Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 19:30
Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I [am] the LORD.
30. Ye shall keep my sabbaths ] Cp. Lev 19:3.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Lev 19:30
Ye shall keep My Sabbaths.
Sabbatic pause
Sabbath is a compound condition of the body and the soul. Misrepresentation of Sabbath, the forfeiture of its vitality, betrays itself in a negative conception of it, as restriction, deprivation, tax, and task. This allusion prevails at large, and prevails in two forms–religious cant and religious laxity, disrelish, or disdain. The latter is engendered in the former. Narrow natures, narrow Sabbath ideals; hard natures make them hard. They localise and dwarf the conception, as a measure of time, and a matter of law. The scope of the Sabbath is the happiness of man, the serenity of the race. It is intended to rescue the world from recklessness and ruin, from riot and from rot, from hardship, hazard, and over-haste. Sabbath is soul-rest. Its purpose is to train us to enjoy this earth in the light of everlasting life, and the glory of the gracious God, and not be slaves of time. The Sabbath is for the sanctity of peace, the satisfaction of the spiritual nature. It therefore takes the spirit away, not only from tasks and toils and trudges of its ordinary earth life, but from the worry and whirl of all the outer world. It persuades the soul to rest in God, as God rests on behalf of man; and to joy in His creation as He joyed, as His creation joys in Him. It begins by saying, You must, in order to say, You may. This silences the plea of lax indulgence which so many put up for spending a godless Sunday as the substitute of Sabbath. An uneasy Sunday is no Sabbath at all. They are restless and restive who press this very argument of recreation and of rest. Come, say they, Sunday is a holy day–a holiday. Now, to get as far from heaven as may be; now, to leave out God; now, let loose to enjoy nature, the fields, the forests, the ocean views. To enjoy the works of nature is the best way to keep the Sabbath holy, if you can call the Sabbath a delight. To take a walk, if you know how to walk with God. To rest, if you know how to rest in Christ. If you cannot read His glory in the page of nature, you are a child rustling a newspaper while yet it cannot read. That is dull enough. If you never get an ocean view, but such as the frolicking crowd get on the beach, or the chattering, giddy throng on the steamers deck, puffing smoke against the sky and babbling–earth to earth, dust to dust, and ashes to ashes–to each other, or staring at the sea in sickly sentimentality, then the ocean takes no notice of you, and has not the pleasure of your acquaintance. If that is your fresh-air relaxation, and that your innocent diversion, and that your poetry of nature, and your ocean sublimity, you have never seen an ocean at all,. and know not what it is, not knowing what it means, and natures poetry to you is no more than negro minstrelsy, and the landscape yawns, and the skies wax dull, an& instead of having a Sabbath delight, you find a blight, a burden, and a bondage. Sabbath, like music, is a treat to those alone who know how to enjoy it. The day of the Sabbath without the Sabbath of the day is gloomy to the last degree. There are Sabbatic thoughts privileged to take on the complexion of the heavens, as the stilled lake, the azure of the firmament. If you are enjoying a book or a picture, you need to take a time when other things shall not interfere. To intermingle is to mar. There is a beatific converse. If you are communing with a confidential friend, do you like to have anybody else talking in the room at the same time? What the third person says may be all well enough and wise enough, or important. But please do not interrupt, you say; I am very much engaged for this hour. Opportunities of heaven make appointments as reserved and entertain celestial visitants as well. There are rounded Sabbaths, different from Sunday fractions. Many count the day at large as somewhat sacred, but miss the mantling of the hours, the swell and climax. A wholeness is essential to the pleasure. You will not get a schoolboy or schoolgirl who has a half-holiday in the morning to go back to tasks and training in the after hours of the day. They say, Let us finish this. A little longer. And no one who has had a spiritual zest, a melody and beauty of celestial vision for the first portion of the day, will care to spend its latter half in listlessness or lower use. The people who worship by halves, by halves will serve their Maker through the week. If you can introduce upon this land the Continental Sabbath, you can introduce the Continental history upon this land. But the day is complete when the evening and the morning round it. There can be Sunday struggles, Sunday tasks, Sunday burdens, and there can be a Sabbath of the spirit. That is of God, the beauty of the Lord our God upon us. (H. S. Carpenter.)
Advantage of Sabbath keeping
Man! Man! This is the great creator of wealth. The difference between the soil of Campauia and Spitzbergcn is insignificant compared with the difference presented by two countries–the one inhabited by men full of moral and physical vigour, the other by beings plunged in an intellectual decrepitude. Hence it is that we are not impoverished, but on the contrary enriched by this seventh day, which we have for so many years devoted to rest. This day is not lost. While the machinery is stopped, while the ear rests on the road, while the treasury is silent, while the smoke ceases to rise from the chimney of the factory, the nation enriches itself none the less than during the working days of the week. Man, the machine of all machines, the one by the side of which all the inventions of the Watts and the Ark wrights are as nothing, is recuperating and gaining strength so well, that on Monday he returns to his work with his mind clearer, with more courage for his work, and with renewed vigour. I will never believe that that which renders a people stronger, wiser, and better, can ever turn to its impoverishment.
Neglecting the Sabbath
Sir Francis Drake, though a curious searcher after the revolution of time, in three years sailing about the world, through the variations of several climates, lost one whole day, which was scarce considerable in so long a time. It is to be feared that there are many amongst us that lose a day in every week, one in seven, neglecting the Sabbath, nay every day in the week, not once thinking of God, or any goodness at all. (J. Spencer.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Lev 19:30
Reverence My sanctuary.
Self-reverence
If you consider, you will find that there is scarcely a sin which does not concentrate into itself the venom of many sins. It is sinfulness against God, whose law it violates; against our neighbour, whom, directly or indirectly, it inevitably injures; against ourselves, whom it tends to destroy. But the reason why every sin has this threefold cord of iniquity is because the tabernacle of God is with men, so that in every act of sin we cannot but sin against Him by defiling His temple, against ourselves by desecrating the inner sanctuary of our own being, against others because they, too, are His living sanctuaries. When the great American orator, Daniel Webster, was asked what thought impressed him most by its awful solemnity, he answered at once, The thought of my immediate accountability to God. There is a form of this thought yet more impressive–to feel that God is with us and in us; that every sin against ourselves or our brother-man is also a sin committed in His very presence-chamber, and therefore also a sin committed directly against Him. In sinning against myself, I sin not against a mere handful of dust, a mere piece of clay, but against that which is majestic, eternal, and Divine, against the Holy Spirit, against the Lord Jesus my Saviour, against the eternal Lord of all my life. A living poet has said, Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control, these three alone lead life to sovereign power. It is most true. Self-reverence depends upon self-knowledge, and it leads to self-control; and these are the elements of the only true greatness of mankind. Now I wish to show how this high reverence for our being lifts men above temptation, and how the absence of it or unfaithfulness to it plunges them in vice and shame. For instance, self-reverence results in the preservation of innocence, of perfect childlike innocence in some men, the heart of childhood taken up and glorified in the powers of manhood, the young lambs heart amid the full-grown flocks. This is one of the loveliest, certainly one of the rarest, if not always the most instructive, forms of human character. Again, this self-reverence, even if it has failed to produce this absolute innocence which is the rarest thing in all the world, may yet lead to the repentance of an intense conviction. If it has not kept a soul from lying, for a moment at least, among the dust and potsherds of a sensuous life, it can yet uplift it from them and give it the wings of a dove. (Archdeacon Farrar.)
On reverencing the sanctuary
I. How the sanctuary is to be reverenced.
1. The sanctuary is reverenced when proper ideas are entertained of its nature and holiness. This appropriate and sacred respect will be shown by not permitting the sanctuary to be dishonoured by any profane use of it, by keeping it in decent repair and cleanliness, and, as far as in us lies, in a state of magnificence worthy of the Great Being to whom it is dedicated; and by those outward tokens of reverence, by which we can express, without an idle superstition, our respect for the Being, the dwelling-places of whose honour are the temples devoted to His service.
2. After having proper ideas of the nature and holiness of the sanctuary, the next step towards reverencing it is to love to be in it, and to join in its services. When a place is consecrated to the worship of God; when He has promised to be there with a blessing; when He has proffered His word to be there as a fountain, set open for sin and uncleanness; and has appointed a priesthood to minister between Him and His people; when the priesthood of Christ is there enjoyed after His ordinance; to be wholly absent, or but partially present, comports little with a reverence for the sanctuary.
3. It is essential to a reverence for the sanctuary that we strive not to bring thither our worldly thoughts and improper affections.
4. In order to discharge the duty enforced in the text, we must be attentive to decorum, when entering the sanctuary, while continuing in it, and when returning from it.
II. The foundation and importance of the duty enjoined. This is briefly and fully assigned in the words, I am the Lord.
1. If we consider the nature of the Being, to whom the sanctuary belongs, and whom we there meet, this is sufficient to fill us with awe.
2. The authority of the Lord, as our Sovereign, renders an obedience to His law indispensable. (Bp. Dehon.)
Reverence due to holy places
I. What a sanctuary of god is, and wherein the holiness of it consists. Places are capable of a relative holiness in two respects.
1. In respect of a peculiar propriety God has in them by their dedication to His immediate worship and service.
2. In respect of His especial presence vouchsafed in them, and the particular communications of His grace in the holy offices there performed.
II. What respect or reverence is due to such holy places.
1. The building, repairing, adorning, and furnishing such places for the service of God.
2. The keeping them from all profane and common usage, and applying them wholly to the worship of God, and the business of religion.
3. The duly frequenting the worship of God in these holy places (Psa 43:3; Psa 84:2; Psa 84:4.)
4. Consider what reverence becomes us when we come into the House of God. Our business there is to exercise ourselves in holy and heavenly matters; and our demeanour in it ought to be such as may testify what awful thoughts we have of that glorious Majesty, before whom, in a particular manner, we present ourselves. (John Leng, B. D.)
The reverence due to Gods sanctuary
The reverence we owe to public places of worship must be expressed
I. In solemnly separating them from common use. Churches, when once consecrated, cannot be alienated from Gods service without sacrilege, nor applied to any other use without profanation; for, as the Divine Majesty is holy, so it is manifestly a part of that honour we owe to God, that those things wherewith and whereby He is served should not be common and promiscuous, but reserved solely for sacred purposes.
II. In the beautifying and adorning them. Shall the Almighty vouchsafe, in a peculiar manner, to take up His residence among us here on earth, and shall not we endeavour to provide the most honourable reception for Him? The bestowing proper ornaments upon Gods house is not only an instance of respect due from us to Him, but is also a useful means of promoting religion; for outward objects will always affect the mind with impressions, according to the nature of them.
III. By a constant attendance upon the services in them. God, no doubt, is conscious to our most private devotions in our closets, to every ejaculation, to every pious thought that ever rises in our souls; He requires these, and approves of them; but then He expects, and commands also, that we pay Him public homage and external worship, wherein if we are deficient, we discharge but half our duty.
IV. By a decent and devout behaviour in them. As earthly potentates have many palaces in several parts of their dominions, where at different times they keep their court, one whereof is generally erected in their principal city, superior in magnificence and grandeur to the rest: so the Almighty, the King of kings, has His several mansion-houses throughout the world, though His chief dwelling be in heaven, where He is encircled with beams of light and glory, too strong for mortals to approach. These mansion-houses in these lower realms are those places that are dedicated and consecrated to His service, in which He is ever present, ready to dispense liberally His favours to all that duly ask, surrounded with a guard of angels and archangels, who to us indeed are invisible, but we are not so to them. With what humility, with what reverence and devotion, then, ought we to carry ourselves, in a place so dreadful as is the house of God, and in the presence of such honourable, such awful company! (S. Grigman, M. A.)
Reverence at worship
There are some who, when they behave irreverently in church, think that, after all, it is only a matter that concerns themselves. That if they do not behave well, thats, as they term it, their own look-out. Of all the mistakes of which a man could be guilty, this is, I think, one of the greatest. Do you think that when you behave badly in church you wilt, at the day of account, only have that one sin of your own to answer for? Let me tell you this–that every sin of irreverence adds to you a mountain of sins for which you will have to give account at the Day of Judgment. Let me illustrate my meaning. You come to a service and behave badly. There are people, good people, sitting or kneeling around you. They have come to church to worship, but they see your bad behaviour and are upset by it. They try to pray, but through your bad behaviour they cannot do so. They try to join in the service but find it almost impossible. It is a wasted service to them. They feel angry: it is a Sunday service gone for ever, never to be re-lived so far as that Sunday service is concerned, spoiled for them by you. Who will have to answer for that at the Day of Judgment? Not they, but you! (E. Husband.)
Man himself a sanctuary
St. Augustine gives the inmost meaning of this exhortation when he says, Dost thou worship in a temple? Worship in thyself; be thou first a temple of the Lord.
Our visits to the sanctuary should be frequent
We shall never see the glory of that light which dwells between the cherubim if our visits to the shrine are brief and interrupted, and the bulk of our time is spent outside the tabernacle amidst the glaring sand and the blazing sunshine. No short swallow-flights of soul will ever carry us to the serene height where God dwells. It is the eagle, with steady, unflagging flaps of his broad pinion, and open-eyed gaze upwards, that rises close to the sun in lonely lands, and leaves all the race of short.winged and weak-sighted twitterers far below. (A. Maclaren.)
Worshipping together
Worshipping alone is like a solo in music, very beautiful and entrancing, with charms that no chorus can give. Worshipping together is like an anthem with its harmonies sung by a large chorus. There are powers in it and emotions awakened, which no solo, however beautifully sung, can produce. Christians who worship in the house of God in company with other Christians will receive blessings that they would not receive worshipping by themselves.
The sanctuary
The sanctuary should always be considered as the home of the people. It is in the sanctuary that human life should be interpreted in all the meaning of its pain and tragedy. Men should be able to say, Now that we are baffled and perplexed by the things which are round about us in this world, and now that we find ourselves utterly unable to solve the problems which crowd upon our distracted minds, let us go unto the house of the Lord, for there we shall feel upon our souls the breath of eternity, and there we shall hear music which will quiet the tumult which carnal reason can neither explain nor control. Dark will be the day when men can hear nothing in the sanctuary but words which they cannot understand, references which have no bearing upon immediate agony, and discussions which simply tittilate the intellect and the fancy, but never reach the dark and mortal sorrows of the heart. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Not presuming to approach it without reverence, or with any kind of uncleanness upon you.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
30. Ye shall keep my sabbaths, andreverence my sanctuaryThis precept is frequently repeatedalong with the prohibition of idolatrous practices, and here itstands closely connected with the superstitions forbidden in theprevious verses.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Ye shall keep my sabbaths,…. By attending to the worship and service of God on sabbath days, they and their children would be preserved from the idolatry of the Gentiles, and all the filthy practices attending it:
and reverence my sanctuary; and not defile it by such impurities as were committed in the temples of idols: the sanctuary being an holy place, sacred to him whose name is holy and reverend, and where was the seat of his glorious Majesty, and therefore not to be defiled by fornication or idolatry, or by doing anything in it unseemly and unbecoming, [See comments on Mr 11:16]:
I [am] the Lord; who had appointed the observance of the sabbath day, and dwelt in the sanctuary, and therefore expected that the one would be kept and the other reverenced, and neither of them polluted.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Moral Laws. | B. C. 1490. |
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.
Here is, I. A law for the preserving of the honour of the time and place appropriated to the service of God, v. 30. This would be a means to secure them both from the idolatries and superstitions of the heathen and from all immoralities in conversation. 1. Sabbaths must be religiously observed, and not those times mentioned (v. 26) to which the heathen had a superstitious regard. 2. The sanctuary must be reverenced: great care must be taken to approach the tabernacle with that purity and preparation which the law required, and to attend there with that humility, decency, and closeness of application which became them in the immediate presence of such an awful majesty. Though now there is no place holy by divine institution, as the tabernacle and temple then were, yet this law obliges us to respect the solemn assemblies of Christians for religious worship, as being held under a promise of Christ’s special presence in them, and to carry ourselves with a due decorum while in those assemblies we attend the administration of holy ordinances, Eccl. v. 1.
II. A caution against all communion with witches, and those that were in league with familiar spirits: “Regard them not, seek not after them, be not in fear of any evil from them nor in hopes of any good from them. Regard not their threatenings, or promises, or predictions; seek not to them for discovery or advice, for, if you do, you are defiled by it, and rendered abominable both to God and your own consciences.” This was the sin that completed Saul’s wickedness, for which he was rejected of God, 1 Chron. x. 13.
III. A charge to young people to show respect to the aged: Thou shall rise up before the hoary head, v. 32. Age is honourable, and he that is the Ancient of days requires that honour be paid to it. The hoary head is a crown of glory. Those whom God has honoured with the common blessing of long life we ought to honour with the distinguishing expressions of civility; and those who in age are wise and good are worthy of double honour: more respect is owing to such old men than merely to rise up before them; their credit and comfort must be carefully consulted, their experience and observations improved, and their counsels asked and hearkened to, Job 32:6; Job 32:7. Some, by the old man whose face or presence is to be honoured, understand the elder in office, as by the hoary head the elder in age; both ought to be respected as fathers, and in the fear of God, who has put some of his honour upon both. Note, Religion teaches good manners, and obliges us to give honour to those to whom honour is due. It is an instance of great degeneracy and disorder in a land when the child behaves himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable,Isa 3:5; Job 30:1; Job 30:12. It becomes the aged to receive this honour, and the younger to give it; for it is the ornament as well as duty of their youth to order themselves lowly and reverently to all their betters.
IV. A charge to the Israelites to be very tender of strangers, Lev 19:33; Lev 19:34. Both the law of God and his providence had vastly dignified Israel above any other people, yet they must not therefore think themselves authorized to trample upon all mankind but those of their own nation, and to insult them at their pleasure; no, “Thou shall not vex a stranger, but love him as thyself, and as one of thy own people.” It is supposed that this stranger was not an idolater, but a worshipper of the God of Israel, though not circumcised, a proselyte of the gate at least, though not a proselyte of righteousness: if such a one sojourned among them, they must not vex him, nor oppress, nor over-reach him in a bargain, taking advantage of his ignorance of their laws and customs; they must reckon it as great a sin to cheat a stranger as to cheat an Israelite; “nay” (say the Jewish doctors) “they must not so much as upbraid him with his being a stranger, and his having been formerly an idolater.” Strangers are God’s particular care, as the widow and the fatherless are, because it is his honour to help the helpless, Ps. cxlvi. 9. It is therefore at our peril if we do them any wrong, or put any hardships upon them. Strangers shall be welcome to God’s grace, and therefore we should do what we can to invite them to it, and to recommend religion to their good opinion. It argues a generous disposition, and a pious regard to God, as a common Father, to be kind to strangers; for those of different countries, customs, and languages, are all made of one blood. But here is a reason added peculiar to the Jews: “For you were strangers in the land of Egypt. God then favoured you, therefore do you now favour the strangers, and do to them as you then wished to be done to. You were strangers, and yet are now thus highly advanced; therefore you know not what these strangers may come to, whom you are apt to despise.”
V. Justice in weights and measures is here commanded. That there should be no cheat in them, v. 35. That they should be very exact, v. 36. In weighing and measuring, we pretend a design to give all those their own whom we deal with; but, if the weights and measures be false, it is like a corruption in judgment, it cheats under colour of justice; and thus to deceive a man to his damage is worse than picking his pocket or robbing him on the highway. He that sells is bound to give the full of the commodity, and he that buys the full of the price agreed upon, which cannot be done without just balances, weights, and measures. Let no man go beyond or defraud his brother, for, though it be hidden from man, it will be found that God is the avenger of all such.
VI. The chapter concludes with a general command (v. 37): You shall observe all my statutes, and do them. Note, 1. We are not likely to do God’s statutes, unless we observe them with great care and consideration. 2. Yet it is not enough barely to observe God’s precepts, but we must make conscience of obeying them. What will it avail us to be critical in our notions, if we be not conscientious in our conversations? 3. An upright heart has respect to all God’s commandments, Ps. cxix. 6. Though in many instances the hand fails in doing what should be done, yet the eye observes all God’s statutes. We are not allowed to pick and choose our duty, but must aim at standing complete in all the will of God.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Verse 30:
This verse is identical with chapter 26:2.
“Sabbaths,” plural, indicates more than the weekly Sabbath. Various holy days are designated as “sabbaths,” Le 23:24, 32, 39; 25:2-7; Joh 19:31.
Reverence for Jehovah’s sanctuary is here coupled with proper observance of the sabbaths, both the weekly Sabbath, and the special sabbaths. Lack of reverence for one affects the other.
Christians today do not observe the Jewish Sabbath. However, the principle of one day out of seven to reverence the Lord still applies, Heb 10:25. One cannot properly reverence God and His House (church) and ignore this principle.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Lev 19:30
; 26:2. Ye shall keep my Sabbaths. From these two passages it is manifest that the service of the tabernacle was annexed to the Sabbath, and that the two things were not only connected by an indissoluble tie, but that the rest from labor had reference to the sacrifices; since it would have been a mere mockery to rest without any ulterior object; nay more, after Moses has spoken of the rest, he seems to subjoin the reverencing of the sanctuary, as if it were the generic ordinance; so that the people might understand that all impediments were removed which are wont to withdraw them from the service of God. The expression, “fear the sanctuary,” (336) is a figurative one; but is equivalent to this, that they should shew by their very reverence of the sanctuary how truly and sincerely they fear God, who had promised that He would be present there, whenever He should be invoked.
(336) “ Reverence my sanctuary.” — A.V. Ainsworth says, “In Targum Jonathan this law is explained thus, Ye shall go to the house of my sanctuary in fear;” and then quotes from Maimon many Jewish rites observed in the temple.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CONCLUDING INJUCTIONS 19:3037
TEXT 19:3037
30
Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am Jehovah.
31
Turn ye not unto them that have familiar spirits, nor unto the wizards; seek them not out, to be defiled by them: I am Jehovah your God.
32
Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honor the face of the old man, and thou shalt fear thy God: I am Jehovah.
33
And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not do him wrong.
34
The stranger that sojourneth with you shall be unto you as the home-born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were sojourners in the land of Egypt: I am Jehovah your God.
35
Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in measures of length, of weight, or of quantity.
36
Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have: I am Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
37
And ye shall observe all my statutes, and all mine ordinances, and do them: I am Jehovah.
THOUGHT QUESTIONS 19:3037
440.
Just how does reverence for the sabbath and the sanctuary relate to the context?
441.
What is a familiar spirit?
442.
What was the work of a wizard?
443.
In what way were people defiled by spirits and wizards?
444.
What is meant by hoary head? What request is here made?
445.
The Israelites would know just how strangers felt and just how to treat them. Why?
446.
How does fair measurement relate to the nature or name of God?
447.
What advantage was there in observing all the statutes and ordinances of God?
PARAPHRASE 19:3037
Keep My Sabbath laws and reverence My Tabernacle, for I am the Lord. Do not defile yourselves by consulting mediums and wizards, for I am Jehovah your God. You shall give due honor and respect to the elderly, in the fear of God. I am Jehovah. Do not take advantage of foreigners in your land; do not wrong them. They must be treated like any other citizen; love them as yourself, for remember that you too were foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am Jehovah your God. You must be impartial in judgment. Use accurate measurementslengths, weights, and volumesand give full measure, for I am Jehovah your God who brought you from the land of Egypt. You must heed all of My commandments and ordinances, carefully obeying them, for I am Jehovah.
COMMENT 19:3037
Lev. 19:30-37 We have six concluding commands and a summary in these verses. They are: (1) honor the sabbath and the sanctuaryLev. 19:30; (2) avoid familiar spirits and wizardsLev. 19:31; (3) honor the agedLev. 19:32; (4) deal kindly with strangersLev. 19:33-34; (5) keep my standards of righteousnessLev. 19:35-36 (6) summarythe reason for obedienceLev. 19:37.
Lev. 19:30 The greatest safeguard for an Israelite against idolatry and all attendant sins was a sincere consistent observance of the sabbath days and a regular attendance at the tabernacle along with his various personal sacrifices, not to mention his interest in the national feasts and sacrifices. Considering the number and frequency of these personal and national sacrifices the conscientious Israelite would have but little time for idolatry.
Lev. 19:31 We are indebted to Adam Clarke for a study on the meaning and application of the terms familiar spirits, wizards, and witches. He says in commenting on Exo. 22:18 :
Lev. 19:18. Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. If there had been no witches, such a law as this had never been made. The existence of the law, given under the direction of the Spirit of God, proves the existence of the thing. It has been doubted whether mecashshephah, which we translate witch, really means a person who practised divination or sorcery by spiritual or infernal agency. Whether the persons thus denominated only pretended to have an art which had no existence, or whether they really possessed the power commonly attributed to them, are questions which it would be improper to discuss at length in a work of this kind; but that witches, wizards, those who dealt with familiar spirits, etc., are represented in the sacred writings as actually possessing a power to evoke the dead, to perform supernatural operations, and to discover hidden or secret things by spells, charms, incantations, etc., is evident to every unprejudiced reader of the Bible. Of Manasseh it is said: He caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times (veonen, he used divination by clouds) and used enchantments, and used witchcraft (vechishsheph) and dealt with a familiar spirit, performed a variety of operations by means of what was afterwards called the spirit of Python, and with wizards, (yiddeoni, the wise or knowing ones;) and he wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord; 2Ch. 33:6. It is very likely that the Hebrew cashaph, and the Arabic cashafa, had originally the same meaning, to uncover, to remove a veil, to manifest, reveal, make bare or naked; and mecashefat is used to signify commerce with God, or the invisible world. From the severity of this law against witches, etc., we may see in what light these were viewed by Divine justice. They were seducers of the people from their allegiance to God, on whose judgment alone they should depend; and by impiously prying into futurity, assumed an attribute of God, the foretelling of future events, which implied in itself the grossest blasphemy, and tended to corrupt the minds of the people, by leading them away from God and the revelation he had made of himself. Many of the Israelites had, no doubt, learned these curious arts from their long residence with the Egyptians; and so much were the Israelites attached to them, that we find such arts in repute among them, and various practices of this kind prevailed through the whole of the Jewish history, notwithstanding the offence was capital, and in all cases punished with death.
Lev. 19:32 The due honor and respect we should give to the elderly are beautifully expressed in these words: When you meet them in public places, or they come to where you are, show them reverence. Both the infirmity and the wisdom of the aged have a claim on us; and besides, age, apart from its qualities, has in it solemnity. By the sight of it, the Lord would solemnize us in the midst of our pursuits. Lo! the shadow of eternity! for one cometh who is almost already in eternity. His head and beard white as snow, indicate his speedy appearance before the Ancient of Days, the hair of whose head is as pure wool.
Every object, too, that is feeble seems to be recommended to our care by God; for these are types of the condition wherein He finds us when His grace comes to save. It is, therefore, exhibiting His grace in a shadow, when the helpless are relieved, the fatherless find mercy (Hos. 14:3), the orphans relieved, and the widow, (Psa. 146:9) and the stranger preserved. (Bonar)
Lev. 19:33-34 Deal kindly with strangers should strike a responsive chord in the heart of the Israelite since for so long he was a stranger in a strange land. To become a Jew meant much more than just being circumcised. All of the laws and ceremonies must also be understood and observed. When a stranger acts in an awkward or unusual manner, do not laugh at him or criticize him. Put yourself in his sandalsyou were once the stranger in Egypt. Treat him as you wish you were treated.
Lev. 19:35-36 It is a strange but true fact that men somehow become blind to the application of morality in certain areas. Put some people behind the steering wheel of an automobile and their code of ethics has somehow disappeared. The same is true of weights and measures. If a larger share than we deserve is available we are sorely tempted to take it! This was true in the day of Moses. The Bible frequently brands these dealings as wicked, and an abomination to the Lord, while it designates the right measures as coming from God Himself. Cf. Deu. 25:13; Deu. 25:15; Eze. 45:10; Eze. 45:12; Hos. 12:8; Amo. 8:5, Mic. 6:10.
Lev. 19:37 The reason for obedience is cited in this verse. You must heed all of my commandments and ordinances, carefully obeying them, for I am Jehovah, or as the New English Bible translates it: You shall observe all my rules and laws and carry them out. I am the Lord. The Jerusalem Bible translates it: Keep all my laws and customs, put them into practice. I am Yahweh. Without an acceptance of the majesty and power, to say nothing of the presence and wisdom of God we will have no desire to obey God. With a full awareness His commandments are not grievous.
FACT QUESTIONS 19:3037
454.
List the six commands in these verses.
455.
What was the greatest safeguard against idolatry?
456.
Define: familiar spirits, wizards, witches.
457.
Aged people have a double claim on us. What is it?
458.
How can we exhibit His grace in a shadow?
459.
The loving care of strangers should have been easy for the Israelites. Why?
460.
When are men blind to the applications of morality? Discuss.
461.
What is the strongest motive for obedience to the laws of God?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(30) Ye shall keep my sabbaths.The greatest safeguard against the above-named abomination, and the surest way to fulfil the Divine commands, is by keeping the Sabbath day, and following the instruction imparted on this day of rest. (See Lev. 19:3.)
And reverence my sanctuarywhich the Israelites frequented on the Sabbath. (See Exo. 35:3.) The way to reverence the sanctuary, according to the definition of the Jewish canonists, was for an Israelite not to come into the sanctuary when legally defiled, not to ascend the mountain of the house of God with his staff in his hand, with his shoes on his feet, in his working clothes, with the dust on his feet, or carrying bags of money about his person, not to spit in the sacred precincts, or make them a thoroughfare. It is in reference to the last-mentioned rule that we are told Christ would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the Temple (Mar. 11:16)He would not allow them to use the sacred precincts as a short cut.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
30. Sanctuary The tabernacle, the place of Jehovah’s abode among men, was reverenced when Israel approached in ceremonial and moral purity, bringing the required offerings in humility and penitence.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Importance of a Right Attitude Towards Yahweh ( Lev 19:30-31 ).
Lev 19:30
“You shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary. I am Yahweh.”
Indeed rather than sinking to the depths of the other nations they should look to exalt Yahweh. The regulations had begun with a reference to the God-given authority of mother and father, and the need to keep God’s sabbaths (Lev 19:3), now as we draw to a close the keeping of sabbaths is confirmed along with the need to reverence God’s Sanctuary.
The keeping of the sabbath was an open sign of obedience, and marked them off as belonging to Yahweh, and their attitude towards His Sanctuary revealed their attitude towards Him. Thus they were both very important practises. But this meant keeping all His other commandments, for breaking the regulations, both ritual and moral, would profane His Sanctuary. They were therefore to recognise the effects on Him of their sins. For He is Yahweh.
Lev 19:31
“Do not turn to those who have familiar spirits, nor to the wizards. Do not seek them out, to be defiled by them. I am Yahweh your God.”
Reverencing His Sanctuary includes turning away from familiar spirits and wizards. They are at the very opposite extreme. Seeking God and His guidance at the Sanctuary was the true way of looking to the future. Thus familiar spirits and wizards were not to be sought out or approached. Their effects could only be defiling. They dealt with the dead and peeped and muttered from the dust (Isa 8:19). Such attempted contact with the dead could only defile God’s camp and God’s land. They needed to be free of both because God is the living God and death is foreign to His ways. Rather they should look to Yahweh their God, and keep His Sanctuary holy. They must remember Who their God is. He is Yahweh, and Yahweh has nothing to do with such things.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
These precepts are to the same effect as the former, in point of plainness and tendency. And they are enforced by the same authority. It is very interesting to the true believer in CHRIST, while reading the extensiveness of the divine laws, to call to mind how faithfully they are fulfilled in JESUS. He hath indeed magnified the law, and made it honourable. He hath proved himself to be our great Law Fulfiller. In his life he answered all its righteous demands. By his death he hath confirmed it; in his resurrection he hath proved the validity of his obedience; and in his return to glory, he hath shown that the Father is well pleased for his righteousness sake Yes! thou blessed law-fulfilling, sin-bearing, sin-expiating LAMB of GOD! thou hast gotten thyself the victory; and brought in an everlasting righteousness; which is unto all and upon all that believe. Dan 9:24 ; Rom 3:22 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Lev 19:30 Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I [am] the LORD.
Ver. 30. Ye shall keep my Sabbaths. ] Twice in this chapter is this commanded, that it may be the better remembered: and that men may know that it is not enough to rest on that day, but that rest must be sanctified by a reverent resorting to the sanctuary, and not profaned by running into whorehouses and tippling houses, as in Germany; where Alfred a complains and says, that if the Sabbath day should be named according to many men’s observing of it, Daemoniacus potius quam Dominicus vocaretur.
And reverence my sanctuary.
a Alsted., Encyc.
b Hom. 36, ad 1 Cor. iv.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
keep: Lev 19:3, Lev 26:2
reverence: Lev 10:3, Lev 15:31, Lev 16:2, Gen 28:16, Gen 28:17, 2Ch 33:7, 2Ch 36:14, Psa 89:7, Ecc 5:1, Eze 9:6, Mat 21:13, Joh 2:15, Joh 2:16, 2Co 6:16, 1Pe 4:17
Reciprocal: Exo 31:13 – Verily Isa 56:2 – keepeth the Eze 22:8 – General