Leviticus 24 - Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

Bible Comments
  • Leviticus 24:2-4 open_in_new

    The Golden Lampstand (Leviticus 24:2-4).

    Leviticus 24:2-4

    “Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto you pure olive oil beaten for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually. Without the veil of the testimony, in the tent of meeting, shall Aaron keep it in order from evening to morning before Yahweh continually. It shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations. He shall keep in order the lamps on the pure lampstand before Yahweh continually.”

    In the tabernacle, in the Holy Place outside the veil, was the seven-branched golden lampstand (Exodus 25:31-37). This represented the perfect light of God shining in Israel (see above). While it shone out God was present with His people. This light had to be maintained by Aaron, the High Priest, so that one of its lamps burned ‘continually', fed with olive oil specifically provided by the people of Israel. Whether God remained with His covenant people or not depended on them. Its sevenfoldness declared the perfection of God's light. It declared that day after day, on and on throughout their generations, God was present with His people, ready to act if they were responsive to Him. In Zechariah 4 we have an illustration of that action (see above).

    But the prime emphasis here in line with the emphasis in this part of Leviticus is on the people's responsibility. This was to provide pure oil for the lamp so that it could burn continually. Aaron is then to ensure that it maintains its function day by day continually (see Exodus 25:37-38; Exodus 30:7-8; Exodus 40:4; Numbers 4:9; Numbers 8:2-3 compare 2 Chronicles 13:11).

  • Leviticus 24:5-9 open_in_new

    The Showbread (Leviticus 24:5-9).

    The showbread consisted of twelve large cakes placed on the table in the Holy Place. It was the responsibility of the sons of Kohath (1 Chronicles 9:32). The number twelve suggests that the cakes represented in one way or another the twelve tribes of Israel. But the fact that they are eaten by the priests is against literal identification with the twelve tribes (although the argument could be used that once the new replaced the old the symbolism ceased for the old so that they could be disposed of conveniently).

    To interpret their significance we need to look at the situation carefully. They were twelve, they were placed on the golden table, they were before Yahweh for seven days, part was then offered as a sacrifice made by fire (and thus had not ceased to be symbolic), and the remainder was eaten by the priests.

    Twelve connects them with the twelve tribes, their being brought in and placed on the golden table suggests that they were a kind of grain offering, that they were before Yahweh for seven days (a divine period) suggests that they were being drawn to His attention, that part was offered as an offering made by fire confirms that they are an offering, and that part is eaten by the priests as most holy confirms His acceptance of that offering. It would appear then that we are to see in these twelve loaves a symbol of the whole of God's physical provision for His people, and of the people's gratitude for it, a perpetual grain offering before Yahweh. As ever the eating is not even hinted at as being intended to be by God, it is by the priests.

    But we need not doubt that they would also be a reminder of the Manna. That was the bread on which God had fed His people continually. Pieces of it lay within the Ark of the Covenant of Yahweh (Exodus 16:33). Here in the ante-room, as with the light, was its visible reminder.

    Leviticus 24:5-6

    “And you shall take milled grain, and bake twelve cakes with it: two tenth parts of an ephah shall be in one cake. And you shall set them in two rows, six on a row, on the pure table before Yahweh.”

    Like the lampstand the table is also ‘pure' (compare 2 Chronicles 13:11). It receives on God's behalf this continual offering of the twelve baked cakes which symbolise God's provision for His people in the grain, the people's activity in the milling and the baking, and their worship in the frankincense. They are a continual grain offering, and are a continual reminder to Him of His people.

    Leviticus 24:7

    “And you shall put pure frankincense on each row, that it may be to the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire to Yahweh.”

    On the bread is placed the frankincense. This is primarily intended to be a pleasing odour to Yahweh, an act of worship and homage (compare Psalms 141:2; Malachi 1:11; Jeremiah 6:20; Jeremiah 18:15), but it may also represent the outside world from which it comes (this is not the product of His people, but of Arabia - Jeremiah 6:20) who are also to be seen as under His overlordship. See notes on Leviticus 2:1-2. It is a memorial to be offered by fire to Yahweh while the bread will be eaten by the priests.

    Leviticus 24:8

    “Every sabbath day he shall set it in order before Yahweh continually; it is on the behalf of the children of Israel, an everlasting covenant.”

    Again the continuity of time is emphasised. It is to be set before Yahweh every Sabbath day, it is set on behalf of the children of Israel, and it is for an everlasting covenant. It represents the oneness of Yahweh with His people in their lives in continuity and emphasises their covenant responsibility. The aim is a continual act of worship and that it will result in His provision of their needs as promised in the covenant, for ever.

    Leviticus 24:9

    “And it shall be for Aaron and his sons; and they shall eat it in a holy place, for it is most holy to him of the offerings of Yahweh made by fire by a perpetual statute.”

    And in the end, like all grain offerings, once the memorial has been offered by fire to Yahweh, the remainder is for the priests as a most holy thing. It is indeed the most holy of the offerings made by fire to Yahweh. And this too is for a perpetual statute like the non-eating of fat and blood (Leviticus 3:17); the priesthood (Exodus 29:9); and the sprinkling of the water of purification for those who have been in contact with a dead human being (Numbers 19:21).

    So the stress with regard to the lampstand and the showbread is on their continual nature day by day and Sabbath by Sabbath before Yahweh, representing Yahweh's presence with His people as their covenant God and His continual dealings with them over time as His covenant people, and His continual provision for them, into the far distant future. But both depend on His people's response.

    But we who are more privileged enjoy a greater blessing. We walk in His light (1 John 1:7) because we have the light of life (John 8:12) and have His light continually in our hearts. We are the children of light (John 12:36). And we partake continually of Him as the Bread of Life (John 6:35).

  • Leviticus 24:10-14 open_in_new

    Blasphemy Against The Name (Leviticus 24:10-14).

    In the midst of all the ritual instructions in the first part of the book came the practical example as a warning of the sons of Aaron who offered strange fire before Yahweh. It was a warning that the ritual must be carried out meticulously. Now here in the second part of the book, which concentrates more on the practical expression of the covenant and its moral demands as associated closely with the name of Yahweh (we have noted the continual stress on ‘I am Yahweh' in Leviticus 18-22), comes a practical example of the danger of blaspheming the Name. God's instructions are not to be taken lightly.

    Leviticus 24:10-11

    ‘And the son of an Israelitish woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel; and the son of the Israelitish woman and a man of Israel strove together in the camp, and the son of the Israelitish woman blasphemed the Name, and cursed; and they brought him to Moses. And his mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.'

    An incident takes place in which a man ‘blasphemes the Name and curses'. His father was an Egyptian and his mother a true-born Israelite whose genealogy can be traced. These were the facts. However the Egyptian had no doubt become a partaker in the covenant (Exodus 24) and identified himself with a tribe, probably the tribe of Dan, as had all the ‘mixed multitude' which had come out of Egypt. The description is not derogatory but because the man had no antecedents in the tribe. The contempt is revealed in the failure to give the name of either the son or the father. The son has made himself a nonentity and an outcast whose name was not to be mentioned. But the mention of ‘an Egyptian' would have the underlying significance that this was something that harked back to the influence of Egypt.

    The incident was merely a brawl between this man and an Israelite, but the crime lay in the blasphemy against the Name. It would appear that he cursed Yahweh in disobedience against the third commandment (Exodus 20:7).

    Leviticus 24:12

    ‘And they put him in ward, that it might be declared to them at the mouth of Yahweh.'

    As it was the first time that this had happened he was kept under guard until they could discover from Yahweh what should be done with him.

    Leviticus 24:13-14

    ‘And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Bring forth him who has cursed outside the camp; and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him.”

    Moses approaches Yahweh about what should be done and Yahweh gives His verdict. It is given in such a way that the man's crime is compared and contrasted with what are seen as the worst sins of men, harm against the person.

    In it He commands that the man was to be brought outside the camp, identified with the laying on of hands by those who had heard him, and then stoned by the whole congregation. This latter would mean that the whole congregation was gathered together for the judgment and execution, while some of their representatives actually hurled the stones on their behalf. The point is that all are a part of the execution.

    One reason for the method of execution was probably so that the man would not need to be touched once the execution began. The man could be buried under the cairn of stones. But it may be significant that he was not burned with fire. This may have been because he could not be devoted to Yahweh because of his crime.

  • Leviticus 24:15-23 open_in_new

    Instructions Arising From The Incident (Leviticus 24:15-23).

    The incident, and the execution, followed by these instructions, are intended to bring out the sacredness of life and the awfulness of the crime. It was true that life was sacred, but for one who had cursed or blasphemed God, or who took human life, it was forfeit.

    The instructions cover all forms of assault moving downwards: cursing God (spiritual weapons against a spiritual God), blaspheming the Name (ditto), deliberate murder, killing an animal belonging to another, physically harming a neighbour. Each strikes at a life principle and they move from high to low, and punishment is to be tempered to the level of the crime. By so listing these greatest of crimes in descending order the enormity of what this man has done is brought out.

    The punishments are also in descending order. Death by stoning (in both cases of crime against God), death, full substitution, like for like.

    Leviticus 24:15

    “And you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin.”

    Anyone who curses God will ‘bear his sin', that is will be judged and punished accordingly as previously declared by God in Leviticus 24:14.

    Leviticus 24:16

    “And he who blasphemes the name of Yahweh, he shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the sojourner, as the home-born, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.”

    Anyone who blasphemes the Name of Yahweh will surely be put to death. In this case the crime is so serious that the whole congregation will be gathered and participate in the execution as in the example above. This applies to all, both home-born and resident alien. Anyone who comes under the authority of Israel is bound by this requirement.

    Leviticus 24:17

    “And he who smites any man mortally shall surely be put to death.”

    A man who deliberately slays another shall be put to death. Provision is to be made elsewhere for one who does so accidentally. For such the cities of refuge are provided.

    Leviticus 24:18

    “And he who smites a beast mortally shall make it good, life for life.”

    Anyone who slays a beast belonging to another will replace it with another its equal.

    Leviticus 24:19-20

    “And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbour; as he has done, so shall it be done to him, breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as he has caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be rendered to him.”

    But if anyone cause a blemish in his neighbour this is not to be the reason for a revenge killing. Rather the punishment shall be limited to the same blemish being given to the guilty party. The purpose of this law was to prevent revenge killings and put a limit on the extent of punishment, while still satisfying the sense of justice of the injured party. In practise satisfactory compensation would no doubt often have been agreed on and accepted. This was merely the maximum that could be demanded.

    Leviticus 24:21

    “And he who kills a beast shall make it good: and he who kills a man shall be put to death.”

    This now summarises the two main principles above to make clear the differences in punishment for different deaths. It differentiates quite clearly between capital punishment for a human death and some other form of punishment for a beast's death. It is to stress that no one must be slain because of the death of a beast, but that human life is sacred so that the murder of a human being must result in death for the perpetrator. Both these were something on which there must be no doubt. Death for death only applies to when a man is slain. (Hotheads ever needed to be reminded of this).

    Leviticus 24:22

    “You shall have one manner of law, as well for the sojourner, as for the home-born. For I am Yahweh your God.

    All laws are to be applied equally to home-born and resident alien. Both are to be treated equally. For Yahweh is their God and He is totally just and fair.

    Leviticus 24:23

    ‘And Moses spoke to the children of Israel; and they brought forth him who had cursed out of the camp, and stoned him with stones. And the children of Israel did as Yahweh commanded Moses.'

    Then Moses communicated God's decision about the man and he was taken out of the camp and stoned with stones. It is stressed that all the people did as Yahweh commanded Moses. All were appalled at the blasphemy.

    The placing of this incident here would seem to be because it follows the examples of Yahweh's continual daily and weekly presence with and watch over His people. The sons of Aaron had sinned grievously in the responsibility that was theirs as priests, this man had sinned grievously against the very light of Israel. It was a warning of the fact that God's presence among His people made them a holy people, and that to dishonour His name in any way could only bring supreme judgment.