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CHAP. XVIII.

In this chapter ceremonial precepts are particularly explained and enforced.

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AND the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto

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the children of Israel, and say unto them, I [am] the LORD your God, who therefore have authority to command what I please, and whom you are bound absolutely to obey. 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 4 in their ordinances. Ye shall do my judgments and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I [am] the LORD your 5 God. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do sincerely, he shall live in them, shall have life and prosperity: I [am] the LORD.

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None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover [their] nakedness; that is, shall not contract 7 marriage with such : I [am] the LORD. The nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover she [is] thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nak edness; that is, thou shalt not marry thy own mother. The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover; that is, thou shalt not marry thy mother in law, or step mother: it 9 [is] thy father's nakedness. The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father by another wife, or daughter of thy mother by another husband, [whether she be] born at home, or born abroad, [evep] their nakedness thou shalt not 10 uncover. The nakedness of thy son's daughter, or of thy daughter's daughter, [even] their nakedness thou shalt not 11 uncover for their's [is] thine own nakedness. 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 13 she [is] thy father's near kinswoman. Thou shalt not un

cover the nakedness of thy mother's sister: she [is] thy 14 mother's near kinswoman. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's brother, thou shalt not approach to his 15 wife she [is] thine aunt. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy daughter in law: she [is] thy son's wife; thou 16 shalt not uncover her nakedness. Thou shalt not uncover

the nakedness of thy brother's wife: it [is] thy brother's 17 nakedness. 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 nak edness; [for] they [are] her near kinswomen: it [is] wickedness.

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Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister, one wife to another, to vex [her,] to uncover her nakedness, beside the other in her life [time.]

Also thou shalt not approach unto a woman to uncover her nakedness, as long as she is put apart for her uncleanness, which was to be seven days. This was to be punished with death when wilfully done, (ch. xx. 18.) God having forbidden those crimes to which the Egyptians were addicted, now proceeds 20 to those that were most common among the Canaanites. Moreover, thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbour's wife, to defile thyself with her; which was punished with death, (ch. 21 xx. 10.) And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through [the fire] to Molech,* neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God, not dishonour it by departing from God to serve such an idol, in such an abominable manner: I [am] the LORD. 22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it [is] 23 abomination. 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, I am now about to punish it for these iniqui. 26 ties; and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants. 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 27 you (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 29 spued out the nations that [were] before you. For whoso

ever 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 come mitted before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein; I [am] the LORD your God.

*This Molech was the same as Baal, see Jer. xix 5. In the worship of this idol, children were sometimes burned to death; sometimes they passed only between two fires, for a sign of consecration or purgation; and it was reckoned a piece of witchcraft to preserve them from a violent death. This was spiritual whoredom, ch. xx. 5. and therefore here forbidden among the sorts of whoredom and incest."

CHAP. XIX.

A repetition of sundry laws, partly ceremonial, and partly moral.

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ND the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, speak to the elders, and let them speak to the people, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy, separated from all the aforementioned defilements, and entirely consecrated to my service; be pure in heart, and active in obeying all my commands: for I the LORD your 3 God [am] holy. Ye shall fear every man his mother, (she is first mentioned because most apt to be despised,) and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I [am] the LORD your God.

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Turn ye not unto idols, neither to worship them, nor to look at them, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I, the selfexistent and'eternal Jehovah, [am] the LORD your God.

And if ye offer a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD, ye shall offer it at your own will, what you think proper, but in the way which God hath prescribed, and observing his di6 rections. It shall be eaten the same day ye offer it, and on' the morrow and if aught remain until the third day, it shall 7 be burnt in the fire: And if it be eaten at all on the third day, 8 it [is] abominable; it shall not be accepted. Therefore

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[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.

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, what drops down by chance. 10 And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather [every] grape of thy vineyard, single grapes that do not grow in clusters; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger I [am] the LORD your God, who gave you this land, and require this charity, and that you be ready to pity and do good.

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Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another upon any occasion whatever, and particularly, not there12 by to defraud another. And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God, by rash, vain, unadvised, needless, or false oaths, or any other abuse of my name, by using it in common discourse, whereby it might come into contempt; for I [am] the LORD, I am JEHOVAH, and expect you to reverence my awful and venerable name.

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Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour by craft, neither rob [him] by violence: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning, because he is poor, 14 and wants it for support. Thou shalt not curse the deaf, who Plato ordered such to pay double, and Job esteemed it his honour that he had never broken this law.

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cannot hear, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, to make them fall, but shalt fear thy God: I [am] the LORD, who see and hear what injury is done to these unhappy persons, though they do not; and I will reckon for them, and plead their cause.

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; you are not to regard the qualifications or condi 16 tions of men, but the merits of the cause. Thou shalt not go up and down [as] a talebearer among thy people, to pick up stories here and there, and carry them about the country, to thy neighbour's hurt ;* neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour, not do any thing against his life, particularly, not appear as a false accuser or witness in courts of justice; I [am] the LORD.

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Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, whatever scorn, wrath, or loss it may expose thee to; therefore reprove him when he doeth wrong, and do not suffer sin upon him, be not 18 accessary to his sin and ruin. 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. This advice and command was given by our Lord himself, Matt. v. 43. and he tells us who is meant by our neighbour, Matt. xxii. 39.

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. These things are mentioned, to teach them to abominate the mixtures forbidden in the foregoing chapter, and to deter them from the idolatry of those who used to propagate heterogeneous cattle in honour of their gods. 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; (the Hebrew signifies, there shall be a scourging, probably of both of them; they shall not be put to death, because she was not 21 free, for then the punishment was death. 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 32 offering. 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.

This is a very vile, but too common practice. One evil tongue hurts three per sens, say the Jews, the speaker, the hearer, and the person spoken of.

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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, as unclean: three years shall it be as uncircumcised unto you: it shall not be eaten of; in opposition to the custom of the heathen, who consecrated the fruit 24 to their gods. But in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy, given to the priests as first fruits, (and part of them was given to the poor widows, fatherless, and strangers, Deut. xiv. 28, 29.) to praise the LORD [withal,] by whose goodness and 25 power the trees bring forth fruit to perfection. And in the fifth eat of the fruit thereof, that it may yield unto year shall ye the increase thereof abundantly, as a reward of your obedience: I [am] the LORD your God.

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Ye shall not eat [any thing] with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, whereby persons pretend to discover hidden things by the superstitious use of words and ceremonies, or by observation of the flight of birds, or other contingencies; nor observe times, not count one day lucky, another unlucky, in 27 which to begin any work. Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard, not shave off the hair, in token of excessive mourning, as the 28 heathen did. Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you, as tokens of idolatry or superstition: I [am] the LORD.

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Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore, as the gentiles frequently did, in token of honour to some of their idols; all those things were practised by the heathen, and therefore wisely forbidden to the Israelites; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness.

Ye shall keep my sabbaths free from ceremonial pollutions, and reverence my sanctuary, attend there with serious, humble dispositions of mind; I [am] the LORD, who inhabit it, and 31 expect all my worshippers to be devout and holy. Regard not them that pretend to have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, those who pretend to tell fortunes, or foretell future events, to be defiled by them: I [am] the LORD your God; nothing can happen without me, and none shall be applied to but

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Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, or elder, persons eminent for wisdom, learning, and piety, and fear thy God; I [am] the LORD, who require this at thy hand.*

And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall 84 not vex or oppress him. [But] the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou

Religion is a friend to good manners; the fear of God teaches all social duty; and Juvenal, an heathen, says, the neglect of this reverence to age and wisdom is a great Wickedness, and punishable with death.

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