Duties in the Every Day Relations of Life
“FOLLOW PEACK WTTH ALL MEN, AND HOLINESS, WirHOUT WHICH NO MAM SHALL SEE THE LORD: LOOKING DILIGENTLY LEST ANT MAN FAIL OF THE GRACE
OF GOD: LEST ANY ROOT OF BITTERNESS SPRINGING UP TROUBLE TOU.” Hcb.
xil 14, 15.
Vers. 1, 2. “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying. Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them. Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy.”
Here are duties to be inculcated that for the most part depend upon the man’s inward feeling. Hence, at the outset, the Lord presents himself again to our view. He speaks to reconciled children; and with these what argument could be stronger than this? “Oh; be ye as 1 your God and Father am.” Paul knew the force of this kind of persuasion when he said to the Galatians who so loved him, “Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am.” (Gal. iv. 12.) And so the beloved John, on whose soul this argument had continual effect. “Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” (1 John iii. 3.)
Ver. 8. “Ye shall fear every man his mother, and bis father, and keep my Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God.”
These two precepts are a summary of the whole law, or rather are a specimen of the two tables — duty to all men in their relations, and duty to the Lord. But besides this, the principle of both these special precepts is, regard for, and reverence towards, God in his ordinances, and man in his relation towards us. And the respect shown to parents has an intimate connection with the submission of our mind to authority in any other case; such as this of the Sabbaths of the Lord.
Ver. 4. “Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods :* I am the Lord your God.”
In your public life, be careful to honor Grod before all men. Turn not to other gods; which implies the duty of being guided by the Lord’s will in our public or common-life transactions. You are not to be led by Mammon, nor by the smile of the great, nor by the fear of the mighty. The fear of .Jehovah is to pervade your actions.
Vers. 5, 6, 7, 8. “And if .ye offer a sacrifice of peace-ofFerings unto the Lord, ye shall offer it at your own will. It shall be eaten the same day ye offer it, and on the morrow: and if aught remain until the third day, it shall be burnt in the fire. And if it be eaten at all on the third day, it is abominable; it shall not be accepted. Therefore 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.”
There must be care taken, in holy actions, of the effect on others which our example would have. Peace-offerings are left to the free will of the offerers; only
* Perhaps there is emphasis in each clause. “Turn not” or look not. to. The attire and elegance of idol worship was attractive, like Popish splendor, to the natural eye; therefore, do not cast even a glance on it. And perhaps there is ridicule in the other clause, “molten gods,” — caatmetal gods 1 It is a Divine sarcasm on Idolatry.
846 DUTIES IN EVERY-DAY RELATIONS j:.
when they do bring them, they must strictly follow the prescribed rules. And if, on leaving any of their offering to the third day, some one should eat of the portion left (ver. 8), that soul must suffer for it by being shut out from the congregation.
There is probably, another view to be taken of this precept. It prescribes nothing but what has been already prescribed in former chapters; but then we must notice the position in which it occurs. It occurs among rules regarding a man’s relation to his fellows in common acts of life. Hence, this precept may be intended here to guide them in the circumstances wherein they were placed towards others. It is meant to prevent ostentation in their free-will offerings, or any selfish ends. For it is to be brought “of their own wiW^ — spontaneous outflowing of gratitude to God. It is to be used immediately and on the spot. It is to be treated as one of the Lord’s “hallowed things.” All this, of course, in no way interferes with the typical design of the ceremonies themselves, which have been already spoken of in chap. vii. 16.
Vera. 9, 10. “And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou ehalt not wholly reap the comers of thy field, neither ehalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest. And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the Lord your God.”
The Jewish writers say that a sixteenth part was left in every field. Then, if in reaping, or binding what was cut, some fell out of the sheaves, it was to be left in the field for the poor — for such as Ruth. And thus, too, in gathering the clusters of their vines. Such as Ruth, who was both ‘^^ poor and a stranger’’^ (ver. 10), must be allowed to take what was left. All this was meant to check selfishness and greediness; to encourage brotherly kindness and liberality; and to condemn covetous, avaricious, griping tendencies in the people of Israel.*
God tried them to see if they would really act as stewards for him. And when he sends the poor and the stranger to Boaz, he blesses the rich man who had the desire to act as the Lord commanded.
Besides, Israel were thus taught, that though they got the best of the substance, yet there were strangers who were to share in their blessings. There were poor Grentiles often coming across their borders from Moab or from Egypt, from Syria or from Edom, who must receive a share in Israel’s blessings. Here was a type of the Gentiles partaking in their spiritual things. Such persons as Ittai, the Gittite; Hirain, King of Tyre; the Queen of Sheba; the widow of Sarepta; Naaman, the Syrian; Jehonadab, the Kenite; Ebedmelech, the Ethiopian; and many, many unknown, but whose names are in the book of life, though they were not of the seed of Israel.
Vers. 11, 12. “Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another. And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the Lord.”
In their civil transactions with each other — in business and trade. In ver. 11 theft, or any dishonest deed, is forbidden, however plausible it appear; “Ye shall not steal, nor be guilty of any deceptive practice” (iirrcp). Nor must they carelessly appeal to God in common affairs, when their truth may be doubted by a neighbor.
Christians need to be warned and admonished on these
* The “corners” of the field were the edges, or skirts. Then (ver. 10) “thou shalt not gather the (a’^D) single grapes” that stood not in clusters.
heads, as much as Israel. There ia a contamination of conscience too frequently found in even Christian men, from continual intercourse with an unconscientious world. Glorify God, therefore, by a jealous integrity, and by a noble uprightness. Cast reproach on the world’s meanness, and show you carry God’s presence with you into every place, and at every hour, arid in all engagement. Write” Holiness to the LoriV on the bells of the horses.
Ver. 13. “Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbor, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning.”
Far from defrauding, or withholding what is due to thy neighbor, thou shalt not even delay giving him what he is entitled to. This precept is directly pointed against incurring debt. Fraudulent bankruptcies, and pretexts for withholding payments, are condemned by it; but remaining in debt to any one is also pointedly condemned. “Owe no man anything, but to love one another.” In James v. 4, this is spoken of as a sin of the last days.
Ver. 14. “Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbUng-block before the blind, but shalt fear thy Ood: I am the Lord.”
Oh I how great the hard-hearted selfishness of man, since such a precept is needed! and how deep the inclination to Atheism in practice, since such a testimony,” / am Jehovah,’’^ needs ever to be repeated! The Lord abhors the meanness that would take advantage of a neighbor’s defects, instead of aiding that neighbor in supplying the want he feels. Oh! how unlike the Lord when a man acts so.
“He that might the advantage best have took
Found out the remedy.”
“When we think of this, we see double emphasis in the words,” / am the LordP
Ver. 15. “Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor.”
There must be in us no affectation of kindness to the poor, even as there must be no fawning flattery of the great. Especially in matters of judgment the judge must be impartial. The eye of God is on him; and as he is a just God, and without iniquity, he delights to see his own attributes shadowed forth in the strict integrity of an earthly judge.
If these are God’s holy principles, it follows that the misery and oppression and suffering of the lower classes will in no way serve as a reason for their acquittal at his bar, if they be found guilty. Suffering in this world is no blotting out of sin. Hence, we find at Christ’s appearing “the great men and the mighty men, and every bondman,’’^ cried to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him’ that sitteth on the throne.” (Rev. vii. 15.)
Vers. 16, 17, 18. “Thou shall not ‘o up and down as a tale-bearer among thy people; neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor: I am the Lord. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him. Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love tby neighbor as thyself; I am the Lord.”
“Standing against the blood of thy neighbor,’’’’ is taking his life, or, rising up to shed his blood.” Hating in the heart’’ is either, thy virtually hating* him by
* The love that is a true reflection of Oo£s love to us ia described as giving no quarter to a brother’s sin. 1 Cor. xiii. 6.
restraining thy expressions of love; or covering up thy grounds of anger instead of telling them to him.
Gossip, and idle talking, and meddling with our neighbors (being ‘oUoftoEmaxo/ioi, 1 Pet. iv. 15), or more wickedly still, insinuating and hinting evil of him, are sins forbidden here. The villages and cities of Israel, their households and their friendly circles, were exposed to this pestilence. “The tongue is set on fire of hell:” and so long as Satan is loose from hell, he will not fail to kindle these flames.
If a brother defame us, or slight us, or give us cause for grief and anger, we are to tell it to the person face to face. There must be no self-satisfaction, as if you were in this better than he. Even for his sake, the evil must not be left on him.
There must be no revenge or grudge; no smothered ill-will. Let love run through your streets in a pure, full stream. Love as you would be loved.
“/ am Jehovah,’’^ is the authority and motive for all.
Ver. 19. “Ye eliall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind. Thou shalt not sow thy field with a mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee.”
The introduction to these three enforcements of similar observances is very solemn, because they might otherwise seem trivial.” Ye shall keep my statutesy They are to abstain from every action that seemed to exhibit a mingling and confusing of opposite things. Being a people familiar with types and emblems, it was natural (as in the case chap, xi.) to teach them, by common occurrences, spiritual truths that must always be attended to. Hence, they are to testify their abhorrence of the immoral mixtures of Heathen lewdness, by never mingling linen and wool in the same garments; by never sowing two different kinds of seed in one field; and by avoiding any mixture of species among their cattle. Perhaps, they thus also expressed their adherence to the principle of one true God, keeping themselves separate from all idols and idolatry. And thus, too, at this day ought the Lord’s people to have no fellowship with Belial, nor follow Mammon while they profess to follow God.
This precept gives force to our Lord’s words in Matt, xiii. 24 — the parable of tares in the field of good seed; and some others of a similar kind.
Vers. 20, 21, 22. “And whosoever lieth carnally with a woman that is a bondmaid, betrothed to an husband, and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her; she shall be scourged; they shall not be put to death, because she was not free. And he shall bring his trespass-offering unto the Lord, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, even a ram for a trespass-offering. 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 law seems intended to prevent any one alleging the force of circumstances on the one hand, or, on the other, taking advantage of his superior station in society. Here is the case of a bondwoman, not at all at her own disposal, who had been betrothed to some other slave. In ordinary cases, she and the master who seduced her would both be put to death, according to the law Deut. xxii. 23-25. But there is to be a difference made here. The woman might be overawed by the master’s authority, or tempted by his apparent right and claim to obedience; therefore, she is not reckoned so guilty as in ordinary cases. Then, on his part, the master might be ignorant of the betrothing of his bondwoman previously. These alleviations are supposed, and yet still there is a penalty. “She shall be scotirg-ed,^^ for not resisting and making the whole case known. And he shall publicly offer a trespass-offering, confessing his sin. The Lord is considerate and impartial, yet holy and righteous.” Jy him actions are weighed (1 Sam. ii. 3.)
Vers. 23, 24, 25. “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 aa uncircumcised: three years shall it be as uncircumcised unto you: it shall not be eaten of. But in tl»e fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy, to praise the Lord withal. And in the fifth year shall ye eat of the fruit thereof, that it may yield unto you the increase thereof. I am the Lord your God.”
There is said to be a natural reason for this precept, viz., trees yield better fruit afterwards, if the blossoms be nipt off (” circumcised”) during the earliest years. It is even said, the fruit of the first three years is unwholesome. Others see in this precept chiefly a design to check the appetite of the people, and accustom them to self-denial.
Was this precept not a memorial of the Forbidden Tree of Paradise? Every fruit-tree here stands for three years, as a test of their obedience. Every stranger saw, in Israel’s orchards and vineyards, proofs of their obedience to their supreme Lord — a witness for him. And what a solemn shadow they cast over the fallen sons of Adam there, reminding them of the first father’s sin. Is it from this, too, that the parable of the barren fig-tree is taken?* Three years barren, it ought, in the fourth year, to yield xts first-fruits for the Lord. The husbandman could bear disappointment during the three yars; but not when the Lord’s year of fruit came. In the
* Luke ziu. 7.
fourth year, the Lord got the fruit. It was offered up to him with songs of praise; perhaps with festival songs, like that scene in the vineyards of Shiloh, Judg. xxi. 19, 21. The grand lesson enforced is plainly thus, “Seek ye rather the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you.”
Vers. 26, 27, 28. “Ye shall not eat anything with the blood; neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times. Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard. Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the Lord.”
“To eat with the blood (hs) is supposed, by some, to mean, “eat at the blood,” as the Heathen; but it rather is, eating flesh while the blood was not fully drained from the new-killed animal, as in 1 Sam. xiv. 33. (But see chap, xvii.) Enchantments, observing lucky and unlucky times, leaving a tuft of hair on the crown of their head when all the rest of the hair was shaven off,* and shaping the beard in particular ways, all these were Heathenish rites. So, also, tattooing the flesh, or even cutting themselves in mourning, by way of showing deep sorrow.
Israel is to be a holy people. 1. Even in hunting, or in times when their food was hastily procured, they must stand still and witness for Grod in the manner of their eating. 2. Far more, when tempted to join in auguries by birds, or the appearance of the clouds. These things they must denounce; they must carry on their business, and prosecute their enterprises, irrespective of all these. Simple reliance on their overruling Jehovah is their safety; and he would have told them, if any of these things were needed for their safety. 3. If they happen
* This the Septuagint calls making a “oiaor).”
to visit among the Heathen, when abroad, or if a Heathen come among them, they are not to plea»c and flatter the Heathen by a false liberality. They are not to adopt their fashions in dressing their hair and their beards. Even here they are to be witnesses for God. And, 4. At funerals, nothing is to be done but what speaks of submission to their God, and holy reliance. There must be no extravagance of grief, and nothing indicating any wildness of spirit. Tears may flow silently, like those of the Man of Sorrows; but grief must not be distracting nor inconsolable.
Ver. 29. “Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wicked* ness.”
Perhaps the Lord here refers to the fact, that some parents would, through connection with idolaters, become so depraved as to let their daughters become prostitutes in the heathen temples. Or it may be meant as a caution to parents to prevent their daughters gadding about, like Dinah, lest they should fall in with another Shechera. Parents are held responsible for the conduct of their daughters! So much influence have they, and so much blessing does God attach to proper training at the hands of parents, that neglect in using all these means is reckoned a conniving at, and participation in, the sin that follows. How heavily will wrath fall on those parents whose daughters are ruined for eternity by gaieties and fashions — their beauty and their natural qualities prostituted to the end of gaining a settlement in life by drawing the attention of the rich and noble, and so matching them well for this life!
Ver. 80. “Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my saDctuary: I am the Lord.”
Their, streets must not only be free of trade and common business on Sabbaths, but be full of worshippers going up to the house of the Lord. This precept is inserted here as if to say, “The foregoing duties will be remembered and enforced just in proportion as you keep up in your souls my worship, by seeing me set forth in the sanctuary, and by spending the Sabbaths in my fellowship.” All immorality, and all manner of evil, proceeds from neglect of the Sabbath. Take away yon river that waters the roots of the tree, and soon you will see the leaves wither and the sap dry up.
Ver. 31. “Regard/not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord.”
No secret worship is allowed — none but that of God alone. The messages you get in the sanctuary, on the Sabbaths, or at other times, should be sufficient to satisfy you as to providences and the ways of God. Fellowship with God is incompatible with a seeking after communication with devils, who may aid those that give themselves up to them. Persons that spoke as if inspired {Jyyaarqinvdoi) — females — and men who pretended to, and may have got, singular knowledge of unseen things from Satan, are here meant. Such were those Manasseh sought, and such was she to whom Saul went at Endor. The devil, probably, was allowed to deceive his willing slaves, by some extraordinary communications made to them respecting common things. Satan sees much, by his sagacity, that men do not, though the future is unknown to him; and there seems to be such a thing as fellowship with the devil personally, jeven as there is with God. Oh, fearful enmity of men! They choose rather the. fellowship of God’s enemy!
Yer. S2. “Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honor the face of the old man, and fear thy Gkpd: I am the Lord.”
When you meet them in public places, or they come to where you are, show them reverence. Infirmity, wisdom, nay, age in itself, have each a claim on us. Age even apart from its qualities, has in it solemnity. The Lord would thus solemnize us in the midst of our pursuits. “Lo! the shadow of eternity! for one cometh who is almost in eternity already. 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 lo 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” (Hosea xiv. 3), “the orphans relieved, and the widows” (Ps. cxlvi. 9) and the “stranger preserved.”
Vers. 33, 84. “And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. But the stranger that dvrelleth with yo« shall be unto you as one born amongst you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”
The stranger here spoken of is one who has come to reside in Israel, for the sake of Israel’s God, or just because he referred their land. Such persons are to be so many memorials of Israel’s former bondage. In public or private dealings with them, they must not oppress them by word or action. Their laws must not vex them. Israel must have compassion and consideration, like the great High Priest who was yet to arise.
God thus moulded his people into a pitying and kind frame of soul, and undid their selfishness. And thus, too, foreigners were likely to be attracted to inquire regarding Jehovah, when his people were known as merciful, and kind, and sympathizing. Even as now, believers must exhibit kindness and gentleness for the very end of gaining men to Christ.*
Vers. 35, 36, 37. “Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure. 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. Therefore shall ye observe all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: I am the Lord.”
The closing precepts are a general, but very wide and decided, command as to righteous and holy dealing. In piarkets, in trade, in their shops — in meting out land with the yard, cubit, &c., or weighing articles in the balance, or trying the capacity of solids. The balance and its weights, the ephah, and its subdivision, the hin, must be strictly exact. The Lord is a God of justice — unbending, holy rectitude. It is thus that he will himself deal with us in jtidgment; hence he prefaced it by saying, ver. 35, “Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment,” i. e., nothing which would be reckoned unjust if the case were tried. He ends by renewing the command, in ver. 37, twice repeating his authority, “I am the Lord;” and intermingling, “Your Grod which brought you out of the land of Egypt,” as a motive of grace.
Alas! who shall live when Grod doeth this? when he lays judgment to the line in his dealings with us! Or rather let us say,” Ah I where is there room left to fear, if the Surety’s work be tried and taken for us? If there
* It is in this form that holiness is recommended in 1 Cor. xiiL 4-7. The love that God felt to the guilty, is the love which we are to feel to our fellow-men. This alone is “Charity.”
be no unjust weight or balance in the sanctuary abovei and yet we are acquitted on the ground of the full measure of righteousness meted out by Jesus!’’ “In that great hour,” says Dr. Owen, on Heb. v. 7, “God was pleased for a while, as it were, to hold the scales of justice in equilibrio, that the turning of them might bo more conspicuous, eminent, and glorious. In the one scale, as it were, there was the weight of the first sin and apostasy from God, with all the consequence of it, covered with the sentence and curse of the law, with the exigence of vindictive justice — a weight that all the angels of heaven could not stand under one moment. In the other, were the obedience, holiness, righteousness, and penal sufferings of the Son of God, all having weight and worth given to them by the dignity and worth of his Divine person. Infinite justice kept these things for a season, as it were, at a poise, until the Son of God, by his prayers, tears, and supplications, prevailed to a glorious success in the delivery of himself and us.” Glory to the Righteous One!
But here we may stay to reflect how bitter to the Lord Jesus it must have been to come to his own nation, whom he had thus taught, and yet to bo treated so unkindly. He was the greatest sirawg-er (ver. 33) that ever traversed earth. It was not his home; he had nowhere to lay his head. Yet his Father’s laws, as to strangers, were not kept toward him. “They received him not.”
“A pilgrim tlirougb this lonely world
llie blessed Saviour paas’d;
A mourner all his life below,
A djing lamb at last.
“That tender heart that felt for all,
For us its life-blood gave;
It found on earth no resting-place,
Save only in the grave.”
How bitter, also, to the “Holy One and the Just,” to be treated with the most glaring injustice! In the hall of the Sanhedrim — in the court of Herod — at the tribunal of Pilate — “his judgment was taken away (Acts viii. 33.) Of this he might complain far more truly than Job, who so solemnly protested “by the living God, who hath taken away my judgment!” (Job xxvii. 2; xxxiv.
The reference to the perverting of law and equity in our Lord’s case, is brought out by the rendering of Isaiah liii. 8, given in Acts viii. 33, “In his humiliation, his judgment was taken awayP This rendering has been a difficulty to many; but is it not the only true rendering? Throughout Isa. liii., the prefix 73 means most frequently” because ofP Thus vers. 5, 8, 12. We would, therefore, expect the same in the case of “^siw. What seems to me probable is, that the” ^T T«.-ret>’c5ff£»’’ of Acts viii. 32, is to be found in “issa. And then the” (iwiou” jg found attached to ae’ria. The true collocation of the words would in that case be nb astiJ^a ‘i“‘?3>^, “because of his oppression” i. e., his oppressed state, his humiliation, “he was taken away from judgment.” In Psahn ovii. 39, “^sba is found in this sense. In translating Isaiah, the historian Luke, (not the Septuagint,) inserts” duToi;” after “iv ti laneiviiaei^’ showing how he read the Hebrew. But, at all events, their awful perversion of all law and equity towards the Righteous One is set before us in full relief: “In his humiliation, from judgment (the sentence he was entitled to) was he taken away.” The Judge of Israel, who shall yet sit on the great white throne, was hurried away out of sight of justice and equity. Oh! how fearfully deep the descent our Surety made! But thus it was he drew us from the miry clay.