1-3 Of him that gives his seed to Moloch 4,5 Of him that favours such an one 6 Of going to wizards 7,8 Of sanctification 9 Of him that curses his parents 11,12 Of incest 13,14 Of sodomy 15-17 Of bestiality 18-21 Of uncleanness 22-26 Obedience is required with holiness 27 Wizards must be put to death

2 Again, thou shalt say to the children of Israel, Whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth any of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones.

Whosoever Le 17:8,13,15

giveth Le 18:21 De 12:31 18:10 2Ki 17:17 23:10 2Ch 28:3 33:6 Ps 106:38 Isa 57:5,6 Jer 7:31 32:35 Eze 16:20,21 20:26,31 23:37,39 Ac 7:43

Moloch or Molech
The Rabbins describe this idol as made of brass sitting upon a throne of the same metal, in the form of a man, with the head of a calf, adorned with a royal crown, and his arms extended as if to embrace any one. When they offered any children to him, they heated the statue by a great fire kindled within, and the victim was put into his arms, and thus consumed. Others relate, that the idol, which was hollow, was divided into seven compartments within; in one of which they put flour, in the second turtles, in the third a ewe, in the fourth a ram, in the fifth a calf, in the sixth an ox, and the seventh a child, where all burnt together by heating the statue inside. The account which Diodorus gives of the statue of Saturn, to which the Carthaginians, descendants of the Canaanites, sacrificed their children, is very similar. For they had a brazen stature of Saturn, stretching out his hands towards the ground, in such a manner that the children placed within them tumbled down into a pit full of fire. To this account, Milton alludes in PARADISE LOST, B.1:392.

the people Le 20:27 24:14,23 Nu 15:35,36 De 13:10,11 17:5-7 21:21 Ac 7:58,59

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.

I will set Le 10:10 1Pe 3:12

to defile Nu 19:20 Eze 5:11 23:38,39

profane Le 18:21 Eze 20:39 2Co 6:16

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:

hide Ac 17:30

and kill De 13:8 17:2-5 Jos 7:12 1Sa 3:13,14 1Ki 20:42 Re 2:14

5 Then I will set my face against that man, and 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.

I will Le 17:10

against his Ex 20:5 Jer 32:28-35,39

whoring Le 17:7 Ps 106:39 Jer 3:2 Ho 2:5,13

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.

familiar Le 20:27 19:26,31 De 18:10-14 Isa 8:19

go Ex 34:15,16 Nu 15:39 Ps 73:27 Eze 6:9 Ho 4:12

cut him 1Ch 10:13,14

In the days of Moses, superstition was almost the {sensus communis} of the human race, which then made severe punishment necessary: by means of the Christian dispensation such errors are now exploded, the cultivation of philosophy and natural history having harmonised and contributed their feebler share of light, so that we no longer have to deplore mischiefs occasioned by the silly curiosity attempting to unfold future events.

7 Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God.

Le 11:44 19:2 Eph 1:4 Phm 2:12,13 Col 3:12 1Th 4:3,7 Heb 12:14 1Pe 1:15,16

8 And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the LORD which sanctify you.

And ye Le 18:4,5 19:37 Mt 5:19 7:24 12:50 Joh 13:17 Jas 1:22 Re 22:14

sanctify Le 21:8 Ex 31:13 Eze 20:12 37:28 1Co 1:30 1Th 5:23 2Th 2:13

9 For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death: he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him.

curseth The term {yekallel} signifies not only to curse, but to speak contemptuously, disrespectfully, or to make light of a person: so that all speeches which have a tendency to lessen our parents in the eyes of others, or to render their judgment, piety, etc., suspected or contemptible, is her included; though the act of cursing, or of treating the parent with injurious or opprobrious language, is what is particularly intended. He who conscientiously keeps the {fifth} commandment, can be in no danger of the judgment here denounced. Ex 21:17 De 27:16 Pr 20:20 30:11,17 Mt 15:4 Mr 7:10

his blood Le 20:11-13,16,27 Jos 2:19 Jud 9:24 2Sa 1:16 1Ki 2:32 Mt 27:25

10 And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

the adulterer De 22:22-24 2Sa 12:13 Eze 23:45-47 Joh 8:4,5

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.

Le 18:8 De 27:20,23 Am 2:7 1Co 5:1

their Le 20:9

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.

lie Le 18:15 Ge 38:16,18 De 27:23

confusion Le 18:23

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.

Le 18:22 Ge 19:5 De 23:17 Jud 19:22 Ro 1:26,27 1Co 6:9 1Ti 1:10 Jude 1:7

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.

a wife Le 18:17 De 27:23 Am 2:7

burnt Le 21:9 Jos 7:15,25

15 And if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death: and ye shall slay the beast.

Le 18:23 Ex 22:19 De 27:21

16 And if a woman approach unto any beast, and lie down thereto, thou shalt kill the woman, and the beast: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

And if a woman. We are assured by Herodotus (in Euterp) that the abominations here referred to existed among the Egyptians, and even formed part of their superstitious religious system, and we have reason to believe that they were not uncommon among the Canaanites. (See le 18:24,25). Need we wonder then, that God should have made laws of this nature, and appointed the punishment of death for these crimes? This one observation will account for many of those strange prohibitions which we find in the Mosaic law.

and the beast Ex 19:13 21:28,32 Heb 12:20

17 And if a man shall take his sister, his father's daughter, or his mother's daughter, and see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness; it is a wicked thing; and they shall be cut off in the sight of their people: he hath uncovered his sister's nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity.

Le 18:9 Ge 20:12 De 27:22 2Sa 13:12 Eze 22:11

18 And if a man shall lie with a woman having her sickness, and shall uncover her nakedness; he hath discovered her fountain, and she hath uncovered the fountain of her blood: and both of them shall be cut off from among their people.

having Le 15:24 18:19 Eze 18:6 22:10

discovered [heb] made naked

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.

mother's Le 18:12,13 Ex 6:20

uncovereth Le 18:6

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.

uncle's wife Le 18:14

childless Job 18:19 Ps 109:13 Jer 22:30 Lu 1:7,25 23:29

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.

his brother's Le 18:16 Mt 14:3,4

an unclean thing [heb] a separation

22 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.

statues Le 18:4,5,26 19:37 Ps 19:8-11 105:45 119:80,145,171 Eze 36:27

judgments Ex 21:1 De 4:45 5:1 Ps 119:20,106,160,164,175 Isa 26:8,9

spue you Le 18:25-28 26:33 De 28:25,26

23 And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them.

in the manners Le 18:3,24,30 De 12:30,31 Jer 10:1,2

therefore Le 18:27 De 9:5 Ps 78:59 Zec 11:8

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.

But I Ex 3:8,17 6:8

a land Milk and honey were the chief dainties of the ancients as they are now among the Arabs, particularly the Bedouins. Hence not only the Hebrews, but also the Greeks and Romans, painted the highest pleasantness and fertility by an abundance of milk and honey. The image used in the text, and frequently by ancient authors on similar subjects, is a metaphor, derived from a {breast}, producing copious streams of milk. Le 20:26 Ex 19:5,6 33:16 Nu 23:9 De 7:6 14:2 1Ki 8:53 Joh 15:19 2Co 6:17 1Pe 2:9

25 Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean: and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean.

put difference Le 11:1-47 De 14:3-21 Ac 10:11-15,28 Eph 5:7-11

abominable Le 11:43

creepeth. or, moveth

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.

the Lord Le 20:7 19:2 Ps 99:5,9 Isa 6:3 30:11 1Pe 1:15,16 Re 3:7 4:8

severed Le 20:24 De 7:6 14:2 26:18,19 Tit 2:14

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.

a familiar Le 20:6 19:31 Ex 22:18 De 18:10-12 1Sa 28:7-9

their blood Le 20:9