Leviticus 20

Leviticus 20:1-9

The laws which before were made, are in this chapter repeated, and penalties annexed to them; that they who would not be deterred from do by the fear of God, ought be deterred from it by the fear of punishment. 1. Many particular crimes that are made capital, 2. Giving their children to Molech, ver. 1—2. 2. Confusing witches, ver. 6, 27. 3. Cursing parents, ver. 9. 4. Adultery, natural fools, ver. 13, 15, 16, 18. 2. General commands given a Chap. xxii. 4. b Deut. xxii. 10. 1. Chap. xxii, 17, 8. xxiii, 10. 5. 1st. xxiv. 31. c Chap. xxii. 20. a Did. a Exod. xx. 7. Chap. xx. 9. a Did. xix. 31. b Did. xi. 44. & xxii. 2. Pat. i. ii. 1 Exod. vii. 33. Deut. xxiii, 18. Prov. xxii. 2. Mat. xv, 4. 1. AND the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2. ¶ Again, thou shalt say to the children of Israel, 3. Whoever be he of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that fojourn in Israel, that giveth any of his seed unto Molech, he shall surely be put to death; the people of the land shall show 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 I 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 curfeth his father or his mother, shall be surely put to death: he hath curled his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him. The soul that sineth, it shall die. The former laws are here armed with their sanction, and we need hear and fear before this holy Lord God. 1. The first is sacrificing their children to Molech: idolatry as infamous as impious. When we see the wizards of sin in general serving the devil with such loss and suffering, how ought we to value the perfect freedom of God’s service? The punishment is floning to death; and there is no escape for the criminal: for if his friends connived at him, and refused to inform against him, or the judge acquitted him, notwithstanding proof made, God would then take the matter into his own hand, and cut him off by some fearful judgment. Nor, Sinsers may escape the hand of justice here, but at God’s tribunal they must stand, and none can deliver them out of his hand— Nor shall the abettors of the idolater share a milder judgment; God will will their sin upon them and their families, and they shall die by the same street hand. Nor, (1) The character of an informer is often stamped with infamy, but there are offences where silence involves us in the guilt of the crime we conceal; and it is at our peril if we hold our tongue. (2) A negligent magistrate is a most criminal character, and they who will not judge for God, shall be judged by him. 2. Confusing a witch is a capital offence. It is called going a whoring from God, as it implies the alienation of the heart from him, and a dependence on the devil for advice and direction. 3. To curle father or mother, is death; to inflate paternal authority, is rebellion against God, and shall meet with the same punishment as idolatry. 4. A general charge given to sanctify themselves for God, i. e. separate themselves from the ways and company of sinners; and the restless given, 1. Because God is their lord and master, and they must serve him only. 2. Because they thus answer his defigns of grace upon them: I am he that shouldish you. Nor, (1) Sanctification is God’s work: he must give the power, or cite impotent would be the command. (2) All God’s people are a holy people: though the measure of their attainment differ, yet universal sanctification of heart and life is the prayer and purpose of every gracious soul. (3) Because God is pleased to work in us, we are both inclined and enabled to work out our own salvation. 10. ¶ And the man that committeth adultery with another man’s wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. 11. And the man that lieth with his father’s wife, hath uncovered his father’s nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. 12. ¶ And if a man lie with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death: they have wrought confusion; their blood shall be upon them. 13. ¶ If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. 14. ¶ And if a man take a wife and her mother, it is wickedness: they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they, that there be no wickedness among you. 15. ¶ And if a man lie with a beath, he shall surely be put to death; and ye shall stay the beath. 16. And if a woman approach unto any beath, and lie down thereto, thou shalt kill the woman and the beath: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. 17. ¶ And if a man shall take his sister, his father’s daughter, or his mother’s daughter, and see her nakedness, and the see his nakedness; it is a wicked thing; and they shall be cut off in the fight of their people: he hath uncovered his sister’s nakedness, he shall bear his iniquity. 18. ¶ And if a man shall lie with a woman having her sickness, and shall uncover her nakedness; he hath discovered her fountain; and the hath uncovered the fountain of her blood: and both of them shall be cut off from among the people. 19. ¶ And thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother’s sister, nor of thy father’s sister: for he uncovereth his near kin: they shall bear their iniquity. 20. ¶ And if a man shall lie with his uncle’s wife, he hath uncovered his uncle’s nakedness: they shall bear their sin, they shall die childless. 21. ¶ And if a man shall take his brother’s wife, it is + an unclean thing: he hath uncovered his brother’s nakedness, they shall be childless.

Leviticus 20:10-11

Nothing needs severe refraims than the lusts which naturally reign in our mortal bodies; no loss have severe punishments denounced on their indulgence. 1. The adulterer and adulteress must perish together. The wrong is irreparable to the injured, the peace or confidence for ever destroyed to the guilty, and the avenging wrath of God provoked, by such a dying violation of his ordinance of marriage. 2. Incest is a capital crime, whether with a mother, mother-in-law, or sister, or daughter, or daughter-in-law: near relations must love, but with all purity. 3. Sodomy and Beasibility, crimes that make us thunder but to mention, are to be punished with death; and the beath must be false also, in interdiction of such abominations. 4. Lying with a woman set apart for uncleanness, is death for both. Lawless lust will meet with an avenging Before Chrift

1. The following God. 5. Some ineffectious copulations between more distant relations, are to be punished with barrenness, as the present judgment. And they shall also bear their iniquity, when God maketh inquisition for sin.

2. ¶ Ye shall therefore keep all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: that the land whither I bring you to dwell therein, ¶ (spue you not out. 23.) ¶ And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all their things, and ¶ therefore I abhorred them. 24. But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey: I am the LORD your God, which have separated you from other people. 25. ¶ Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beads and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean: and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beall or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that I creepeth on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean. 26. And ye shall be holy unto me; ¶ for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine. 27. ¶ A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them.

3. 22—27. We cannot be too often admonished, when we are so prone to err. 1. God repeats his solemn charge to them, to keep all his statutes, to observe the distinctions of clean and unclean, to beware of the nations around them, and not make their souls abominable. Note, Sin is the abominable thing which God hates, and we must flee from. The more evil examples are around us, the more we need watch and pray. 2. The arguments again repeated: God’s right in and over them, and the necessity of being like him in holiness, if they would have any relation to him as their God; and his separation of them from others, that they might separate themselves for him. Note, Christ’s are a peculiar people, and they must see that their conversation proves them such. 3. The ruin which disobedience would bring on them. The nations whither they were going, were examples to them of God’s judgments against him; and after all the mercies they had experienced, they could not, if they corrupted themselves, expect lighter visitations. Note, Fellowship in sin, will bring fellowship in suffering: only as we sin against greater mercies and knowledge, so much heavier will be our condemnation.

The chapter concludes with the punishment of every witch or wizard with death. They who hold communion with the devil, or pretend to do it, are only fit to be with him in his place of torment.