Be Thankful You Aren't Living in Moses' Day; But Don't Miss God's View of Sin Even Today.

Leviticus Chapter 20: Penalties of Various Sins and the Laws’ Purposes

Leviticus 20

Today is Palm Sunday and likely none of us are able to celebrate it with other believers except our own family. But the sun is shining. Reminds us of the fact that the Son is shining. Enjoy your day. Take time to reflect on God’s gift to mankind and the fact that He is still in control. In the meantime, I continue with my study of book of Leviticus. Read on.

The Passage

The entire chapter is broken down into the penalties for the various sins God had mentioned earlier. These are penalties for:
-- worshipping Molech (verses 1-5)
-- consulting Spirits (verses 6-8)
-- cursing Parents (verse 9), and
-- committing Sexual Sins (verses 10-21).

The chapter ends with a section (verses 22-27) on the purpose of the laws of sanctification of the people.

Thoughts on the Passage

On worshipping Molech: remember this was to forbid the Israelites from giving any of their offspring to idols or heathen gods. If one did this, they were to be stoned to death. And if anyone just ignores such a sin by another person, they too will be cut off from God because they also have played the ‘harlot’. God is telling us today that we cannot ignore sin among us, especially among our churches. And while we are not to stone people, He does provide for us today a process in the New Testament by which we can approach those amongst us who are sinning against the Lord. David Guzik writes:

Molech was worshipped by heating a metal statue representing the god until it was red hot, then by placing a living infant on the outstretched hands of the statue, while beating drums drowned out the screams of the child until it burned to death.

On consulting Spirits: The penalty is that god sets his fac against that person and cuts him/her off from among Hi people.  In fact, in the last verse of the chapter (vs. 27), God says that anyone (of His people) who is a medium or a spiritualist shall be stoned to death.

On cursing Parents: The penalty is death. Period.  Wow. Glad I didn’t curse my parents, although I am sure there were times that they may have deserved it. On this, Guzik writes:

Virtually all commentators agree this is not the outburst of a small child – or even an adolescent – against their parent, but the settled heart of an adult child against their parent. Such inter-generational warfare was not to be tolerated, and punishable by death.

Guzik goes on to state that in Deuteronomy 21:18-21 where this matter is discussed further, that passage. . .

. . . states that the parent did not have the right to carry out this punishment, but they had to bring the accused child before the elders and judges of the city. This meant that the parent - against all contemporary custom - did not have the absolute power of life and death over their children.

Perhaps not quite so “contemporary” anymore, as more and more the state is telling parents what little rights they have over their children – be it with respect to their schooling, their discipline, or their health.

On committing Sexual Sins: The penalty for adultery with someone else’s spouse was death. This includes incest, homosexuality, and bestiality. Marrying two women who are related carried the penalty of death by burning. [Guzik indicates that some think this was not death by fire, but more a kind of ‘branding’ that left with them a visible lasting scar as a reminded, not unlike the famous story of The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne, 1850.]  In the case of incest involving a sibling or lying with a woman who is having her period, the penalty is being cut off from the people, but there is no mention of death.  However, in the case of incest involving an aunt (or uncle one may assume), the penalty is that the those involved will die childless. God had specific penalties for specific sins.

In the last section of the passage, God gives us again the purpose of His laws. The Israelites were to keep them so that their new land that God gives them does not “spew them out” – that is, that God does not allow it to spew them out. Secondly, God says that a lot of these things that heathens do are “abhorred” by Him. And doing some of those things makes us “detestable”. Third, we are to be “holy to God” because He is holy, and we have been set apart from others to be His.

Chuck Smith claims that a lot of this sounds like “capital punishment” and wonders if we practiced it, whether a lot of our ills in society today would be mitigated. As we all know the Enemy has been able to confuse us all on this matter as he has on so many other matters with complexities of argument that seem right unto man but aren’t necessarily right before God.  The issue remains a very much outstanding one in our society.

One thing is for sure, God certainly does not think lightly of sin. He will punish it. If we learn nothing else from this chapter of Leviticus (even though we are under the New Covenant in many ways), let us learn that God is dead serious about sin, our sin. He can and does forgive, but He hates our sin and unforgiven sin will not be forgotten.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.