How does Leviticus 20 connect the listed punishments with Israel’s call to belong to God?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The chapter gives punishments for named acts and warns Israel not to repeat the acts of the nations God will cast out. Israel must keep God’s commands and distinguish clean from unclean because the holy Lord has set them apart to be his own.

Chapter breakdown

Leviticus 20 gives punishments for a number of crimes. The Lord tells Moses to instruct the children of Israel. If an Israelite or a stranger living in Israel gives any of his offspring to the idol Moloch, he must die; the people of the land must stone him. The Lord says he will set his face against that man and cut him off from his people, because giving his offspring to Moloch has defiled God’s sanctuary and profaned his holy name.

If the people of the land neglect God’s command and leave that man alone instead of killing him, God says he will set his face against the man and his kindred. He will cut off the man and all who consented with him to commit fornication with Moloch from their people. God also says he will oppose and destroy from among the people the person who turns to magicians and soothsayers and commits fornication with them.

The people must sanctify themselves and be holy because he is the Lord their God. They must keep and carry out his commands; he is the Lord who sanctifies them. A person who curses his father or mother must die. The text places his blood upon him because he has cursed his parents.

If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife and defiles his neighbour’s wife, both the adulterer and adulteress must be put to death. If a man lies with his stepmother and uncovers his father’s nakedness, both must die, with their blood upon them. If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both must die because they have done a heinous crime, and their blood is upon them. If a man lies with a man as with a woman, both have committed an abomination and must be put to death, with their blood upon them. If a man marries a daughter and then her mother, he has done a heinous crime. He must be burned alive with them so that such an abomination does not remain among the people.

A man who has sexual relations with any beast or cattle must die, and the animal must also be killed.

Challoner explains that killing the animal was meant to increase horror of the crime and prevent the remembrance of such an abomination. This reason is supplied by the note, rather than stated in verse 15.

A woman who lies under a beast must be killed together with the animal, with their blood upon them. If a man takes his sister, whether his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter, sees her nakedness, and she sees her brother’s shame, they have committed a crime. They must be slain in the sight of their people because they uncovered one another’s nakedness, and they bear their guilt. If a man lies with a woman during her menstrual period and uncovers her nakedness, and she opens the fountain of her blood, both must be destroyed from among their people.

A man must not uncover the nakedness of his mother’s sister or his father’s sister. Doing so uncovers the shame of his own flesh, and both bear their guilt. If a man lies with the wife of his father’s brother or his mother’s brother, uncovering the shame of his near kin, both bear their sin and shall die without children. A man who marries his brother’s wife does an unlawful thing and uncovers his brother’s nakedness; they shall be without children.

Israel must keep and carry out God’s laws and judgments, lest the land they are entering to live in vomit them out also. They must not follow the laws of the nations God will cast out before them. Those nations did these things, and God abhorred them. God tells Israel to possess the nations’ land, which he will give them as an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey. He is the Lord their God who has separated them from other people.

They must distinguish clean animals from unclean animals and clean birds from unclean birds. They must not defile their souls through beasts, birds, or things that move on the earth which God has shown them to be unclean. They must be holy to him because he is holy and has separated them from other people so that they should be his. The chapter ends with a rule for a man or woman in whom there is what the edition calls a pythonical or divining spirit: they must die by stoning, with their blood upon them.

The story inside

The Moloch ruling includes both the offender and a response to the people’s neglect. The people must stone the man, while God says he will oppose him for defiling the sanctuary and profaning his name. If they leave him alone, God’s warning names the man, his kindred and those who consented with him. The following rulings name different acts and consequences rather than treating every case alike: death, burning alive, destruction from the people, bearing guilt, or being without children. The closing commands explain why Israel must attend to these distinctions. God has separated Israel to be his own and gives them the other nations’ land, but warns them not to follow those nations’ laws. Keeping his commands and distinguishing clean from unclean belongs to that call to holiness.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The Moloch command includes a warning about neglect. The people are required to stone the offender; if they leave him alone, God says he will oppose the man and his kindred and cut off him and those who consented with him.
2
The punishments must be kept with their named cases. For example, the aunt ruling says both bear guilt, while the uncle’s-wife ruling says both bear sin and die without children; combining them changes the chapter.
3
Israel’s separation from other people is tied to belonging to the holy Lord. They must keep his laws, avoid the listed acts and distinguish clean from unclean; the land warning gives a consequence if they fail to keep his commands.

Test your recall

Why does God warn Israel not to follow the nations’ laws, and how does the warning that the land may vomit them out connect with their call to be holy and belong to him?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 12844–12857
Leviticus Chapter 20 Divers crimes to be punished with death. 20:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 20:2. Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: If any man of the children Israel, or of the strangers that dwell in Israel, give of his seed to the idol Moloch, dying let him die. The people of the land shall stone him. 20:3. And I will set my face against him: and I will cut him off from the midst of his people, because he hath given of his seed to Moloch, and hath defiled my sanctuary, and profaned my holy name.
Lines 12859–12869
20:4. And if the people of the land neglecting, and as it were little regarding my commandment, let alone the man that hath given of his seed to Moloch, and will not kill him: 20:5. I will set my face against that man, and his kindred, and will cut off both him and all that consented with him, to commit fornication with Moloch, out of the midst of their people. 20:6. The soul that shall go aside after magicians, and soothsayers, and shall commit fornication with them: I will set my face against that soul, and destroy it out of the midst of its people.
Lines 12871–12877
20:7. Sanctify yourselves, and be ye holy: because I am the Lord your God. 20:8. Keep my precepts, and do them. I am the Lord that sanctify you. 20:9. He that curseth his father, or mother, dying let him die. He hath cursed his father, and mother: let his blood be upon him.
Lines 12879–12894
20:10. If any man commit adultery with the wife of another, and defile his neighbour’s wife: let them be put to death, both the adulterer and the adulteress. 20:11. If a man lie with his stepmother, and discover the nakedness of his father, let them both be put to death: their blood be upon them. 20:12. If any man lie with his daughter in law: let both die, because they have done a heinous crime. Their blood be upon them. 20:13. If any one lie with a man as with a woman, both have committed an abomination: let them be put to death. Their blood be upon them. 20:14. If any man after marrying the daughter, marry her mother, he hath done a heinous crime. He shall be burnt alive with them: neither shall so great an abomination remain in the midst of you.
Lines 12896–12897
20:15. He that shall copulate with any beast or cattle, dying let him die: the beast also ye shall kill.
Lines 12899–12901
The beast also ye shall kill.... The killing of the beast was for the greater horror of the crime, and to prevent the remembrance of such abomination.
Lines 12903–12914
20:16. The woman that shall lie under any beast, shall be killed together with the same. Their blood be upon them. 20:17. If any man take his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother, and see her nakedness, and she behold her brother’s shame: they have committed a crime. They shall be slain, in the sight of their people, because they have discovered one another’s nakedness. And they shall bear their iniquity. 20:18. If any man lie with a woman in her flowers, and uncover her nakedness, and she open the fountain of her blood: both shall be destroyed out of the midst of their people.
Lines 12916–12925
20:19. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy aunt by thy mother, and of thy aunt by thy father. He that doth this, hath uncovered the shame of his own flesh: both shall bear their iniquity. 20:20. If any man lie with the wife of his uncle by the father, or of his uncle by the mother, and uncover the shame of his near akin, both shall bear their sin. They shall die without children. 20:21. He that marrieth his brother’s wife, doth an unlawful thing: he hath uncovered his brother’s nakedness. They shall be without children.
Lines 12927–12936
20:22. Keep my laws and my judgments, and do them: lest the land into which you are to enter to dwell therein, vomit you also out. 20:23. Walk not after the laws of the nations, which I will cast out before you. For they have done all these things: and therefore I abhorred them. 20:24. But to you I say: Possess their land which I will give you for an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the Lord your God, who have separated you from other people.
Lines 12938–12950
20:25. Therefore do you also separate the clean beast from the unclean, and the clean fowl from the unclean. Defile not your souls with beasts, or birds, or any things that move on the earth, and which I have shewn you to be unclean: 20:26. You shall be holy unto me, because I the Lord am holy: and I have separated you from other people, that you should be mine. 20:27. A man, or woman, in whom there is a pythonical or divining spirit, dying let them die. They shall stone them. Their blood be upon them.