25 And ye shall make a separation between the clean beast and the unclean, and between the unclean fowl and the clean, and ye shall not make yourselves an abomination by beast, or by fowl, or by anything that creepeth on the ground which I have separated for you, declaring [it] as unclean.
And Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying to them, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, These are the animals which ye shall eat of all the beasts which are on the earth. Whatever hath cloven hoofs, and feet quite split open, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts -- that shall ye eat. Only these shall ye not eat of those that chew the cud, or of those with cloven hoofs: the camel, for it cheweth the cud, but hath not cloven hoofs -- it shall be unclean unto you; and the rock-badger, for it cheweth the cud, but hath not cloven hoofs -- it shall be unclean unto you; and the hare, for it cheweth the cud, but hath not cloven hoofs -- it shall be unclean unto you; and the swine, for it hath cloven hoofs, and feet quite split open, but it cheweth not the cud -- it shall be unclean unto you. Of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcase shall ye not touch: they shall be unclean unto you. These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatever hath fins and scales in waters, in seas and in rivers, these shall ye eat; but all that have not fins and scales in seas and in rivers, of all that swarm in the waters, and of every living soul which is in the waters -- they shall be an abomination unto you. They shall be even an abomination unto you: of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcase ye shall have in abomination. Whatever in the waters hath no fins and scales, that shall be an abomination unto you. And these shall ye have in abomination of the fowls; they shall not be eaten; an abomination shall they be: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the sea-eagle, and the falcon, and the kite, after its kind; every raven after its kind; and the female ostrich and the male ostrich, and the sea-gull, and the hawk, after its kind; and the owl, and the gannet, and the ibis, and the swan, and the pelican, and the carrion vulture, and the stork; the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat. Every winged crawling thing that goeth upon all four shall be an abomination unto you. Yet these shall ye eat of every winged crawling thing that goeth upon all four: those which have legs above their feet with which to leap upon the earth. These shall ye eat of them: the arbeh after its kind, and the solam after its kind, and the hargol after its kind, and the hargab after its kind. But every winged crawling thing that hath four feet shall be an abomination unto you. And by these ye shall make yourselves unclean; whoever toucheth their carcase shall be unclean until the even. And whoever carrieth [ought] of their carcase shall wash his garments, and be unclean until the even. Every beast that hath cloven hoofs, but not feet quite split open, nor cheweth the cud, shall be unclean unto you: every one that toucheth them shall be unclean. And whatever goeth on its paws, among all manner of beasts that go upon all four, those are unclean unto you: whoever toucheth their carcase shall be unclean until the even. And he that carrieth their carcase shall wash his garments, and be unclean until the even: they shall be unclean unto you. And these shall be unclean unto you among the crawling things which crawl on the earth: the mole, and the field-mouse, and the lizard, after its kind; and the groaning lizard, and the great red lizard, and the climbing lizard, and the chomet, and the chameleon. These shall be unclean unto you among all that crawl: whoever toucheth them when they are dead, shall be unclean until the even. And on whatever any of them when they are dead doth fall, it shall be unclean; all vessels of wood, or garment, or skin, or sack, every vessel wherewith work is done -- it shall be put into water, and be unclean until the even; then shall it be clean. And every earthen vessel into which [any] of them falleth -- whatever is in it shall be unclean; and ye shall break it. All food that is eaten on which [such] water hath come shall be unclean; and all drink that is drunk shall be unclean, in every [such] vessel. And everything where upon [any part] of their carcase falleth shall be unclean; oven and hearth shall be broken down: they are unclean, and shall be unclean unto you. Nevertheless, a spring or a well, a quantity of water, shall be clean. But he that toucheth their carcase shall be unclean. And if any part of their carcase fall upon any sowing-seed which is to be sown, it shall be clean; but if water have been put on the seed, and any part of their carcase fall thereon, it shall be unclean unto you. And if any beast which is to you for food die, he that toucheth the carcase thereof shall be unclean until the even. And he that eateth of its carcase shall wash his garments, and be unclean until the even: he also that carrieth its carcase shall wash his garments, and be unclean until the even. And every crawling thing which crawleth on the earth shall be an abomination; it shall not be eaten. Whatever goeth on the belly, and whatever goeth on all four, and all that have a great many feet, of every manner of crawling thing which crawleth on the earth -- these ye shall not eat; for they are an abomination. Ye shall not make yourselves abominable through any crawling thing which crawleth, neither shall ye make yourselves unclean with them, that ye should be defiled thereby. For I am Jehovah your God; and ye shall hallow yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy; and ye shall not make yourselves unclean through any manner of crawling thing which creepeth on the earth. For I am Jehovah who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. This is the law of cattle, and of fowl, and of every living soul that moveth in the waters, and of every soul that crawleth on the earth; to make a difference between the unclean and the clean, and between the beast that is to be eaten and the beast that is not to be eaten.
Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing. These are the beasts which ye shall eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat; the hart, and the gazelle, and the stag, and the wild goat, and the dishon and the oryx, and the wild sheep. And every beast that hath cloven hoofs, and the feet quite split open into double hoofs, [and] which cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that ye shall eat. Only these ye shall not eat of those that chew the cud, or of those with hoofs cloven and split open: the camel, and the hare, and the rock-badger; for they chew the cud, but have not cloven hoofs -- they shall be unclean unto you; and the swine, for it hath cloven hoofs, yet cheweth not the cud -- it shall be unclean unto you. Of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcase shall ye not touch. These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales shall ye eat; but whatsoever hath not fins and scales ye shall not eat: it shall be unclean unto you. All clean birds shall ye eat. But these are they of which ye shall not eat: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the sea-eagle, and the falcon, and the kite, and the black kite after its kind; and every raven after its kind; and the female ostrich, and the male ostrich, and the sea-gull, and the hawk after its kind; the owl, and the ibis and the swan, and the pelican, and the carrion vulture, and the gannet, and the stork, and the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat. And every winged crawling thing shall be unclean unto you; they shall not be eaten. All clean fowls shall ye eat. Ye shall eat of no carcase; thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is within thy gates, that he may eat it, or sell it unto a foreigner; for thou art a holy people to Jehovah thy God. Thou shalt not boil a kid in its mother's milk.
and he beholds the heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending, as a great sheet, [bound] by [the] four corners [and] let down to the earth; in which were all the quadrupeds and creeping things of the earth, and the fowls of the heaven. And there was a voice to him, Rise, Peter, slay and eat. And Peter said, In no wise, Lord; for I have never eaten anything common or unclean. And [there was] a voice again the second time to him, What God has cleansed, do not *thou* make common.
Be not ye therefore fellow-partakers with them; for ye were once darkness, but now light in [the] Lord; walk as children of light, (for the fruit of the light [is] in all goodness and righteousness and truth,) proving what is agreeable to the Lord; and do not have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather also reprove [them],
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Leviticus 20
Commentary on Leviticus 20 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Punishments for the Vices and crimes Prohibited in Ch. 18 and 19. - The list commences with idolatry and soothsaying, which were to be followed by extermination, as a practical apostasy from Jehovah, and a manifest breach of the covenant.
Whoever, whether an Israelite or a foreigner in Israel, dedicated of his seed (children) to Moloch (see Leviticus 18:21), was to be put to death. The people of the land were to stone him. בּאבן רגם , lapide obruere , is synonymous with סקל , lit., lapidem jacere: this was the usual punishment appointed in the law for cases in which death was inflicted, either as the result of a judicial sentence, or by the national community.
By this punishment the nation only carried out the will of Jehovah; for He would cut off such a man (see at Leviticus 17:10 and Leviticus 18:21) for having defiled the sanctuary of Jehovah and desecrated the name of Jehovah, not because he had brought the sacrifice to Moloch into the sanctuary of Jehovah, as Movers supposes, but in the same sense in which all the sins of Israel defiled the sanctuary in their midst (Leviticus 15:31; Leviticus 16:16).
If the people, however (the people of the land), should hide their eyes from him (on the dagesh in חעלּם and יעלּימוּ see the note on Leviticus 4:13-21), from an unscrupulous indifference or a secret approval of his sin, the Lord would direct His face against him and his family, and cut him off with all that went a whoring after him.
He would also do the same to every soul that turned to familiar spirits and necromantists (Leviticus 19:31, cf. Exodus 22:17), “to go a whoring after them,” i.e., to make himself guilty of idolatry by so doing, such practices being always closely connected with idolatry.
For the Israelites were to sanctify themselves, i.e., to keep themselves pure from all idolatrous abominations, to be holy because Jehovah was holy (Leviticus 11:44; Leviticus 19:2), and to keep the statutes of their God who sanctified them (Exodus 31:13).
Whoever cursed father or mother was to be punished with death (Leviticus 19:3); “ His blood would be upon him .” The cursing of parents was a capital crime (see at Leviticus 17:4, and for the plural דּמיו Exodus 22:1 and Genesis 4:10), which was to return upon the doer of it, according to Genesis 9:6. The same punishment was to be inflicted upon adultery (Leviticus 20:10, cf. Leviticus 18:20), carnal intercourse with a father's wife (Leviticus 20:11, cf. Leviticus 18:7-8) or with a daughter-in-law (Leviticus 20:12, cf. Leviticus 18:17), sodomy (Leviticus 20:13, cf. Leviticus 18:22), sexual intercourse with a mother and her daughter, in which case the punishment was to be heightened by the burning of the criminals when put to death (Leviticus 20:14, cf. Leviticus 18:17), lying with a beast (Leviticus 20:15, Leviticus 20:16, cf. Leviticus 18:23), sexual intercourse with a half-sister (Leviticus 20:17, cf. Leviticus 18:9 and Leviticus 18:11), and lying with a menstruous woman (Leviticus 20:18, cf. Leviticus 18:19). The punishment of death, which was to be inflicted in all these cases upon both the criminals, and also upon the beast that had been abused (Leviticus 20:15, Leviticus 20:16), was to be by stoning, according to Leviticus 20:2, Leviticus 20:27, and Deuteronomy 22:21.; and by the burning (Leviticus 20:14) we are not to understand death by fire, or burning alive, but, as we may clearly see from Joshua 7:15 and Joshua 7:25, burning the corpse after death. This was also the case in Leviticus 21:9 and Genesis 38:24.
No civil punishment, on the other hand, to be inflicted by the magistrate or by the community generally, was ordered to follow marriage with an aunt, the sister of father or mother (Leviticus 20:19, cf. Leviticus 18:12-13), with an uncle's wife (Leviticus 20:20, cf. Leviticus 18:4), or with a sister-in-law, a brother's wife (Leviticus 20:21, cf. Leviticus 18:16). In all these cases the threat is simply held out, “they shall bear their iniquity,” and (according to Leviticus 20:20, Leviticus 20:21) “die childless;” that is to say, God would reserve the punishment to Himself (see at Leviticus 18:14). In the list of punishments no reference is made to intercourse with a mother (Leviticus 18:7) or a granddaughter (Leviticus 18:10), as it was taken for granted that the punishment of death would be inflicted in such cases as these; just as marriage with a daughter or a full sister is passed over in the prohibitions in ch. 18.
The list of punishments concludes, like the prohibitions in Leviticus 18:24., with exhortations to observe the commandments and judgments of the Lord, and to avoid such abominations (on Leviticus 18:22 cf. Leviticus 18:3-5, Leviticus 18:26, Leviticus 18:28, Leviticus 18:30; and on Leviticus 18:23 cf. Leviticus 18:3 and Leviticus 18:24). The reason assigned for the exhortations is, that Jehovah was about to give them for a possession the fruitful land, whose inhabitants He had driven out because of their abominations, and that Jehovah was their God, who had separated Israel from the nations. For this reason (Leviticus 18:25) they were also to sever (make distinctions) between clean and unclean cattle and birds, and not make their souls (i.e., their persons) abominable through unclean animals, with which the earth swarmed, and which God had “ separated to make unclean, ” i.e., had prohibited them from eating or touching when dead, because they defiled (see ch. 11). For (Leviticus 18:26) they were to be holy, because Jehovah their God was holy, who had severed them from the nations, to belong to Him, i.e., to be the nation of His possession (see Exodus 19:4-6).
But because Israel was called to be the holy nation of Jehovah, every one, ether man or woman, in whom there was a heathenish spirit of soothsaying, was to be put to death, viz., stoned (cf. Leviticus 19:31), to prevent defilement by idolatrous abominations.