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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Leviticus 20:1 - 20:9
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For Sins Against the Sixth, Second, and Fourth Commandments
v. 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
v. 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, in the double sin of masturbation or onanism and idolatry, or, more likely, in immolating children, Lev_18:21, he shall surely be put to death; the people of the land shall stone him with stones. The offender, after the forms of the law had been observed, Deu_17:6; Deu_19:15, was to suffer summary execution by being stoned and literally buried under the thrown stones.
v. 3. And I will set My face against that man, in case the people should neglect the punishment in due time, and will cut him off from among his people, pursue the offender and his followers with His judgment, until He has exterminated all that are associated in his guilt, because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, the abomination of the Canaanites, to defile My Sanctuary, and to profane My holy name.
v. 4. And if the people of the land do anyways hide their eyes from the man when he giveth of his seed unto Molech, consecrating it as an act of worship, and kill him not,
v. 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, in the double sense of committing an immoral act and of becoming guilty of idolatry, to commit whoredom with Molech, from among their people. As no sacrifice to false gods was permitted in the land, so this special worship of Molech was an abomination which could under no circumstances be tolerated.
v. 6. And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, after men and women that consult with the spirits of the dead and use other forms of soothsaying, Lev_19:31, to go a-whoring after them, becoming unfaithful to the true God by such idolatrous practices. I will even set My face against that soul, and I will cut him off from among his people. Excommunication and death was to be his punishment for engaging in apostasy and for corrupting the people of the Lord.
v. 7. Sanctify yourselves, therefore, and be ye holy; for I am the Lord, your God, and Jehovah God, Himself the absolutely sinless and pure personality, wanted His people not only to abstain from sin, but also to abhor sin with an undying enmity.
v. 8. And ye shall keep My statutes and do them. I am the Lord which sanctify you. By training them to observe the ordinances of His holy will God was consecrating them to be a holy people in His service.
v. 9. Fore very one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death; he hath cursed his father or his mother, the representatives of God in the home, in the family; his blood shall be up on him. This shows the emphasis which the Lord at all times placed upon the honor of parents and the keeping of the Fourth Commandment.