When we think of this, we see double emphasis in the words, "I am the Lord."

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 shalt not go 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 thy 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 God's love to us is 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 'allorgiosлioxолo, 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.

"I am Jehovah," is the authority and motive for all.

Ver. 19. "Ye shall 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 statutes." 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 min

gling 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 trespassoffering 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 bond woman previously. These

alleviations are supposed, and yet still there is a penalty. "She shall be scourged," 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. “By 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 as uncircumcised: three years shall it be as uncircumcised unto you: it shall not be eaten of. But in the 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 its first-fruits for the Lord. The husbandman could bear disappointment during the three years; but not when the Lord's year of fruit came. In the

*Luke xiii. 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 rather the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you."

ye

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" () 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 God 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 "cicon."