Leviticus 20 Study Notes

20:1-27 The laws in this chapter are similar to those in chap. 18, except that here the penalties for disobedience are attached to the laws forbidding Molech worship, pagan religious practices, and sexual offenses.

20:2 Death by stoning was also applied to blasphemers (24:16; 1Kg 21:9-14), sorcerers (Lv 20:27), Sabbath violators (Nm 15:35-36), idolaters (Dt 13:6-10; 17:3-5), rebellious children (Dt 21:18-21), adulterers (Ezk 16:35-40; 23:43-47), a bride who did not disclose she was not a virgin (Dt 22:23-24), a man and a betrothed woman who engaged in consensual sex (Dt 22:24), and those who did not destroy things that had been placed under a divine ban (Jos 7:1,25).

20:9 The fact that both parents are mentioned promotes the value of women in a traditional patriarchal society. The curse against one’s parents carried the death penalty (Ex 21:17; Dt 21:18-21; Pr 20:20; Mt 15:4; Mk 7:10).

20:17-19 The punishment for lesser offenses was being cut off publicly from their people. In some instances God himself carried out this punishment (vv. 3,5-6; 17:10), in which he excommunicated the offenders from their relatives (7:20-21,25,27; 17:4,9-10; 18:29; 19:8; 20:3,5-6; 23:29).

20:20-21 Lesser violations were punished with childlessness. The presence of children was depicted in the Bible as divine reward (Ps 127:3). To be barren was regarded as shameful (Gn 16:2; 25:21; 30:1; 1Sm 1:5-11). Barrenness as punishment for sexual offenses was not a new judgment (Gn 20:17-18; Nm 5:22,27), but not all cases of barrenness were punishment for sin. Sarah, Rachel, and Hannah in the OT, and Elizabeth in the NT are examples of barrenness; nowhere does Scripture indicate that their barrenness was punishment for sin.