Leviticus 24: 10-23, “And the son of an Israelitish woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel: and this son of the Israelitish woman and a man of Israel strove together in the camp; And the Israelitish woman’s son blasphemed the name of the LORD, and cursed. And they brought him unto Moses: (and his mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan:) And they put him in ward, that the mind of the LORD might be shewed them. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp; and let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him. And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin. And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the LORD, shall be put to death. And he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death. And he that killeth a beast shall make it good; beast for beast. And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbour; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him; Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again. And he that killeth a beast, he shall restore it: and he that killeth a man, he shall be put to death. Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country: for I am the LORD your God. And Moses spake to the children of Israel, that they should bring forth him that had cursed out of the camp, and stone him with stones. And the children of Israel did as the LORD commanded Moses.”
It is good for us to remember that the accounts in the Bible are there to establish patterns and show us that the Lord God is consistent in everything that He does. We read about history in these books and they give help us to understand Who God is and how God acts. In this case we find that a particular man acted in a way that was contrary to the written Law. The third commandment is quite straight forward, “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.” (Ex 20: 7) How was the Lord to act when this offence occurred in such a public way? If the Lord did not act with integrity and justice then the Lord’s reputation would have been harmed in an irreparable way. The man, who was not a full member of the nation but had to be treated in accordance with the Lord’s injunction (“One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.” (Ex 12: 49) However, rather than act hastily, Moses kept the man in custody and waited to hear from the Lord as to how he should act. The man was to be punished in accordance with the penalties of the Law, however, each witness was to identify himself with the punishment so that the witness would understand the enormity of his accusation and the action consequent on his witness. In order to further show the importance of this issue the Lord made sure that the underlying regulations were recited so that everyone would be reminded again that the Lord is holy and does not tolerate sin.
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
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