Commentaria in Leviticum
Chapter 19. Synopsis of the Chapter
Certain moral and ceremonial precepts are ordained promiscuously, partly recounted before, partly new: such is that concerning not sowing a field with diverse seed, concerning not putting on a garment of wool and linen, verse 19, concerning circumcising the foreskins of trees, verse 23, concerning not cutting the hair round, concerning not shaving the beard, verse 27, concerning not cutting the flesh, verse 28.
1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2. Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: Be ye holy, because I the Lord your God am holy. 3. Let every one fear his mother and his father. Keep my sabbaths. I am the Lord your God. 4. Turn ye not to idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods. I am the Lord your God. 5. If you offer a victim of peace offerings to the Lord, that he may be favourable, 6. you shall eat it on the same day it was offered, and on the next day: and whatsoever shall be left until the third day, you shall burn with fire. 7. If any man eat thereof after two days, he shall be profane, and guilty of impiety, 8. and shall bear his iniquity, because he hath defiled the holy thing of the Lord, and that soul shall perish from among his people. 9. And when thou reapest the corn of thy land, thou shalt not cut down all that is on the face of the earth to the very ground; nor shalt thou gather the ears that remain. 10. Neither shalt thou gather the bunches and grapes that fall down in thy vineyard, but shalt leave them to the poor and the strangers to take. I am the Lord your God. 11. You shall not steal. You shall not lie, neither shall any man deceive his neighbour. 12. Thou shalt not swear falsely by my name, nor profane the name of thy God. I am the Lord. 13. Thou shalt not calumniate thy neighbour, nor oppress him by violence. The wages of him that hath been hired by thee shall not abide with thee until the morning. 14. Thou shalt not speak ill of the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind, but thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, because I am the Lord. 15. Thou shalt not do that which is unjust, nor judge unjustly. Respect not the person of the poor, nor honour the countenance of the mighty. But judge thy neighbour according to justice. 16. Thou shalt not be a detractor nor a whisperer among the people. Thou shalt not stand against the blood of thy neighbour. I am the Lord. 17. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart, but reprove him openly, lest thou incur sin through him. 18. Seek not revenge, nor be mindful of the injury of thy citizens. Thou shalt love thy friend as thyself. I am the Lord. 19. Keep ye my laws. Thou shalt not make thy cattle to gender with beasts of any other kind. Thou shalt not sow thy field with different seeds. Thou shalt not wear a garment that is woven of two sorts. 20. The man that shall lie with a woman that is a bondwoman, and is betrothed to a husband, and not redeemed with a price, nor made free: both shall be scourged, and shall not die, because she was not a free woman. 21. And for his trespass he shall offer a ram to the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony. 22. And the priest shall pray for him, and for his sin before the Lord, and the Lord will be merciful to him, and his sin shall be forgiven him. 23. When you shall be come into the land, and shall have planted in it fruit trees, you shall take away the uncircumcision of them: the fruit shall be unclean to you, neither shall you eat of them. 24. But the fruit of the fourth year shall be all holy, a praise to the Lord. 25. And in the fifth year you shall eat the fruits, gathering the increase of them. I am the Lord your God. 26. You shall not eat with blood. You shall not use divination, nor observe dreams. 27. Neither shall you cut your hair round-wise: nor shave your beard. 28. And for the dead you shall not cut your flesh, neither shall you make any figures or marks in yourselves. I am the Lord. 29. Make not thy daughter a common prostitute, lest the land be defiled, and filled with wickedness. 30. Keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary. I am the Lord. 31. Go not aside to wizards, nor ask anything of soothsayers, to be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God. 32. Rise up before the hoary head, and honour the person of the aged man: and fear the Lord thy God. I am the Lord. 33. If a stranger dwell in your land, and abide among you, do not upbraid him: 34. but let him be among you as one of the same country: and you shall love him as yourselves: for you also were strangers in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. 35. Do not any unjust thing in judgment, in rule, in weight, or in measure. 36. Let the balance be just, and the weights equal, the bushel just, and the sextary equal. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. 37. Keep all my precepts, and all my judgments, and do them. I am the Lord.
2. BE YE HOLY.—“Holy,” that is, clean and pure from all uncleanness of flesh and spirit, from all sin and legal irregularity.
3. LET EVERY ONE FEAR HIS MOTHER—let him reverence her.
4. TURN YE NOT TO IDOLS.—For “idols” the Hebrew is elilim, that is, vanities, vain things and of no account, such as idols are, which bear before them a vain and lying shadow of Divinity; secondly, elilim is a diminutive from el, that is, God, as strong, as if you said: little gods, little strong ones; which in Flemish we say Godekens; thirdly, elil is the same as al el, that is, not God: for idols are not truly gods; fourthly, elil is the same as el lail, that is, God of the night, that is, nocturnal, light-fleeing, who walks in darkness: such are the demons who are worshipped in idols; fifthly, elil alludes to the root ala, that is, he cursed: for idols are things to be execrated. So Oleaster.
NOR MAKE TO YOURSELVES MOLTEN GODS.—It is a synecdoche; for the whole is understood from the part: for by molten gods he means all idols, whether cast and molten, or beaten out, or carved.
Tropologically, the covetous have for gods masses of gold; for these are their molten gods, these are the elilim:
how wise are those who worship not elilim, that is, vanities and false madnesses, but El, that is, the strong and true God, who bestows true riches not in this land of the dying, but in that upper land of the living! Happy they to whom thou alone, O Lord, art hope and possession, and all whose work is prayer, that they may say: “In peace in the selfsame I will sleep and I will rest.”
5. THAT HE MAY BE FAVOURABLE.—The Hebrew is lirtsonechem, that is, according to your will or good pleasure, as if he said: Sacrifice it willingly and voluntarily. So the Chaldee. But our version, the Septuagint and Vatablus take the Hebrew ratson passively, as if to say: to win for you favour, grace, good pleasure and good will with God. See canon 25.
7. IF ANY MAN EAT THEREOF AFTER TWO DAYS (of the pacific victim), HE SHALL BE PROFANE, AND GUILTY OF IMPIETY—because he has violated this sacred ceremony ordained by God, and shall therefore be abominable, as the Chaldee renders it. The Septuagint render it “it is unsacrificeable,” as if to say: such flesh and victim, as profane and polluted, cannot be offered and sacrificed to God.
8. SHALL PERISH—by the sentence of the judge, if the matter is established; but if not, by God punishing and avenging.
9. THOU SHALT NOT CUT DOWN ALL THAT IS ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH TO THE VERY GROUND—as if to say: Thou shalt not reap thy field entirely, but shalt leave some, for example the lower ears lying almost on the ground, in the field to be gathered by the poor. So Abulensis on chapter 22, verse 22; hence the Hebrew is: Thou shalt not finish reaping the corner or edge of thy field, as if to say: Thou shalt not cut all the crops, but shalt leave something at the edge or corner of thy field, that the poor may be able to gather it. So Oleaster and others.
10. NEITHER SHALT THOU GATHER THE BUNCHES (remaining after the vintage) IN THY VINEYARD.—So the Chaldee. The Hebrew is: Thou shalt not make a second gathering of thy vintage; the Septuagint: Thou shalt not gather again thy vineyard; the gleaning of grapes, therefore, like the gleaning of corn, is here commanded to be left to the poor, as also the fruit of the seventh year, of which chapter 25, verse 6.
11. YOU SHALL NOT LIE.—The Hebrew is, you shall not deny, namely the truth, in a deposit, a loan, or any other contract and debt.