Read-Post Through the Bible

[daniel1212av]

(Lev 16)  "And the LORD spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the LORD, and died; {2} And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the veil before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat. {3} Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering. {4} He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with the linen mitre shall he be attired: these are holy garments; therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on. {5} And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering. {6} And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house. {7} And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. {8} And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat. {9} And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD'S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. {10} But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness. {11} And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself: {12} And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the veil: {13} And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not: {14} And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times. {15} Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the veil, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat: {16} And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness. {17} And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he come out, and have made an atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel. {18} And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the LORD, and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about. {19} And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.

{20} And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat: {21} And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: {22} And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness. {23} And Aaron shall come into the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall put off the linen garments, which he put on when he went into the holy place, and shall leave them there: {24} And he shall wash his flesh with water in the holy place, and put on his garments, and come forth, and offer his burnt offering, and the burnt offering of the people, and make an atonement for himself, and for the people. {25} And the fat of the sin offering shall he burn upon the altar. {26} And he that let go the goat for the scapegoat shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward come into the camp. {27} And the bullock for the sin offering, and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall one carry forth without the camp; and they shall burn in the fire their skins, and their flesh, and their dung. {28} And he that burneth them shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp. {29} And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you: {30} For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD. {31} It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever. {32} And the priest, whom he shall anoint, and whom he shall consecrate to minister in the priest's office in his father's stead, shall make the atonement, and shall put on the linen clothes, even the holy garments: {33} And he shall make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar, and he shall make an atonement for the priests, and for all the people of the congregation. {34} And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as the LORD commanded Moses."

[daniel1212av]

This is a most critical chapter in Scripture revealing God's justice and mercy, requiring atonement for sin and providing it, and which was a type of the reality to come, that of Christ, the .”Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (Jn. 1:29). It also helps to answer the objection of modern day Judaism to Heb. 9:22, that “without shedding of blood is no remission.” It is contended that forgiveness was obtained without the shedding of blood, as in Ps. 51:16, 17, and that another means of atonement was provided ( Ex. 30:15, 16; Lv. 5:11-13; Num. 16:46; 25). And in a real sense this is true, as Jesus Himself forgave sins without –  or before –  making an atonement (Lk. 5:18-24), and the New Testament calls for fruit fit for repentance in regard to remission of sins (Mk. 1:4; Acts 26:20).  This is  because all such forgiveness or atonement was done under the rubric of the Day of Atonement,  which  is specifically stated to be " a statute for ever unto you: ... For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD"  (v. 30) Notice it states “all your sins” –  lesser and greater.   "And this shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as the LORD commanded Moses"  (v. 34).

And though things other than blood were sometimes given as a type of atonement, only one thing is uniquely sanctified an the atonement for the sinful souls of men, and that is blood.   "For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul" (Lev 17:11). Sin brings death and life requires blood, thus blood atoned for sin and had no profane usage and could never  be eaten.

But atonement by animal blood was imperfect and temporary,  “"For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins" (Heb 10:4), and the sacrificial system spoke of the “precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you" (1 Pet 1:19-20). In verses 20 –  26 we see the description of the scapegoat, upon whom all the sins of Israel were symbolically laid and taken away, but which, like the sacrificial animals whose blood atoned for sin, was a type of the Messiah to come, as prophesied by Isaiah,    "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. {5} But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. {6} All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isa 53:4-6).  To God be the glory.   

By the descriptions and emphasis of the Day of Atonement i see all forgiveness and satisfactions prior or apart from that – and the work of Christ on the cross which is prefigured – as incomplete, and the post - Temple adaptive theology of Judaism and it's interpretations makes the whole sacrificial system seem rather superfluous.   

However, those who knew the truth and presumed upon God's grace and will-fully, rebelliously (perhaps continually) departed from it were cut off from the congregation and cleansing "Because he hath despised the word of the LORD, and hath broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him." (Num 15:31).

1Sa 3:14  And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever 

"For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, {27} But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. {28} He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: {29} Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?" ; cf. Heb. 10:26-29).


Lev 16:1 - HOW THE HIGH PRIEST MUST ENTER INTO THE HOLY PLACE. (Lev. 16:1-34)

after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the Lord, and died--It is thought by some that this chapter has been transposed out of its right place in the sacred record, which was immediately after the narrative of the deaths of Nadab and Abihu [Lev. 10:1-20]. That appalling catastrophe must have filled Aaron with painful apprehensions lest the guilt of these two sons might be entailed on his house, or that other members of his family might share the same fate by some irregularities or defects in the discharge of their sacred functions. And, therefore, this law was established, by the due observance of whose requirements the Aaronic order would be securely maintained and accepted in the priesthood. - JFB

Lev 16:1-14 -
Without entering into particulars of the sacrifices on the great day of atonement, we may notice that it was to be a statute for ever, till that dispensation be at an end. As long as we are continually sinning, we continually need the atonement. The law of afflicting our souls for sin, is a statue which will continue in force till we arrive where all tears, even those of repentance, will be wiped from our eyes. The apostle observes it as a proof that the sacrifices could not take away sin, and cleanse the conscience from it, that in them there was a remembrance made of sin every year, upon the day of atonement, Heb_10:1, Heb_10:3. The repeating the sacrifices, showed there was in them but a feeble effort toward making atonement; this could be done only by offering up the body of Christ once for all; and that sacrifice needed not to be repeated. –  MHCC

Lev 16:2 - Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the veil, &c.--Common priests went every day into the part of the sanctuary without the veil to burn incense on the golden altar. But none except the high priest was allowed to enter within the veil, and that only once a year with the greatest care and solemnity. This arrangement was evidently designed to inspire a reverence for the most holy place, and the precaution was necessary at a time when the presence of God was indicated by sensible symbols, the impression of which might have been diminished or lost by daily and familiar observation.

I will appear in the cloud--that is, the smoke of the incense which the high priest burnt on his yearly entrance into the most holy place: and this was the cloud which at that time covered the mercy sea  –  JFB

Lev 16:3 -
With a young bullock for a sin-offering - The bullock was presented as a sin-offering for himself, his family, the whole priesthood, and probably the Levites. The ram was for a burnt-offering, to signify that he and his associates were wholly consecrated, and to be wholly employed in this work of the ministry. The ceremonies with which these two sacrifices were accompanied are detailed in the following verses.

Lev 16:4 -
He shall put on the holy linen coat - He was not to dress in his pontifical garments, but in the simple sacerdotal vestments, or those of the Levites, because it was a day of humiliation; and as he was to offer sacrifices for his own sins, it was necessary that he should appear in habits suited to the occasion. Hence he has neither the robe, the ephod, the breastplate, the mitre, etc.; these constituted his dress of dignity as the high priest of God, ministering for others and the representative of Christ: but now he appears, before God as a sinner, offering an atonement for his transgressions, and his garments are those of humiliation.- Clarke

Lev 16:5 -
Take of the congregation - i. e. they were to be supplied at the public cost.
Two kids of the goats - This should be, two shaggy he-goats (Lev_4:23 note), of the same color, size, and value. - Barnes 

[daniel1212av]

Lev 16:5-14 -
The Jewish writers say that for seven days before the day of expiation the high priest was to retire from his own house, and to dwell in a chamber of the temple, that he might prepare himself for the service of this great day. During those seven days he himself did the work of the inferior priests about the sacrifices, incense, etc., that he might have his hand in for this day: he must have the institution read to him again and again, that he might be fully apprised of the whole method. 1. He was to begin the service of the day very early with the usual morning sacrifice, after he had first washed his whole body before he dressed himself, and his hands and feet again afterwards. He then burned the daily incense, dressed the lamps, and offered the extraordinary sacrifice appointed for this day (not here, but Num_29:, a bullock, a ram, and seven lambs, all for burnt-offerings. This he is supposed to have done in his high priest's garments. 2. He must now put off his rich robes, bathe himself, put on the linen garments, and present unto the Lord his own bullock, which was to be a sin-offering for himself and his own house, Lev_16:6. The bullock was set between the temple and the altar, and the offering of him mentioned in this verse was the making of a solemn confession of his sins and the sins of his house, earnestly praying for the forgiveness of them, and this with his hands on the head of the bullock. 3. He must then cast lots upon the two goats, which were to make (both together) one sin-offering for the congregation. One of these goats must be slain, in token of a satisfaction to be made to God's justice for sin, the other must be sent away, in token of the remission or dismission of sin by the mercy of God. Both must be presented together to God (Lev_16:7) before the lot was cast upon them, and afterwards the scape-goat by itself, Lev_16:10. Some think that goats were chosen for the sin-offering because, by the disagreeableness of their smell, the offensiveness of sin is represented: others think, because it was said that the demons which the heathens then worshipped often appeared to their worshippers in the form of goats, God therefore obliged his people to sacrifice goats, that they might never be tempted to sacrifice to goats. 4. The next thing to be done was to kill the bullock for the sin-offering for himself and his house, Lev_16:11. “Now,” say the Jews, “he must again put his hands on the head of the bullock, and repeat the confession and supplication he had before made, and kill the bullock with his own hands, to make atonement for himself first (for how could he make reconciliation for the sins of the people till he was himself first reconciled?) and for his house, not only his own family, but all the priests, who are called the house of Aaron,” Psa_135:19. This charity must begin at home, though it must not end there. The bullock being killed, he left one of the priests to stir the blood, that it might not thicken, and then, 5. He took a censer of burning coals (that would not smoke) in one hand, and a dish full of the sweet incense in the other, and then went into the holy of holies through the veil, and went up towards the ark, set the coals down upon the floor, and scattered the incense upon them, so that the room was immediately filled with smoke. The Jews say that he was to go in side-ways, that he might not look directly upon the ark where the divine glory was, till it was covered with smoke; then he must come out backwards, out of reverence to the divine majesty; and, after a short prayer, he was to hasten out of the sanctuary, to show himself to the people, that they might not suspect that he had misbehaved himself and died before the Lord. 6. He then fetched the blood of the bullock from the priest whom he had left stirring it, and took that in with him the second time into the holy of holies, which was now filled with the smoke of the incense, and sprinkled with his finger of that blood upon, or rather towards, the mercy-seat, once over against the top of it and then seven times towards the lower part of it, Lev_16:14. But the drops of blood (as the Jews expound it) all fell upon the ground, and none touched the mercy-seat. Having done this, he came out of the most holy place, set the basin of blood down in the sanctuary, and went out. –  Henry

Lev 16:11-25 -
It is important, in reference to the meaning of the day of atonement, to observe the order of the rites as they are described in these verses.

Lev_16:12
A censer - See Exo_25:38 note.
The altar before the Lord - i. e. the altar of burnt-offering on which the fire was always burning.

Lev_16:14
The high priest must have come out from the most holy place to fetch the blood, leaving the censer smoking within, and then have entered again within the veil. He sprinkled the blood seven times upon the mercy-seat, on its east side (not “eastward”), and then seven times upon the floor in front of it. If the mercy-seat may be regarded as an altar, the holiest one of the three, on this one occasion in the year atonement was thus made for it, as for the other altars, with sacrificial blood.

Lev_16:15
Having completed the atonement in the holy of holies on behalf of the priests, the high priest had now to do the same thing on behalf of the people.

Lev_16:16
The “holy place” - Here the place within the veil, the holy of holies.
Tabernacle of the congregation - tent of meeting. atonement was now to be made for the tabernacle as a whole. The sense is very briefly expressed, but there seems to be no room to doubt that the high priest was to sprinkle the blood of each of the victims before the altar of incense, as he had done before the mercy-seat within the veil; and also to touch with blood the horns of the altar of incense Exo_30:10.
That remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness - Compare Lev_16:19. The most sacred earthly things which came into contact with the nature of man needed from time to time to be cleansed and sanctified by the blood of the sin-offerings which had been taken into the presence of Yahweh. See Exo_28:38 note.

Lev_16:18
The order of the ceremony required that atonement should first be made for the most holy place with the mercy-seat, then for the holy place with the golden altar, and then for the altar in the court. See Lev_16:20, Lev_16:33. The horns of the brazen altar were touched with the blood, as they were in the ordinary sin-offerings. Lev_4:25, Lev_4:30, Lev_4:34.

Of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat - Some of the blood of the two victims was mingled together in a basin.

Lev_16:21
Confess over him - The form of confession used on this occasion in later times was: “O Lord, Thy people, the house of Israel, have transgressed, they have rebelled, they have sinned before Thee. I beseech Thee now absolve their transgressions, their rebellion, and their sin that they have sinned against Thee, as it is written in the law of Moses Thy servant, that on this day he shall make atonement for you to cleanse you from all your sins, and ye shall be clean.”
A fit man - literally, a timely man, or a man at hand. Tradition says that the man was appointed for this work the year before.

Lev_16:22
Unto a land not inhabited - Unto a place cut off, or (as in the margin) a place “of separation.”
It is evident that the one signification of the ceremony of this goat was the complete removal of the sins which were confessed over him. No symbol could so plainly set forth the completeness of Yahweh’s acceptance of the penitent, as a sin-offering in which a life was given up for the altar, and yet a living being survived to carry away all sin and uncleanness. –  Barnes

[daniel1212av]

Lev 16:20-28 -
The high priest having presented unto the Lord the expiatory sacrifices, by the sprinkling of their blood, the remainder of which, it is probable, he poured out at the foot of the brazen altar, 1. He is next to confess the sins of Israel, with both his hands upon the head of the scape-goat (Lev_16:20, Lev_16:21); and whenever hands were imposed upon the head of any sacrifice it was always done with confession, according as the nature of the sacrifice was; and, this being a sin-offering, it must be a confession of sin. In the latter and more degenerate ages of the Jewish church they had a set form of confession prepared for the high priest, but God here prescribed none; for it might be supposed that the high priest was so well acquainted with the state of the people, and had such a tender concern for them, that he needed not any form. The confession must be as particular as he could make it, not only of all the iniquities of the children of Israel, but all their transgressions in all their sins. In one sin there may be many transgressions, from the several aggravating circumstances of it; and in our confessions we should take notice of them, and not only say, I have sinned, but, with Achan, “Thus and thus have I done.” By this confession he must put the sins of Israel upon the head of the goat; that is, exercising faith upon the divine appointment which constituted such a translation, he must transfer the punishment incurred from the sinners to the sacrifice, which would have been but a jest, nay, an affront to God, if he himself had not ordained it. 2. The goat was then to be sent away immediately by the hand of a fit person pitched upon for the purpose, into a wilderness, a land not inhabited; and God allowed them to make this construction of it, that the sending away of the goat was the sending away of their sins, by a free and full remission: He shall bear upon him all their iniquities, Lev_16:22. The losing of the goat was a sign to them that the sins of Israel should be sought for, and not found, Jer_50:20. The later Jews had a custom to tie one shred of scarlet cloth to the horns of the goat and another to the gate of the temple, or to the top of the rock where the goat was lost, and they concluded that if it turned white, as they say it usually did, the sins of Israel were forgiven, as it is written, Though your sins have been as scarlet, they shall be as wool: and they add that for forty years before the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans the scarlet cloth never changed colour at all, which is a fair confession that, having rejected the substance, the shadow stood them in no stead. 3. The high priest must then put off his linen garments in the tabernacle, and leave them there, the Jews say never to be worn again by himself or any other, for they made new ones every year; and he must bathe himself in water, put on his rich clothes, and then offer both his own and the people's burnt-offerings, Lev_16:23, Lev_16:24. When we have the comfort of our pardon God must have the glory of it. If we have the benefit of the sacrifice of atonement, we must not grudge the sacrifices of acknowledgment. And, it should seem, the burning of the fat of the sin-offering was deferred till now (Lev_16:25), that it might be consumed with the burnt-offerings. 4. The flesh of both those sin-offerings whose blood was taken within the veil was to be all burnt, not upon the altar, but at a distance without the camp, to signify both our putting away sin by true repentance, and the spirit of burning, and God's putting it away by a full remission, so that it shall never rise up in judgment against us. 5. He that took the scape-goat into the wilderness, and those that burned the sin-offering, were to be looked upon as ceremonially unclean, and must not come into the camp till they had washed their clothes and bathed their flesh in water, which signified the defiling nature of sin; even the sacrifice which was but made sin was defiling: also the imperfection of the legal sacrifices; they were so far from taking away sin that even they left some stain upon those that touched them. 6. When all this was done, the high priest went again into the most holy place to fetch his censer, and so returned to his own house with joy, because he had done his duty, and died not. –  Henry

Lev 16:15-34 -
Here are typified the two great gospel privileges, of the remission of sin, and access to God, both of which we owe to our Lord Jesus. See the expiation of guilt. Christ is both the Maker and the Matter of the atonement; for he is the Priest, the High Priest, that makes reconciliation for the sins of the people. And as Christ is the High Priest, so he is the Sacrifice with which atonement is made; for he is all in all in our reconciliation to God. Thus he was figured by the two goats. The slain goat was a type of Christ dying for our sins; the scapegoat a type of Christ rising again for our justification. The atonement is said to be completed by putting the sins of Israel upon the head of the goat, which was sent away into a wilderness, a land not inhabited; and the sending away of the goat represented the free and full remission of their sins. He shall bear upon him all their iniquities. Thus Christ, the Lamb of God, takes away the sin of the world, by taking it upon himself, Joh_1:29. The entrance into heaven, which Christ made for us, was typified by the high priest's entrance into the most holy place. See Heb_9:7. The high priest was to come out again; but our Lord Jesus ever lives, making intercession, and always appears in the presence of God for us. Here are typified the two great gospel duties of faith and repentance. By faith we put our hands upon the head of the offering; relying on Christ as the Lord our Righteousness, pleading his satisfaction, as that which alone is able to atone for our sins, and procure us a pardon. By repentance we afflict our souls; not only fasting for a time from the delights of the body, but inwardly sorrowing for sin, and living a life of self-denial, assuring ourselves, that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. By the atonement we obtain rest for our souls, and all the glorious liberties of the children of God. Sinner, get the blood of Christ effectually applied to thy soul, or else thou canst never look God in the face with any comfort or acceptance. Take this blood of Christ, apply it by faith, and see how it atones with God. –  MHCC

Lev 16:29-34 - this shall be a statute for ever unto you, that in the seventh month ye shall afflict your souls--This day of annual expiation for all the sins, irreverences, and impurities of all classes in Israel during the previous year, was to be observed as a solemn fast, in which "they were to afflict their souls"; it was reckoned a sabbath, kept as a season of "holy convocation," or, assembling for religious purposes. All persons who performed any labor were subject to the penalty of death [Exo_31:14-15; Exo_35:2]. It took place on the tenth day of the seventh month, corresponding to our third of October; and this chapter, together with Lev_23:27-32, as containing special allusion to the observances of the day, was publicly read. The rehearsal of these passages appointing the solemn ceremonial was very appropriate, and the details of the successive parts of it (above all the spectacle of the public departure of the scapegoat under the care of its leader) must have produced salutary impressions both of sin and of duty that would not be soon effaced. –  JFB

[daniel1212av]

(Lev 17)  "And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, {2} Speak unto Aaron, and unto his sons, and unto all the children of Israel, and say unto them; This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded, saying, {3} What man soever there be of the house of Israel, that killeth an ox, or lamb, or goat, in the camp, or that killeth it out of the camp, {4} And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer an offering unto the LORD before the tabernacle of the LORD; blood shall be imputed unto that man; he hath shed blood; and that man shall be cut off from among his people: {5} To the end that the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices, which they offer in the open field, even that they may bring them unto the LORD, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest, and offer them for peace offerings unto the LORD. {6} And the priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar of the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and burn the fat for a sweet savour unto the LORD. {7} And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring. This shall be a statute for ever unto them throughout their generations. {8} And thou shalt say unto them, Whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers which sojourn among you, that offereth a burnt offering or sacrifice, {9} And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer it unto the LORD; even that man shall be cut off from among his people. {10} And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people. {11} For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. {12} Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood. {13} And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust. {14} For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off. {15} And every soul that eateth that which died of itself, or that which was torn with beasts, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger, he shall both wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even: then shall he be clean. {16} But if he wash them not, nor bathe his flesh; then he shall bear his iniquity."
 

[daniel1212av]

Leviticus 17 -
The people are commanded to bring all the cattle they intend to kill to the door of the tabernacle, where they are to be made an offering to the Lord; and those who disobey are to be cut off, Lev_17:1-5. The priest is to sprinkle the blood, Lev_17:6. They are forbidden to offer sacrifices to devils, Lev_17:7. The injunction to bring their offerings to the door of the tabernacle is repeated, Lev_17:8, Lev_17:9. The eating of blood is solemnly forbidden, Lev_17:10. It is the life of the beast, and is given to make an atonement for their souls, Lev_17:11, Lev_17:12. If a bird or beast be taken in hunting, its blood must be poured out and covered with dust, for the reasons before assigned, Lev_17:13, Lev_17:14. None shall eat an animal that dies of itself, or is torn by beasts; if any act otherwise he must bathe his clothes and his flesh, or bear his iniquity, Lev_17:15, Lev_17:16.

Leviticus 17 -
II. Laws for the Sanctification of Israel in the Covenant - Fellowship of Its God - Leviticus 17-25
Holiness of Conduct on the Part of the Israelites - Leviticus 17-20

The contents of these four chapters have been very fittingly summed up by Baumgarten in the following heading: “Israel is not to walk in the way of the heathen and of the Canaanites, but in the ordinances of Jehovah,” as all the commandments contained in them relate to holiness of life.

Holiness of Food. - The Israelites were not to slaughter domestic animals as food either within or outside the camp, but before the door of the tabernacle, and as slain-offerings, that the blood and fat might be offered to Jehovah. They were not to sacrifice any more to field-devils (Lev_17:3-7), and were to offer all their burnt-offerings or slain-offerings before the door of the tabernacle (Lev_17:8,_ 9); and they were not to eat either blood or carrion (Lev_17:10-16). These laws are not intended simply as supplements to the food laws in ch. 11; but they place the eating of food on the part of the Israelites in the closest relation with their calling as the holy nation of Jehovah, on the one hand to oppose an effectual barrier to the inclination of the people to idolatrous sacrificial meals, on the other hand to give a consecrated character to the food of the people in harmony with their calling, that it might be received with thanksgiving and sanctified with prayer (1Ti_4:4-5). – K+D

ev 17:1-9 -
This statute obliged all the people of Israel to bring all their sacrifices to God's altar, to be offered there. And as to this matter we must consider,

I. How it stood before. 1. It was allowed to all people to build altars, and offer sacrifices to God, where they pleased. Wherever Abraham had a tent he built an altar, and every master of a family was a priest to his own family, as Job_1:5. 2. This liberty had been an occasion of idolatry. When every man was his own priest, and had an altar of his own, by degrees, as they became vain in their imaginations, they invented gods of their own, and offered their sacrifices unto demons, Lev_17:7. The word signifies rough or hairy goats, because it is probable that in the shape the evil spirits often appeared to them, to invite their sacrifices and to signify their acceptance of them. For the devil, ever since he became a revolter from God and a rebel against him, has set up for a rival with him, and coveted to have divine honours paid him: he had the impudence to solicit our blessed Saviour to fall down and worship him. The Israelites themselves had learned in Egypt to sacrifice to demons. And some of them, it should seem, practised it even since the God of Israel had so gloriously appeared for them, and with them. They are said to go a whoring after these demons; for it was such a breach of their covenant with God as adultery is of the marriage covenant: and they were as strongly addicted to their idolatrous worships, and as hard to be reclaimed from them, as those that have given themselves over to fornication, to work all uncleanness with greediness; and therefore it is with reference to this that God calls himself a jealous God.

II. How this law settled it. 1. Some think that the children of Israel were by this law forbidden, while they were in the wilderness, to kill any beef, or mutton, or veal, or lamb, or goat, even for their common eating, but at the door of the tabernacle, where the blood and the fat were to be offered to God upon the altar, and the flesh to be returned back to the offerer to be eaten as a peace-offering, according to the law. And the statute is so worded (Lev_17:3, Lev_17:4) as to favour this opinion, for it speaks generally of killing any ox, or lamb, or goat. The learned Dr. Cudworth puts this sense upon it, and thinks that while they had their tabernacle so near them in the midst of their camp they ate no flesh but what had first been offered to God, but that when they were entering Canaan this constitution was altered (Deu_12:21), and they were allowed to kill their beasts of the flock and herd at home, as well as the roebuck and the hart; only thrice a year they were to see God at his tabernacle, and to eat and drink before him there. And it is probable that in the wilderness they did not eat much flesh but that of their peace-offerings, preserving what cattle they had, for breed, against they came to Canaan; therefore they murmured for flesh, being weary of manna; and Moses on that occasion speaks as if they were very sparing of the flocks and the herds, Num_11:4, Num_11:22. Yet it is hard to construe this as a temporary law, when it is expressly said to be a statute for ever (Lev_17:7); and therefore, 2. It should seem rather to forbid only the killing of beasts for sacrifice any where but at God's altar. They must not offer sacrifice, as they had done, in the open field (Lev_17:5), no, not to the true God, but it must be brought to the priest, to be offered on the altar of the Lord: and the solemnity they had lately witnessed, of consecrating both the priests and the altar, would serve for a good reason why they should confine themselves to both these that God had so signally appointed and owned. This law obliged not only the Israelites themselves, but the proselytes or strangers that were circumcised and sojourned among them, who were in danger of retaining an affection to their old ways of worship. If any should transgress this law, and offer sacrifice any where but at the tabernacle, (1.) The guilt was great: Blood shall be imputed to that man; he hath shed blood, Lev_17:4. Though it was but a beast he had killed, yet, killing it otherwise than God had appointed, he was looked upon as a murderer. It is by the divine grant that we have the liberty to kill the inferior creatures, to the benefit of which we are not entitled, unless we submit to the limitations of it, which are that it be not done either with cruelty or with superstition, Gen_9:3, Gen_9:4. Nor was there ever any greater abuse done to the inferior creatures than when they were made either false gods or sacrifices to false gods, to which the apostle perhaps has special reference when he speaks of the vanity and bondage of corruption to which the creature was made subject, Rom_8:20, Rom_8:21, and compare Rom_1:23, Rom_1:25. Idolatrous sacrifices were looked upon, not only as adultery, but as murder: he that offereth them is as if he slew a man, Isa_66:3. (2.) The punishment should be severe: That man shall be cut off from among his people. Either the magistrate must do it if it were manifest and notorious, or, if not, God would take the work into his own hands, and the offender should be cut off by some immediate stroke of divine justice. The reasons why God thus strictly ordered all their sacrifices to be offered at one place were, [1.] For the preventing of idolatry and superstition. That sacrifices might be offered to God, and according to the rule, and without innovations, they must always be offered by the hands of the priests, who were servants in God's house, and under the eye of the high priest, who was ruler of the house, and took care to see every thing done according to God's ordinance. [2.] For the securing of the honour of God's temple and altar, the peculiar dignity of which would be endangered if they might offer their sacrifices any where else as well as there. [3.] For the preserving of unity and brotherly love among the Israelites, that meeting all at one altar, as all the children of the family meet daily at one table, they might live and love as brethren, and be as one man, of one mind in the Lord.

III. How this law was observed. 1. While the Israelites kept their integrity they had a tender and very jealous regard to this law, as appears by their zeal against the altar which was erected by the two tribes and a half, which they would by no means have left standing if they had not been satisfied that it was never designed, nor should ever be used, for sacrifice or offering, Jos_22:12, etc. 2. The breach of this law was for many ages the scandalous and incurable corruption of the Jewish church, witness that complaint which so often occurs in the history even of the good kings, Howbeit the high places were not taken away; and it was an inlet to the grossest idolatries. 3. Yet this law was, in extraordinary cases, dispensed with. Gideon's sacrifice (Jdg_6:26), Manoah's (Jdg_13:19), Samuel's (1Sa_7:9; 1Sa_9:13; 1Sa_11:15), David's (2Sa_24:18), and Elijah's (1Ki_18:23), were accepted, though not offered at the usual place: but these were all either ordered by angels or offered by prophets; and some think that after the desolation of Shiloh, and before the building of the temple, while the ark and altar were unsettled, it was more allowable to offer sacrifice elsewhere. – Henry

[daniel1212av]

IV. How the matter stands now, and what use we are to make of this law. 1. It is certain that the spiritual sacrifices we are now to offer are not confined to any one place. Our Saviour has made this clear (Joh_4:21), and the apostle (1Ti_2:8 ), according to the prophecy, that in every place incense should be offered, Mal_1:11. We have now no temple nor altar that sanctifies the gift, nor does the gospel unity lie in one place, but in one heart, and the unity of the spirit. 2. Christ is our altar, and the true tabernacle (Heb_8:2; Heb_13:10); in him God dwells among us, and it is in him that our sacrifices are acceptable to God, and in him only, 1Pe_2:5. To set up other mediators, or other altars, or other expiatory sacrifices, is, in effect, to set up other gods. He is the centre of unity, in whom all God's Israel meet. 3. Yet we are to have respect to the public worship of God, not forsaking the assemblies of his people, Heb_10:25. The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob, and so should we; see Eze_20:40. Though God will graciously accept our family offerings, we must not therefore neglect the door of the tabernacle. – Henry

Lev 17:10-16 -
We have here, I. A repetition and confirmation of the law against eating blood. We have met with this prohibition twice before in the levitical law (Lev_3:17; Lev_7:26), besides the place it had in the precepts of Noah, Gen_9:4. But here, 1. The prohibition is repeated again and again, and reference had to the former laws to this purport (Lev_17:12): I said to the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood; and again (Lev_17:14), You shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh. A great stress is laid upon it, as a law which has more in it than at first view one would think. 2. It is made binding, not only on the house of Israel, but on the strangers that sojourned among them (Lev_17:10), which perhaps was one reason why it was thought advisable, for a time, to forbid blood to the Gentile converts, Act_15:29. 3. The penalty annexed to this law is very severe (Lev_17:10): I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, if he do it presumptuously, and will cut him off; and again (Lev_17:14), He shall be cut off. Note, God's wrath will be the sinner's ruin. Write that man undone, for ever undone, against whom God sets his face; for what creature is able to confront the Creator? 4. A reason is given for this law (Lev_17:11): because it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul; and therefore it was appointed to make atonement with, because the life of the flesh is the blood. The sinner deserved to die; therefore the sacrifice must die. Now, the blood being so the life that ordinarily beasts were killed for man's use by the drawing out of all their blood, God appointed the sprinkling or pouring out of the blood of the sacrifice upon the altar to signify that the life of the sacrifice was given to God instead of the sinner's life, and as a ransom or counter-price for it; therefore without shedding of blood there was no remission, Heb_9:22. For this reason they must eat no blood, and, (1.) It was then a very good reason; for God would by this means preserve the honour of that way of atonement which he had instituted, and keep up in the minds of the people a reverent regard to it. The blood of the covenant being then a sensible object, no blood must be either eaten or trodden under foot as a common thing, as they must have no ointment nor perfume like that which God ordered them to make for himself. But, (2.) This reason is now superseded, which intimates that the law itself was ceremonial, and is now no longer in force: the blood of Christ who has come (and we are to look for no other) is that alone which makes atonement for the soul, and of which the blood of the sacrifices was an imperfect type: the coming of the substance supersedes the shadow. The blood of beasts is no longer the ransom, but Christ's blood only; and therefore there is not now that reason for abstaining from blood which there was then, and we cannot suppose it was the will of God that the law should survive the reason of it. The blood, provided it be so prepared as not to be unwholesome, is now allowed for the nourishment of our bodies, because it is no longer appointed to make an atonement for the soul. (3.) Yet it has still useful significancy. The life is in the blood; it is the vehicle of the animal spirits, and God would have his people to regard the life even of their beasts, and not to be cruel and hard-hearted, not to take delight in any thing that is barbarous. They must not be a blood-thirsty people. The blood then made atonement figuratively, now the blood of Christ makes atonement really and effectually; to this therefore we must have a reverent regard, and not use it as a common thing, for he will set his face against those that do so, and they shall be cut off, Heb_10:29.

II. Some other precepts are here given as appendages to this law, and hedges about it, 1. They must cover the blood of that which they took in hunting, Lev_17:13. They must not only not eat it, but must give it a decent burial, in token of some mystery which they must believe lay hidden in this constitution. the Jews look upon this as a very weighty precept and appoint that the blood should be covered with these words, Blessed be he that hath sanctified us by his precepts, and commanded us to cover blood. 2. They must not eat that which died of itself or was torn of beasts (Lev_17:15), for the blood was either not at all, or not regularly, drawn out of them. God would have them to be curious in their diet, not with the curiosity that gratifies the sensual appetite, but with that which checks and restrains it. God would not have his children to eat every thing that came in their way with greediness, but to consider diligently what was before them, that they might learn in other things to ask questions for conscience' sake. Those that flew upon the spoiled sinned, 1Sa_14:32, 1Sa_14:33. If a man did, through ignorance or inconsideration, eat the flesh of any beast not duly slain, he must wash himself and his clothes, else he bore his iniquity, Lev_17:15, Lev_17:16. The pollution was ceremonial, so was the purification from it; but if a man slighted the prescribed method of cleansing, or would not submit, he thereby contracted moral guilt. See the nature of a remedial law: he that obeys it has the benefit of it; he that does not, not only remains under his former guilt, but adds to that guilt of contemning the provisions made by divine grace for his relief, and sins against the remedy. – Henry

[daniel1212av]

(Lev 18)  "And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, {2} Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the LORD 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 am the LORD your God. {5} Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD. {6} None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness: I am the LORD. {7} The nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover: she is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness. {8} The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father's nakedness. {9} The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father, or daughter of thy mother, whether she be born at home, or born abroad, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover. {10} The nakedness of thy son's daughter, or of thy daughter's daughter, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover: for theirs is thine own nakedness. {11} The nakedness of thy father's wife's daughter, begotten of thy father, she is thy sister, thou shalt not uncover her nakedness. {12} Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's sister: she is thy father's near kinswoman. {13} Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother's sister; for she is 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 is thine aunt. {15} Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy daughter in law: she is thy son's wife; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness. {16} Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother's wife: it is 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; for they are her near kinswomen: it is wickedness. {18} Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister, to vex her, to uncover her nakedness, beside the other in her life time. {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 the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD. {22} Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is 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 is 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 any of these abominations; neither 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 were 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 were before you. {29} For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people. {30} Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God."

[daniel1212av]

Leviticus 18 -
The people are commanded to avoid the doings of the Egyptians and Canaanites, Lev_18:1-3. They are to do God’s judgments, and to keep his ordinances, that they may live, Lev_18:4, Lev_18:5. Marriages with those who are near of kin are prohibited, Lev_18:6. None to marry with his mother or step-mother, Lev_18:7, Lev_18:8; with his sister or step-sister, Lev_18:9; with his grand-daughter, Lev_18:10; nor with the daughter of his step-mother, Lev_18:11; nor with his aunt, by father or mother, Lev_18:12, Lev_18:13; nor with his uncle’s wife, Lev_18:14; nor with his daughter-in-law, Lev_18:15; nor sister-in-law, Lev_18:16; nor with a woman and her daughter, son’s daughter, or daughter’s daughter, Lev_18:17; nor with two sisters at the same time, Lev_18:18. Several abominations prohibited, Lev_18:19-23, of which the Canaanites, etc., were guilty, and for which they were cast out of the land, Lev_18:24, Lev_18:25. The people are exhorted to avoid these abominations, lest they be treated as the ancient inhabitants of the land were treated, and so cast out, Lev_18:26-28. Threatenings against the disobedient, Lev_18:29, and promises to the obedient, Lev_18:30.

Lev 18:2 -
I am, the Lord your God - The frequent repetition of this formula in these parts of the Law may be intended to keep the Israelites in mind of their covenant with Yahweh in connection with the common affairs of life, in which they might be tempted to look at legal restrictions in a mere secular light. – Barnes

I am the Lord your God--This renewed mention of the divine sovereignty over the Israelites was intended to bear particularly on some laws that were widely different from the social customs that obtained both in Egypt and Canaan; for the enormities, which the laws enumerated in this chapter were intended to put down, were freely practised or publicly sanctioned in both of those countries; and, indeed, the extermination of the ancient Canaanites is described as owing to the abominations with which they had polluted the land. – JFB

v. 5: “Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them..” "For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them."  (Rom 10:5).  "For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. {11} But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith." (Gal 3:10-11). and yet such faith, if it is true saving faith, “worketh by love (Eph. 5:6), manifesting “things that accompany salvation” (Heb. 5:9).
Lev 18:1-30 -
Here is a law against all conformity to the corrupt usages of the heathen. Also laws against incest, against brutal lusts, and barbarous idolatries; and the enforcement of these laws from the ruin of the Canaanites. God here gives moral precepts. Close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most effectual preservative from gross sin. The grace of God only will secure us; that grace is to be expected only in the use of the means of grace. Nor does He ever leave any to their hearts' lusts, till they have left him and his services. – MHCC

This chapter is especially pertinent to today as it mainly deals with sexual sins, and it's prohibition of homosexual relations in particular it much attacked. The term “uncover the nakedness” is a euphemism for sexual relations, and incest as well as some other forms of illicit sexual relations are hereby prohibited.  Marriage between close blood kin was originally not sinful, as Cain likely married one of his sisters (Adam and Eve had “sons and daughters: Gn. 5:4), and Noah's family would have intermarried, and even Moses parents, Aaron and Miriam were nephew and aunt (Exod. 6:20). But one reason (if not more) that laws against incest were given is could  be because the effects of the fall were progressive, and thus the birth and health defects that are too often the result on interbreeding were not realized until later.

Yet laws against incest are not restricted to those of actual blood relations, in which marriage is not allowed, but these laws also forbids sexual relations between in laws that are do not share the same blood, but to which, in some cases such as “thy brother's wife,” marriage was possible. Adultery is also prohibited, as well as relations with a women during her period of purification. But two kinds of illicit sexual relations in which marriage is never provided or sanctioned is that of men with men (and by implication, women with women) and between  man or women with an animal (vs. 21, 22). 

The laws given to Israel were to make a a holy nation in contrast to those around them which overall practiced the things forbidden by the law. It is therfore sad to see that America, which had many founders that sought to make it a holy nation, has  now accounted the holy, just and good law of  God a strange thing (Hos. 8:12) and put off the LORD Jesus to make increasing provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof  (contra Rm. 13:14), and is therefore reaping the corruption thereof. Both homosexuality and bestiality are now tolerated, and  the former  increasingly and lustfully promoted to young (even very young) and old alike. And as such specific activity – which proceeds from idolatry –   signifies the latter stage of degeneration (Rm. 1:19-26) going before to judgment (Jude v. 7), then it is time to awake  and realize that America's end as a great nation is now in sight, and that the time to call men to repentance and turn to Christ is indeed short!

While marriage to beasts is not presently promoted, homosexual marriage is now demanded (“civil unions,” as reprehensible and grievous as they be, do not suffice the promoters of this sin, but as what is sanctified by the “temple” sets the standard for the land, so like as the original sodomites – temple prostitutes  – “sanctified” such a “vile a thing” (Jdg. 19:24), so church sanctioned homosexual marriage is sought as in order to legitimize the unholy perversion of homosexuality).  But while heterosexual relations are sanctified by God by His providence of marriage (which is always between a male husband and female wife0, in no place is marriage provided nor sanctioned by God,  “who made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? (Jesus in Mt. 19:4, 5 quoting Gn. 2:24).

Knowing that the Bible is the ultimate authority that forbids such, many “homo-apologists” have engaged in much effort to disallow the Scriptural prohibitions of such,  but which deceptive attempts of eisegesis are themselves sin. Having encountered such, by the grace of God  i have taken to refute many such here: http://peacebyjesus.witnesstoday.org/homosexual_refuted.html. See also  http://peacebyjesus.witnesstoday.org/FivePoems.html

As concerns the above issue in this chapter, we see that these commands are not simply to the Levites, but to all “the children of Israel” (v. 1), and that the reason the LORD gave them laws that set them apart form the pagans was not simply for purposes of distinction, like “team colors,” but because as the prohibited activities were inherently sinful, delerious to mankind. In addition, the prohibition against man laying with men as with women did not simply condemn  lustful activities but forbid all homosexual erotic activities, even if, as in the case of homosexual fornication which is likewise prohibited, consensual love was involved.   And that these laws were not in the same category as typological ceremonial and dietary laws which are classified under the New Testament (Gal. 4:10l Col. 2:16; Heb. 9:9), but belonged to the moral class, is confirmed in the rest of Scripture including the New Testament, in which fornication as defined by the law is held as sin. And disallowing Lv. 18:22 would also sanction the rest. Finally, as God did not make man to be joined with men sexually or romantically (but made male and female uniquely compatible and complementary to each other), all homosexual erotic activity is unholy fornication, and a perverted kind. Yet as “such were some of you” – even in the early church – (1Cor. 6:9-11) so salvation and deliverance is offered to whosoever will choose Christ over sin, and so receive and thus follow Him.  Thanks be to God, holy and true.
[/b]

[daniel1212av]

Lev 18:2 -
I am, the Lord your God - The frequent repetition of this formula in these parts of the Law may be intended to keep the Israelites in mind of their covenant with Yahweh in connection with the common affairs of life, in which they might be tempted to look at legal restrictions in a mere secular light. – Barnes

I am the Lord your God--This renewed mention of the divine sovereignty over the Israelites was intended to bear particularly on some laws that were widely different from the social customs that obtained both in Egypt and Canaan; for the enormities, which the laws enumerated in this chapter were intended to put down, were freely practised or publicly sanctioned in both of those countries; and, indeed, the extermination of the ancient Canaanites is described as owing to the abominations with which they had polluted the land. – JFB

v. 5: “Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them..” "For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them."  (Rom 10:5).  "For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. {11} But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith." (Gal 3:10-11). and yet such faith, if it is true saving faith, “worketh by love (Eph. 5:6), manifesting “things that accompany salvation” (Heb. 5:9).
 
Vs. 6, 7: “...to uncover their nakedness...”
gotcha146 is called uncovering the nakedness of another (Eze_16:36; Eze_23:18).   The prohibition relates to both married and unmarried intercourse, though the reference is chiefly to the former (see Lev_18:18; Lev_20:14, Lev_20:17, Lev_20:21). Intercourse is forbidden (1) with a mother, (2) with a step-mother, (3) with a sister or half-sister, (4) with a granddaughter, the daughter of either son or daughter, (5) with the daughter of a step-mother, (6) with an aunt, the sister of either father or mother, (7) with the wife of an uncle on the father's side, ( with a daughter-in-law, (9) with a sister-in-law, or brother's wife, (10) with a woman and her daughter, or a woman and her granddaughter, and (11) with two sisters at the same time. No special reference is made to gotcha146 with (a) a daughter, (b) a full sister, (c) a mother-in-law; the last, however, which is mentioned in Deu_27:23 as an accursed crime, is included here in No. 10, and the second in No. 3, whilst the first, like parricide in Exo_21:15, is not expressly noticed, simply because the crime was regarded as one that never could occur. Those mentioned under Nos. 1, 2, 3, 8, and 10 were to be followed by the death or extermination of the criminals (Lev_20:11-12, Lev_20:14, Lev_20:17), on account of their being accursed crimes (Deu_23:1; Deu_27:20, Deu_27:22-23). On the other hand, the only threat held out in the case of the connection mentioned under Nos. 6, 7, and 9, was that those who committed such crimes should bear their iniquity, or die childless (Lev_20:19-21). The cases noticed under Nos. 4 and 5 are passed over in ch. 20, though they no doubt belonged to the crimes which were to be punished with death, and No. 11, for which no punishment was fixed, because the wrong had been already pointed out in Lev_18:18.

Note: The marriage laws and customs were much more lax among the Gentiles. With the Egyptians it was lawful to marry sisters and half-sisters (Diod. Sic. i. 27), and the licentiousness of the women was very great among them (see at Gen_39:6.). With the Persians marriage was allowed with mother, daughter, and sister (Clem. Al. strom. iii. p. 431; Eusebii praep. ev. vi. 10); and this is also said to have been the case with the Medians, Indians, and Ethiopians, as well as with the Assyrians (Jerome adv. Jovin. ii. 7; Lucian, Sacriff. 5); whereas the Greeks and Romans abhorred such marriages, and the Athenians and Spartans only permitted marriages with half-sisters (cf. Selden de jure nat. et gent. v. 11, pp. 619ff.). The ancient Arabs, before the time of Mohammed, were very strict in this respect, and would not allow of marriage with a mother, daughter, or aunt on either the father's or mother's side, or with two sisters at the same time. The only cases on record of marriage between brothers and sisters are among the Arabs of Marbat (Seetzen, Zach's Mon. Corresp. Oct. 1809). This custom Mohammed raised into a law, and extended it to nieces, nurses, foster-sisters, etc. (Koran, Sure iv. 20ff.). – K+D

Lev 18:6 -
Any that is near of kin - כל שאר בשרו  col shear besaro, any remnant of his flesh, i.e., to any particularly allied to his own family, the prohibited degrees in which are specified from the 7th to the 17th verse (Lev_18:7-17) inclusive. Notwithstanding the prohibitions here, it must be evident that in the infancy of the world, persons very near of kin must have been joined in matrimonial alliances; and that even brothers must have matched with their own sisters. This must have been the case in the family of Adam. In these first instances necessity required this; when this necessity no longer existed, the thing became inexpedient and improper for two reasons:

1. That the duties owing by nature to relatives might not be confounded with those of a social or political kind; for could a man be a brother and a husband, a son and a husband, at the same time, and fulfill the duties of both? Impossible.

2.   That by intermarrying with other families, the bonds of social compact might be strengthened and extended, so that the love of our neighbor, etc., might at once be felt to be not only a maxim of sound policy, but also a very practicable and easy duty; and thus feuds, divisions, and wars be prevented. – Clarke

Lev. 18:9  the daughter of thy father, or the daughter of thy mother; whether she is a sister both by father and mother's side, or whether only by the fathers side and not the mother's, as Sarah was to Abraham, Gen_20:12; or only by the mother's side and not the father's: – Gill

(Deu 27:22)  "Cursed be he that lieth with his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen."

Lev 18:8 -
Intercourse with a father's wife, i.e., with a step-mother, is forbidden as uncovering the father's nakedness; since a father's wife stood in blood-relationship only to the son whose mother she was. But for the father's sake her nakedness was to be inaccessible to the son, and uncovering it was to be punished with death as incest (Lev_20:11; Deu_27:20). By the “father's wife” we are probably to understand not merely his full lawful wife, but his concubine also, since the father's bed was defiled in the latter case no less than in the former (Gen_49:4), and an accursed crime was committed, the punishment of which was death. At all events, it cannot be inferred from Lev_19:20-22 and Exo_21:9, as Knobel supposes, that a milder punishment was inflicted in this case.

Lev 18:9 -
By the sister, the daughter of father or mother, we are to understand only the step-or half-sister, who had either the same father or the same mother as the brother had. The clause, “whether born at home or born abroad,” does not refer to legitimate or illegitimate birth, but is to be taken as a more precise definition of the words, daughter of thy father or of thy mother, and understood, as Lud. de Dieu supposes, as referring to the half-sister “of the first marriage, whether the father's daughter left by a deceased wife, or the mother's daughter left by a deceased husband,” so that the person marrying her would be a son by a second marriage. gotcha146 with a half-sister is described as חסד in Lev_20:17, and threatened with extermination. This word generally signifies sparing love, favour, grace; but here, as in Pro_14:34, it means dishonour, shame, from the Piel חסּד, to dishonour.

Lev 18:10 -
The prohibition of marriage with a granddaughter, whether the daughter of a son or daughter, is explained in the words, “for they are thy nakedness,” the meaning of which is, that as they were directly descended from the grandfather, carnal intercourse with them would be equivalent to dishonouring his own flesh and blood. - K+D

[daniel1212av]

Lev 18:6-18 -
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 not so much as named among the Gentiles, 1Co_5:1. 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,

I. That which is forbidden as to the relations here specified is approaching to them to uncover their nakedness, Lev_18:6.
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 honourable in all, 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 we are members one of another. 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,
2.
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 Satan do not get advantage against them, for he is a very subtle enemy, and seeks all occasions against us.

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 (Lev_18:16) 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 (Deu_25:5), 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 (Lev_18:18) which forbids a man to take a wife to her sister supposes a connivance at polygamy, as some other laws then did (Exo_21:10; Deu_21:15), 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. - Henry

[daniel1212av]

Lev 18:19-23 -
Prohibition of other kinds of unchastity and of unnatural crimes. - Lev_18:19 prohibits intercourse with a woman during her uncleanness. טמאה נדּת signifies the uncleanness of a woman's hemorrhage, whether menstruation or after childbirth, which is called in Lev_12:7; Lev_20:18, the fountain of bleeding. The guilty persons were both of them to be cut off from their nation according to Lev_20:18, i.e., to be punished with death.

Lev_18:20
“To a neighbour's wife thou shalt not give שׁכבתּך thy pouring as seed” (i.e., make her pregnant), “to defile thyself with her,” viz., by the emissio seminis (Lev_15:16-17), a defilement which was to be punished as adultery by the stoning to death of both parties (Lev_20:10; Deu_22:22, cf. Joh_9:5).

Lev_18:21
To bodily unchastity there is appended a prohibition of spiritual whoredom. “Thou shalt not give of thy seed to cause to pass through (sc., the fire; Deu_18:10) for Moloch.” המּלך is constantly written with the article: it is rendered by the lxx ἄρχων both here and in Lev_20:2., but ὁ Μολόχ βασιλεύς in other places (2Ki_23:10; Jer_32:35). Moloch was an old Canaanitish idol, called by the Phoenicians and Carthaginians Melkarth, Baal-melech, Malcom, and other such names, and related to Baal, a sun-god worshipped, like Kronos and Saturn, by the sacrifice of children. It was represented by a brazen statue, which was hollow and capable of being heated, and formed with a bull's head, and arms stretched out to receive the children to be sacrificed. From the time of Ahaz children were slain at Jerusalem in the valley of Ben-hinnom, and then sacrificed by being laid in the heated arms and burned (Eze_16:20-21; Eze_20:31; Jer_32:35; 2Ki_23:10; 2Ki_16:3; 2Ki_17:17; 2Ki_21:6, cf. Psa_106:37-38). Now although this offering of children in the valley of Ben-hinnom is called a “slaughtering” by Ezekiel (Eze_16:21), and a “burning through (in the) fire” by Jeremiah (Jer_7:31), and although, in the times of the later kings, children were actually given up to Moloch and burned as slain-offerings, even among the Israelites; it by no means follows from this, that “passing through to Moloch,” or “passing through the fire,” or “passing through the fire to Moloch” (2Ki_23:10), signified slaughtering and burning with fire, though this has been almost unanimously assumed since the time of Clericus. But according to the unanimous explanation of the Rabbins, fathers, and earlier theologians, “causing to pass through the fire” denoted primarily going through the fire without burning, a februation, or purification through fire, by which the children were consecrated to Moloch; a kind of fire-baptism, which preceded the sacrificing, and was performed, particularly in olden time, without actual sacrificing, or slaying and burning. For februation was practised among the most different nations without being connected with human sacrifices; and, like most of the idolatrous rites of the heathen, no doubt the worship of Moloch assumed different forms at different times and among different nations. If the Israelites had really sacrificed their children to Moloch, i.e., had slain and burned them, before the time of Ahaz, the burning would certainly have been mentioned before; for Solomon had built a high place upon the mountain to the east of Jerusalem for Moloch, the abomination of the children of Ammon, to please his foreign wives (1Ki_11:7 : see the Art. Moloch in Herzog's Cycl.). This idolatrous worship was to be punished with death by stoning, as a desecration of the name of Jehovah, and a defiling of His sanctuary (Lev_20:3), i.e., as a practical contempt of the manifestations of the grace of the living God (Lev_20:2-3).

Lev_18:22-23
Lastly, it was forbidden to “lie with mankind as with womankind,” i.e., to commit the crime of paederastia, that sin of Sodom (Gen_19:5), to which the whole of the heathen were more or less addicted (Rom_1:27), and from which even the Israelites did not keep themselves free (Jdg_19:22.); or to “lie with any beast.” “Into no beast shalt thou give thine emission of seed,...and a woman shall not place herself before a beast to lie down thereto.” רבע = רבץ “to lie,” is the term used particularly to denote a crime of this description (Lev_20:13 and Lev_20:15, Lev_20:16, cf. Exo_22:18). Lying with animals was connected in Egypt with the worship of the goat; at Mendes especially, where the women lay down before he-goats (Herodotus, 2, 46; Strabo, 17, p. 802). Aelian (nat. an. vii. 19) relates an account of the crime being also committed with a dog in Rome; and according to Sonnini, R. 11, p. 330, in modern Egypt men are said to lie even with female crocodiles. - K+D

Lev 18:24-30 -
In the concluding exhortation God pointed expressly to the fact, that the nations which He was driving out before the Israelites (the participle משׁלּח is used of that which is certainly and speedily coming to pass) had defiled the land by such abominations as those, that He had visited their iniquity and the land had spat out its inhabitants, and warned the Israelites to beware of these abominations, that the land might not spit them out as it had the Canaanites before them. The pret. ותּקא (Lev_18:25) and קאה (Lev_18:28) are prophetic (cf. Lev_20:22-23), and the expression is poetical. The land is personified as a living creature, which violently rejects food that it dislikes. “Hoc enim tropo vult significare Scriptura enormitatem criminum, quod scilicet ipsae creaturae irrationales suo creatori semper obedientes et pro illo pugnantes detestentur peccatores tales eosque terra quasi evomat, cum illi expelluntur ab ea” (C. a Lap.). - K+D

[daniel1212av]

(Lev 19)  "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 vineyard; 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 stumblingblock 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 neighbour: 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.

{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 my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: I am the LORD."

[daniel1212av]

[Mon. 7-9-07]
Lev 19:1 -
Holiness of Behaviour Towards God and Man. - However manifold the commandments, which are 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 Lev_19:2 in the words, “Ye shall be holy, for I am holy, Jehovah your God.” The absence of any strictly logical arrangement is to be explained chiefly from the nature of the object, and the great variety of circumstances occurring in life which no casuistry can fully exhaust, so that any attempt to throw light upon these relations must consist more or less of the description of a series of concrete events. –  K+D

Lv. 1-3:  "Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy" (1 Pet 1:16; cf  Lv. 11:4, 45). As in the 10 commandments (Ex. 20), the command to honor, to obey parents is the first priority after rendering the same to God. Thus rebellion against God is followed by rebellion against parents, and progressively against all just authority. This will become evenmore manifest in America in the days to come.

Lev 19:1-37 -
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, Lev_19:2.

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, Lev_19:3. 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, Lev_19:4. 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, Lev_19:9. 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, Lev_19:11. 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, Lev_19:12.

We must not detain what belongs to another, particularly the wages of the hireling, Lev_19:13.

We must be tender of the credit and safety of those that cannot help themselves, Lev_19:14. 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, Lev_19:15.

To be a tale-bearer, and to sow discord among neighbours, is as bad an office as a man can put himself into. [v. 16]

We are to rebuke our neighbour in love, Lev_19:17. 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, Lev_19:18. 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.

Lev_19:31 : 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, Lev_19:32. 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, Lev_19:33. 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, Lev_19:35.

[v. 37] 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. – MHCC
–----
Lev 19:5 - And if ye offer a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the Lord,.... Which were of three sorts, a thanksgiving, a vow, and a voluntary offering, Lev_7:11; the latter seems to be here meant, as appears by what follows: – Gill
–----
Lev 19:5-8 - if ye offer a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the Lord, ye shall offer it at your own will--Those which included thank offerings, or offerings made for vows, were always freewill offerings. Except the portions which, being waved and heaved, became the property of the priests (see Lev. 3:1-17), the rest of the victim was eaten by the offerer and his friend, under the following regulations, however, that, if thank offerings, they were to be eaten on the day of their presentation; and if a freewill offering, although it might be eaten on the second day, yet if any remained of it till the third day, it was to be burnt, or deep criminality was incurred by the person who then ventured to partake of it. The reason of this strict prohibition seems to have been to prevent any mysterious virtue being superstitiously attached to meat offered on the  – JFB
–-
Lev 19:8 - Therefore everyone that eateth it shall bear his iniquity,.... Be chargeable with sin, be pronounced guilty, and endure the punishment, which is cutting off, Lev_7:20,

because he hath profaned the hallowed thing of the Lord; the flesh of the peace offerings, by keeping it longer than the fixed time for it, when it was liable to corruption and putrefaction; for after the inwards and the fat of them were offered, as Aben Ezra says, the flesh was holy, and to be eaten as an holy thing, and within the time the law required, or otherwise it was profaned and polluted:

and that soul shall be cut off from among his people; be deprived of his civil and religious privileges, or be punished by the hand of the civil magistrate, or else by the immediate hand of God. – Gill
–---
V. 9: Here is a precept to “Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost” (Jn. 6:12). Christians in particular are to be “good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1Pt. 4:10), which includes   trying to not let things go to waste (Prv. 21:20).  And how much more eternal souls.

Lev 19:9 -
Lev 19:9-10 - And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field--The right of the poor in Israel to glean after reapers, as well as to the unreaped corners of the field, was secured by a positive statute; and this, in addition to other enactments connected with the ceremonial law, formed a beneficial provision for their support. At the same time, proprietors were not obliged to admit them into the field until the grain had been carried off the field; and they seem also to have been left at liberty to choose the poor whom they deemed the most deserving or needful (Rth_2:2, Rth_2:8 ). This was the earliest law for the benefit of the poor that we read of in the code of any people; and it combined in admirable union the obligation of a public duty with the exercise of private and voluntary benevolence at a time when the hearts of the rich would be strongly inclined to liberality. – JFB

[daniel1212av]

Lev_19:11-13 – The Israelites were not to steal (Exo_20:15); nor to deny, viz., anything entrusted to them or found (Lev_6:2.); nor to lie to a neighbour, i.e., with regard to property or goods, for the purpose of overreaching and cheating him; nor to swear by the name of Jehovah to lie and defraud, and so profane the name of God (see Exo_20:7, Exo_20:16); nor to oppress and rob a neighbour (cf. Lev_6:2), by the unjust abstraction or detention of what belonged to him or was due to him, - for example, they were not to keep the wages of a day-labourer over night, but to pay him every day before sunset (Deu_24:14-15).

Lev_19:14 – They were not to do an injury to an infirm person: neither to ridicule or curse the deaf, who could not hear the ridicule or curse, and therefore could not defend himself (Psa_38:15); nor “to put a stumblingblock before the blind,” i.e., to put anything in his way over which he might stumble and fall (compare Deu_27:18, where a curse is pronounced upon the man who should lead the blind astray). But they were to “fear before God,” who hears, and sees, and will punish every act of wrong (cf. Lev_19:32, Lev_25:17, Lev_25:36, Lev_25:43).

Lev_19:15 – In judgment, i.e., in the administration of justice, they were to do no unrighteousness: neither to respect the person of the poor (πρόσωπον λαμβάνειν, to do anything out of regard to a person, used in a good sense in Gen_19:21, in a bad sense here, namely, to act partially from unmanly pity); nor to adorn the person of the great (i.e., powerful, distinguished, exalted), i.e., to favour him in a judicial decision (see at Exo_23:3).

Lev_19:16 – They were not to go about as calumniators among their countrymen, to bring their neighbour to destruction (Eze_22:9); nor to set themselves against the blood of a neighbour, i.e., to seek his life. רכיל does not mean calumny, but, according to its formation, a calumniator (Ewald, §149e).

Lev_19:17 – They were not to cherish hatred in their hearts towards their brother, but to admonish a neighbour, i.e., to tell him openly what they had against him, and reprove him for his conduct, just as Christ teaches His disciples in Mat_18:15-17, and “not to load a sin upon themselves.” חטא עליו נשׁא does not mean to have to bear, or atone for a sin on his account (Onkelos, Knobel, etc.), but, as in Lev_22:9; Num_18:32, to bring sin upon one's self, which one then has to bear, or atone for; so also in Num_18:22, חטא שׂאת, from which the meaning “to bear,” i.e., atone for sin, or suffer its consequences, was first derived.  – K+D

V. 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” The second of the two greatest commandments (Mt. 22:36-40). But in order to do so rightly we must be obeying the first commandment to love God supremely with all we've got. This is set in contrast with bearing grudges against one another, which is tolerated much in the church today and is often a principal cause of our ineffectiveness, as well as a root that has infected many (Heb. 12:15). But it is also and even more wrong to to charge God with unfairness, and “Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker!” (Jer. 45:9), which i often have wrongly done in my trial.

V. 19: “Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind:” This is part of the continuing “Doctrine of separation” seen throughout the Bible, and the word “kind” is key here, as God made species distinct, and though DNA is so specific that even a rat and a mouse, nor man and apes cannot procreate, they will try, and LORD forbids us making things conducive to them having relations, or purposely trying to breed one species with another. I am unsure whether the command here would prohibit gendering a male donkey with a female horse (= mule), but if so it would likely be because their offspring is incapable of procreation, which God commands (Gn. 1:22). This command is certainly relevant today, as “mad scientists” seek to put together what God has placed asunder. This also applies to same gender human sexual relations.

However, the larger and primary application of this is to being “unequally yoked together” (2Cor. 6:14) spiritually and ideologically. True ministers of the gospel are commanded to "Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee" (1 Tim 4:16), for doctrine manifests God, "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them" (Eph 5:11). This not only applies to not running after the things and the ethos of this world but to having no fellowship with those that preach a false gospel, such as foster faith in oneself and or power of one's group/church for salvation, and which applies to every organization from Jehovah's Witnesses to Mormons to Rome. We can disagree about peripheral issues, from musical instruments in worship to the time of the rapture, and still enjoy essential fellowship of the Spirit (Phil. 2:1), providing the hearts involved honestly want Christ to be exalted and are not driven by a wrong spirit. And even then the more unified one is in all doctrine – which is Biblical goal (1Cor. 1:10; Phil. 1:27) – then the greater the effectual unity. But ecumenism that includes as brethren those who preach a false gospel – who the Bible declares are accursed (Gal. 1:6-9) – or who deny other main and plain things (or add thereto), is sin.

V. 19b: “neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee.” One reason could be that as wool shrinks much in hot liquid, it could result in parts of their body being exposed that are to be kept covered. 

Lev 19:19 - Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender - This was prohibited, partly to restrain the curiosity and boldness of men, who might attempt to amend or change the works of God, partly that by the restraint here laid even upon brute - creatures men might be taught to abhor all unnatural lusts, partly to teach the Israelites to avoid mixtures with other nations, either in marriage or in religion, which also may be signified by the following prohibitions. - Wesley

Lev 19:19- 
Here is, I. A law against mixtures, Lev_19:19. God in the beginning made the cattle after their kind (Gen_1:25), and we must acquiesce in the order of nature God hath established, believing that is best and sufficient, and not covet monsters. Add thou not unto his works, lest he reprove thee; for it is the excellency of the work of God that nothing can, without making it worse, be either put to it or taken from it, Ecc_3:14. As what God has joined we must not separate, so what he has separated we must not join. The sowing of mingled corn and the wearing of linsey-woolsey garments are forbidden, either as superstitious customs of the heathen or to intimate how careful they should be not to mingle themselves with the heathen nor to weave any of the usages of the Gentiles into God's ordinances. Ainsworth suggests that it was to lead Israel to the simplicity and sincerity of religion, and to all the parts and doctrines of the law and gospel in their distinct kinds. As faith is necessary, good works are necessary, but to mingle these together in the cause of our justification before God is forbidden,  – Henry

Lev 19:19 - Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind--This prohibition was probably intended to discourage a practice which seemed to infringe upon the economy which God has established in the animal kingdom.

thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed--This also was directed against an idolatrous practice, namely, that of the ancient Zabians, or fire-worshippers, who sowed different seeds, accompanying the act with magical rites and invocations; and commentators have generally thought the design of this and the preceding law was to put an end to the unnatural lusts and foolish superstitions which were prevalent among the heathen. But the reason of the prohibition was probably deeper: for those who have studied the diseases of land and vegetables tell us, that the practice of mingling seeds is injurious both to flowers and to grains. "If the various genera of the natural order Gramineæ, which includes the grains and the grasses, should be sown in the same field, and flower at the same time, so that the pollen of the two flowers mix, a spurious seed will be the consequence, called by the farmers chess. It is always inferior and unlike either of the two grains that produced it, in size, flavor, and nutritious principles. Independently of contributing to disease the soil, they never fail to produce the same in animals and men that feed on them" [WHITLAW].

neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee--Although this precept, like the other two with which it is associated, was in all probability designed to root out some superstition, it seems to have had a further meaning. The law, it is to be observed, did not prohibit the Israelites wearing many different kinds of cloths together, but only the two specified; – JFB