="|Rom|11|19|0|0" passage="Ro 11:19">Rom. xi.
19</scripRef>, &amp;c.); they must take heed of falling <i>after
the same example of unbelief,</i> <scripRef id="Lev.xix-p14.13" osisRef="Bible:Heb.4.11" parsed="|Heb|4|11|0|0" passage="Heb 4:11">Heb.
iv. 11</scripRef>. Apply it more generally; and let it deter us
effectually from all sinful courses to consider how many they have
been the ruin of. Lay the ear of faith to the gates of the
bottomless pit, and hear the doleful shrieks and outcries of damned
sinners, whom earth has spued out and hell has swallowed, that find
themselves undone, for ever undone, by sin; and tremble lest this
be your portion at last. God's threatenings and judgments should
frighten us from sin.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xix-p15">V. The chapter concludes with a sovereign
antidote against this infection: <i>Therefore you shall keep my
ordinance that you commit not any one of these abominable
customs,</i> <scripRef id="Lev.xix-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.30" parsed="|Lev|18|30|0|0" passage="Le 18:30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>.
This is the remedy prescribed. Note, 1. Sinful customs are
abominable customs, and their being common and fashionable does not
make them at all the less abominable nor should we the less
abominate them, but the more; because the more customary they are
the more dangerous they are. 2. It is of pernicious consequence to
admit and allow of any one sinful custom, because one will make way
for many, <i>Uno absurdo dato, mille sequuntur—Admit but a single
absurdity, you invite a thousand.</i> The way of sin is downhill.
3. A close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most
effectual preservative from the infection of gross sin. The more we
taste of the sweetness and feel of the power of holy ordinances the
less inclination we shall have to the forbidden pleasures of
sinners' abominable customs. It is the grace of God only that will
secure us, and that grace is to be expected only in the use of the
means of grace. Nor does God ever leave any to their own hearts'
lusts till they have first left him and his institutions.</p>
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