1 And the Lord said to Moses,
2 Give orders to the children of Israel to give you clean olive oil for the light, so that a light may be burning at all times,
3 Outside the veil of the ark in the Tent of meeting; let Aaron see that it is burning from evening till morning at all times before the Lord: it is a rule for ever through all your generations.
4 Let Aaron put the lights in order on the support before the Lord at all times.
5 And take the best meal and make twelve cakes of it, a fifth part of an ephah in every cake.
6 And put them in two lines, six in a line, on the holy table before the Lord.
7 And on the lines of cakes put clean sweet-smelling spices, for a sign on the bread, an offering made by fire to the Lord.
8 Every Sabbath day regularly, the priest is to put it in order before the Lord: it is offered for the children of Israel, an agreement made for ever.
9 And it will be for Aaron and his sons; they are to take it for food in a holy place: it is the most holy of all the offerings made by fire to the Lord, a rule for ever.
10 And a son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel and had a fight with a man of Israel by the tents;
11 And the son of the Israelite woman said evil against the holy Name, with curses; and they took him to Moses. His mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.
12 And they kept him shut up, till a decision might be given by the mouth of the Lord.
13 And the Lord said to Moses,
14 Take the curser outside the tent-circle; and let all in whose hearing the words were said put their hands on his head, and let him be stoned by all the people.
15 And say to the children of Israel, As for any man cursing God, his sin will be on his head.
16 And he who says evil against the name of the Lord will certainly be put to death; he will be stoned by all the people; the man who is not of your nation and one who is an Israelite by birth, whoever says evil against the holy Name is to be put to death.
17 And anyone who takes another's life is certainly to be put to death.
18 And anyone wounding a beast and causing its death, will have to make payment for it: a life for a life.
19 And if a man does damage to his neighbour, as he has done, so let it be done to him;
20 Wound for wound, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; whatever damage he has done, so let it be done to him.
21 He who puts a beast to death will have to make payment for it; he who puts a man to death will himself be put to death.
22 You are to have the same law for a man of another nation living among you as for an Israelite; for I am the Lord your God.
23 And Moses said these words to the children of Israel, and they took the man who had been cursing outside the tent-circle and had him stoned. The children of Israel did as the Lord gave orders to Moses.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Leviticus 24
Commentary on Leviticus 24 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 24
Le 24:1-23. Oil for the Lamps.
2. Command the children of Israel—This is the repetition of a law previously given (Ex 27:20, 21).
pure oil olive beaten—or cold-drawn, which is always of great purity.
3, 4. Aaron shall order it from the evening unto the morning—The daily presence of the priests was necessary to superintend the cleaning and trimming.
4. upon the pure candlestick—so called because of pure gold. This was symbolical of the light which ministers are to diffuse through the Church.
5-9. take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes—for the showbread, as previously appointed (Ex 25:30). Those cakes were baked by the Levites, the flour being furnished by the people (1Ch 9:32; 23:29), oil, wine, and salt being the other ingredients (Le 2:13).
two tenth deals—that is, of an ephah—thirteen and a half pounds weight each; and on each row or pile of cakes some frankincense was strewed, which, being burnt, led to the showbread being called "an offering made by fire." Every Sabbath a fresh supply was furnished; hot loaves were placed on the altar instead of the stale ones, which, having lain a week, were removed, and eaten only by the priests, except in cases of necessity (1Sa 21:3-6; also Lu 6:3, 4).
10. the son of an Israelitish woman, &c.—This passage narrates the enactment of a new law, with a detail of the circumstances which gave rise to it. The "mixed multitude" [Ex 12:38] that accompanied the Israelites in their exodus from Egypt creates a presumption that marriage connections of the kind described were not infrequent. And it was most natural, in the relative circumstances of the two people, that the father should be an Egyptian and the mother an Israelite.
11. And the Israelitish woman's son blasphemed the name of the Lord—A youth of this half-blood, having quarrelled with an Israelite [Le 24:10], vented his rage in some horrid form of impiety. It was a common practice among the Egyptians to curse their idols when disappointed in obtaining the object of their petitions. The Egyptian mind of this youth thought the greatest insult to his opponent was to blaspheme the object of his religious reverence. He spoke disrespectfully of One who sustained the double character of the King as well as the God of the Hebrew people; as the offense was a new one, he was put in ward till the mind of the Lord was ascertained as to his disposal.
14. Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp—All executions took place without the camp; and this arrangement probably originated in the idea that, as the Israelites were to be "a holy people" [De 7:6; 14:2, 21; 26:19; 28:9], all flagrant offenders should be thrust out of their society.
let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head, &c.—The imposition of hands formed a public and solemn testimony against the crime, and at the same time made the punishment legal.
16. 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—Although strangers were not obliged to be circumcised, yet by joining the Israelitish camp, they became amenable to the law, especially that which related to blasphemy.
17-22. he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death—These verses contain a repetition of some other laws, relating to offenses of a social nature, the penalties for which were to be inflicted, not by the hand of private parties, but through the medium of the judges before whom the cause was brought.
23. the children of Israel did as the Lord's commanded—The chapter closes with the execution of Shelomith's son [Le 24:14]—and stoning having afterwards become the established punishment in all cases of blasphemy, it illustrates the fate of Stephen, who suffered under a false imputation of that crime [Ac 7:58, 59].