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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadMatthew Poole Commentary - Leviticus 19:17 - 19:17
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To prevent murder, last spoken of, he forbids hatred, which is the common cause, and a degree of murder, 1Jo_3:15.
Thy brother; the same with neighbour, as it follows, i.e. every man, Mat_5:44; for it is manifest that God’s law commanded them to love strangers no less than Israelites.
If thy brother hath done thee or others any injury, thou shalt neither divulge it to others as a tale-bearer, nor hate him, and smother that hatred by sullen silence, as 2Sa_13:22, nor justify and flatter and encourage him therein; but shalt freely, and in love, not with hatred, tell him of his fault.
And not suffer sin upon him, i.e. not suffer him to lie under the guilt of any sin, which thou by rebuking of him, and thereby bringing him to true repentance, couldest in some sort free him from. But the phrase of suffering sin upon him imperfect and unusual in Scripture, and I doubt whether the Hebrew verb nasa be ever used for permitting or suffering. The words may be rendered thus, And (or so) thou shalt not bear sin for him, or for his sake; thou shalt not make thyself guilty of his sin, as thou wilt assuredly do, if thou dost not perform thy duty of rebuking him for his sin, which is a likely way, and a course appointed by God, to remove the guilt of his sin from him; and consequently, as it was his fault that he sinned and contracted guilt, so it is thy fault that his guilt continues upon him. Many things favour this sense.
1. This is the proper and usual signification of the word nasa.
2. The same words are used in this sense Lev_22:9 Num_18:32.
3. The preposition al is oft used thus, as Gen_37:8,34 Jud 9:9 1Ki_16:7.
4. This phrase of bearing sin, or iniquity, is constantly used in this book for being guilty and liable to punishment. And so the sense is here full and complete, and a very weighty reason here given to enforce the foregoing precept.