Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

You must not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out, or you will be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God.

“Regard not them that have familiar spirits--The Hebrew word, rendered "familiar spirit," signifies the belly, and sometimes a leathern bottle, from its similarity to the belly.”

If a man marries both a woman and her mother, it is depraved.

“The only instance of another form of capital punishment occurs in Le 20:14, that of being burnt with fire; and yet it is probable that even here death was first inflicted by stoning, and the body of the criminal afterwards consumed by fire (Jos 7:15).”

But I have told you that you will inherit their land, since I will give it to you as an inheritance—a land flowing with milk and honey.

“I . . . have separated you from other people--Their selection from the rest of the nations was for the all-important end of preserving the knowledge and worship of the true God amid the universal apostasy; and as the distinction of meats was one great…”

No descendant of Aaron the priest who has a defect shall approach to present the offerings made by fire to the LORD.

“Priests laboring under any personal defect were not allowed to officiate in the public service; they might be employed in some inferior duties about the sanctuary but could not perform any sacred office.”

He must not eat anything found dead or torn by wild animals, which would make him unclean. I am the LORD.

“But an express precept was necessary to show them that whatever died naturally or from disease, was prohibited to them by the operation of that law which forbade them the use of any meat with its blood.”

These are the LORD’s appointed feasts, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times.

“Divine wisdom was manifested in fixing them at those periods; in winter, when the days were short and the roads broken up, a long journey was impracticable; while in summer the harvest and vintage gave busy employment in the fields.”

“Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘When you enter the land that I am giving you and you reap its harvest, you are to bring to the priest a sheaf…

“The offering of the wave-sheaf sanctified the whole harvest (Ro 11:16). At the same time, this feast had a typical character, and pre-intimated the resurrection of Christ (1Co 15:20), who rose from the dead on the very day the first-fruits were offered.”

Bring two loaves of bread from your dwellings as a wave offering, each made from two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour, baked with leaven, as the firstfruits to the…

“The loaves used at the Passover were unleavened; those presented at Pentecost were leavened--a difference which is thus accounted for, that the one was a memorial of the bread hastily prepared at their departure, while the other was a tribute of gratitude to God for…”

“Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the Feast of Tabernacles to the LORD begins, and it continues for seven days.

“While the solid branches were reserved for the construction of the booths, the lighter branches were carried by men, who marched in triumphal procession, singing psalms and crying "Hosanna!" which signifies, "Save, we beseech thee!" (Ps 118:15, 25, 26).”

“Command the Israelites to bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to keep the lamps burning continually.

“Command the children of Israel--This is the repetition of a law previously given (Ex 27:20, 21). pure oil olive beaten--or cold-drawn, which is always of great purity.”

Now the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites, and a fight broke out in the camp between him and an Israelite.

“The "mixed multitude" [Ex 12:38] that accompanied the Israelites in their exodus from Egypt creates a presumption that marriage connections of the kind described were not infrequent.”

In this Year of Jubilee, each of you shall return to his own property.

“This law of entail, by which the right heir could never be excluded, was a provision of great wisdom for preserving families and tribes perfectly distinct, and their genealogies faithfully recorded, in order that all might have evidence to establish their right to the ancestral…”

But I will send My blessing upon you in the sixth year, so that the land will yield a crop sufficient for three years.

“None but a legislator who was conscious of acting under divine authority would have staked his character on so singular an enactment as that of the sabbatic year; and none but a people who had witnessed the fulfilment of the divine promise would have been…”

The land must not be sold permanently, because it is Mine, and you are but foreigners and residents with Me.

“The land shall not be sold for ever--or, "be quite cut off," as the Margin better renders it. The land was God's, and, in prosecution of an important design, He gave it to the people of His choice, dividing it among their tribes and families--who…”

As for the cities of the Levites, the Levites always have the right to redeem their houses in the cities they possess.

“A certain portion of the lands surrounding the Levitical cities was appropriated to them for the pasturage of their cattle and flocks (Nu 35:4, 5). This was a permanent endowment for the support of the ministry and could not be alienated for any time.”

He and his purchaser will then count the time from the year he sold himself up to the Year of Jubilee.

“The ransom money was determined on a most equitable principle. Taking account of the number of years from the proposal to redeem and the Jubilee, of the current wages of labor for that time, and multiplying the remaining years by that sum, the amount was…”

You must keep My Sabbaths and have reverence for My sanctuary. I am the LORD.

“Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary--Very frequently, in this Book of the Law, the Sabbath and the sanctuary are mentioned as antidotes to idolatry.”

Your threshing will continue until the grape harvest, and the grape harvest will continue until sowing time; you will have your fill of food to eat and will dwell securely…

“Moses led the Hebrews to believe that, provided they were faithful to God, there would be no idle time between the harvest and vintage, so great would be the increase.”

then this is what I will do to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting disease, and fever that will destroy your sight and drain your life.

“According to the Septuagint, "ague" is "the jaundice," which disorders the eyes and produces great depression of spirits. Others, however, consider the word as referring to a scorching wind; no certain explanation can be given.”

I will break down your stubborn pride and make your sky like iron and your land like bronze,

“I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass--No figures could have been employed to convey a better idea of severe and long-continued famine.”

I will send wild animals against you to rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and reduce your numbers, until your roads lie desolate.

“I will also send wild beasts among you--This was one of the four judgments threatened (Eze 14:21; see also 2Ki 2:4).”

When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will bake your bread in a single oven and dole out your bread by weight, so that you will eat…

“But sometimes also, in times of scarcity, it is baked in public ovens for want of fuel; and the scarcity predicted here would be so great, that one oven would be sufficient to bake as much as ten women used in ordinary occasions to provide…”

But I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out a sword after you as your land becomes desolate and your cities are laid waste.

“I will scatter you among the heathen, &c.--as was done when the elite of the nation were removed into Assyria and placed in various parts of the kingdom.”

Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths all the days it lies desolate, while you are in the land of your enemies.

“The number of those sabbatic years seems to have been seventy, as determined by the duration of the captivity. This early prediction is very remarkable, considering that the usual policy of the Assyrian conquerors was to send colonies to cultivate and inhabit their newly acquired…”

But if they will confess their iniquity and that of their fathers in the unfaithfulness that they practiced against Me, by which they have also walked in hostility toward Me—…

“If they shall confess their iniquity, &c.--This passage holds out the gracious promise of divine forgiveness and favor on their repentance, and their happy restoration to their land, in memory of the covenant made with their fathers (Ro 2:1-29).”