Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 19:23
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.
23. The fruit tree in its first three years is to be regarded as a male infant during his first eight days (Dillm.), i.e. as unconsecrated. Probably the object was to allow the tree time to become accustomed to the soil, and so to postpone the enjoyment of the fruit till both quantity and quality had had time to develop. This agrees with the direction in Lev 19:24 that in the fourth year it should be dedicated to the Lord. Of the manner in which this dedication was to be carried out we are ignorant, but the hallowing itself was on the same principle as that of the firstborn of mankind and of cattle (Exo 13:2). For a festive celebration, apparently of the kind contemplated in this v., cp. Jdg 9:27 (with R.V. mg.).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Fruit … uncircumcised – i. e. unfit for presentation to Yahweh. In regard to its spiritual lesson, this law may be compared with the dedication of the first-born of beasts to Yahweh Exo 13:12; Exo 34:19. Its meaning in a moral point of view was plain, and tended to illustrate the spirit of the whole Law.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Lev 19:23-25
In the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy.
The law regarding fruit-trees
The explanation of this peculiar regulation is to be found in a special application of the principle which rules throughout the law–that the firstfruit shall always be consecrated unto God. But in this case the application of the principle is modified by the familiar fact that the fruit of a young tree, for the first few years of its bearing, is apt to be imperfect; it is not yet sufficiently grown to yield its best possible product. Because of this, in those years it could not be given to the Lord, for He must never be served with any but the best of everything; and thus until the fruit should reach its best, so as to be worthy of presentation of the Lord, the Israelite was meanwhile debarred from using it. During these three years the trees are said to be as uncircumcised; i.e., they were to be regarded as in a condition analogous to that of the child who has not yet been consecrated, by the act of circumcision, to the Lord. In the fourth year, however, the trees were regarded as having now so grown as to yield fruit in perfection; hence the principle of the consecration of the firstfruit now applies, and all the fourth years product is given to the Lord, as an offering of thankful praise to Him whose power in nature is the secret of all growth, fruitfulness, and increase. The moral teaching of this law is very plain. It teaches, as in all analogous cases, that God is always to be served before ourselves; and that not grudgingly, as if an irksome tax were to be paid to the Majesty of Heaven, but in the spirit of thanksgiving and praise to Him, as the Giver of every good and perfect gift. It further instructs us, in this particular instance, that the people of God are to recognise this as being true even of all those good things which come to us under the forms of products of nature. (S. H. Kellogg, D. D.)
Early fruits
1. A merciful providence for posterity; for if a tree be suffered to bear too soon, as the first, second, or third year, it doth not usually endure long, but decayeth sooner than otherwise it would, the fruit draweth away the nourishment which should make the root and tree strong.
2. It restrained covetousness in the Jews, and taught them how God hateth scraping all to mans self for his time, and nothing caring for posterity. Such are they that will take the heart out of the land before their term end, cut down the wood, fruit-trees, hedges, destroy the game, and do all the mischief they can and dare do. The Lord seeth them and thinketh of them, though they little think of themselves and of their malicious actions.
3. It shadowed how little worth the fruits of youth usually are, either to the Church or commonwealth, till years have bred strength of judgment, and made them both see and do what is profitable. Even as uncircumcised fruits, so are the actions of youth, and therefore David prayed for pardon in this case. (Bp. Babington.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 23. Three years shall it be as uncircumcised] I see no great reason to seek for mystical meanings in this prohibition. The fruit of a young tree cannot be good; for not having arrived at a state of maturity, the juices cannot be sufficiently elaborated to produce fruit excellent in its kind. The Israelites are commanded not to eat of the fruit of a tree till the fifth year after its planting: in the three first years the fruit is unwholesome; in the fourth year the fruit is holy, it belongs to God, and should be consecrated to him, Le 19:24; and in the fifth year and afterward the fruit may be employed for common use, Le 19:25.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
As uncircumcised, i.e. as unclean, not to be eaten, but cast away, and counted abominable, as the foreskins are.
Three years. This precept was serviceable,
1. To the trees themselves, which grew the better and faster, being early stript of those fruits, which otherwise would have derived to themselves and drawn away much more of the strength from the root and tree.
2. To men, both because the fruit then was waterish, undigested, and unwholesome, and because hereby men were taught to bridle their appetites; a lesson of great use and absolute necessity in a godly life.
3. To God, who required and deserved the first-fruits, which must be also of the best, and so they could not be in this time.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
23-25. ye shall count the fruitthereof as uncircumcised; three years . . . it shall not be eatenof“The wisdom of this law is very striking. Everygardener will teach us not to let fruit trees bear in their earliestyears, but to pluck off the blossoms: and for this reason, that theywill thus thrive the better, and bear more abundantly afterwards. Thevery expression, ‘to regard them as uncircumcised,’ suggests thepropriety of pinching them off; I do not say cutting them off,because it is generally the hand, and not a knife, that is employedin this operation” [MICHAELIS].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And when ye shall come into the land,…. The land of Canaan, whither they were now going:
and shall have planted all manner of trees for food; such that brought forth fruit that was eatable, as figs, grapes, olives, c. so that all such trees as did not bear fruit fit for man’s food came not under the following law nor such as grew up of themselves and were not planted; nor such as were planted for any other use than for fruit; nor such as were planted by the Canaanites before the Israelites came into their land; for so say the Jews, what were planted for an hedge or for timber are free from the law; and add, at the time our fathers came into the land, what they found planted was free, what they planted, though they had not subdued it (the land), was bound:
then ye shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised; not fit to be eaten, but to be taken off and cast away as the foreskin of the flesh:
three years it shall be as uncircumcised unto you, it shall not be eaten of; which was a provision partly for the benefit of fruit trees newly planted, whose fruit, when they first bear, gardeners frequently take off immediately, and do not suffer them to grow to any perfection, by which means a tree will grow stronger, and will bear more and better fruit another year; and partly for the health of man, which physical reason is given by Aben Ezra, who observes that the fruit that comes unto the third year there is no profit by it, but is hurtful; and chiefly because, as it is proper that the first fruits should be given to the Lord before any is eaten, so it is right that it should be given seasonably, and when it is brought to its perfection: three years were to be reckoned, as Jarchi and Ben Gersom say, from the time the tree was planted.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Verses 23-25:
This law prohibited the eating of fruit from the young trees of an orchard for the first three years. The fruit was considered “uncircumcised.” It was not to be eaten until sanctified by offering the firstfruits to the Lord. This occurred the fourth year, when all the fruit the trees produced was brought to the tabernacle in a consecration rite.
This symbolizes the principle that the means of man’s livelihood is to be consecrated by acknowledging God’s prior claim of ownership, and man’s stewardship.
A practical reason could be that the trees should be allowed to mature fully before being put to full practical use.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
23. And when ye shall come. There seems to me no question but that the circumcision of trees as well as of men appertains to the First Commandment, not only that the Jews might see a symbol of their own adoption in the very trees, but that they might learn that it was permitted to none but the children of God to feed on their fruit; and also that whatsoever the earth produces is in a manner profane, until it is purified. For surely by this ceremony was set forth what Paul teaches, that all things are “sanctified by the word of God, and prayer,” (1Ti 4:5😉 not that anything is in itself impure, but because the earth has contracted pollution from the corruption of man, it is just, as regards us, that the harmless fruits also should be accounted to be in uncircumcision. In sum, God would raise up a wall whereby He might separate His people from the Gentiles, and at the same time admonish them that a legitimate use of those things which the earth produced could not be made by the sons of Adam, except by special privilege. But the similitude of uncircumcision, until the year appointed for their being circumcised, was a very appropriate one, that they might acknowledge the fruits of their trees to be pure for them by the same right whereby they were consecrated as God’s peculiar people. But, lest the three years’ unproductiveness should press heavily upon them, he promises them compensation from the future blessing of God; for, if they should abstain from eating the unclean fruit, a larger produce was to be expected in future.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(23) And when ye shall come.Rather, And when ye be come, as the Authorised Version renders the same phrase in Lev. 14:34. This is one of the four instances in Leviticus of a law being given prospectively having no immediate bearing on the condition of the people of Israel (viz., Lev. 14:34; Lev. 19:23; Lev. 23:10; Lev. 25:2), and though all the four enactments are introduced by the same phrase, they are translated in three different ways in the Authorised Version:When ye be come into the land, in Lev. 14:34; Lev. 23:10; When ye shall come into the land, in Lev. 19:23; and When ye come into the land, in Lev. 25:2; thus giving the impression as if the phrases in the original were different in the different passages. In legislative formulae it is of importance to exhibit uniformly the same phraseology in a translation.
Shall have planted all manner of trees for food.From this declaration the administrators of the law during the second Temple inferred that the trees planted by the inhabitants of Canaan before the Israelites took possession of it, were exempt from this law, and that it only applies to fruit-trees intended for food, such as citron-trees, olive-trees, fig-trees, vines, &c. Trees which bore fruit unfit for human food, which grew up by themselves, or which were planted for hedges or timber, did not come under this law.
Then ye shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised.Literally, then shall ye circumcise its uncircumcision, its fruit, that is, cut off or pinch off its uncircumcision, which the text itself explains as its fruit. The metaphorical use of circumcision is thus explained by the text itself: it denotes the fruit as disqualified or unfit. In Lev. 26:41 the same metaphor is used for the heart which is stubborn or not ripe to listen to the Divine admonitions. And in other passages of Scripture it is used with reference to lips (Exo. 6:12; Exo. 6:30) and ears (Jer. 6:10) which do not perform their proper functions.
Three years shall it be.The cutting off of the fruit is to be repeated every year during three successive years. As the produce of the earliest year when let to grow upon the trees is both stunted and tasteless, and, moreover, as by plucking off the fruit or pinching off the blossom the trees will thrive better and bear more abundantly afterwards, the Lawgiver enacts here as law that which was in vogue amongst careful husbandmen from time immemorial, thus debarring greedy owners from acting in a way which would ultimately be to their own material injury.
It shall not be eaten.According to the authorities in the time of Christ, this interdict extended to any and every advantage to be derived from the first three years produce. The fruits must not be sold, but must either be burnt, or buried in the ground; and if any one eat as much as an olive he received forty stripes save one.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
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.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Care For Trees ( Lev 19:23-25 ).
Lev 19:23
“And when you shall come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then you shall count its fruit thereof as their uncircumcision, three years shall they be as uncircumcised to you, it shall not be eaten.”
When they arrive in the land and begin to plant trees they are to allow them to grow for three years without picking their fruit. They are to look on them as though they were like uncircumcised babes, not yet a part of the covenant, and therefore not available for their use.
Lev 19:24
“But in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, for giving praise to Yahweh.”
Then in the fourth year they were to be seen as now within the covenant, but with all their fruit seen as holy and available for giving praise to Yahweh. It was His, and still not to be eaten. It was to be seen as an offering of praise and gratitude and a recognition that the trees, like everything else in the land, were His.
This practise was good for the trees which thus had time to develop without being depleted. It was good horticultural practise. The ancient Babylonians also gave a similar time for trees to mature before they picked their fruit.
Lev 19:25
“And in the fifth year you shall eat of its fruit, that it may yield to you the its increase. I am Yahweh your God.
From the fifth year onwards, they could eat the fruit from the tree, and its increase would be theirs. It was given to them by Yahweh their God. Thus this provision resulted in healthy trees, acknowledged God’s ownership of the land, and finally was beneficial to all. It was also a reminder of the good things which were to be theirs.
This practise would remind them that He was Yahweh their God. The phrase ‘I am Yahweh’ in one form or another now become predominant (Lev 19:28; Lev 19:30-32; Lev 19:34; Lev 19:36-37). These final short commands are to be seen as being given with the full force of His authority.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Lev 19:23. When ye shall come into the land, &c. Though a reason for this law may, with great propriety, be drawn from nature itself, which dictates that the fruit of trees is not proper for use till the period here mentioned, yet it was, most probably, given in opposition to those practices of idolaters, who offered the first year’s growth of all their fruit-trees to their gods; conceiving that those trees would be blasted whose first-fruits were not thus offered. Others, however, are of opinion, that the intention of the law was to raise in the Hebrews greater abhorrence of the idolatrous customs of the Canaanites, whose crimes were so abominable, as to render the very land where they dwelt, and its productions, for some time impure; a sense, which they think confirmed by the words, ye shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Besides the evident intention of this precept, in testifying thereby, that we hold all we have, as tenants of will, under the LORD; and therefore it is but justice and equity that we should pay the rent with the first fruits: no doubt this precept reached further, and had respect to the offering of the body of JESUS, who in the prime of his days, was offered unto GOD for his people. It is said, that the Jews were so tender of this precept, that in order to prevent the violation of it, they carefully gathered the first settings of the fruit, during the three years prescribed by the law, as early as they appeared. And certain it is, even now, that gardeners expert in their science, generally prevent young trees from fruiting too soon, such as the first two or three years.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Lev 19:23 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.
Ver. 23. Three years shall it be as uncircumcised. ] And so to be cast away, as the foreskin of the flesh was. The fourth year it was to be separate, to be offered to the Lord in sign of thanksgiving. And then in the fifth year to be eaten. This was to show that the very fruits of the earth are, after a sort, polluted by man’s sin, till purged by a new kind of blessing. 1Ti 4:5 Hereby also God would separate his own people from other nations: and show that they might with a better conscience feed upon the fruits of the earth than others could. There are that set this mystical sense upon the text. Christ, for three years’ space, planted the gospel in Judea; but the foreskins were cast away for that time – that is, the gospel was not preached yet to the uncircumcised Gentiles. In the fourth year these fruits were consecrated to God – that is, Christ in the fourth year of his ministry died for the sins of the world, rose again, ascended, and sent down the Holy Ghost, whereby the apostles and others were sanctified, being, as it were, the first fruits of the Promised Land. In the fifth year, the fruits of the gospel, planted by Christ, began to be common, preached to the Gentiles, believed in the world. 1Ti 3:16
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
when ye shall come. The second of four prospective laws. See note on Lev 14:34. Compare Lev 19:23; Lev 23:10; Lev 23:25.
uncircumcised: or, uncovenanted. Figure of speech Prosopopoeia. App-6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
And when: Lev 14:34
uncircumcised: Lev 12:3, Lev 22:27, Exo 6:12, Exo 6:30, Exo 22:29, Exo 22:30, Jer 6:10, Jer 9:25, Jer 9:26, Act 7:51
Reciprocal: Lev 23:14 – eat Deu 20:6 – eaten of it Neh 10:35 – General Jer 31:5 – eat Luk 13:7 – three
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lev 19:23. As uncircumcised That is, as unclean, not to be eaten, but cast away, because the fruit then was less wholesome, and because hereby men were taught to bridle their appetites; a lesson of great use and absolute necessity in a holy life.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
19:23 And when ye shall come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then ye {h} shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised: three years shall it be as uncircumcised unto you: it shall not be eaten of.
(h) It shall be unclean as that thing, which is not circumcised.