Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people.
Thou shalt not revile the gods. Josephus, who endeavours so often to accommodate his religion to pagan tastes and prejudices, interprets this precept as if it conveyed a command to respect the idols of the pagan ('Antiquities,' b. 4:, ch. 8:, sec. 10; 'Contra Apion.,' 2:, 33). Such a representation is opposed to several express ordinances, no less than to the whole spirit and design of the Mosaic law. х 'ªlohiym (H430)], gods, is a word which is sometimes rendered in this chapter, as elsewhere, "judges," or magistrates (Exodus 22:8-9: cf. Exodus 21:6). But whenever it is used in this sense it has the prefix of the article, haa-'ªlohiym (H430); and as the word is not so accompanied, the clause should stand thus: 'Thou shalt not blaspheme God neither by reproachful words nor by violating any of his commandments.'
Nor curse the ruler of thy people, х naasiy' (H5387)] - a prince, an exalted person, a term of general import applicable to kings, phylarchs, chiefs of single tribes, as well as head of the nation. "The ruler of thy people" is here associated with God as the earthly representative or vicegerent of the Divine Sovereign of Israel. This law, not to revile the ruler of thy people, was not infringed by the prophets, who frequently, as Isaiah and Jeremiah, exercised their prophetical power, in that instance esteemed superior to the law, in reproving kings and princes (Jeremiah 1:7-10) (Grotius).