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The laws set out in this chapter were before communicated to Aaron and his sons; now they are given to the people (verses 1, 2). It is the privilege and duty of God's people to acquaint themselves with his will. They should learn the Law from the lips of Moses. They should learn the gospel from the lips of Jesus. It is a maxim of antichrist that" Ignorance is the mother of devotion" The mother of devotion, viz. to superstition, it is (see 1 John 2:20, 21).

I. THE PEOPLE OF THE HOLY GOD MUST BE HOLY. (Verse 2.)

1. They must be separate from sinners.

(1) The people of God are distinguished by purity of heart. Of this God alone can take full cognizance.

(2) Also by purity of life (Titus 2:14). This is witnessed both by God and man.

2. They must be separated to God.

(1) This is implied in the reason, viz. "for I am holy" (see Peter 1:15, 16). Our Lord puts it strongly: "Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48). This cannot be understood absolutely. It must be interpreted relatively, viz. that as in his relations to us God is perfect, so are we to be perfect in our corresponding relations to him. But what are these?

(2) As his servants.

(a) We have our work assigned by his appointment.

(b) He pays us our wages. In this life. In that to come.

(3) As his children.

(a) We have assurance of our adoption (Romans 8:16; Galatians 4:6).

(b) Consequently also concerning our heirship (Romans 8:17; Galatians 4:7).

(c) We have also blissful fellowship (John 17:21; 1 Corinthians 1:9; 1 John 1:3, 7).

3. Grace makes us to differ.

(1) This was ceremonially described in the Law. In order to partake of the holy things, the people must be made ceremonially holy by ablutions.

(2) The truth of this is seen in the promise of the gospel. Before we can have spiritual communion with God we must be sanctified at the laver of regeneration, viz. by the renewing of the Holy Ghost.

II. THEIR HOLINESS WILL BE EXPRESSED IN PURE WORSHIP.

1. They keep the sabbaths of the Lord.

(1) They cease from the toil of the world. So far the observance is outward. They also rest from the labour of sorrow and sin. This is an inward and spiritual observance.

(2) They appear in the convocations of God's people. This worship may be public without any corresponding beauties of spiritual holiness. But the true worshipper mingles with the spiritual and heavenly portions of the Church as well as with the visible congregation (see Ephesians 3:15; Hebrews 12:22-24).

(3) Parents are held responsible for instructing their children in the due observance of the sabbath. So in the fourth commandment in the Decalogue, "Thou, and thy son, and thy daughter."

(4) Hence in the text (verse 3), the injunction to keep God's sabbaths is associated with another touching the respect due from children to parents (comp. Exodus 20:8-12). Parents are God's representatives to their children.

(a) In their paternity.

(b) In the providence they exercise during the helplessness and dependence of infancy and youth.

(c) In their authority.

This is from God, and it should be religiously maintained. Those who are allowed to break God's sabbaths will disobey their parents.

2. They keep themselves from idols.

(1) They will not "turn" to them. We are so surrounded by them, that we cannot turn from the true worship without encountering them.

(2) They will not "make" to themselves "molten gods." The allusion here is to Aaron's calf, which he intended to represent Jehovah Elohim. But in our godly parents, the work of God's hands, we have truer representations of the living Father than can possibly proceed from our own hands.

(3) Idolatry is folly. Idols are nothings (אלילם; comp. 1 Corinthians 8:4).

3. They serve God with reverence.

(1) They fear God, but not as slaves. They offer peace offerings to him which are offerings of friendship. They offer these also "at their own free will" (verse 5). A constrained is an imperfect service. "God loveth a cheerful giver."

(2) They worship him in faith. They will eat the peace offering the same day on which it is offered. They recognize the privileges of an early communion. What remains over on the second day they will eat. The dispensations of the types are two, viz. the patriarchal and Mosaic. But if any remain to the third day, this they burn with fire. Thus they express their faith in the Christian dispensation which should abolish the types by fulfilling them, and which should bring in better hopes.

(2) To return to the legal dispensation is now to provoke the anger of the Lord. Cyril of Alexandria argues that those who fail to see any spiritual meaning in the Law are still bound to keep it in the letter. But even that could do them no good, for according to the text, "If it be eaten at all on the third day, it is abominable; it shall not be accepted. Therefore every one that eateth it shall bear his iniquity," etc. (verses 7, 8). To rejecters of the gospel now there is nothing but hopeless excision. - J.A.M.

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KJV: And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

WEB: Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,