Lev 20 | TSK | STEP | Of him that gives of his seed to Moloch. Of him that favours such an one. Of going to wizards. Of sanctification. Of him that curses his parents. Of adultery. Of incest. Of sodomy. Of bestiality. Of uncleanness. Obedience is required with holiness. Wizards must be put to death.

Leviticus 20

1 Of him that gives of his seed to Moloch.

4 Of him that favours such an one.

6 Of going to wizards.

7 Of sanctification.

9 Of him that curses his parents.

10 Of adultery.

11 Of incest.

13 Of sodomy.

15 Of bestiality.

18 Of uncleanness.

22 Obedience is required with holiness.

27 Wizards must be put to death.

Whosoever.

17:8,13,15

giveth.

18:21; De 12:31; 18:10; 2Ki 17:17; 23:10; 2Ch 28:3; 33:6; Ps 106:38

Isa 57:5,6; Jer 7:31; 32:35; Eze 16:20,21; 20:26,31; 23:37,39

Ac 7:43

Moloch. Molech.The Rabbins describe this idol as made of brass sitting upon a throne of the same metal, in the form of a man, with the head of a calf, adorned with a royal crown, and his arms extended as if to embrace any one. When they offered any children to him, they heated the statue by a great fire kindled within, and the victim was put into his arms, and thus consumed. Others relate, that the idol, which was hollow, was divided into seven compartments within; in one of which they put flour, in the second turtles, in the third a ewe, in the fourth a ram, in the fifth a calf, in the sixth an ox, and the seventh a child; which were all burnt together by heating the statue inside. The account which Diodorus (l. xx.) gives of the statue of Saturn, to which the Carthaginians, descendants of the Canaanites, sacrificed their children, is very similar. For they had a brazen stature of Saturn, stretching out his hands towards the ground, in such a manner that the children placed within them tumbled down into a pit full of fire. To this account Milton alludes, in Paradise Lost, B. 1. 392.

the people.

27; 24:14,23; Nu 15:35,36; De 13:10,11; 17:5-7; 21:21; Ac 7:58,59

I will set.

17:10; 1Pe 3:12

to defile.

Nu 19:20; Eze 5:11; 23:38,39

profane.

18:21; Eze 20:39; 2Co 6:16

hide.

Ac 17:30

and kill.

De 13:8; 17:2-5; Jos 7:12; 1Sa 3:13,14; 1Ki 20:42; Re 2:14

I will.

17:10

against his.

Ex 20:5; Jer 32:28-35,39

whoring.

17:7; Ps 106:39; Jer 3:2; Ho 2:5,13

familiar.

27; 19:26,31; De 18:10-14; Isa 8:19

go.

Ex 34:15,16; Nu 15:39; Ps 73:27; Eze 6:9; Ho 4:12

cut him.

1Ch 10:13,14In the days of Moses, superstition was almost the {sensus communis} of the human race, which then made severe punishment necessary: by means of the Christian dispensation such errors are now exploded, the cultivation of philosophy and natural history having harmonised and contributed their feebler share of light, so that we no longer have to deplore mischiefs occasioned by the silly curiosity attempting to unfold future events.

11:44; 19:2; Eph 1:4; Phm 2:12,13; Col 3:12; 1Th 4:3,7; Heb 12:14

1Pe 1:15,16

And ye.

18:4,5; 19:37; Mt 5:19; 7:24; 12:50; Joh 13:17; Jas 1:22; Re 22:14

sanctify.

21:8; Ex 31:13; Eze 20:12; 37:28; 1Co 1:30; 1Th 5:23; 2Th 2:13

curseth.The term {yekallel} signifies not only to curse, but to speak contemptuously, disrespectfully, or to make light of a person: so that all speeches which have a tendency to lessen our parents in the eyes of others, or to render their judgment, piety, etc., suspected or contemptible, is here included; though the act of cursing, or of treating the parent with injurious or opprobrious language, is what is particularly intended. He who conscientiously keeps the fifth commandment, can be in no danger of the judgment here denounced.

Ex 21:17; De 27:16; Pr 20:20; 30:11,17; Mt 15:4; Mr 7:10

his blood.

11-13,16,27; Jos 2:19; Jud 9:24; 2Sa 1:16; 1Ki 2:32; Mt 27:25

the adulterer.

De 22:22-24; 2Sa 12:13; Eze 23:45-47; Joh 8:4,5

18:8; De 27:20,23; Am 2:7; 1Co 5:1

their.

lie.

18:15; Ge 38:16,18; De 27:23

confusion.

18:23

18:22; Ge 19:5; De 23:17; Jud 19:22; Ro 1:26,27; 1Co 6:9; 1Ti 1:10

Jude 1:7

a wife.

18:17; De 27:23; Am 2:7

burnt.

21:9; Jos 7:15,25

18:23; Ex 22:19; De 27:21

And if a woman.We are assured by Herodotus (in Euterp.) that the abominations here referred to existed among the Egyptians, and even formed part of their superstitious religious system, and we have reason to believe that they were not uncommon among the Canaanites. (See ch. 18:24, 25). Need we wonder then, that God should have made laws of this nature, and appointed the punishment of death for these crimes? This one observation will account for many of those strange prohibitions which we find in the Mosaic law.

and the beast.

Ex 19:13; 21:28,32; Heb 12:20

18:9; Ge 20:12; De 27:22; 2Sa 13:12; Eze 22:11

having.

15:24; 18:19; Eze 18:6; 22:10

discovered. Heb. made naked.

mother's.

18:12,13-30; Ex 6:20

uncovereth.

18:6

uncle's wife.

18:14

childless.

Job 18:19; Ps 109:13; Jer 22:30; Lu 1:7,25; 23:29

his brother's.

18:16; Mt 14:3,4

an unclean thing. Heb. a separation.

statues.

18:4,5,26; 19:37; Ps 19:8-11; 105:45; 119:80,145,171; Eze 36:27

judgments.

Ex 21:1; De 4:45; 5:1; Ps 119:20,106,160,164,175; Isa 26:8,9

spue you.

18:25-28; 26:33; De 28:25,26

in the manners.

18:3,24,30; De 12:30,31; Jer 10:1,2

therefore.

18:27; De 9:5; Ps 78:59; Zec 11:8

But I. See on

Ex 3:8,17; 6:8

a land.Milk and honey were the chief dainties of the ancients as they are now among the Arabs, particularly the Bedouins. Hence not only the Hebrews, but also the Greeks and Romans, painted the highest pleasantness and fertility by an abundance of milk and honey. The image used in the text, and frequently by ancient authors on similar subjects, is a metaphor, derived from a breast, producing copious streams of milk.

which.

26; Ex 19:5,6; 33:16; Nu 23:9; De 7:6; 14:2; 1Ki 8:53; Joh 15:19

2Co 6:17; 1Pe 2:9

put difference.

11:1-47; De 14:3-21; Ac 10:11-15,28; Eph 5:7-11

abominable.

11:43

creepeth. or, moveth.

the Lord.

7; 19:2; Ps 99:5,9; Isa 6:3; 30:11; 1Pe 1:15,16; Re 3:7; 4:8

severed.

24; De 7:6; 14:2; 26:18,19; Tit 2:14

a familiar.

6; 19:31; Ex 22:18; De 18:10-12; 1Sa 28:7-9

their blood.