The Blasphemer Stoned

Minister:
Date: PM
Text: Leviticus 24:10-16
Psalters: 251, 252, 20, 260
  1. The circumstances.
    1. This young man picked a quarrel with an unnamed Israelite.
      1. Scripture makes significant that he ?blasphemed the name and cursed? (11).
      2. ?The name? of God is Jehovah.
      3. Blaspheme is to pierce or stab and to curse is to revile, to declare someone without significance.
    2. Scripture notes that the blasphemer was of mixed blood: an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father.
      1. Scripture identifies a ?mixed multitude? (Ex. 12:37,38; Num. 11:4).
      2. The O. T. ceremonial law taught a spiritual truth with physical separation from other nations (cf. Dt. 23:1-8).
    3. Another striking fact is that Scripture gives us the names of the man?s mother and of her father.
  2. The case came to Moses for adjudication.
    1. The people and the judges and Moses did not know what penalty or punishment to impose.
    2. God told Moses of the appropriate punishment (14).
      1. Take him outside the camp, i.e., Israel was to rid itself of the sin.
      2. Those who heard the blasphemy were lay their hands on his head, transferring the guilt to the blasphemer.
      3. Further the whole congregation must share in the judgment (14b) by stoning him to death.
    3. The blasphemer is stoned to death (23) - a most severe punishment.
    4. This is a stern warning for the congregation of Israel, i.e., for us.
      1. God requires death, and nothing less.
      2. The law was shown to apply to any Israelite and to strangers alike (22).
      3. God?s people are to be holy, for Jehovah is holy.