Leviticus 24
ButlerOlive oil. This is uniformly employed for lights in the sanctuary and for anointing. It is a vegetable oil and fit for the purpose of signifying illumination and sanctification. The fat of beasts was employed to represent propitiation. The oil was pure, taken from the olive alone. M.—It is called beaten, because it was obtained by merely bruising the olives in a mortar or mill, without the application of heat. The finest oil is now thus obtained from young fruit freshly gathered. Clark.
Oil, which gives light and refreshes and invigorates the body, is an oft-recurring emblem for the Holy Spirit, the source of life and light, with whom God anoints his servants in the Old Testament, all his children in the New Testament. With this emblematic oil were the seven lamps on the holy candlestick to be continually supplied. Gert.
20. Continually.** Heb. tamid. That is, from night to night; not without intermission. That is said, according to Scripture usage, to be continually done, which never fails to be done at the appointed season. Thus a “continual burnt-offering” is one which is continually offered at the stated time. Bush.—21. A statute forever. This ordering of the lamps night and morning was a statute that was to be in full force while the tabernacle and temple stood; and should have its spiritual accomplishment in the Christian Church to the end of time. The seven golden candlesticks were typical of this Church and the glorious light it possesses (Rev. 1:12–20); and Jesus Christ, the Fountain and Dispenser of this true light, walks in the midst of them. A. C.—The priests were to light the lamps, and to tend them; thus it is the work of ministers, by the preaching and expounding of the Scriptures (which are as a lamp), to enlighten the Church, God’s tabernacle upon earth. This is to be a statute forever, that the lamps of the Word be lighted as duly as the incense of prayer and praise is offered. H.
Some observe that the repetition of those words, The Lord spake un’o Moses, here and afterward, intimates that God did not deliver these precepts to Moses in the mount in a continued discourse, but with many intermissions, giving him time either to write what was said to him, or, at least, to charge his memory with it. He is here ordered to levy money upon the people by way of poll, so much a head, for the service of the tabernacle. H.
The materials for the textile work, the wood, the gold, and the bronze, were to be the free-will offerings of those who could contribute them. But the silver was to be obtained by an enforced capitation on every adult male Israelite, the poor and the rich having to pay the same (verse 15). Hence, in the estimate of the metals collected for the work the gold and the bronze are termed offerings, while the silver is spoken of as “the silver of them that were numbered.” But this payment is brought into its highest relation in being here accounted a spiritual obligation laid on each individual, a tribute expressly exacted by Jehovah. Every man of Israel who would escape a curse (verse 12) had in this way to make a practical acknowledgment that he had a share in the sanctuary, on the occasion of his being recognized as one of the covenanted people (verse 16). Silver was the metal commonly used for current coin. Clark.
12. The term “soul” in this connection is equivalent to “life,” “person,” “self.” It was therefore a ransom for their lives, or in other words a tribute paid to God by way of acknowledgment that they had received their lives from him; that consequently he might claim from them whatever he might demand for the support of institutions of which they themselves at the same time were to reap the great advantage. Bush.—The rich were not to give more, the poor not to give less; to signify that all souls were equally precious in the sight of God, that he is no respecter of persons, and that no difference of outward circumstances could affect the state of the soul. All had sinned, and all must be redeemed by the same price. This was to be a memorial unto the children of Israel, to bring to their remembrance their past d-liverance and to keep in view their future redemption. A. C.
This was that tribute-money which Christ paid for fear of offending his adversaries, when yet he showed good reason why he should have been excused. In other offerings men were to give according to their ability, but this, which was the ransom of the soul, must be alike for all; for the rich have as much need of Christ as the poor, and the poor are as welcome to him as the rich. They both alike contributed to the maintenance of the temple service, because both were to have a like interest in it, and benefit by it. In Christ and his ordinances, rich and poor meet together; the Lord is the Maker, the Lord Christ is the Redeemer of them both (Prov. 22:2). H.
The half shekel, which was first levied of all grown males at the institution of the tabernacle, and called their ransom money, though originally applied to the construction of the tabernacle, was afterward, according to the manifest design of the ordinance, regularly levied, and was the memorial-offering from the children of Israel “to make atonement for their souls,” that which served as a connecting link between the members of the congregation and the atonement services of the sanctuary. Through this, which ministered the supplies, they gave formal expression to their desire to have an interest in all the expiatory rites of the daily service; and there were also occasional offerings which had the same end in view. P. F.
11. Blasphemed the name, and cursed.** The words, “of the Lord,” it will be perceived, are supplied, not being found in the original. Nor does any one of the ancient versions attempt to supply the sacred name. There can be no doubt that the words are properly supplied, and that his crime was a bold and impious profaning the august name of Jehovah, which name is perhaps omitted by the writer, in order to evince a reverence strikingly in contrast with the daring hardihood of the offender. Bush.
The crime of Shelomith’s son was, doubtless, some species of blasphemy: as, however, it was a new and unprecedented case, it was necessary to consult the great Lawgiver on the occasion. In what way the answer of the Lord was communicated, we know not (probably by Urim and Thummim); but it came in such a manner as to preclude all doubt upon the subject. The man was declared to be guilty, and was sentenced to be stoned to death. And on this occasion a law is made relative to blasphemy in general. However sinful the Jews might have been at this time, we have reason to believe they did not take the name of the Lord in vain; and blasphemy was not known among them. But what shall we say of Christians, so called, whose mouths are full of cursing and bitterness? A. C.
16. He that blasphemeth the name of the Lord.** On the principle of preserving the allegiance due to the Supreme Jehovah, the blasphemer, and the deliberate presumptuous
“Sabbath-breaker,” and the “false prophet,” as they openly shook off all reverence for the Lord, were to suffer death. Graves.—The majesty of the Great King—the infinitely holy God, must be held sacred. No punishment could be too severe for a crime which struck so fatally against the reverence and homage due to Jehovah. H. C.
Modes of Inflicting Death.