The son of an Israelitish woman, &c.— Saurin observes, that this person was the son of one of those AEygptians, concerning whom Moses tells us, that a great number of them went out with the Israelites from the land of Egypt. Exodus 12:38. This man, who had married a woman of the tribe of Dan, named Shelomith, was, doubtless, a proselyte. He had taught his son the inclination towards a crime, which, if we may give credit to Porphyry, was very common among the Egyptians, who were great blasphemers. They demanded favours of their gods, threatening to punish them if they refused to grant what they asked. That this was the vice of the heathens in general, and chiefly of their heroes, their authors furnish us with numberless examples. Moses does not inform us wherein consisted the blasphemy of this unhappy person. The accounts which the Jews have given us of the controversy between Shelomith's son, and the man of Israel, are equally superstitious and absurd. Moses, with his usual conciseness, only tells us, that, striving with an Israelite, this person blasphemed the name of JEHOVAH, and cursed: this, therefore, is all that we are allowed to affirm of the matter. At this news, all the people were struck with horror: even Moses himself was at a loss how to behave; he found it necessary to secure the man, while he consulted God in a case which had never occurred, and upon which nothing had been yet decided. The remark respecting the words [of the Lord, or of Jehovah] being omitted in the Hebrew, and the consequences which are drawn, by the Jews especially, from it, are plainly of no importance, as those words are added, in the 16th verse. The word נקב nokeb; which we render blaspheme, signifies to pierce, or wound, in a metaphorical sense, as with the tongue; and so to blaspheme, curse, &c. See Parkhurst. The malignity of this crime does not consist in any real injury which it does to God; for His throne is secure against all insults from the most audacious of his creatures: if all the curses which their hellish rage can invent had their utmost accomplishment, His happiness would remain undisturbed: Thy wickedness may hurt a man; but let thy transgressions be multiplied, what dost thou unto him?—But blasphemy is an indication of a mind mad with impiety: it strikes at the root of all religion, which is the basis of society, and which principally distinguishes men from brutes; and therefore crimes of this kind undoubtedly fall within the cognizance of the civil magistrate, who is the guardian of the peace and security of society.
His mother's name was Shelomith— Most interpreters think that Moses relates the name and family of the mother of this criminal, to hint indirectly how dangerous are marriages contracted between infidels or idolaters, and true believers. But could we give no reason for this particular, it is easy to observe, that the specification of the name and family of the mother would be convincing of the truth of the fact.