Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 19:3
Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I [am] the LORD your God.
3. his mother, and his father ] The command in the Decalogue is to ‘honour,’ here to ‘fear,’ or act reverently towards parents. The mother is put first, as in Lev 21:2. This order probably indicates diversity of origin. But Rashi, on the authority of the Midrashic commentary, Mechilta, on Exodus 20, accounts for this order on the ground that the child by nature fears the father more than the mother.
ye shall keep my sabbaths ] Repeated in Lev 19:30. For the sabbath law cp. Lev 26:2; Exo 31:13. It has been remarked that the two injunctions associated together in this v. are the only two positive commands in the Decalogue.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Compare Exo 20:8, Exo 20:12; Exo 31:13-14. The two laws repeated here are the only laws in the Decalogue which assume a positive shape, all the others being introduced by the formula, Thou shalt not. These express two great central points, the first belonging to natural law and the second to positive law, in the maintenance of the well-being of the social body of which Yahweh was the acknowledged king.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Lev 19:3
Ye shall fear . . . mother . . . father.
Maternal rule
This is a remarkable command, given by God to Moses. Not for the matter of it, for it is the same in substance with the fifth in the Decalogue. But as differing from that and other parallel passages, it is remarkable on two accounts. In those the father is always put first. It is, Honour thy father and thy mother. He that smiteth his father and his mother, shall surely be put to death. My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother. Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old. Honour thy father and thy mother, which is the first commandment with promise. But here, mother is put first–Ye shall fear every man his mother and his father. Then again, the word fear–Thou shalt fear thy mother and thy father, occurs in no other passage. There must be a meaning, both in the word fear, and the singular collocation of the sentence. And what is it? Fathers are in general wont to govern their children more by authority, and mothers by love. Hence they are more afraid of offending their fathers than their mothers. This is especially the case with boys, about the time when they enter their teens. For three or four years they are more impatient of restraint than ever before or after. They are then apt to think they know much more than their mothers, and are quite capable of governing themselves. To guard against this undervaluing of their mothers authority seems to have been the special design of the command in question. Ye shall fear every man his mother–detracting nothing from the fathers authority; hut putting the mothers in the foreground, because there is danger of its being despised or overlooked. The word fear, in this case, is not quite synonymous with honour, in the fifth commandment. It has rather more intensity of meaning, if it is not more imperative. There is more of awe in fear, if not more of reverence. God intended to put both parents on the same level. Both are to be feared alike. And this purity of governmental control carries along with it corresponding obligations. Mothers must not shrink from exercising the authority with which God has clothed them, to train Up their children in the way in which they should go, however crossing it may sometimes be to their parental yearning. Let them rule by love as much as they can. The more the better. But restraint, by coercion, where nothing else will do, is one of the highest forms in which parental love is manifested. It would be wrong, it would be cruel to withhold it from the wayward child. Thousands upon thousands have been greatly wronged, if not ruined, by overweening motherly indulgence. The surest way ultimately to win that undying filial love, which casteth out fear, is to restrain and govern the boy just at the age when he is most restive under parental control. Woe to the child that breaks away from the authority which God has ordained. Evil is as surely before him as the going down of the sun (Pro 30:17). (Dr. Humphrey.)
Ungrateful children rebuked by birds
The birds can teach ungrateful children their duty towards aged parents. It is an old tradition with regard to storks, says Mr. Morris in his British Birds, that they take care of and nourish their parents when they are too old to take care of themselves, from whence the Greek word pelargicos, signifying the duty of children to take care of their parents; and pelargicoi nomoi, signifying the laws relating to that duty, both derived from the Greek word for a stork; Pelargos, from pelas, black; and argos, white, alluding to the prevailing colours of the stork. (Scientific Illustrations.)
A sons devotion to his mother
I remember just now a young man whom the Lord has blessed on account of the love he has shown his mother. Many years ago when her husband died, she was walking the streets of Glasgow in sore distress, her heart being, as it were, in the grave with her husband. She was utterly heedless of the great crowd, and almost forgetful of the kindly little boy, then only three and a half years old, who was walking by her side. He reminded her that he was there by pulling her hand earnestly, and when she looked down to him, he said, Mother, dont cry!–for he saw the tears were stealing down her cheeks–I will be the father, and the whole soul of the child was in his face. As he spoke those words the warmth of summer and the life of the spring-time of joy came again into the mothers heart. God spared him to fulfil his promise, and to receive the blessing that is annexed to the fifth commandment, and I am glad he is living to-day a prosperous and honourable merchant. It is some years-since I joined him in laying his mothers honoured head in the grave. Shortly before she died she was able, beautifully and lovingly, to testify that her son had amply redeemed the promise of his childhood, that what his father would have been, had he been spared, her son had successfully tried to be to her. (J. G. Cunningham.)
Respect for a mother
Men who have risen from humble life to wealth and high social rank have often been ashamed of their parents, and shown them little attention or respect. Such treatment indicates a vulgar mind. True nobility follows a different method. Richard Hurd, an eminent bishop of the Church of England at the close of the last century, was a man of courtly manners, of great learning, who moved with distinction in the best society in the kingdom. George III. pronounced him the most naturally polite man he had ever known. He, however, never failed to show the utmost respect for his mother, a farmers wife, of no education, but of sterling character. When he entertained large companies at the Episcopal Palace, he led her with a stately courtesy to the head of the table, and paid her the greatest deference. The high-born families who sat at his table reverenced his conduct, so becoming to a son and a gentleman. (New Orleans Democrat.)
Sacred to the memory of a mother
I want, said the late Emperor of Germany, the last but one, the great William, I want a lamp such as Such-and-so has, naming some distinguished member of the Court. The lamp was provided according to the very pattern, but his Majesty complained, on returning to his study after withdrawment, that he could not bear the savour of the room; the lamp was emitting smoke, and it was altogether intolerable, One of the secondary servants knew the reason, but dare not name it to his Majesty. One of the higher servants learned the cause and brought it under his Majestys attention. It is because your Majesty turns down the light when you leave the study that occasions the emission of smoke and vapours, and if you will cease to do that all will be well. Ah, said the sweet old patriarch of his nation, I know how that is. I learned that in the days of our poverty. After the battle of Jena we were very poor, and my mother never allowed us to leave the room at night without turning down the light, and I continue to turn down the light in memory of my mother. A beautiful example, a tender domestic story that. Here is a man who could have had a thousand lamps, yet in memory of the days of his poverty, when his mother taught him the uses of money, he kept turning down the light, saying, Sacred to the memory of my mother. (J. Parker, D. D.)
And keep My Sabbaths.—
The Sabbath kept
During the latter part of his life General Jackson was in the habit of coming down to New Orleans to see his old friends and comrades in arms and participate in the celebration of the glorious 8th of January. It happened on one of these visits that the 8th occurred on Sunday. General Plauche called upon the old hero and requested him to accompany the military to the battle-ground on the anniversary of the great day. I am going to church to-morrow, mildly observed the General. The military preparations for the celebration went on, and on Sunday morning at ten oclock General Plauche called at the St. Charles and informed General Jackson that the military and civic processions were ready to accompany him to the scene of his glory. General Plauche, responded old Hickory, turning upon him the glance of his kindling eye, I told you I was going to church to-day. General Plauche withdrew, muttering to himself, I might have known better. The celebration was postponed till the next day.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 3. Ye shall fear every man his mother, c.] Ye shall have the profoundest reverence and respect for them. See Clarke on Ge 48:12 “Ex 20:8“; and “Ex 20:12“.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The mother is put first, partly because the practice of this duty begins there, mothers, by perpetual converse, being more and sooner known to their children than their fathers; and partly because this duty is most commonly neglected to the mother, upon whom children have not so much dependence as they have upon their father. And this
fear includes the two great duties of reverence and obedience.
And keep my sabbaths: this is here added, to show, that whereas it is enjoined to parents that they should take care that the sabbath be observed both by themselves and by their children, it is the duty of children to fear and obey their parents in this matter; and moreover, that if parents should neglect their duty herein, or by their command, counsel, or example draw them to pollute the sabbath, yet the children in that case must keep the sabbath, and in all such cases prefer the command of God before the commands of their parents or superiors.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. Ye shall fear every man hismother, and his father, and keep my sabbathsThe duty ofobedience to parents is placed in connection with the properobservance of the Sabbaths, both of them lying at the foundation ofpractical religion.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Ye shall fear every man his mother and his father,…. This has respect to the fifth command, which is the first with promise, and is here referred to first, because a man has his beginning in the world from his parents, and by them he is trained up in the observance of all the other laws of God, equally to be respected; and the fear of them is not servile, but filial, joined with love and affection to them, and includes an inward esteem and reverence of them, an outward respect unto them, a readiness to obey their commands, and giving due and equal honour unto them; [See comments on Ex 20:12]; Pythagoras, Phocylides, and other Heathens, next to honouring God, exhort to the honour and reverence of parents:
and keep my sabbaths; this is expressed in the plural number, because there were various sabbaths. The seventh day sabbath, and the seventh year sabbath, and the jubilee, which was once in seven times seven years; the seventh day sabbath is chiefly meant: this follows upon the other, because it lay upon parents to teach their children the observance of the sabbath, and to train them up in it; and indeed the fear of them greatly depends on it, for children that are sabbath breakers have seldom much respect to their parents; and besides this suggests, that though children are to honour, reverence, and obey their parents, yet not in anything that is contrary to the laws of God; and, particularly should they suggest to them that sabbaths were not to be observed, they should not hearken to them:
I [am] the Lord your God; that gave them their being, parents being but instruments, and who had a right to enjoin them what laws he pleased; and among the rest had ordered them to observe the sabbath, and which in gratitude they were obliged unto, as well as in point of duty.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Since this passage unquestionably relates to the explanation of the Fifth Commandment, it confirms what I have before shown, that the honor which God-commands to be paid to parents, does not consist in reverence only, but also embraces obedience. For the reverence which He now prescribes will render children submissive and compliant. Now, then, we more clearly understand how parents are to be honored, when God exhorts their children to beware of offending them; for this is, in a word, the true manifestation of filial piety, calmly to bear the yoke of subjection, and to prove by acts a sincere desire to obey.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(3) Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father.The first means to attain to the holiness which is to make the Israelite reflect the holiness of God, is uniformly to reverence his parents. Thus the group of precepts contained in this chapter opens with the fifth commandment in the Decalogue (Exo. 20:12), or, as the Apostle calls it, the first commandment with promise (Eph. 6:2). During the second Temple, already the spiritual authorities called attention to the singular fact that this is one of the three instances in the Scriptures where, contrary to the usual practice, the mother is mentioned before the father; the other two being Gen. 44:20 and Lev. 21:2. As children ordinarily fear the father and love the mother, hence they say precedence is here given to the mother in order to inculcate the duty of fearing them both alike. The expression fear, however, they take to include the following :(1) Not to stand or sit in the place set apart for the parents; (2) not to carp at or oppose their statements; and (3) not to call them by their proper names, but either to call them father or mother, or my master, my lady. Whilst the expression honour, which is used in the parallel passage in Exo. 20:12, they understand to include (1) to provide them with food and raiment, and (2) to escort them. The parents, they urge, are Gods representatives upon earth; hence as God is both to be honoured with our substance (Pro. 3:9), and as He is to be feared (Deu. 6:13), so our parents are both to be honoured (Exo. 20:12) and feared (Lev. 19:3); and as he who blasphemes the name of God is stoned (Lev. 24:16), so he who curses his father or mother is stoned (Lev. 20:9).
And keep my sabbaths.Joined with this fifth commandment is the fourth of the Decalogue. The education of the children, which at the early stages of the Hebrew commonwealth devolved upon the parents, was more especially carried on by them on Sabbath days. In these leisure hours, when the Israelites were strictly forbidden to engage in any secular work, they found it a pleasant task and a welcome occupation to instruct their children in the many symbols, rites, and ceremonies which formed part of the service of the Sabbaths. Hence the observance of the day implied the instruction of the people in the fear and admonition of the Lord, and in acquiring the holiness which is the keynote of this chapter. Hence, too, the violation of the sanctity of the Sabbath is denounced as the greatest sin which the Israelites committed (Eze. 20:12; Eze. 22:8; Eze. 23:38, &c.). It is probably for this reason that the administrators of the law during the second Temple say that the commandment about the Sabbath has here been selected to limit the duty of filial obedience. Its combination with the fifth commandment is to show that though children are admonished to obey their parents, yet if they should order the profanation of this holy day, the children must not obey. (See Lev. 23:3.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. Ye shall fear Reverence or honour, and not slavish fear, is here enjoined. See Exo 20:12, note.
Keep my sabbaths Exo 20:8-11, notes.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Various Holiness Requirements ( Lev 19:3-37 ).
Rightness Of Attitude Towards God and Generosity Towards One’s Neighbours ( Lev 19:3-10 Lev 19:3
“You (p) shall fear every man his mother, and his father; and you (p) shall keep my sabbaths. I am Yahweh your God.”
They are to show godly and reverent fear for mother and father. It is interesting that here mother comes first (contrast Exo 20:12). In spite of it being a patriarchal society her influence is seen to be very important. But the point is that to obey parents, set in their place by God, is to obey God and recognise His authority (compare the fifth commandment).
Their obedience to God will also be shown by keeping His sabbaths, both every seven days and on special occasions (compare the fourth commandment). Observing the sabbaths was a positive way of demonstrating that they belonged to Yahweh, that they were obedient to His will, and of keeping their minds on Him (compare Isa 58:13-14).
Lev 19:4
“Do not turn (p) to idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods. I am Yahweh your God.”
They must not turn to idols, or make themselves molten gods. The first are the regular ‘gods’ (literally the elilim – the ‘nothings’ – see Isa 44:10) of other people, compared with the God (elohim) of Israel. The second are the home-made ones made from molten metal that Isaiah describes so graphically (Isa 44:9-18). This covers the first two commandments.
Lev 19:5
“And when you (p) offer a sacrifice of peace-offerings to Yahweh, you (p) shall offer it that you may be accepted. It shall be eaten the same day you offer it, and on the morrow: and if anything remain until the third day, it shall be burnt with fire.”
The one offering by which the Israelite could show his full obedience was the peace sacrifice. The others were ministered by the priests, but this one he had a part in himself, and made the choice as to what should be done with it. He is to treat it rightly and with reverence. As well as honouring parents, keeping the sabbaths and avoiding idolatry, thus honouring Yahweh’s authority, every Israelite was to show true respect for His offerings and sacrifices.
They were to offer their peace/wellbeing sacrifices exactly in accordance with how they had been told and to ensure that it was ‘accepted’ by not keeping any meat until the third day. Any that remained after the second day was to be burned with fire (compare Lev 7:16-17). So would they honour God.
Limiting the time available in which to eat the meat in fact enabled more to be called to the feast. It was part of God’s desire to benefit all. The point was that those who would be at peace with Him and enjoy wellbeing must be also be obedient and hospitable. The obedience looks back to recognition of God’s authority (‘I am Yahweh’). The being hospitable looks forward to the thoughtfulness for the needy (verse 9 etc).
Lev 19:7
“And if it be eaten at all on the third day, it is an abomination. It shall not be accepted.”
Any attempt to eat the meat on the third day will make their sacrifice an abomination. It will then not be accepted. They will just be being greedy and forgetting Whose sacrifice it is. It will be an affront to God.
Lev 19:8
“But every one who eats it shall bear his iniquity, because he has profaned the holy thing of Yahweh, and that person shall be cut off from his people.”
Indeed anyone who eats of it on the third day will have to bear the punishment that his iniquity deserves. It is the holy thing of Yahweh and he will have profaned it. He will be cut off from the people. It is probable that the punishment here is left to Yahweh as He would be the one who knew of the failure to obey His command. Often the cooked meat which had been in the hot air for more than two days would have turned bad and would bring its own judgment!
At first sight it may have seemed strange that this seeming snippet from the previous regulations was introduced here, but a moment’s thought reveals that this was the one way in which the people themselves could destroy the effectiveness of a sacrifice. This was the part for which they had direct responsibility. And these words were intended specifically for the people. It was also seen as a sacrifice through which they could give directly benefit to others, which ties in with what follows.
Lev 19:9
“And when you (p) reap the harvest of your land, you (s) shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you (s) gather the gleaning of your harvest.”
God’s concern for the poor and needy constantly comes out is His provision for them. It comes out here in that the farmer was to leave in his fields what was in the corners, as well as any gleanings (stray pieces that fell when they were gathering the grain). These were to be left as available for the poor to gather (as Ruth would do later on – Rth 2:2-3).
Lev 19:10
“And you (s) shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you (s) gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard. You (s) shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner. I am Yahweh your God.”
Nor should the vinedresser, once he has picked the bunches, gather all the spare grapes nor should he pick up what falls to the ground. These are to be left for the poor and the resident alien who has no land. For the same idea see Exo 23:11.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
It is worthy observation, that the fear and reverence due to parents, is connected with that the LORD hath appointed to his Sabbaths. Wherever we see children living in the observance of these precepts, these things afford hopeful signs of grace. If the LORD our GOD be a covenant GOD to our fathers, may we not hope that he will be so to us, and to our children? Gen 17:7 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Lev 19:3 Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I [am] the LORD your God.
Ver. 3. Ye shall fear every man his mother. ] The mother is set first, because usually most slighted. The days of mourning for my father are at hand, then will I slay my brother Jacob, said that profane profligate. Gen 27:41 As for his mother, he makes no reckoning of her, he cared not to grieve her.
And keep my Sabbaths.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
man. Hebrew. ‘ish. App-14.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
fear: Exo 20:12, Exo 21:15, Exo 21:17, Deu 21:18-21, Deu 27:16, Pro 1:8, Pro 6:20, Pro 6:21, Pro 23:22, Pro 30:11, Pro 30:17, Eze 22:7, Mal 1:6, Mat 15:4-6, Eph 6:1-3, Heb 12:9
keep: Lev 26:2, Exo 16:29, Exo 20:8, Exo 31:13-17, Isa 56:4-6, Isa 58:13, Eze 20:12, Eze 22:8
Reciprocal: Gen 28:7 – General Gen 31:35 – my lord Gen 48:12 – he bowed himself Lev 18:2 – General Lev 19:30 – keep Lev 23:3 – General Lev 23:38 – the sabbaths Deu 5:16 – Honour 1Ki 2:19 – rose up Pro 15:20 – despiseth Jer 17:22 – neither do Mat 19:19 – Honour Rom 13:7 – fear to Col 3:20 – obey
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lev 19:3. His mother The mother is put first, partly because the practice of this duty begins there, mothers, by perpetual converse, being sooner known to their children than their fathers; and partly because this duty is commonly neglected to the mother, upon whom children have not so much dependance as they have upon their father. And this fear includes the two great duties of reverence and obedience. And keep my sabbaths This is added, to show that, whereas it is enjoined to parents that they should take care the sabbath be observed both by themselves and their children, it is the duty of children to fear and obey their parents in this matter. But that, if parents should neglect their duty therein, or by their command, counsel, or example, draw them to pollute the sabbath, the children in that case must keep the sabbath, and prefer the command of God, before the command of their parents.