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REFLECTION.

HE only reflection we shall make upon the whole is this, that it becomes us to entertain the highest veneration for the blessed God; to keep his commandments, and serve him, and to cleave to him with all our hearts. Let us look upon those as our greatest enemies, that would lead us to break God's commands, or to withdraw our feet from his services; and learn to reject their proposals with disdain and resentment, though they should be our most intimate friends, or nearest relations. word, this chapter speaks to us all the language of Solomon, Prov. i. 10. My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.

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CHAP. XIV.

God's children are not to disfigure themselves in mourning; what may be eaten, and what not; and of tithing.

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[are] the children of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your 2 eyes for the dead. For thou [art] an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that [are] upon the earth.

34 Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing. These [are] the beasts which ye shall eat: the ox, the sheep, and the 5 goat, The hart, and the roebuck, and the fallow deer, and the wild goat, and the pygarg, and the wild ox, and the chamois. 6 And every beast that parteth the hoof, and cleaveth the cleft into two claws, [and] cheweth the cud among the beasts, that shall eat. Nevertheless, these ye shall not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the cloven hoof; [as] the camel, and the hare, and the coney: for they chew the cud but divide not the hoof: [therefore] they [are] unclean unto you.

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to him; it was therefore equitable, that in case of disobedience to some of his most im portant laws, they should be subject to some peculiar temporal penalties, and even to death itself, if this act was committed during their abode in that land. 4. Nevertheless, it is to be observed, that the Israelites are never commissioned to make war upon their neighbours, or exercise any violence toward any of them, in order to compel them to worship the God of Israel; nor to force them to it even after they were conquered: see ch. xx. 10. nor are they empowered thus forcibly to attempt to recover any native Israelite, who should revolt to idolatry, and go to settle in a gentile country. 5. As God had placed the Israelites under such an extraordinary equal providence, that the prosperity of the country should depend upon their adherence to the true God, in opposition to idols, his commanding them to put to death the beginner of a revolt, was a wise precaution; and such an one as, in these circumstances, even human prudence might have suggested to subordinate governors, if such governors had been permitted to make capital laws. 6. When we consider how great a good it would have been to the whole world, that Israel should continue to maintain the knowledge and worship of the true God, in opposition to all idolatry, it will further appear, that a constitution deterring them from idolatry would be merciful to the world in general, as well as their nation, in proportion to the degree in which it was severe to any particular offenders. See Doddridge's Lectures, p. 356.

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And the swine, because it divideth the hoof, yet cheweth not the cud, it [is] unclean unto you: ye shall not eat of their flesh nor touch their dead carcass.

9 These ye shall eat of all that [are] in the waters: all that 10 have fins and scales shall ye eat: And whatsoever hath not fins and scales ye may not eat: it [is] unclean unto you. 11 12 [Of] all clean birds ye shall eat. But these [are they]

of which ye shall not eat: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and 13 the ospray: And the glede, and the kite, and the vulture 14 15 after his kind, And every raven after his kind, And the

owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after 16 his kind, The little owl, and the great owl, and the swan, 17 And the pelican, and the gier eagle, and the cormorant, 18 And the stork, and the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, 19 and the bat. And every creeping thing that flieth [is] un20 clean unto you: they shall not be eaten. [But of] all clean fowls ye may eat.

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Ye shall not eat [of] any thing that dieth of itself: thou shalt give it unto the stranger that [is in] thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto an alien: for thou [art] an holy people unto the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.

Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that 23 the field bringeth forth year by year. And thou shalt eat before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear the LORD thy God always.

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And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it; [or] if the place be too far from thee, which the LORD thy God shall choose to set his name there, when 25 the LORD thy God hath blessed thee: Then shalt thou turn [it] into money, and bind up the money in thine hand, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose: 26 And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, 27 thou, and thine household, And the Levite that [is] within thy gates; thou shalt not forsake him; for he hath no part nor inheritance with thee.

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At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay [it] up 29 within thy gates: And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which [are] within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest.

CHAP. XV.

The seventh year to be a year of release for the poor; and it must be no hindrance to lending or giving.

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T the end of [every] seven years thou shalt make a re. lease. And this [is] the manner of the release: every creditor that lendeth [aught] unto his neighbour shall release [it] he shall not exact [it] of his neighbour, or of his broth3 er; because it is called the LORD's release; Of a foreigner thou mayest exact [it again :] but [that] which is thine with 4 thy brother, thine hand shall release; Save when there shall be no poor among you: for the LORD shall greatly bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee [for] an in5 heritance to possess it: Only if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day, For the LORD thy God blesseth thee, as he promised thee: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee.

If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother: But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, [in that] which he wanteth. Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto 10 the LORD against thee, and it be sin unto thee. Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him; because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou 11 puttest thine hand unto. For the poor shall never cease out of the land therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.

12 [And] if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the 13 seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him 14 go away empty: Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy wine press: [of that] wherewith the LORD thy God hath blessed thee thou 15 shalt give unto him. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing to day,

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And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee; because he loveth thee and thine house, because he is 17 well with thee; Then thou shalt take an awl, and thrust [it] through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also unto thy maid servant thou shalt do likewise. 18 It shall not seem hard unto thee, when thou sendest him away free from thee; for he hath been worth a double hired servant [to thee,] in serving thee six years and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest.

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All the firstling males that come of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt sanctify unto the LORD thy God: thou shalt do no work with the firstling of thy bullock, nor shear the 20 firstling of thy sheep. Thou shalt eat [it] before the LORD

thy God year by year in the place which the LORD shall 21 choose, thou and thy household. And if there be [any] blemish therein, [as if it be] lame, or blind, [or have] any ill blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the LORD thy God. 22 Thou shalt eat it within thy gates: the unclean and the clean [person shall eat it] alike, as the roebuck, and as the hart. 23 Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof; thou shalt pour it upon the ground as water.

CHAP. XVI.

The feast of the passover, of weeks and of tabernacles; of judges and justice; groves and images are forbidden.

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OBSERVE the month of Abib, and keep the passover

unto the LORD thy God: for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night. 2 Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover unto the LORD thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the LORD 3 shall choose to place his name there. Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, [even] the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste; that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the 4 land of Egypt all the days of thy life. And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coast seven days; neither shall there [any thing] of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst the first day at even, remain all night until the morn 5 ing. Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of 6 thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee: But at the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of

Egypt. And thou shalt roast and eat [it] in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose: and thou shalt turn in the $ morning, and go unto thy tents. Six days thou shalt eat un leavened bread; and on the seventh day [shall be] a solemn assembly to the LORD thy God: thou shalt do no work [therein.]

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Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks from [such time as] thou beginnest [to 10 put] the sickle to the corn. And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God with a tribute of a free will offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give [unto the Lord thy God,] according as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee : 11 And thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man servant, and thy maid servant, and the Levite that [is] within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that [are] among you, in the place which the LORD thy God hath chosen to 12 place his name there. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt and thou shalt observe and do these statutes.

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Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, 14 after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine: And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man servant, and thy maid servant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that 15 [are] within thy gates. Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD shall choose because the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice.

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Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles and they shall not appear before the 17 LORD empty: Every man [shall give] as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee.

18 Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: 19 and they shall judge the people with just judgment. Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, 20 and pervert the words of the righteous. That which is alto gether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and in herit the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

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Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto ! the altar of the LORD thy God, which thou shalt make thee. 22 Neither shalt thou set thee up [any] image; which the LORD thy God hateth.

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