Leviticus 19:1-10 comments: various commandments

 

Leviticus 19:1 ¶  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2  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. 3  Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I am the LORD your God. 4  Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the LORD your God. 5  And if ye offer a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD, ye shall offer it at your own will. 6  It shall be eaten the same day ye offer it, and on the morrow: and if ought remain until the third day, it shall be burnt in the fire. 7  And if it be eaten at all on the third day, it is abominable; it shall not be accepted. 8  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. 9  And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest. 10  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.

 

Honoring mother and father and keeping the Sabbath, rules of behavior toward man and God are mentioned. Notice how we can love an authority and fear it as well. We don’t use the word fear necessarily like this anymore. We are to fear and love our parents and fear and love God. Fear is an integral part of acknowledging authority and power over oneself by another who is rightly in that place and who exercises their authority in the Lord and no further.

Verse 4 contains a warning against idolatry and idols. These have all been mentioned in the comments on Genesis and Exodus. There is a specific summation of previous orders regarding offerings, their voluntary nature, and when they should be eaten. Here also is the beginnings of a sort of voluntary welfare system. God has ordered the Hebrew to leave some produce in the fields during the harvest for the poor and for the foreigner. This is important when we get to the study of Ruth.