Leviticus 20:11
Ver. 11. And the man that lieth with his father's wife,.... Whether she be his mother, or another woman, as the Targum of Jonathan; that is, whether she is his own mother, or a stepmother, or whether he did this in the lifetime of his father, or after his death, or whether she was betrothed or married, it mattered not; according to the Jewish tradition {d}, this is a breach of the law, Le 18:8; and a man guilty of this
hath uncovered his father's nakedness; and which is a foul and shameful piece of wickedness; the penalty follows:
both of them shall be put to death; by casting stones on them, as the Targum of Jonathan adds; for, as before observed, wherever the following phrase,their blood [shall be] upon them, is used, stoning is meant; and so, according to the Misnah {e}, all those were to be stoned, after mentioned, of whom this phrase is used.{d} Misn. ut supra, (Sanhedrin, c. 7.) sect. 4. {e} lbid. Leviticus 20:12Ver. 12. If a man lie with his daughter in law,.... His son's wife, whether in the lifetime of his son, or after his death, or whether she was espoused or married, according to the above tradition {f}:both of them shall surely be put to death; it being a breach of the law in Le 18:15; and this is the penalty annexed to it, even death:they have wrought confusion: have been guilty of a shocking and shameful mixture, as Jarchi and Ben Gersom, as well as confounded the degrees of relation and affinity:their blood [shall be] upon them; it being a capital crime, their, blood shall be shed for it; they shall be found guilty of death by stoning, as the Targum of Jonathan.{f} Misn. ut supra. (Sanhedrin, c. 7. sect. 4.) Leviticus 20:13Ver. 13. If a man lie also with mankind, as he lieth with a woman,.... Is guilty of the sin of sodomy, this is a breach of the law in Le 18:22;both of them have committed an abomination; he that lies, and he that is lain with, both consenting to perpetrate the abominable wickedness; which may well be called an abomination, being contrary to nature, and more than brutish, for nothing of that kind is to be found among brutes:they shall surely be put to death; if he that is lain with is not forced, as Aben Ezra observes:their blood [shall be] upon them; be slain by stoning, as the above Targum. Leviticus 20:14Ver. 14. And if a man take a wife, and her mother,.... Marry both the one and the other, or commit uncleanness with them, they consenting to it:it [is] wickedness; abominable wickedness, shocking and detestable; there are other things, which also are wicked and not to be done, but this is extremely wicked, wickedness to a high degree:they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they; the man, the mother and her daughter both being married together to him, or both consenting to his lying with them; otherwise, if one of them was first his wife, it was not reasonable that she should be put to death; and therefore some interpret "they", one of them, as Jarchi observes, one or other of them; and so Aben Ezra explains it, this or that; if the mother was his wife, the daughter was to be burnt; and so on the contrary, if the daughter was his wife, the mother was to be burnt; according to the Targum of Jonathan, they were to be burnt by pouring lead into their mouths: and so the manner of burning is described in the Misnah {g}; they that are to be burnt are fixed in dung up to their knees, then they put a hard napkin within a soft one, and roll it about is neck; one draws it one way, and another another way, until he opens his mouth; then they take hot melted lead, and pour it into his mouth, which goes down into his bowels and burns them. But it was rather done with faggots, of which an instance is given:that there be no wickedness among you; of such kind, continued, countenanced, and pass unpunished. This punishment was to be inflicted, to deter persons from it. The law against it is in Le 18:17.{g} Sanhedrin, c. 7. sect. 2. Leviticus 20:15Ver. 15. If a man lie with a beast,.... A sin quite unnatural, exceeding shocking and detestable, forbid Le 18:23:he shall surely be put to death: by stoning, as the Targum of Jonathan adds; and this is the death such are condemned to in the Misnah {h}:and ye shall slay the beast; with clubs, as says the Targum of Jonathan; the reasons given in the Misnah {i}, why the beast was to be slain, are, because ruin came to the man by means of it, and that it might not be said, as it passed along the streets, that is the beast for which such an one was stoned. Aben Ezra says it was to be slain, that it might not cause others to sin; and he adds, there are that say it was to cover the reproach: no doubt the true reason was to deter the more from this detestable sin, that if a beast, which was only accessory to it, and an instrument of it, was put to death, of how much sorer punishment must the man that committed it be worthy of, even of eternal wrath and destruction, and, unless repented of and forgiven, must be expected by him?{h} Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 7. sect. 4. {i} Ibid. Leviticus 20:16Ver. 16. And if a woman approach unto any beast, and lie down thereto,.... In order that the beast may lie with her, and solicit it to commit such an action with her, see Le 18:23;thou shall kill the woman and the beast: the woman by stoning, and the beast with clubs, as the Targum of Jonathan; and this for the same reasons as before, as well as to prevent monstrous births:they shall surely be put to death; both the one and the other, and not spared:their blood [shall be] upon them; they are guilty of a capital crime, a crime which deserves death; this must be understood of the man that lies with a beast, and of the woman; for as for the beast itself, as it is not capable of sinning, so not of guilt, in a proper sense. Leviticus 20:17Ver. 17. And if a man shall take his sister, his father's daughter, or his mother's daughter,.... Take her to be his wife, or commit lewdness with her, whether she be his sister by both father and mother's side, or whether by one only, either way she is his sister, and it is not lawful to marry her, or lie with her, see Le 18:9:and see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness; which is not to be understood of an immodest view, exposing to each other what should not be seen, and pleasing themselves wills such obscene sights, but of the act of lying together, for so it is afterwards explained by a phrase frequently used to express that action by; and it denotes, as Aben Ezra observes, their mutual consent and agreement in it:it [is] a wicked thing; and by no means to be done; it is a breach of a former law, it is a scandalous and reproachful thing, and the word is sometimes used for reproach, as in Pr 14:34;and they shall be cut off in the sight of their people; by death, either by the hand of the civil magistrate, or by the hand of God, by the pestilence, as the Targum of Jonathan; Ben Gersom interprets it, of their dying childless, as in some following cases, Le 20:20;he hath uncovered his sister's nakedness; or lay with her, which explains a preceding clause:he shall bear his iniquity; the punishment of it, and he alone, as Aben Ezra observes. Leviticus 20:18Ver. 18. And if a man shall lie with a woman having her sickness,.... Her monthly courses, which make her weak and languid, which is forbidden, Le 18:19; this is not to be understood of a man's lying with his wife ignorantly, when in such a condition, for this being the case, he was only unclean seven days, Le 15:24; whereas this made him and her liable to cutting off, as in an after clause; but of his lying with her, knowing this to be the case with her, and of which she could not be ignorant, and therefore both liable to the same punishment; or else of any other man lying with her, or of any man lying with any woman, married or unmarried, being in such circumstances:and shall uncover her nakedness; that is, have carnal knowledge of her:he hath discovered her fountain; from whence her issue of blood flows: and she hath uncovered the fountain of her blood; freely and willingly, as Aben Ezra observes; for if she had been forced, he alone would have been cut off; but both these phrases put together show agreement in this matter, that they both had knowledge of her case, and both consented to commit the sin:and both of them shall be cut off from among their people; by death, either by the hand of the civil magistrate, the case being known and proved, or else by the hand of God being known by mortality or the pestilence, as the Targum of Jonathan, or they should die childless;See Gill on "Le 20:17". Leviticus 20:19Ver. 19. And thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother's sister, nor of thy father's sister,.... An aunt either by mother or father's side, against which the law is, Le 18:13;for he uncovereth his near kin; as an aunt is to a man, and so an uncle to a woman, and both equally criminal; for it is a rule that holds good in all those cases, though not expressed, that what is binding upon one sex is upon the other, being in the same degree of relation, whether of consanguinity or affinity:they shall bear their iniquity; "both" of them, as the Vulgate Latin version, the man and his aunt, and so a woman and her uncle;the guilt of their sin shall be upon them, and the punishment of it be inflicted on them; either they should be cut off from their people, as before, or be childless, as in the following instances. Leviticus 20:20Ver. 20. And if a man shall lie with his uncle's wife,.... His uncle being dead, and he marry her, which is forbidden, Le 18:14;he hath uncovered his uncle's nakedness: his wife's, which was his, and therefore the kindred too near for a man to marry in, and such a copulation must be incestuous:they shall bear their sin; "both" of them, as the Vulgate Latin, as before, Le 20:19; the punishment of it, as follows:they shall be childless; which Jarchi and other Jewish writers interpret, if they had any children at this time, that is, by a former marriage, they should die and be buried before them, which was reckoned a great punishment, see Jer 22:30. Leviticus 20:21Ver. 21. And if a man shall take his brother's wife,.... To his wife, whether in his life, as the Targum of Jonathan adds, or whether after his death, unless when there is no issue, then he was obliged to it by another law, De 25:5; which is now ceased, and the law in Le 18:16; here referred to, stands clear of all exceptions:it [is] an unclean thing; or a "separation" {k} from which a man should remove and keep at a distance, as from menstruous women, of whom this word is used; and so denotes that it is by all means to be avoided, as an abominable and detestable thing; and it is observed that of all copulations it is only used of this: and the Jewish writers, as Aben Ezra and others, observe that this case is somewhat like that of a menstruous woman, who in the time of her separation is unlawful, but when out of it lawful; and so, in this case, a brother's wife might not be taken, he being alive; but after his death she might, if she had no son, according to the law before referred to, but that is now abolished:he hath uncovered his brother's nakedness; his wife's, which was his brother's; which through nearness of kin, he ought not to have done; and the same holds good of a wife's sister, the relation being the same:they shall be childless; they shall have none by such a marriage or copulation, and die without any; and as this supposes the brother's wife to have children by her first husband, or otherwise while the Jewish law lasted, it would not have been unlawful to marry her husband's brother; the meaning may be, that these should die before them, or rather, as some think, those that might be born of such a marriage should not be reckoned legitimate, and so not inherit.{k} hdn "separatio", Drusius, Leviticus 20:22Ver. 22. Ye shall therefore keep all my statutes,.... All the ordinances, institutions, and appointments of God, whether observed in this chapter or elsewhere, but particularly those concerning incestuous marriages and unlawful copulations:and all my judgments, and do them; all the laws and commandments of God, founded injustice and judgment, and according to the rules thereof; or else, as Aben Ezra, the judgments of punishment, or the penalties annexed to the above laws, which were carefully to be observed, and put into execution, to deter from the transgression of them:that the land, whither I bring you to dwell therein, spew you not out; as the stomach does its food when it is loathsome and nauseous to it, and it cannot bear it; see Le 18:25. Leviticus 20:23Ver. 23. And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation which I cast out before you,.... Nation seems to be put for nations, for there were seven nations cast out for them; though the Canaanites may be intended, being a general name for the whole: some think the Amorites are meant, who were a principal nation, and notorious for their wickedness: hence we often meet with this phrase in Jewish writings, "the way of the Amorites", as being exceeding bad, and so to be avoided, and by no means to be walked in, Ge 15:16;for they committed all these things; were guilty of all the idolatries, incests, and uncleannesses before mentioned, and forbid under severe penalties:and therefore I abhorred them; the sins committed by them, being so abominable and detestable: their persons, though the creatures of God, were had in abhorrence by him, and this he showed by casting them out of the land; and hereby it is suggested, that, should they, the Israelites, be guilty of the like, they also would be rejected and abhorred by him: the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan are,"my Word abhorred them,''Christ, the eternal Word, Ps 45:7. Leviticus 20:24Ver. 24. But I have said unto you, ye shall inherit the land,.... Promised it unto them, as he had to their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and also to them; or he had said the above things unto them, that they, observing them, might possess the land of Canaan, and continue therein, which is the sense of the Targum of Jonathan: the Jews say, that the right of inheritance belonged to them, from Shem the son of Noah, whose portion it was, and which they gather from Melchizedek being king of Salem, whom they take to be Shem; and they say, the Canaanites only dwelt in it to make it better, till they should come and inherit it:and I will give it unto you to possess it; in whose gift it was, and who had a right to dispose of it; and could give them a good title to it, and secure them in the possession of it:a land that floweth with milk and honey; abounding with all good things, with all the comforts of life, with everything both for necessity and delight; see Ex 3:8;I [am] the Lord your God, which have separated you from [other] people; had chosen them above all people, to be a special and peculiar people to him; had distinguished them by his favours, and had given them particular laws and ordinances, to observe and walk according to them, different from all other nations, which it became them carefully to regard. Leviticus 20:25Ver. 25. Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean,.... The ten clean ones, as Aben Ezra observes, and all the rest that are unclean, according to the law before given, Le 11:3, by using the one for food, and not the other, and so the Targum of Jonathan, ye shall separate between the beast which is fit for food, and that which is not fit for food:and between unclean fowls and clean; and which the same Targum interprets, what is unfit to eat and what is fit, even all that are particularly mentioned as unclean, and not fit for food, in Le 11:13 and all the rest not excepted to as clean and fit for food, which was one way and means God made use of to separate them from other nations, and so preserve them from their idolatrous and evil works:and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground; that is, by eating them, contrary to the command of God, which would make them abominable in his sight; see Le 11:43; every sin or transgression of this law being so to him:which I have separated from you as unclean; which by law he had commanded them to abstain from the use of, as clean, and not fit to be eaten. Leviticus 20:26Ver. 26. And ye shall be holy unto me,.... Separated from all unclean persons and things, and devoted to his service, and obedient to all his commands, and so live holy lives and conversations, according to his will, and to his honour and glory:for I the Lord [am] holy; and therefore they, his people, should be like him, and imitate him, and observe those things which are agreeable to his holy nature and will, and yield a cheerful obedience to his holy precepts:and have severed you from [other] people, that ye should be mine; which is a very forcible argument, a strong motive, and which laid them under great obligation to obedience and holiness. Leviticus 20:27Ver. 27. A man also or a woman that hath a familiar spirit,.... Or the spirit of Python or divination, see Le 19:31; such as the damsel had in Ac 16:16; a woman is here particularly mentioned, though before included in the above law; because, as Aben Ezra says, such sort of practices were more frequently committed by women; to which Maimonides {l} adds another reason, because men have a natural clemency towards the female sex, and are not easily prevailed upon to put them to death; therefore the law says, "thou shall not suffer a witch to live", Ex 22:18;or that is a wizard; a knowing one, who pretends to a great deal of knowledge of things; as of lost or stolen goods, and even knowledge of things future, and imposes upon persons, and cheats them of their money they give for information: suchshall surely be put to death: and not spared through favour and affection: the death they are to be put to follows:they shall stone them with stones; until they are dead; of the manner of stoning, See Gill on "Ac 7:58";their blood [shall be] upon them: they are worthy of death, and they shall suffer it: this phrase following upon the former, the Jews {m} gather from hence, that, wherever it is used, it is to be understood of stoning; See Gill on "Le 20:9".{l} Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c. 37. {m} Torat Cohanim in Yalcut in loc.
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.