Leviticus 20:1-5
Molech was apparently a very real threat and temptation. I can imagine the nation thinking it could never happen to them; who would ever sacrifice their children. Yet, the nations fell for this, slowly, tempted away; looking away from the Lord. The penalty was serious indicating how serious the offense was. It was the death penalty by the hand of your brothers and sisters. The action of the one was defiling the family, tribe, shaming the Lord's name and defiling the land. He was to be stoned to death.
The Lord would act as judge and set His face against the man cutting Him off. If the people looked the other way and ignored these wicked and defiling actions, then they were part of the problem and they were just as guilty.
Leviticus 20:6-8
This links back to 19:26-31. This is dabbling with demons and unknown mysteries of the spiritual world, seeking knowledge from beyond or communication with the dead. It is affront to our God who is all-knowing and all-powerful and desires to be our God and us be His people. To seek others is an act of unbelief or rebellion; believing God can't or won't deliver something to you. I can't imagine being on the receiving end of God setting His face against you. The penalty here is to be outside of God's care and removed from the camp. This is turning the person over to the gods they sought after.
The call to be consecrated is to be set apart from those things. This is what holiness looks like. These are His statutes and He will be true to them. He is the One who sanctifies us. He will provide and care for us. We need only to trust and obey.
Leviticus 20:9
This dovetails with 19:3; both of which point back the 5th commandment. We all have a father and mother and all would likely become parents that expected respect and honor. If cursing them in any way became an acceptable norm, it would be a breakdown in society. What is translated as 'cursing' is more the idea of treating your parents with contempt. Obedience is linked to their length of days and time in the land.
12 "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
[The New King James Version (Ex 20:12). (1982). Thomas Nelson.]
This would require children to respect their parents and honor them. Where was the line of what was acceptable and what was not? What was classified as contempt?
And he who strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.
[The New King James Version (Ex 21:15). (1982). Thomas Nelson.]
18 "If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have chastened him, will not heed them, 19 then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his city. 20 And they shall say to the elders of his city, 'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.' 21 Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones; so you shall put away the evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear.
[The New King James Version (Dt 21:18–21). (1982). Thomas Nelson.]
It's interesting that other cultures knew this was a problem also.
- Sumerian (people of southern Mesopotamia) law said that a son who disowned his parents could be sold as a slave. The law dated 2300BC.
- The law of Hammurabi (Babylonian legal text, 1750BC) required the amputation of the hand of a man who struck his father.
- A will from Ugarit (an important trade city; 1900BC) described a son's behavior by using the same word translated to 'curse' in Lev 20:9. The will stipulated disinheritance of the son.
His blood shall be upon him; he brought this upon himself.
Leviticus 20:10-16
Adultery also undermined the family, upsetting the stability of the culture, people and the land. God took protecting the home and family very serious and for adultery the sentence is that both parties were to be put to death. Their blood was on their own hands, not those who carried out the sentence.
Note the man marrying a woman and her mother was to be burned with fire. This was to removed the wickedness completely from among them. The same sentence is called for in Leviticus 21:9 for a priest's daughter who prostitutes herself.
Leviticus 20:17-21
It is again interesting to note the other cultures had sexual codes that treated the violators with the death sentence. These included adultery, incest, homosexuality and bestiality. They also took these things seriously, knowing their harm to the health of society and the land.
- Hammurabi's code for adultery was trial by ordeal. Rape was capital crime. Incest was punished with exile.
- Assyrian laws called for homosexuality to be punished with castration.
- Hittite laws called for death for those violating law against bestiality.
Leviticus 20:22-26
We've seen the word 'statutes' numerous times, maybe implying people need that constant reminder. Our nature draws us away from God toward out own statutes, our own way of life, which brings distance between us and God. These statutes and judgments are Gods ways, given to us; that we might have His best; that we might be kept from falling into sin. John recorded that Jesus is the way – He epitomizes and displays the statutes and Judgments of God. Jesus summed up the commandments like this:
"The first of all the commandments is: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment. 31 And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." [The New King James Version (Mk 12:29–31). (1982). Thomas Nelson]
The statutes and judgments were to be:
- Kept (v.22) – held fast to, possessed, made our own. Our way of life becomes His way of life. This is to walk circumspect.
- Performed (v.22) – Possession of these were to move us to action. We were to put these things into play in life
- Dwell – by these we may dwell in the land, not defiling it, but enjoying it and all the fruit of the land. People need a home, a place to belong; community in the presence of God. This is what God is holding before them.
The contrast and display of what not to do was to be seen in those currently living in the Promised Land. They were the object lesson of what not to do and what would happen if these things were not kept. The Lord abhorred them and the land would vomit them out. Those who walked in God's ways would inherit it. God made them His people; giving the distinction that they were separated from the others. They were set apart, sacred and holy for Him. As such, they were called to distinguish the difference between them and others; between clean and unclean, animals, birds, beast and creeping things.
Note: no one ever rose to sin, they fall to sin. Pursuit of sin is falling because the highest and best is an ascension to God.
Leviticus 20:27
When entering the land, Israel would see all those around them taking part in the practices. There is one God, He is Yahweh; there is only the prescribed ways of worship and atonement. All other ways attempt to circumvent Yahweh. These things were often practiced in the background; not as an alternative to Yahweh, but as if they would enhance their spirituality by adding these things.
Mediums and familiar spirits are both ways of practicing divination; a means of soliciting information the unseen realm. Mediums contacted spirits or were possessed by them. Familiar spirits is another way of saying necromancy. This was contact with the dead specifically; practiced to contact family members.
God forbids these things. We are spiritual creatures and can be drawn to these things. We are to keep our eyes on God, be loyal to Him.
Divination involves a variety of methods used by prophets (Mic 3:11), soothsayers, mediums and sorcerers to determine the will of the gods and to predict the future. These included the examination of the entrails of sacrificial animals, the analysis of omens of various types and the reading of the future in natural and unnatural phenomena (see Gen 44:5). The prohibition against eating meat with the "blood still in it" in this verse is tied to the injunction against participating in any form of divination or sorcery. Thus, rather than being a dietary law, this decree involves the practice of draining blood from a sacrificial animal into the ground or a sacred pit, which was designed to attract the spirits of the dead (see 1 Sam 28:7–19) or chthonic (underworld) deities in order to consult them about the future. Such practices are found in several Hittite ritual texts and in Odysseus' visit to the underworld (Odyssey 11.23-29, 34–43). These practices were condemned (Deut 18:10–11) because they infringed on the idea of Yahweh as an all-powerful God who was not controlled by fate.
[Matthews, V. H., Chavalas, M. W., & Walton, J. H. (2000). The IVP Bible background commentary: Old Testament (electronic ed., Le 19:26). InterVarsity Press.]
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