Leviticus 24:10-16; Leviticus 24:23. The punishment for blasphemy connected, as in Leviticus 10:1-7 and Sabbath breaking, with an actual example. Language and literary manner suggest that the section is later than H, as also the new beginning in Leviticus 24:15 and the position of Leviticus 24:23. The guilty man, the offspring of a mixed marriage (forbidden in Deuteronomy 7:3; Exodus 34:16), is a proselyte or stranger (Leviticus 24:16). The Name (for the name of Yahweh) does not occur elsewhere in OT, though frequent in later Jewish writings. The man is to be brought outside the camp as being unholy and polluting the community. The sin is more than the careless invocation of the Name in a moment of passion (Exodus 20:7). The stranger renounces his allegiance to Yahweh altogether (cf. Job 1:11, where the word is different though the meaning is probably the same). For the laying on of hands, see on Leviticus 1:4: the sinner, like the sacrificial victim, purges the whole community by his death. For the stoning, cf. Deuteronomy 17:7. The whole ceremony is purgative, not judicial.
Leviticus 24:10-16
10 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;
11 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:)
12 And they put him in ward, that the mind of the LORD might be shewed them.
13 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
14 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.
15 And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, 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.