Leviticus 20:9

_SANCTIFY YOURSELVES THEREFORE, AND BE YE HOLY: FOR I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD._ Sanctify yourselves ... and be ye holy. The minute specification of the incestuous and unnatural crimes here enumerated shows their sad prevalence among the idolatrous nations around, and the extreme proneness of the Israelites to follow the customs of their neighbours. It is to be understood that whenever mention is made that the offender was "to be put to death," without describing the mode, stoning is meant. The only instance of another form of capital punishment occurs in Leviticus 20:14, that of being burnt with fire; and yet it is probable that even here death was first inflicted by stoning, and the body, of the criminal afterward consumed by five (Joshua 7:15). Verse 20. They shall die childless

1-9 Are we shocked at the unnatural cruelty of the ancient idolaters in sacrificing their children? We may justly be so. But are there not very many parents, who, by bad teaching and wicked examples, and by the mysteries of iniquity which they show their children, devote them to the service of Satan, and forward their everlasting ruin, in a manner even more to be lamented? What an account must such parents render to God, and what a meeting will they have with their children at the day of judgment! On the other hand, let children remember that he who cursed father or mother was surely put to death. This law Christ confirmed. Laws which were made before are repeated, and penalties annexed to them. If men will not avoid evil practices, because the law has made these practices sin, and it is right that we go on that principle, surely they should avoid them when the law has made them death,...

Verse Leviticus 20:9. _CURSETH HIS FATHER OR HIS MOTHER_] Genesis 48:12, and _"_Exodus 20:12_"_. He who conscientiously keeps the _fifth_ commandment can be in no danger of this judgment. The term יקלל _yekallel_ signifies, not only to _curse_, but to speak of a person _contemptuously_ and _disrespectfully_, to _make light of_; so that all speeches which have a tendency to lessen our parents in the eyes of others, or to render their judgment, piety, c., suspected and contemptible, may be here included though the act of _cursing_, or of treating the parent with injurious and opprobrious language, is that which is particularly intended....

EXPOSITION The subject of Leviticus 18:1, is resumed in this chapter; but that which was before considered as sin only is now regarded as crime, and penalties are attached according to the heinousness of the offense. For example, the sin of "giving of his seed to Molech," or which is the same thing, "letting any of his seed pass through the fire to Molech," had been forbidden as a sin in Leviticus 18:21; now it is condemned as a crime. The various penalties assigned in this chapter are (1) _burning with fire _(Leviticus 18:14); (2) _stoning with stones _...

FOR EVERYONE THAT CURSETH HIS FATHER OR HIS MOTHER,.... Here begins the account of the penalties annexed to the several laws in the preceding chapter; and that respecting the fear and honour of parents being the first, Leviticus 19:3, is here begun with: SHALL SURELY BE PUT TO DEATH; the Targum of Jonathan adds, "by casting of stones,'' stoning being the punishment of such transgressors: HE HATH CURSED HIS FATHER OR HIS MOTHER: to do either is his sin, and a capital crime it is: HIS BLOOD [SHALL BE] UPON HIM: he shall be guilty of death, be condemned unto it, and punished with it, namely, by stoning; for, as Jarchi observes, wherever it is, "his blood [shall be] on him", or "their blood shall be on them", it is to be understood of stoning....

3. WARNINGS AGAINST SPECIAL SINS AND THEIR PENALTIES CHAPTER 20 _ 1. Warning against Molech--worship and familiar spirits (Leviticus 20:1)_ 2. Warning against cursing parents (Leviticus 20:9) 3. Criminal and vile connections (Leviticus 20:10) 4. Exhortations to obedience and separation (Leviticus 20:22) This chapter reveals the justice of God in dealing with criminals. The death penalty is most prominent. It is pronounced upon the following crimes: Molech worship; dealing with familiar spirits (spiritualism); different forms of incest and sodomy. Men advocate now the abolis

WORSHIP OF MOLECH, ETC. Offering children to Molech (see Leviticus 18:21 *) is to be punished by stoning; such a death emphasizes the repudiation by the whole community and involves everyone in the act, always serious, of killing a fellow-tribesman (_cf._ Joshua 7:25). Yahweh Himself will see that the sinner does not survive his crime even if he is not publicly punished; his whole family will be destroyed. Cursing parents is also a capital crime; in such a case, the dead man's blood does not cry from the earth; it is on his own head, _i.e._ its power to hurt comes to an end with his life (_cf._ 1 Kings 2:31; 1 Kings 2:44,

EVERY ONE. Hebrew. _i_ sh 'ish. App-14. BLOOD. Figure of speech _Metalepsis,_ App-6, "bloods", put by Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of Adjunct) for guilt, and "guilt" put by Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of Cause) for penalty....

The penalty of death is here assigned for cursing a parent, as in Exodus 21:17. In both places Targ. Ps-Jon. gives the traditional interpretation that when the sacred Name is mentioned in connexion with the cursing, the penalty of death is incurred. The words -his (their) blood shall be upon him (them)" occur in this ch. and in Ezekiel 18:13; Ezekiel 33:5; cp. Joshua 2:19; Ezekiel 33:4....

FOR EVERY ONE— Our old version here is, _If there be any that curseth,_ &c. The particle כי _ki,_ rendered _for,_ is not always causal; but frequently signifies _moreover, further, when,_ &c.; see Noldius, Leviticus 9:22 : &c. REFLECTIONS.—The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The former laws are here armed with their sanction, and we need hear and fear before this holy Lord God. 1. In respect to the sacrificing of children. When we see the votaries of sin in general serving the devil with such loss and suffering, how ought we to value the perfect freedom of God's service. 2. In respect to the escape of the criminal from the hands of men, God would then take the matter into his own hand. _Note;_ Sinners may escape the hand of justice here; but at God's tribunal they _must_ stand, and none can deliver them out of his hand. 3. Nor