Commentaria in Leviticum
Chapter 20. Synopsis of the Chapter
The penalty of death, namely of stoning, is decreed for idolaters, for those who consult wizards, for those who curse their parents, for incestuous persons and for unnatural lust; these laws, therefore, are judicial and capital.
1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2. Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: If any man of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that dwell in Israel, give of his seed to the idol Moloch, let him die the death: the people of the land shall stone him. 3. And I will set my face against him, and will cut him off from the midst of his people, because he hath given of his seed to Moloch, and defiled my sanctuary, and profaned my holy name. 4. And if the people of the land neglecting, and as it were little regarding my commandment, let go the man that hath given of his seed to Moloch, and will not kill him: 5. I will set my face against that man, and his kindred, and will cut off both him and all that consented to him, to commit fornication with Moloch, out of the midst of their people. 6. The soul that shall go aside after magicians and soothsayers, and shall commit fornication with them, I will set my face against that soul, and will cut it off from the midst of its people. 7. Sanctify yourselves, and be ye holy, because I am the Lord your God. 8. Keep my precepts, and do them. I am the Lord that sanctify you. 9. He that curseth his father or mother, let him die the death: he hath cursed his father and mother, his blood be upon him. 10. If any man commit adultery with the wife of another, and defile his neighbour’s wife, let them be put to death, both the adulterer and the adulteress. 11. If any man lie with his stepmother, and uncover the nakedness of his father, let them both be put to death: their blood be upon them. 12. If any man lie with his daughter-in-law, let both die, because they have done a heinous crime: their blood be upon them. 13. If any one lie with a man as with a woman, both have committed an abomination, let them be put to death: their blood be upon them. 14. He that, after marrying the daughter, marries her mother, hath done a heinous crime: he shall be burnt alive with them: neither shall so great an abomination remain in the midst of you. 15. He that shall copulate with any beast or cattle, dying let him die: the beast also you shall kill. 16. The woman that shall lie under any beast, shall be killed together with it: their blood be upon them. 17. He that taketh his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother, and seeth her nakedness, and she beholdeth her brother’s shame: they have committed a crime: they shall be slain in the sight of their people, because they have uncovered one another’s nakedness, and they shall bear their iniquity. 18. If a man lie with a woman in her flowers, and uncover her nakedness, and she open the fountain of her blood, both shall be cut off from the midst of their people. 19. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy aunt, by thy mother, or by thy father: he that doth this, hath uncovered the shame of his own flesh, both shall bear their iniquity. 20. He that lieth with the wife of his uncle, by father or mother, and uncovereth the shame of his near kinsman, both shall bear their sin: they shall die without children. 21. He that marrieth his brother’s wife, doth an unlawful thing, he hath uncovered his brother’s nakedness: they shall be without children. 22. Keep my laws and my judgments, and do them: lest the land, into which you are to enter to dwell therein, vomit you also out. 23. Walk not after the laws of the nations, which I will cast out before you. For they have done all these things, and therefore I abhorred them. 24. But to you I say: Possess their land, which I will give you for an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the Lord your God, who have separated you from other people. 25. Therefore do you also separate the clean beast from the unclean, and the clean fowl from the unclean: defile not your souls with beasts, nor birds, nor anything that moveth on the earth, and which I have shewn you to be unclean.
26. You shall be holy unto me, because I the Lord am holy: and I have separated you from other people, that you should be mine. 27. A man, or woman, in whom there is a pythonical or divining spirit, dying let them die: they shall stone them: their blood be upon them.
Verse 2. 2. A MAN OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL AND OF THE STRANGERS—namely of the Gentiles converted to Judaism and circumcised: for these by circumcision had passed into the law and Church of the Jews, and were consequently bound by all the ceremonial and judicial precepts of the Jews. So Abulensis. THE PEOPLE OF THE LAND (the commons) SHALL STONE HIM.
3. AND WILL CUT HIM OFF FROM THE MIDST OF HIS PEOPLE.—If, namely, the judges neglect to punish and stone him (as follows), then I, as a watchful avenger, will punish him by an accidental death and cut him off. See what was said, chapter 17, verse 10. BECAUSE HE HATH GIVEN OF HIS SEED TO MOLOCH, AND DEFILED MY SANCTUARY (for such a one regarded my tabernacle and temple as defiled, and despised it, and inflicted grave injury and ignominy upon it, when from it and its worship he turned to Moloch and Topheth), AND PROFANED MY HOLY NAME—by giving the name of God to the idol Moloch. How great a sin it is to profane the name of God, the Hebrews teach by these two axioms: First: “Whoever violates the name of God in secret, from him punishment shall be taken in public.” Second: “Other sins and their punishment are suspended by penance and the day of expiation; but in whomsoever a violation of the divine name is found, penance and the day of expiation and chastisement suspend, but death purges.”
4. AND IF THE PEOPLE OF THE LAND NEGLECTING.—He repeats, explains and inculcates what he said in the preceding verse, as if to say: What I said, “I will cut him off,” understand: if the people neglect to punish him: for then I will not neglect it, but will cut him off. So Vatablus.
6. THE SOUL (man) THAT SHALL GO ASIDE AFTER MAGICIANS AND SOOTHSAYERS—in Hebrew, to pythons and diviners. See what was said, chapter 19, verse 31. AND SHALL COMMIT FORNICATION WITH THEM—adhered to them, and consequently to the demon, forsaking me, God, the spouse of the soul.
8. I AM THE LORD THAT SANCTIFY YOU—who command and will that you be holy: for a real verb is here put for a mental, according to canon 11.