Levirticus 19:19-29

"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." — Leviticus 19:19-29 KJV.

 

19. Gender with a diverse kind — This would forbid the propagation of mules. Those mentioned in 2 Samuel 13:29; 18:9, and in many other passages, were probably imported, as they evidently were in the reign of Solomon. See 1 Kings 10:25. They are not mentioned in the New Testament. Such a mixture of species confounds the distinctions made by a wise Creator, and contradicts the fundamental notion of holiness, as that of unmingled purity and wholeness of moral character. It is a symbolical prohibition of improper alliances in religious, civil, and social life. A garment mingled — Hebrew, or rather Coptic,  שַֽׁעַטְנֵ֔ז (shaatnez), mixtures. The words of woollen and linen are not in the original, but are supplied from Deuteronomy 22:11, the only other place where שַֽׁעַטְנֵ֔ז is found. It is supposed to signify “carded, spun, and twisted;” and to relate not to fabrics of different materials, which can be distinctly seen, as in the embroidered apparel of the high priest, but to spinning flax and wool with one thread, making linsey woolsey. Spencer conjectures that this mixed garment was forbidden because it was worn by the ancient Tabii, and was associated with their idolatrous ceremonies.

20. A bondmaid — In ancient wars there were but two ways of dealing with the captives, namely, putting them to death or reducing them to slavery. The latter, as the milder of these alternatives, was recognised and greatly mitigated by the Mosaic law. But when Christianity came, whose first evangel was peace on earth, the death blow was given to war and slavery, its hideous progeny. Betrothed to a husband — Rather, to a man, probably a fellow-servant. Unfaithfulness in a free betrothed woman was a capital offence. Deuteronomy 22:23, 24. Not… redeemed — The rabbins specify four modes of redemption: 1.) by money, 2.) by a ticket of freedom, 3.) by testamentary disposition, or, 4.) by an act implying manumission, such as making the slave one’s heir. Freedom — This Hebrew word, חֻפְשָׁ֖ה (chuphshah), occurs nowhere else in the Bible. It probably signifies “free papers,” or a certificate of freedom. She shall be scourged — Hebrew, there shall be a chastisement inflicted, evidently upon both parties. Thus read the Seventy, Vulgate, Syriac, and the Revised Version, and thus says the moral sense of universal humanity. The Authorized Version, which limits the scourging to the weaker criminal — to the tempted — and lets the tempter off with the fine of a ram, is an unpardonable blunder, and a foul blot needlessly cast upon the law of Moses. Not free — There was property invested in the woman, and probably in the man also, which would be destroyed by putting them to death.

21. Trespass offering — See 6-13, notes. Also, chap. v, Introductory. This offering was always special, as 1.) for sacrilege in ignorance, Leviticus 5:15, 16: 2.) for ignorant infraction of some definite prohibition, Leviticus 5:17-19: 3.) for fraud, concealing the truth, or perjury, Leviticus 6:1-6: 4.) at the purification of a leper, Leviticus 14:12, and the polluted Nazarite, Numbers 6:12: and 5.) for the seduction of a betrothed slave. The only exception to this use of אָשָׁם֙ is in Isaiah 53:10.

23. Count the fruit… as uncircumcised — The fruit of the first three years was to be thrown away as unclean or uneatable. Some assign as the ground of this law that the fruit of these years was little in quantity and inferior in quality, and that by breaking off the fruit blossoms the growth of the trees and vines was stimulated and the future fruitfulness greatly increased. But it seems more reasonable to suppose that this requirement rests on the same grounds as the command to offer the firstborn of the flocks and the firstfruits of the harvest as a thank offering to Jehovah for his blessing upon the fruit-trees. The trees planted by the Canaanites, before the conquest by Joshua, were treated as exempt from this rule.

24. All the fruit… shall be holy — This offering, like the firstfruits in general, was given up entirely to Jehovah for his priests, who probably sold it to the Gentiles, since it was not lawful to eat it.

25. That it may yield… the increase — By the divine blessing and by plucking off the blossoms during the first three years. Says Michaelis: “The wisdom of this law is very striking. Every gardener will teach us not to let fruit-trees bear in their earliest years, but to pluck off the blossoms; and for this reason, they will thus thrive the better and bear more abundantly afterwards.”

26. Neither… use enchantment — Literally, Ye shall not whisper, hence, divine, or give oracles. The magical practices against which the Hebrews are here warned were borrowed from the nations around, for they had no magic of their own. Yet from the conquest of Canaan until the destruction of Jerusalem we have constant glimpses of magic practised in secret, not only by the ignoble, but by the great. Whether or not there is any reality in the art, it is clearly incompatible with a calm and firm trust in God alone to order future events for our good. “Israel is directed to the word of revelation (Deuteronomy 18:9-22) in contrast to all heathen mantic, which has searched through heaven and earth to find signs of the divine counsel, but finding no help, falls into dissolution. The exorcism of the dead, and other forms of mantic, are a horror, and astrology is a folly. Isaiah 47:13.” — Oehler. Nor observe times — Practise soothsaying by regarding the aspect of the clouds. Jeremiah (Jeremiah 10:2) exhorts the people not to be “dismayed at the signs of heaven,” at which the heathen are “dismayed.” The practice of regarding some days as lucky and others as unlucky, and of foretelling the future by seeing the new moon over the right or left shoulder, are relics of this species of divination. Keil, with certain rabbins, derives the Hebrew term from ayin — an eye; hence, literally, “to ogle, to bewitch with an evil eye.”

27. Not round the corners of your heads — That is, cut the hair in a circle from temple to temple, as Herodotus relates that some Arabs did in honour of their god. Also, in opposition to heathen usage, the beard must be permitted to grow equally over all the lower part of the face.

28. Cuttings in your flesh — The excitable Oriental nations were accustomed to scratch the arms, hands, and face in their passionate outbursts of mourning for the dead. The practice was associated with idolatrous rites. See Jeremiah 16:6; 41:5, where it was practised notwithstanding this prohibition. See Leviticus 21:5, note. Nor print any marks — Tattooing, almost universal with savages, is still found in Arabia. It mars that which the Creator has made perfect, and thus degrades both the work and the Workman.

29. Do not prostitute — The cursed thirst for gold was the motive which incited fathers to an act so unnatural. This prohibition aims at the practice which prevailed in Phenicia, Babylonia, and Syria, nations soon to be neighbours to Israel. Full of wickedness — Licentiousness is a sin which so corrupts the moral nature that it arouses all the evil passions and breeds all crimes. Herodias was led by evil desire to plot the beheading of John.