Leviticus 24:10 ¶ And the son of an Israelitish woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel: and this son of the Israelitish woman and a man of Israel strove together in the camp; 11 And the Israelitish woman’s son blasphemed the name of the LORD, and cursed. And they brought him unto Moses: (and his mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan:) 12 And they put him in ward, that the mind of the LORD might be shewed them. 13 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 14 Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp; and let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him. 15 And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin. 16 And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the LORD, shall be put to death. 17 And he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death. 18 And he that killeth a beast shall make it good; beast for beast. 19 And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbour; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him; 20 Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again. 21 And he that killeth a beast, he shall restore it: and he that killeth a man, he shall be put to death. 22 Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country: for I am the LORD your God. 23 And Moses spake to the children of Israel, that they should bring forth him that had cursed out of the camp, and stone him with stones. And the children of Israel did as the LORD commanded Moses.
Now we
come to a validation of the verse in Exodus;
Exodus 20:7 Thou shalt not
take the name of the LORD thy God in vain;
for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
The guilty individual blasphemed and cursed. Perhaps he said, “G-D
you,” or, as a modern Christian might say, “you gosh-darned so-and-so.” Whether
he used God in a curse or one of our Christian euphemisms like ‘gee-whiz’ for
Jesus Christ he blasphemed.
This son of an Egyptian and an Israelite woman, which shows that
the Hebrews had not been too careful about their attachments in their slavery
and presages the problem that the tribe of Dan will be, is put in ward or locked up or confined until
the mind of God was known. The mind of
God is expressed in the Holy Ghost whose agency that acts on creation is
called the Spirit of God.
For contexts where the Spirit of God or the spirit of man can be
synonymous with the mind of God or man please see the following;
Romans 8:27 And he that
searcheth the hearts knoweth what is
the mind of the Spirit,
because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
1Corinthians 2:16 For who
hath known the mind of the Lord,
that he may instruct him? But we have the
mind of Christ.
Ephesians 4:23 And be
renewed in the spirit of your mind;
Philippians 1:27 Only let
your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come
and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind
striving together for the faith of the gospel;
2Timothy 1:7 For God hath
not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
God orders Moses to bring the guilty party before the congregation
and there is an episode of laying on of hands that clearly does not impose
authority but makes everyone responsible for the enactment of God’s judgment.
Then, the guilty person is stoned to death. It is a brutal and horrible way to
die. Among the Hebrews under the Law blasphemy, using God’s name in vain and
cursing, were punishable by death.
Verse
17 can be related back to;
Exodus 20:13 Thou shalt not kill.
…and
forward to;
Matthew 19:18a He saith
unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do
no murder…
Some misguided Christian groups in the
past and present have stated that it is wrong to participate in war or civil
justice if it involves killing but that is not taking the admonition in the
context of the entire Bible. God did not consider the killing of the Canaanites
as committing murder as He told the Hebrews to do it. In fact, God had said;
Genesis 9:6 Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God
made he man.
And
Jesus told His disciples;
Luke 22:35 And he said unto
them, When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing?
And they said, Nothing. 36 Then said he
unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his
scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.
Defending yourself from attack, defending your homeland from
invasion, and carrying out proper and fair civil justice does not fall under
the admonition here of not killing another person, all of the Quakers in the
world notwithstanding.
Verse 18 shows that animals were regarded as property under the
Law and the owner of an animal that was killed must be compensated. From then
on we see the eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth admonition which skeptics
insist was a very barbaric standard of justice. However, it must be noted that
there is another side to this. In a brutal and violent world justice was uneven
and the social status of the victim was important as was the social status of
the guilty party. As we see by context God is leveling the playing field by
insisting on one standard of justice for all.
If a beast was killed its value was restored and if a man was
killed the murderer was to suffer death. This was for everyone, not just, as
laws typically were, weapons against the poor and powerless to maintain a
social regime. I have read in some historic cultures that if a commoner’s
shadow even crossed a nobleman’s the commoner could be killed and the rich
quite often simply took that which belonged to the poor without compensation.
See David’s anger at the parable Nathan tells him in 2Samuel 12. This is why I
think looking at this admonition as comparable to arsonists in Rome being burnt
alive or a person who threw acid in someone’s face today in an Islamic nation
having acid thrown in their face as ordered by a court is the wrong way of
looking at this passage.
This is about equal justice in a world where there was none. Verse
22 is the key to understanding this doctrine in context.
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