Leviticus 20:8

spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Again, thou shalt say to the children of Israel, Whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth any of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones. 3 And I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people; because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, to defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy name. 4 And if the people of the land do any ways hide their eyes from the man, when he giveth of his seed unto Molech, and kill him not: 5 Then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go a whoring after him, to commit whoredom with Molech, from among their people. 6 And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people. 7 Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God. 8 And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the LORD which sanctify you. 9 For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death: he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him. Moses is here directed to say that again to the children of Israel which he had in effect said before, v. 2.

20:1-9 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, from a principle of self-preservation. In the midst of these laws comes in a general charge, Sanctify yourselves, and be ye holy. It is the Lord that sanctifies, and his work will be done, though it be difficult. Yet his grace is so far from doing away our endeavours, that it strongly encourages them. Work out your salvation, for it is God that worketh in you.

And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them,.... Not only those respecting the above things, but all others, which would be a means of preserving them from sin, and of promoting holiness in their lives and conversations: I am the Lord which sanctify you: who had separated and distinguished them from all other people on earth, and who had given them holy laws, as the means of holiness; and who only could and did sanctify internally, by his Spirit and grace, such or them as were sanctified in heart, as well as outwardly.

i.e. Who separated you from all nations, and from their impurities and idolatries, to be a peculiar people to myself, and therefore I will not suffer you to follow their examples. Or, who really sanctify you, and give you my grace to do what I require, i.e. to keep my statutes. Or the argument is this, Those idols and idolatries will defile you and make you worse, but I only and my service will sanctify you and make you better.

7-19. Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy—The minute specification of the incestuous and unnatural crimes here enumerated shows their sad prevalence amongst the idolatrous nations around, and the extreme proneness of the Israelites to follow the customs of their neighbors. 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 Le 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 afterwards consumed by fire (Jos 7:15).

[Reformed Biblical] is, Those idols and idolatries will defile you and make you worse, but I only and my service will sanctify you and make you better. Leviticus 20:9 For, or, surely, as that particle, chi, is oft used, as Job_8:6 20:20. So there needs no dispute about the connexion, or what this is a reason of. Curseth; which is not meant of every perverse expression, but of bitter reproaches or imprecations. Or his mother; Heb. and put for or, as hath been noted before. ## His blood shall be upon him; he is guilty of his own death; he deserves to die for so unnatural a crime. Leviticus 20:10 Leviticus 20:11 Leviticus 20:12 By perverting the order which God hath appointed, and mixing the blood which God would have separated, and making the same offspring both his own immediate child and his grandchild, ## they have wrought confusion. Leviticus 20:13 Except the one party was forced by the other. See Deu_22:25. Leviticus 20:14 ## It is wickedness, i.e. abominable and extraordinary wickedness, as the singularity of the punishment showeth. ## Both he and they; either, or both or all of them, if they consented to it. Leviticus 20:15 Partly, for the prevention of monstrous births; partly, to blot out the memory of so loathsome a crime; and partly, th at by so severe a punishment of that creature which was only a passive instrument to man’s sin,

[Reformed Biblical] Nor any stranger, in nation or religion, of what kind soever. For though they might not force them to submit to their religion, yet they might restrain them from the public contempt of the Jewish laws, and from the violation of natural laws, which besides the offence against God and nature, were matters of evil example and consequence to the Israelites themselves. Leviticus 18:27 Leviticus 18:28 Leviticus 18:29 To wit, by death to be inflicted by the magistrates, as it is apparent in case of idolatry with Moloch or other false gods; and in case of the magistrates neglect, by God himself. This phrase therefore of cutting off is to be understood variously, as many other phrases are, either of ecclesiastical, or civil and corporal punishment, according to the differing natures of the offences for which it is inflicted. Leviticus 18:30 ## Leviticus 19:1 LEVITICUS CHAPTER 19 Israelites must be holy, Lev_19:1,2; must honour their parents, and keep sabbaths, Lev_19:3; shun idolatry, Lev_19:4; duly to stay and eat their peace-offerings, Lev_19:5-8; in harvest-time leave gleanings for the poor and stranger, Lev_19:9,10; not steal, deceive, or lie, Lev_19:11; nor swear falsely, Lev_19:12; nor defraud, rob , or detain, Lev _19:13; nor curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling-block before the blind, Lev_19:14; nor judge unjustly, Lev_19:15; nor be tale-bearers; nor bear false witness against their neighbour, Lev_19:16; but rebu