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Leviticus Chapter 24


lev 24:0


This chapter treats of the oil for the lamps, and the ordering of them, Lev 24:1; of the making of the shewbread cakes, and the setting of them on the table, Lev 24:5; and an Israelite having blasphemed the name of the Lord, and inquiry being made what should be done to him, he, and so any other person guilty of the same, is ordered to be stoned to death, Lev 24:10; on occasion of which several laws are repeated concerning killing a man or a beast, or doing injury to any man, Lev 24:17.

Leviticus 24:1

lev 24:1


saying; as follows.

Leviticus 24:2

lev 24:2

Command the children of Israel,.... Moses was the chief magistrate under God, and being clothed with authority from him, had power to command the children of Israel to do what the Lord required of them:


to cause the lamps to burn continually; the lamps in the golden candlestick, which were seven, Exo 25:37; or "the lamp", in the singular number, as it is in the original text; the western lamp, which is said to be always kept lighted, from which the rest were lighted when out; though the oil was undoubtedly for the supply of the lamps, that they might burn always, night and day; or from night tonight, as Jarchi; and both on sabbath days and working days, as the Targum of Jonathan.

Leviticus 24:3

lev 24:3

Without the vail of the testimony,.... That is, on the outside of the vail which divided between the holy and holy of holies, and which was before the ark in which the testimony or law was:



it shall be a statute for ever in your generations; until the Messiah should come, the true light, which would put out all such typical ones, and by his Gospel spread light in all his churches throughout the world; See Gill on Exo 27:20 and See Gill on Exo 27:21.

Leviticus 24:4

lev 24:4

He shall order the lamps on the pure candlestick,.... So called, as Jarchi suggests, for these two reasons, partly because it was made of pure gold, and partly because it was to be kept pure and clean, and free from ashes, by the priest; see Exo 25:31,


Leviticus 24:5

lev 24:5

And thou shalt take fine flour,.... Of wheat, and the finest of it:


two tenth deals shall be in one cake; that is, two tenth parts of an ephah, which were two omers, one of which was as much as a man could eat in one day of the manna: so that one of these cakes was as much as two men could eat of bread in one day; each cake was ten hands' breadth long, five broad, and seven fingers its horns, or was so high (g).

(g) Menachot, c. 11. sect. 4.

Leviticus 24:6

lev 24:6

And thou shalt set them in two rows,.... The twelve cakes:


upon the pure table; the shewbread table, so called because overlaid with pure gold, and kept clean and bright, Exo 25:24,

before the Lord; for this stood in the holy place, in the same place as the candlestick did, which has the same position, Lev 24:4; of the mystical and typical sense of these cakes; see Gill on Exo 25:30.

Leviticus 24:7

lev 24:7

And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row,.... Two cups of frankincense, in each of which was an handful of it, and which were set by each row of the cakes, as Jarchi observes:

that it may be on the bread for a memorial; or "for the bread", instead of it, for a memorial of it; that being to be eaten by the priests, and this to be burned on the altar to the Lord, as follows:


Leviticus 24:8

lev 24:8



(h) Menachot, c. 11. sect. 7.

Leviticus 24:9

lev 24:9

And it shall be Aaron's and his sons',.... The twelve cakes of the old bread, when taken off the shewbread table; these were divided between the courses of the priests that carried in and brought out; and the high priest had half from each course, so that the half was for Aaron or the high priest, and the other half for his sons, or the priests that ministered (i):




(i) Maimon. Hilchot Tamidin, c. 4. sect. 12, 14. (k) Menachot, c. 11. sect. 9.

Leviticus 24:10

lev 24:10

And the son of an Israelitish woman,.... Whose name, and the name of his mother, are afterwards given:

whose father was an Egyptian; Jarchi says, this is the Egyptian whom Moses slew, Exo 2:12; and so others in Abendana:

went out among the children of Israel; went out of Egypt with them, according to the Targum of Jonathan, and so was one of the mixed multitude, which came from thence with them, which is not improbable; some say he went out of Moses's court of judicature; but it is more likely that the meaning is, he went out of his tent, so Aben Ezra, into the midst of the camp, to claim his rank and place among the people of Israel; though the Jewish writers, as Jarchi and Aben Ezra, take this phrase, "among the children of Israel", to signify that he was a proselyte, and became a Jew, or had embraced the Jewish religion in all respects:


(l) Targum Jon. in loc.

Leviticus 24:11

lev 24:11

And the Israelitish woman's son blasphemed the name of the Lord, and cursed,.... As they were striving together, or when the trial was over, he being cast, fell into outrageous blasphemies against God, who made such laws for the civil polity of Israel, and cursed the judges that had given sentence against him; so the Targum of Jonathan; and so the Jews generally understand by the "name" blasphemed, the name Jehovah, which he spake out plainly, and which, they say, is ineffable, and ought not to be pronounced but by the high priest in the sanctuary; but this man expressed it in its proper sound, and made use of it to curse the man that strove with him, or the judge that judged him; so it is said in the Misnah (d),"a blasphemer is not guilty until he expresses the name;''but it undoubtedly means blaspheming God himself, by whatsoever name:



(d) Sanhedrin, c. 7. sect. 5.

Leviticus 24:12

lev 24:12

And they put him in ward,.... In some prison, a place known in the camp, as Aben Ezra observes:


Leviticus 24:13

lev 24:13

And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... From off the mercy seat in the holy of holies, where he had promised to meet him and commune with him about anything he should inquire of him, as he did at this time:

saying; as follows.

Leviticus 24:14

lev 24:14

Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp,.... To show that he had no part nor lot in Israel, and that he was unworthy to be a member of their civil community, or of their church state; and, besides, the place of stoning, or where malefactors suffered any kind of death, was without the camp, as afterwards without the city, see Heb 13:12,

let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head; the Targum of Jonathan adds,"and the judges;''so Jarchi remarks, that they that "heard him" are the witnesses, and the word "all" comprehends the judges: Maimonides says (e) the same, and observes that hands were laid on no malefactor but the blasphemer; and this was done to show that the one had bore a faithful testimony, and the other had pronounced a righteous sentence on him; and that he had brought this guilt and punishment upon himself by his sin; wherefore it was usual for them to say, as the same writers observe,"thy blood be upon thine own head, and we not punished for thy death, which thou hast been the cause of to thyself:"


(e) Hilchot Obede Cochabim, c. 2. sect. 10.

Leviticus 24:15

lev 24:15

And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel,.... On this occasion, and gave them some laws and rules concerning the above affair, and other things:


Leviticus 24:16

lev 24:16

And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord,.... Or, "but he that blasphemeth", &c. from whence the Jews gather, that the name Jehovah must be expressed, or it is no blasphemy; so Jarchi; but it is not bare using or expressing the word Jehovah that is blasphemy, but speaking ill and contemptuously of God, with respect to any of his names, titles, and epithets, or of any of his perfections, ways, and works:

he shall surely be put to death; no mercy shall be shown him, no reprieve or pardon granted him: hence it is said (f), there is no atonement for it, by repentance, or chastisements, or the day of atonement: so blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is not forgiven, neither in this world nor in that which is to come, Mat 12:31,



(f) R. Alphes, par. 1. Yoma, c. 1. fol. 261. 1.

Leviticus 24:17

lev 24:17

And he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death. With the sword, as the Targum of Jonathan adds; which restrains it to any man of the children of Israel, but wrongly; for the original law respects any man whatever, Gen 9:6; and so it does here; See Gill on Exo 21:12.

Leviticus 24:18

lev 24:18

And he that killeth a beast shall make it good,.... Pay for it, give the value of it, or another as good as that instead of it, as follows:

beast for beast; or "soul for soul"; life for life, that is, a living one for that the life of which is taken away, and one every way as good as that.

Leviticus 24:19

lev 24:19

And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbour,.... Does him any hurt or mischief, causes any mutilation or deformity in him by striking him:


Leviticus 24:20

lev 24:20

Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth,.... Which is not to be taken strictly or literally, but for the price or value of those, which is to be given in a pecuniary way; See Gill on Exo 21:24, Exo 21:25,


Leviticus 24:21

lev 24:21



Leviticus 24:22

lev 24:22

Ye shall have one manner of law,.... Respecting the above things, blaspheming of the name of God, taking away the life of man, or of any beast, and of doing damage to either:



Leviticus 24:23

lev 24:23

And Moses spake unto the children of Israel,.... As the Lord had commanded him:



Next: Leviticus Chapter 25