The Third Book of Moses, called Leviticus
Leviticus 24
Chapter XXIV · Vol. I, pp. 404–405
1 The oil for the lamps. 5 The show-bread. 10 Shelomith's son blasphemeth. 13 The law of blasphemy. 17 Of murder. 18 Of damage. 23 The blasphemer is stoned.
1 AND the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Command the children of Israel, that theya bring unto thee pure oil-olive beaten1 for the light, to cause2 the lamps to burn continually.3
a Ex. 27.20. ver. 8. Nu. 8.2. 1 Sa. 3.3. Zec. 4.6, 11, 12. Is. 11.2-4; 61.1-3. Jn. 3.34. Col. 2.3. Ep. 1.17, 18.
1 The purest oil is obtained by crushing the olives, and expressing the juice by means of a heavy weight. Such oil-presses are still used in every part of Syria.—P.
2 Heb. to cause to ascend.
3 The olive-tree as yielding oil, and the oil as yielding light, are the Scripture emblems of a church, bearing the fruit of the Spirit, and giving light to the dark world, Ro. 11.17. Mat. 5.14. Phi. 4.15.—C.
3 Withoutb the vail of the testimony, in the tabernacle of the congregation, shall Aaron order it from the evening unto the morning before the LORD continually: c it shall be a statute for ever in your generations.
A.M. 2514. B.C. 1490.
b Ex. 27.21; 40.4, 24, 25; 25.31. Nu. 8.2, 3. 1 Sa. 3.3.
c See ch. 23.21. Ex. 12.17.
4 He shall order the lamps upon d the pure candlestick before the LORD continually.
d Ex. 31.8; 25.31; 40.4, 24, 25. Nu. 8.2-4. Re. 1.20.
5 And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake e twelve cakes thereof: two tenth-deals[≈ 4.4 litres · 7.7 pints] shall be in one cake.
7 And thou shalt put h pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be on the bread i for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
h He. 7.25. Re. 8.3, 4. Ep. 1.6.
i ch. 2.2; 23.24. Ge. 9.14-16. Ex. 28.12, 29; 30.16. Nu. 10.10.
8 Every sabbath he shall k set it in order before the LORD continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant.4
k Nu. 4.7. Ne. 10.32, 33.
4 Fine flour, a pure table, pure frankincense—are they not the significant emblems of a 'contrite heart,' Ps. 51.17, a heart broken because of sin, as wheat between the millstones; and cleansed from all worldly refuse? See Am. 8.6. Are they not emblems of a pure church-fellowship at the table of the Lord? and of the 'prayers of saints,' Re. 8.3, 'lifting up holy hands' (1 Ti. 2.8) to a holy God? And is not the bread set in order, the reunion of natural men into one body, by one spirit and one faith, and ranged by a godly discipline under one Lord, according to the words of Paul, 1 Co. 10.17, 'We being many, are one bread, and one body!'—C.
9 And l it shall be Aaron's and his sons'; and they shall eat it in the holy place: for it is most holy unto him of the offerings of the LORD made by fire, by a perpetual statute.
l Ex. 29.33. ch. 8.31. Mat. 12.4. 1 Sa. 21.6. Is. 53.10, 11. Jn. 6.53-57.
10 And the son of an Israelitish woman, m 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:
11 And the Israelitish woman's son n blasphemed the name of the LORD, and cursed. And they o brought him unto Moses; (and his mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan;)
n Ex. 20.7. ver. 15, 16.
12 And they p put him in ward, that the mind of the LORD might be showed them.5
p Nu. 15.34.
5 Heb. to expound unto them according to the mouth of the LORD.
13 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
14 Bring forth him that hath cursed q without the camp, and let all that heard him r lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation s stone him.
A.M. 2514. B.C. 1490.
q ch. 13.46. Nu. 5.2, 3; 15.35.
s ch. 20.2, 27. Nu. 15.35, 36. De. 13.10; 17.5; 21.21; 22.21, 24. ver. 16, 23. Ex. 19.13.
15 And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, t Whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin.
16 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.
17 Andu he that killeth6 any man7 shall surely be put to death.
u Ge. 9.6. Ex. 21.12, 23. Nu. 35.18, 31. De. 19.21. ver. 21.
6 Heb. smiteth the life of a man.
7 He that smiteth the life of a man, meaning either a stroke at the life with intent to kill; or any man, whether semi-Egyptian, as Shelomith's son, or a total stranger, or an Hebrew of the Hebrews, comp. ver. 22.—C.
18 And he that x killeth a beast shall make it good; beast for beast.8
x Ex. 21.18-36; 22.5, 6. De. 19.21. Mat. 5.38, 39; 7.2.
8 Heb. life for life.
19 And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbour; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him;
20 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.
21 And he that killeth a beast, he shall restore it: and he that killeth a man, he shall be put to death.
22 Ye shall have y one manner of law, as well for the stranger,9 as for one of your own country: for z I am the LORD your God.
y Ex. 12.19, 49. Nu. 9.14; 15.15, 16, 29. ch. 17.12, 13, 15; 19.34.
9 Strangers, as well as native Israelites, were to receive the benefit of the law declared in ver. 21, if they suffered wrong, and should suffer its penalty if they did the wrong. It seems also intended here, that strangers as well as native Israelites should suffer the punishment due to blasphemy. Henry here says, 'God would hereby show what provision he had made for man's safety, in punishing those which are enemies to him (God), which should be an argument with magistrates to be jealous for his honour, and to punish those that blasphemed his name.'—I.
23 And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, that they should bring forth him that had cursed out of the camp, and a stone him with stones. And the children of Israel did as the LORD commanded Moses.1
a De. 17.5, 7. Jos. 7.25. Nu. 15.35, 36. See ver. 14.
1 This incident probably occurred at the time when Moses was declaring the law of God publicly to the assembled Israelites; and it is recorded to show that the law was not a dead letter, but that in all its rigour it was to be carried out.—P.
Notes
[Ver. 11. Blasphemed the NAME, as it stands in the Hebrew, the words 'of the Lord' being supplied by the translators. The Hebrew for blaspheme signifies to gore, as a beast with a horn; to pierce as with a sharp instrument: so it is translated, Is. 36: 6, and well representing the mixture of contempt and hatred of God from which blasphemy springs. The name is evidently that of the Angel of the covenant, of whom God had said, Ex. 23. 21, 'Provoke him not, for MY NAME is in him:' this was he of whom the apostle spoke, Ac. 3. 16, 'There is none other name given under heaven, amongst men, whereby we must be saved.' This is he who 'by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than the angels,' He. 1. 4, even 'a name that is above every name,' Phi. 2. 9. All that heard the blasphemer were commanded to lay their hands upon his head, (1) to identify his person; (2) to testify to his guilt; (3) to witness the great truth that sin is worthy of death; (4) to admit the guilt of the whole congregation, were they authoritatively to sanction sin by silence, acquiescence, or approval; and (5) to represent its transference from the congregation to the guilty individual condemned and put to death by command of God, and the concurrence of the congregation.—Note, (1) How careful should Christians be, lest by any timid silence in the sight of the wicked, Ps. 39. 1, 2, by any failure of just and loving reproof, or by any act of joining with them or approval of them, Ep. 5. 11, they should become 'partakers of other men's sins,' 1 Ti. 2. 22. (2) Let blasphemers recollect that awful intimation, Mat. 12. 36; and if 'for every idle word,' then how for every blasphemous word, will they be able to 'give account in the day of judgment?' C.]
Reflections.—While in Jesus' light I see light, and feed upon him, especially from Sabbath to Sabbath, let me essay to give light in his church, and be a good savour of Christ, in the feeding of his people with the true bread which cometh down from heaven. Let such as desire to enjoy gospel light never grudge the necessary expenses of it. And never let the pure oil of divine truth be adulterated with the fancies of men. What a mercy is it that they who come to God find a table spread for them in the wilderness; and that on every Sabbath ministers are to provide fresh provision for the souls of their people!—That the saints, in one generation after another, are set upon the table of the church, and especially on Christ, to the honour and delight of JEHOVAH! Let me further observe, that a graceless offspring is often the fruit of an unhallowed marriage; that quarrels usually end ill; and that judges ought to act with deliberation, and yet with impartiality and zeal. I tremble, therefore, at the load of uncontrolled blasphemy which lies unpardoned on Britain; since men have spared the heaven-daring miscreants, till they are so common, that stones would almost be wanting to cast at them all! Let my soul weep in secret places for their crimes! Shall not God visit for these things? Shall not punishment come on such a nation as this?
Measures in square brackets are modern equivalents added for this edition. They are not in the King James text or in Brown’s notes. They use common scholarly estimates: a cubit is about 45.7 cm (18 in), a shekel about 11.4 g (0.4 oz), an ephah about 22 litres. Money values give the worth of the silver or gold at spot prices on 28 October 2026, not what the sum would buy in the ancient world.