Leviticus 20:24

Lev 20:24 But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey: I [am] the LORD your God, which have separated you from [other] people.

Ver. 24. Separated you.] With a wonderful separation; such as was that of light from darkness at the creation.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

20:24 The expression flowing with milk and honey is common in Exodus—Deuteronomy. It conveys the idea of food being abundant and easy to get. This contrasts with Egypt, where everything depended on the flooding of the Nile and irrigation (Deut 11:9-12).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Full of abundance of all things.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

I . . . have separated you from other people--Their selection from the rest of the nations was for the all-important end of preserving the knowledge and worship of the true God amid the universal apostasy; and as the distinction of meats was one great means of completing that separation, the law about making a difference between clean and unclean beasts is here repeated with emphatic solemnity.

Next: Leviticus Chapter 21

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 24. A land that floweth with milk and honey] See this explained "Ex 3:8".

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(24) But I have said unto you.—That is, promised to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and also to you, that he would expel the Canaanites, and give the land to the Israelites as an inheritance.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But I have said unto you, ye shall inherit the land,.... Promised it unto them, as he had to their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and also to them; or he had said the above things unto them, that they, observing them, might possess the land of Canaan, and continue therein, which is the sense of the Targum of Jonathan: the Jews say, that the right of inheritance belonged to them, from Shem the son of Noah, whose portion it was, and which they gather from Melchizedek being king of Salem, whom they take to be Shem; and they say, the Canaanites only dwelt in it to make it better, till they should come and inherit it:

and I will give it unto you to possess it; in whose gift it was, and who had a right to dispose of it; and could give them a good title to it, and secure them in the possession of it:

a land that floweth with milk and honey; abounding with all good things, with all the comforts of life, with everything both for necessity and delight; see Exo 3:8,

I am the Lord your God, which have separated you from other people; had chosen them above all people, to be a special and peculiar people to him; had distinguished them by his favours, and had given them particular laws and ordinances, to observe and walk according to them, different from all other nations, which it became them carefully to regard.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Honey. Most fertile and delicious. (Menochius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

By my special grace and favour vouchsafed to you above all people, in glorious and miraculous works wrought for you and among you, and in ordinances and other singular privileges and blessings imparted to you, all which calls for your special love and service.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

24. Milk and honey — Both Grecian and Roman poets depict the highest pleasantness and fertility by an abundance of milk and honey. See Homer’s Iliad, 9:141; Ovid, Met., i, iii; See Jos_5:6, note.

Separated you from other people — This separation consisted in circumcision, a knowledge of the true God, a prohibition of idolatry, a unique sacrificial code, and the requirement to obey the moral and the levitical law, which rendered it impossible to mingle socially with the Gentiles without contracting pollution. This separation was subsequently made easier by the secluded position of the Holy Land, which was enclosed on the south and southwest by great wildernesses, on the north by the high mountains of Lebanon, and on the west by a seacoast having few harbours.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 24-26. The Israelites are to avoid all defilement, moral and ceremonial, because they are God"s own possession, separated from other people, and holy unto him.

Three aspects of human life.

The verse suggests three thoughts concerning our human life

I THE EXCELLENCY OF OUR ESTATE. "A land that floweth with milk and honey." God.gave the Israelites an excellent inheritance when he led them into the land. of promise. For beauty, variety of scenery, fertility, etc., it was all that could be desired. Our present estate as citizens of time is one rich and full, a "land flowing," etc. We have:

1. The beauty and grandeur of the world.

2. Human love in its manifold forms, conjugal, parental, filial, fraternal, etc.

3. Sufficiency of all kinds of palatable food.

4. Intellectual gratifications.

5. Spiritual relationships and the sacred, enduring joys which belong to these.

II THE TENURE UNDER WHICH WE HOLD POSSESSION. "I will give it unto you to possess it." We reckon that we "possess" many things. We call them "ours." We endeavour to secure them to ourselves by carefully drawn documents and witnesses. But what, when all has been done that can be done, is the tenure under which we hold everything? It is not the consent of man, but the will of God. God said to Israel concerning the country of the Canaanites, "Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it." He thought well to take it away from its former occupants and give it to them. There were, no doubt, the best reasons for this exchange; but Jehovah evidently assumed his perfect right to dispose as seemed well to him of his own. God always has the best grounds on which to deal with us, raising up or laying low; he never acts capriciously; but he often acts without assigning reasons to us, and in such wise that we cannot make any conjecture thereupon that is even probably true. We must recognize the fact that we hold everything at his will, and be perfectly ready to lay it down or to hand it on to another at the bidding of the Supreme. This is true of

(1) our property and position,

(2) our mental powers,

(3) our health, and

(4) our life on earth.

III THE PAINFUL NEED TO SEPARATE OURSELVES FROM OTHERS. "I am the Lord your God, which have separated you flora other people." By their daily habits and social customs (verse 25), the Jews were cut off from intercourse with other people: intermarriages were strictly prohibited; (Deu_7:3, Deu_7:4) they were to maintain a studied separateness from all surrounding nations. The conscientious service of God our Saviour involves some separateness on our part.

1. We have to form ourselves into separate societies, Christian Churches. From these we are bound, in faithfulness, to exclude those who do not profess to love our Lord Jesus Christ. This will produce resentment on their part, and cause them to ascribe to pride that which is due to simple loyalty to the Master.

2. We have to separate ourselves from those persons and things whose association would be injurious to the cause of Christ; from

(1) unholy friendships,

(2) institutions and customs which have evil features or evil tendencies,

(3) the abounding spirit of worldliness and selfishness.

We are bound to make it clear and plain to all that we are "on the Lord"s side," and on the side of all those righteous and holy principles which he commends to us. C.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

a land flowing with milk and honey

The phrase "flowing with milk and honey" means "that is rich and productive with enough food for everyone." AT: "a land that is excellent for cattle and farming" or "a productive land" (See: Idiom)

translationWords

inherit

possess

honey

Yahweh

God

people group

clean

clean

defile

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.