EXPOSITION
From the prohibition of moral uncleanness exhibiting itself in the form of incest and licentiousness, the legislator proceeds to a series of laws and commandments against other kinds of immorality, inculcating piety, righteousness, and kindness. Leviticus 19:1-37 may be regarded as an extension of the previous chapter in this direction, after which the subject of Leviticus 18:1-30, is again taken up in Leviticus 20:1-27. The precepts now given are not arranged systematically, though, as Keil has remarked, "while grouped together rather according to a loose association of ideas than according to any logical arrangement, they are all linked together by the common purpose expressed in the words, 'Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy.' " They begin by inculcating (in Leviticus 20:3, Leviticus 20:4) duties which fall under the heads of
These four laws are, in their positive aspects,
In Leviticus 20:11, Leviticus 20:14, Leviticus 20:16, 35, 36, obedience is inculcated to the eighth and the ninth commandments, which are the laws of honesty and of truthfulness; in Leviticus 20:12 to the third commandment, which is the law of reverence; in Leviticus 20:17, Leviticus 20:18, 33, 34, to the sixth commandment, which is the law of love; in Leviticus 20:20, 29, to the seventh commandment, which is the law of purity; in Leviticus 20:9, Leviticus 20:10, Leviticus 20:13, the spirit of covetousness is prohibited, as forbidden in the tenth commandment, which is the law of charity. Thus this chapter may in a way be regarded as the Old Testament counterpart of the Sermon on the Mount, inasmuch as it lays down the laws of conduct, as the latter lays down the principles of action, in as comprehensive though not in so systematic a manner as the ten commandments.