Charles Ellicott Commentary Leviticus 20

And the Lord spoke to Moses. —It is difficult to account for the position of this chapter. Naturally, we should expect it to follow Leviticus 18. If Leviticus 20 contains the penalties attached to the sins enumerated in Leviticus 18, we should expect it to follow that chapter immediately. It may, however, be that before enacting these severe punishments, the Lawgiver wanted to appeal to the high calling of the nation, to qualify them by the sublime precepts laid down in Leviticus 19 for obedience to the laws in Leviticus 18, and that in the chapter before us the civil punishments are set forth as an alternative for those who will not be guided by the spiritual sentiments enunciated in Leviticus 19.

Again, you shall say. —Better, And you shall say.

Whoever he may be. —Better, Whatever man there may be, as the Authorized Version renders this phrase in Leviticus 17:3. (See Note on Leviticus 17:8.)

That gives any of his seed to Molech. —It will be seen that while in Leviticus 18:21 the law about Molech worship follows the laws of incest, the reverse is the case here, where it precedes those laws.

The people of the land. —That is, the whole community , who have selected the judges, and in whose name sentence is passed by the judges, are bound to execute the sentence.

Shall stone him with stones. —Stoning was the first and the severest mode of capital punishment among the Hebrews, the three others being burning, beheading, and strangling.

The Jewish canonists have tabulated the following eighteen cases in which death by stoning was inflicted:

1. of a man who has sexual relations with his own mother (Leviticus 20:11);
2. or with his father’s wife (Leviticus 20:12);
3. or with his daughter-in-law (Leviticus 20:12);
4. or with a betrothed maiden (Deuteronomy 22:23–24);
5. or with a male (Leviticus 20:13);
6. or with a beast (Leviticus 20:15);
7. of a woman who was guilty of lying with a beast (Leviticus 20:16);
8. the blasphemer (Leviticus 24:10–16);
9. the worshipper of idols (Deuteronomy 17:2–5);
10. the one who gives his seed to Molech (Leviticus 20:2);
11. the necromancer;
12. the wizard (Leviticus 20:27);
13. the false prophet (Deuteronomy 13:6);
14. the enticer to idolatry (Deuteronomy 13:11);
15. the witch (Leviticus 20:17);
16. the profaner of the Sabbath (Numbers 15:32–36);
17. he who curses his parent (Leviticus 20:9); and
18. the rebellious son (Deuteronomy 21:18–21).

As the Mosaic legislation only directs that the stoning is to take place outside the city (Leviticus 24:14; Numbers 15:36), and that the witnesses upon whose evidence the criminal has been sentenced to death are to throw the first stone (Deuteronomy 17:7), the administrators of the law during the Second Temple decreed the following mode of carrying out the sentence.

On his way from the court of justice to the place of execution, a herald preceded the criminal, exclaiming, “So-and-so is being led out to be stoned for this and this crime, and so-and-so are the witnesses; if anyone has to say anything that might save him, let him come forward and say it.”

Within ten yards of the place of execution, he was publicly admonished to confess his sins; within four yards, he was stripped naked except for a slight covering about his loins. After his hands had been bound, he was led onto a scaffolding about twice the height of a man. Here, wine mingled with myrrh was mercifully given to him to dull the pain of execution, and from here, one of the witnesses pushed him down with great violence so that he fell onto his back.

If the fall did not kill him, the other witness dashed a great stone on his breast; and if this did not kill him, all the people who stood by covered him with stones.

The corpse was then nailed to a cross and afterward burned. After this, the relatives visited both the judges and the witnesses to show that they bore no hatred towards them and that the sentence was just. Frequently, however, the excited multitude resorted to stoning when they wished to inflict summary justice.

This description will explain why the Jews said to Christ that the woman had to be stoned, and why He replied to her accusers that he who is without sin should cast the first stone (John 8:5, 7); why the Jews wanted to stone Christ when they thought He was blaspheming (John 10:31); and why they offered Him wine mingled with myrrh before His crucifixion (Matthew 27:34, 38; Mark 15:23).

And I will set my face against that man. —That is, make him feel my anger. (See Leviticus 17:10.)

And will cut him off. —As the preceding verse describes the offender as having been stoned to death by the people, the declaration on God’s part that He will cut off the sinner has caused some difficulty. Therefore, some understand it simply to express the same thing—that the judicial execution is God’s way of cutting off the sinner from his people. According to the administrators of the law during the Second Temple, however, the legislator assumes a case where the man has actually been guilty of the crime, and there has not been a sufficient amount of evidence to convict him. In that case, God Himself would intervene and cut the offender off. This is more in accordance with what follows.

To defile my sanctuary. —By sinning, the Israelites contracted defilement, and they defiled the sanctuary which was among them. (Leviticus 16:16.) These very people, moreover, when they had sacrificed their children to Molech, afterwards came to the sanctuary to worship God (Jeremiah 7:9–10; Ezekiel 23:37–39).

Profane my holy name. —See Leviticus 18:21.

And if the people of the land ... — In the previous verse, the Legislator dealt with cases where there was insufficient evidence. Here he declares what God would do if the community itself, whose duty it is to carry out the sentence, either from culpable indifference or criminal sympathy with the sin, were to connive at it.

Then I will set my face. — In that case God himself will show His anger. (See Leviticus 20:3 and Leviticus 17:10.) He will interpose to execute just judgment.

And against his family. — Because they would naturally be privy to it, and aid and abet the father in this crime, they, as well as all those who joined in this idolatrous worship, will be cut off by God himself.