βSpeak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land of your habitations, which I give unto you,β
Speak. This law was probably given towards the end of the 40 years, ver. 23.
βAnd will make an offering by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, or a sacrifice in performing a vow, or in a freewill offering, or in your solemn feasts, to make a sweet savour unto the LORD, of the herd, or of the flock: performing: Heb. separatingβ
Victim βof peace,β as some Latin copies read, including all the different sorts, ver. 28. (Calmet)
βThen shall he that offereth his offering unto the LORD bring a meat offering of a tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth part of an hin of oil.β
Ephi. Hebrew, βa tenth of flour,β or one gomer. (Du Hamel)
βThus shall it be done for one bullock, or for one ram, or for a lamb , or a kid.β
Thus, &c. β Land. In this last verse, the Samaritan copy observes a more correct manner of punctuation than the Hebrew which is commonly rendered βO congregation.β (Houbigant) β The author of the Vulgate has preserved the sense, but not all the words of the original. The strangers here spoken of are the proselytes of justice, who kept all the law. Those of the gate, who lived in the land, uncircumcised, could only present holocausts, without libations, Leviticus xxii. 25. (Calmet) β βThe many sacrifices (of the old law) prefigured this one sacrificeβ of the new. (St. Augustine, City of God x. 20.) Christ, represented by the oil, offers himself the victim, under the forms of bread and wine. (Du Hamel)
βYe shall offer up a cake of the first of your dough for an heave offering: as ye do the heave offering of the threshingfloor, so shall ye heave it.β
Eat. Hebrew and Septuagint, βof your dough.β They elevated a part towards heaven, and gave it to the priest or Levite, who lived nearest them; and, in case none could be found, as at the present day, they were to burn it in honour of God. Tradition determines the quantity to be between a 40th and a 60th part. (St. Jerome in Ezec. xlv.) This they do every time they bake, according to Philo, and Leo of Modena, (2. 9,) though the law be not clear, and some might think it sufficient to give a part, the first time they baked with new flour.
βAnd if ye have erred, and not observed all these commandments, which the LORD hath spoken unto Moses,β
Ignorance. Other victims are prescribed; (Leviticus iv. 13,) so that the ignorance here mentioned must be of a different nature. The former was perhaps a sin of commission, and this a sin of omission; such as if the whole people should neglect to eat the paschal lamb. The Rabbins think that the law alludes here to idolatry, committed for want of knowledge. But that is next to impossible in a whole nation. Outram believes, that the Book of Leviticus speaks of those who transgress the negative precepts, without abandoning the true religion; but the present law alludes to those who forget the laws of their fathers, and embrace a false worship. Thus Ezechias offered the victims here prescribed, though more in number, to expiate the idolatry of the people under Achaz, 1 Paralipomenon xxix. 21. See also 1 Esdras viii. 35. Some think Moses has supplied in this place what was left deficient before. But it is more probable, that he supposes here only some of the tribes have sinned ignorantly, while in Leviticus he speaks of the whole nation. (Calmet) β No one sins for the sake of the offence, but for some advantage which we falsely persuade ourselves we shall derive from doing so. (St. Augustine, q. 24.)
βAnd the priest shall make an atonement for all the congregation of the children of Israel, and it shall be forgiven them; for it is ignorance: and they shall bring their offering, a sacrifice made by fire unto the LORD, and their sin offering before the LORD, for their ignorance:β
And for. Hebrew, βand their sin (offering) in the presence of the Lord, for their ignorance.β (Calmet)
βBut the soul that doeth ought presumptuously , whether he be born in the land, or a stranger , the same reproacheth the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people. presumptuously: Heb. with an high handβ
Pride. Hebrew and Septuagint, βwith hand, or with head (Chaldean) uplifted,β without shame or control. The Rabbins say, he must deny that God is the author of the law, and sin deliberately, after being admonished, &c., before he will incur this penalty. But why all these restrictions? β Rebellious. Hebrew, βhe hath blasphemed, or irritated the Lord.β Such crimes imply a contempt of the law. β Cut off by God, if the judges neglect to do it. The Hebrews maintain, that each individual has a right to kill such scandalous offenders, as Phinees did Zambri, chap. xxv. 7. (1 Machabees ii. 23.) It is not clear whether all strangers, living in the country, were subjected to this law. (Selden, Jur. ii. 11.) Though such crimes were not pardoned by the law, true repentance will free us from them. (St. Augustine, q. 25.) (Worthington)
βAnd while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day.β
Wilderness of Pharan, if this crime were committed soon after the murmuring of the people, or in some other part of the desert. This example tends to show the severity and extent of the former precept. The law had condemned the breaker of the sabbath to be put to death. But Moses consulted the Lord, to know in what manner; or perhaps there were some circumstances attending the offender, which extenuated or enhanced his crime. Some of the Rabbins have unjustly aspersed the character of Salphaad, as if he were the person, because it is said that he died in the desert in his own sin, chap. xxvii. 3. (Calmet) β Those who transgress with full knowledge, deserve to be severely chastised; (Luke xii. 47,) and this is the more necessary, when the law has been lately promulgated, to restrain the insolent. (Haydock) β God generally makes an example of those who first transgress his laws, as he did of our first parents, of Cain, the Sodomites, the worshippers of the golden calf, &c. He punished thus the sacrilege of Nadab, the disobedience of Saul, the lie of Ananias and Saphira. (Cajetan) (Du Hamel)
βSpeak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue:β
Fringes. The Pharisees enlarged these fringes through hypocrisy, (Matthew xxiii. 5,) to appear more zealous than other men for the law of God. (Challoner) β Our Saviour conformed to this law, Luke viii. 44. Moses shews that these fringes were to be made for the cloak, which was square, and not for the tunic, Deuteronomy xxii. 12. The colour, in St. Justin Martyrβs time, was purple. (Dialogue with Trypho) It seems that the PhΕnicians were accustomed to wear such fringes. Sidoniam picto chlamidem circumdata limbo. (Virgil, Γneid iv.) (Calmet) β God ordained that his people should be thus distinguished from other nations. (Tirinus)
βAnd it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring:β
Astray, (fornicantes). The eyes being left without restraint, easily fix upon dangerous objects, which captivate the heart, and lead to idolatry and the contempt of Godβs law. (Calmet) β We are also admonished to meditate on the law, and not follow our own thoughts or interpretations, so as to render it of no effect, in the regulation of our morals. (Haydock)