John Wesley

Every Sabbath day the bread is to be set out before the LORD on behalf of the Israelites as a permanent covenant.

“And this may be here called an everlasting covenant, not only because it was to endure as long as the Jewish polity stood, but also because this was to stand everlastingly, or continually, and therefore the new cakes were first brought before the old were…”

It belongs to Aaron and his sons, who are to eat it in a holy place; for it is to him a most holy part of the offerings made by…

“It - The old bread now to be taken away. Made by fire - The incense was offered by fire, and that for or instead of the bread, and therefore the bread was reputed as if it had been so offered.”

“Take the blasphemer outside the camp, and have all who heard him lay their hands on his head; then have the whole assembly stone him.

“Lay their hands upon his head - Whereby they gave public testimony that they heard this person speak such words, and did in their own and all the peoples names, demand justice to be executed upon him, that by this sacrifice God might be appeased…”

And if a man takes the life of anyone else, he must surely be put to death.

“He that killeth - This law is repeated here, to prevent the mischievous effects of men's striving together, which as here it caused blasphemy, so it might in others lead to murder.”

Then Moses spoke to the Israelites, and they took the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him. So the Israelites did as the LORD had commanded Moses.

“Stone him with stones - This blasphemer was the first that died by the law of Moses. Stephen the first that died for the gospel, died by the abuse of the law.”

If a foreigner residing among you prospers, but your countryman dwelling near him becomes destitute and sells himself to the foreigner or to a member of his clan,

“So the word root is elsewhere used for the branch or progeny growing from it. He seems to note one of a foreign race and country, transplanted into the land of Israel, and there having taken root amongst the people of God, yet even such…”

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

“According to the time of an hired servant - Allowance shall be made for the time wherein he hath served, proportionable to that which is given to an hired servant for so long service, because his condition is in this like theirs; it is not…”

“You must not make idols for yourselves or set up a carved image or sacred pillar; you must not place a sculpted stone in your land to bow down to…

“An image - Or pillar, that is, to worship it, or bow down to it, as it follows. Otherwise this was not simply prohibited, being practiced by holy men, both before and after this law.”

And I will give peace to the land, and you will lie down with nothing to fear.

“The sword - That is, war, as the sword is oft taken. It shall not enter into it, nor have passage through it, much less shall your land be made the seat of war.”

And I will bring a sword against you to execute the vengeance of the covenant.

“The quarrel of my covenant - That is, my quarrel with you for your breach of your covenant made with me.”

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…

“When I have broken the staff of your bread - By sending a famine or scarcity of bread, which is the staff and support of man's present life.”

I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and heap your lifeless bodies on the lifeless remains of your idols; and My soul will despise you.

“The carcases of your idols - So he calls them, either to signify that their idols how specious soever or glorious in their eyes, were in truth but lifeless and contemptible carcases; or to shew that their idols should be so far from helping them…”

I will reduce your cities to rubble and lay waste your sanctuaries, and I will refuse to smell the pleasing aroma of your sacrifices.

“And yours emphatically, not mine, for I disown and abhor it, and all the services you do in it, because you have defiled it. I will not smell - Not own or accept them.”

and I acted with hostility toward them and brought them into the land of their enemies—and if their uncircumcised hearts will be humbled and they will make amends for their…

“And, if then their uncircumcised, that is, impure, carnal, profane, and impenitent hearts be humbled, that is, subdued, purged, reformed: if to this confession they add sincere humiliation and reformation, I will do what follows.”

and I acted with hostility toward them and brought them into the land of their enemies—and if their uncircumcised hearts will be humbled and they will make amends for their…

“If they accept of - The meaning is, if they sincerely acknowledge the righteousness of God and their own wickedness, and patiently submit to his correcting hand; if with David they are ready to say, it is good for them that they are afflicted, that…”

then I will remember My covenant with Jacob and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.

“I will remember my covenant - So as to make good all that I have promised in it. For words of knowledge or remembrance in scripture, commonly denote affection and kindness.”

And if the person is from five to twenty years of age, then your valuation for the male shall be twenty shekels, and for the female ten shekels.

“Five years old - At which age they might be vowed by their parents, as appears from 1 Sam. i, 11-28, tho' not by themselves; and the children were obliged by their parents vow, which is not strange considering the parents right to dispose of…”

He must not replace it or exchange it, either good for bad or bad for good.

“It and the exchange - That is, both the thing first vowed, and the thing offered or given in exchange. This was inflicted upon him as a just penalty for his levity in such weighty matters.”

If he consecrates his field during the Year of Jubilee, the price will stand according to your valuation.

“From the year of jubilee - That is, immediately after the year of jubilee is past. According to thy estimation - Now mentioned, of fifty shekels for an omer of barley seed. It shall stand - That is, that price shall be paid without diminution.”

If, however, he does not redeem the field, or if he has sold it to another man, it may no longer be redeemed.

“If he will not redeem it - When the priest shall set a price upon it, and offer it to him in the first place to redeem it: or, rather and, for this seems to be added by way of accumulation, if he, that is…”

When the field is released in the Jubilee, it will become holy, like a field devoted to the LORD; it becomes the property of the priests.

“When it goeth out - That is, out of the possession of the other man to whom the priest sold it. The possession shall be the priests - For their maintenance.”

then the priest shall calculate for him the value up to the Year of Jubilee, and the man shall pay the assessed value on that day as a sacred offering…

“Thy estimation - That is, the price which thou, O Moses, by my direction hast set in such cases.”

But no one may consecrate a firstborn of the livestock, because a firstborn belongs to the LORD. Whether it is an ox or a sheep, it is the LORD’s.

“No man shall sanctify it - By vow; because it is not his own, but the Lord's already, and therefore to vow such a thing to God is a tacit derogation from, and an usurpation of the Lord's right, and a mocking of God by…”

But if it is among the unclean animals, then he may redeem it according to your valuation and add a fifth of its value.

“An unclean beast - That is, if it be the first-born of an unclean beast, as appears from ver. 26, which could not be vowed, because it was a first-born, nor offered, because it was unclean, and therefore is here commanded to be redeemed or…”

Nothing that a man sets apart to the LORD from all he owns—whether a man, an animal, or his inherited land—can be sold or redeemed; everything so devoted is most…

“No devoted thing - That is, nothing which is absolutely devoted to God with a curse upon themselves or others, if they disposed not of it according to their vow; as the Hebrew word implies.”