Bibelkommentare

Command the children of Israel, that they put out of the camp every leper, and every one that hath an issue, and whosoever is defiled by the dead:

Put out of the camp. — To show, that sin unrepented of, throws us out of the communion of faith and saints; shuts us out of the congregation of God in earth and heaven. No fellowship, place, or reward with them. See Revelation 21:27 . See Trapp on " Revelation 21:27 "

Defiled by the dead. — Heb., Defiled by a soul. The Hebrews call a dead corpse Nephesh here, and elsewhere; that is, a soul, to note that it shall live again, and that the soul shall return to it. The heathene also (saith a grave interpreter) called a dead body a soul: possibly from some glimpse of the resurrection.

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Both male and female shall ye put out, without the camp shall ye put them; that they defile not their camps, in the midst whereof I dwell.

Without the camp shall ye put them. — Evildoers are to be suspended, excommunicated, 1 Corinthians 5:13 which text showeth plainly the truth of this ceremony.

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Speak unto the children of Israel, When a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit, to do a trespass against the LORD, and that person be guilty;

Any sin that men commit. — For what man is he that liveth and sinneth not? I am a man a sinner, ανηρ αμαρταλος saith Peter, Luke 5:8 not more a man than a sinner. Our lives are fuller of sin, than the firmament of stars, or the furnace of sparks: we can as little cease to sin, as the hart to pant, pulse to beat, … The devil, when he speaks lies, speaks of his own, John 8:44 so when we do evil, we work of our own, we "walk as men." 1 Corinthians 3:3 Sins are here called human sins, as the Greek hath it.

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Then they shall confess their sin which they have done: and he shall recompense his trespass with the principal thereof, and add unto it the fifth [part] thereof, and give [it] unto [him] against whom he hath trespassed.

Then they shall confess their sin. — So they were bound to do, all their sins. Proverbs 28:13 Job 33:27-28 Confessio peccati est medicina peccati, saith Nazianzen; a sin acknowledged is half amended.

And he shall recompense his trespass. — Restitution must be made of goods unjustly detained, or else you shall cough in hell, said Mr Latimer. Our King Henry VII, in his last will and testament, after the disposing of his soul and body, he devised and willed restitution should be made, of all such moneys as had unjustly been levied by his officers. Speed’s Hist., fol. 995. So did Selymus the great Turk give orders at his death for the restoring and recompensing of the great treasure he had taken from the Persian merchants. Turk. Hist., fol. 767.

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But if the man have no kinsman to recompense the trespass unto, let the trespass be recompensed unto the LORD, [even] to the priest; beside the ram of the atonement, whereby an atonement shall be made for him.

Unto the Lord, even to the priest. — The priest is the Lord’s receiver. Sacerdos est vicarius et quasi haeres. - Dio. So Hebrews 7:6-9 Tithes are due to the ministers of Christ "that liveth," because due to him, and they are in his stead. 2 Corinthians 5:20

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And every offering of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they bring unto the priest, shall be his.

And every offering. — So liberally doth the Lord provide for his priests. See Trapp on " Leviticus 27:30 " And is not the right of livelihood as equal and due to the ministers of the gospel, whose ministry is far more glorious, 2 Corinthians 3:8-9 even greater than that of John Baptist? Matthew 11:11

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Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man’s wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him,

If any man’s wife go aside. — Ad alterum, vel ad alterius torum; unde dicitur adulterium. If, as a naughty woman, she want one, when she hath her own. But how naughty are the Lithuanians, who give way to their wives to have their gallants, if Maginus belie them not, and call such connubii adiutores, prizing them far above all their acquaintances!

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And a man lie with her carnally, and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be kept close, and she be defiled, and [there be] no witness against her, neither she be taken [with the manner];

And it be hid from the eyes — As Proverbs 30:20 . Such a privy whore was Livia, the wife of Augustus Caesar, who, though otherwise very observant of her husband, yet lived in adultery with Eudemus her physician: qui specie artis frequens secretis, saith Taeitus; who, under a show of curing her, corrupted her. So do the Jesuits many dames at this day; being, as one saith of them, Connubi sanctifugae, clam meretricitegae. The friars are said to send men whose wives are barren, in pilgrimage to St. Joyce the patroness of fruitfulness, and meanwhile to lie with their wives.

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