John Gill Commentary Leviticus 20

And the Lord spoke to Moses
After he had delivered the above laws to him in the preceding chapter, he added penalties, to many of them, or declared what punishment should be inflicted on the transgressors of them: saying ;
as follows.

Again you shall say to the children of Israel. The body of the people by their elders, and the heads of their tribes; for the following laws were binding on them all.

Whoever of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel; everyone of the people of Israel, of whatsoever age, sex, or condition of life: and not they only, but the strangers and proselytes; and not the proselytes of righteousness only, but the proselytes of the gate, who, as well as the others, were to shun idolatry, and other impieties and immoralities after mentioned:

That gives of his seed unto Molech; which Aben Ezra interprets of lying with an idolatrous woman, or a worshipper of Molech, the abomination or idol of the Ammonites, (1 Kings 11:7); of which see (Leviticus 18:21); but more than that is here intended, or even than causing their seed or offspring to pass through the fire to Molech, as in the place referred to; more is meant by it than a lustration of them, or a dedicating them to Molech, by delivering them to his priests to lead them between two fires for that purpose, but even the sacrificing of them to him; and so the Targum of Jonathan seems to understand it, which is, "that makes (or sacrifices) of his seed Molech to be burnt in the fire:"

For that the Phoenicians or Canaanites, whose customs the Israelites were in danger of imitating, and therefore cautioned against, did sacrifice human creatures, and these the dearest to them, even their beloved and only begotten children, to Saturn, is certain, as Porphyry^F25 and Eusebius^F26 affirm, or to Hercules, as Pliny^F1, and both the same with Molech, or the sun:

He shall surely be put to death; by the hand of the civil magistrate, which death was to be by stoning, as follows:

The people of the land shall stone him with stones: that is, the people of the house of Israel, as both the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan; such as lived in that part of the country where the idolater lived, and where he committed the sin, or was condemned for it; of the manner of stoning, (See Gill on Acts 7:58).

FOOTNOTES:

• F25: De Abstinent. l. 2. c. 56.
• F26: De laudibus Constantin. c. 13. p. 646. Vid. Suidam in voce (sardaniov) .
• F1: Nat. Hist. l. 36. c. 5.

And I will set my face against that man: Express resentment, anger, wrath, and indignation at him, see (Psalms 34:16).

and will cut him off from among his people: that is, supposing him to have been guilty of the above horrid crime, and there being not sufficient evidence given of it by witnesses, or the magistrates negligent in doing their duty; and the matter being known to God the omniscient, he, according this declaration, would deal with him himself, and cut him off out of the land of the living, from among his relations, friends, and neighbours, by his own immediate hand; otherwise the law before provided a penalty, which is death by stoning, whereby he would be effectually cut off from his people, and deprived of all natural, civil, and religious privileges in this life, and sent into everlasting punishment in another, unless forgiving grace should be vouchsafed.

because he has given of his seed to Molech: an iniquity to be punished by the judge, and deserving of everlasting wrath and destruction.

to defile my sanctuary: not by doing this horrid action in it, but by coming into it, having done it; or by offering sacrifice in another place than where God had commanded, as well as such a sacrifice as was abominable to him, sacrifice being to be offered nowhere but on the altar of the Lord in the sanctuary. Jarchi interprets this of the congregation of Israel, which was sanctified to the Lord, in the midst of which this wickedness was committed, and with which they were polluted.

and to profane my holy name: by sacrificing to an idol, when sacrifice should be offered to God; and such a sacrifice as would cause the name of God, and his holy laws, and true religion, to be blasphemed and evil, spoken of among the Gentiles, (Romans 2:23Romans 2:24).

And if the people of the land do any ways hide their eyes from
the man
That is, the people of the house of Israel, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan; if the friends, relations, and neighbours of such a man, though they know what he is about to do, or has done, yet they shut their eyes wilfully, or look another way; or, however, wink and connive at his wickedness, and will not discover him, and bear witness against him; or if a court of judicature, before whom he comes, does not take the evidence of his crime, nor condemn for it, or are negligent in punishing him as the law directs, a gift having blinded their eyes, or they careless and remiss in their duty:

when he giveth his seed unto Molech ;
That is, a crime so heinous and abominable:

and kill him not ;
That is, do not bring witness against him, so as that he may be put to death, or do not upon the evidence given condemn him to death, or do not take care to have sentence executed, by stoning him to death.

Then I will set my face against that man
That man that sees him do the fact, and winks at it, or the judge that connives at him, and will not condemn him, as well as the man that has committed the iniquity:

and against his family ;
either the family of the witness, who could and should have testified against him, or of the judge negligent of his office, or of the man himself, whose family must be privy to so shocking an action, and were abettors of it, and aiders and assisters in it; and so Onkelos renders it, "and his helpers":

and will cut him off :
the head of the family, whether judge, witness, or the criminal himself:

and all that go a whoring after him :
that commit the like idolatry after his example, and encouraged to it by the connivance of others at it:

to commit whoredom with Molech ;
that is, idolatry, which is spiritual whoredom, and often so called in Scripture, and with great propriety; for since God had espoused these people to himself, and was their husband, as he was from the time of his bringing them out of Egypt, and making a covenant with them, (Jeremiah 31:32) ; and their sacrificing to and serving other gods being a breach of their matrimonial covenant with him, it was no other than whoredom in a spiritual sense, for which he threatens to cut them off:

from among their people ;
by an immature death, even all that were guilty of such abominable actions, or made themselves accessory to them, by any ways conniving at them, either as judges or witnesses.