Leviticus 20 - Molech, sexual sin and death
29/10/22 [Part 1]
Scripture
Leviticus 20
Questions
Molech worship
20 And YHWH spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “And to the children of Israel you shall say, ‘If there is anyone from the children of Israel or from the alien who is dwelling in Israel, who gives any of his offspring to Molech, he must surely be put to death; the people of the land must stone him with the stones. 3 And I myself will set my face against that man, and I will cut him off from the midst of his people, because he has given some of his offspring to Molech, so that he makes my sanctuary unclean and profanes my holy name. 4 And if the people of the land ever shut their eyes from that man at his giving some of his offspring to Molech, not putting him to death, 5 then I myself will set my face against that man and against his clan, and I will cut him off and all those from the midst of their people who prostitute after Molech.
Why is serving Molech prostitution [v5]? What is the link between worshipping other gods and sexual immorality? Is the connection valid today?
6 As for the person who turns to the mediums and the soothsayers to prostitute after them, I will set my face against that person, and I will cut him off from the midst of his people.
What is the difference between a seer or prophet of YHWH and a medium?1
7 “ ‘And you shall consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy, because I am YHWH your God. 8 And you shall keep my statutes, and you shall do them; I am YHWH who consecrates you.
How did the people consecrate themselves then? How do we consecrate ourselves before God now?
Family and sexual offenses
9 “ ‘If there is anyone who curses his father or his mother, he shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father and his mother—his blood is upon him.
10 “ ‘As for a man who commits adultery with a man’s wife, who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, both the man who commits adultery and the woman who commits adultery shall surely be put to death. 11 As for a man who lies with his father’s wife, he has exposed his father’s nakedness; both of them shall be put to death—their blood is on them. 12 As fort a man who lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall be put to death; they have committed a perversion—their blood is on them.
13 “ ‘As for the man who lies with a male as lying with a woman, they have committed a detestable thing; they shall surely be put to death—their blood is on them.
14 “ ‘As for a man who marries a woman and her mother, that is depravity; they shall burn him and them, so that it shall not become depravity in the midst of you all.
15 “ ‘As for a man who has his lying down with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you must kill the animal. 16 As for a woman who approaches any animal to copulate with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal; they shall surely be put to death—their blood is on them.
17 “ ‘And a man who takes his sister, his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter, and he sees her nakedness and she herself sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace, and they shall be cut off in the eyes of the children of their people; he has exposed his sister’s nakedness—he must bear his guilt. 18 As ford a man who lies with a menstruating woman, and he exposes her nakedness—her source he exposes and she herself reveals her blood’s source—both of them shall be cut off from the midst of their people. 19 And you shall not expose the nakedness of your mother’s sister, and you shall not expose your father’s sister, because such he has dishonored his close relative—they must bear their guilt. 20 And a man who lies with his aunt, he has exposed his uncle’s nakedness—they shall bear their sin; they shall die childless. 21 And a man who marries his brother’s wife, it is an abomination; he has exposed his brother’s nakedness—they shall be childless.
What is prohibited in v9? What is the connection with all the prohibitions that follow [vv10-21]?2
You shall be holy
22 “ ‘And you shall keep all my statutes and all my regulations, and you shall do them, and the land, to which I am bringing you to inhabit it, shall not vomit you out. 23 And you shall not follow the statutes of the nation that I am driving out from before you, because they did all these things, and I detested them. 24 And I said to you, “You yourselves shall take possession of their land, and I myself shall give it to you to possess it—a land flowing with milk and honey”; I am YHWH your God, who has set you apart from the nations. 25 And you shall distinguish between the clean and the unclean animal and between the unclean and the clean bird; and you shall not defile yourselves with the animal and with the bird and with anything that moves along the ground that I have set apart for you as unclean. 26 And you shall be holy for me, because I, YHWH, am holy, and I have singled you out from the nations to be mine.
Nowadays, we live amongst the "₂nations”. What are the dangers? What are the opportunities?
27 “ ‘And a man or a woman, if a spirit of the dead or a spirit of divination is in them, they shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with the stones—their blood is on them.’ ”
This is a repeat of the command in v6. How does Paul understand death [Romans 6:23]? How does Paul use the “cutting off” imagery?
How would you describe what Jesus has done for us in reconciling us to God [2 Corinthians 5:18-20] in the language of Leviticus?
More
Bible Project’s Guide to Leviticus»
Bible Project’s Leviticus Scroll podcasts»
Michael Heiser’s Naked Bible podcast 63: Introducing Leviticus»
Fortune tellers and those who go to them will also be cut off. If you do these things, you are cutting yourself off from God forever. Now, what about seers and prophets? A prophet was anointed by YHWH. A false prophet was to be executed. God had also given the mysterious Urim and Thummim to the high priest. So, there was a source of such knowledge BUT to consult other gods or persons representing them was apostasy.
The sins that follow, [vv1-21] all sexual, under the heading of honouring the family [v9], we have already met but here the punishments are spelt out. They are severe because the family is so basic to how God wants us to live and enjoy him. “…adultery..put to death.…a man who lies with his father’s wife…both of them shall be put to death…etc.] [vv10-21].