Leviticus 20:1-27
Penalties for Breaking the Law
1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Again, you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘Whoever of the children of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell in Israel, who gives any of his descendants to Molech, he shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones. 3 I will set My face against that man, and will cut him off from his people, because he has given some of his descendants to Molech, to defile My sanctuary and profane My holy name. 4 And if the people of the land should in any way hide their eyes from the man, when he gives some of his descendants to Molech, and they do not kill him, 5 then I will set My face against that man and against his family; and I will cut him off from his people, and all who prostitute themselves with him to commit harlotry with Molech.
6 ‘And the person who turns to mediums and familiar spirits, to prostitute himself with them, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from his people. 7 Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am the LORD your God. 8 And you shall keep My statutes, and perform them: I am the LORD who sanctifies you.
9 ‘For everyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother. His blood shall be upon him.
10 The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress, shall surely be put to death. 11 The man who lies with his father’s wife has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them. 12 If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death. They have committed perversion. Their blood shall be upon them. 13 If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them. 14 If a man marries a woman and her mother, it is wickedness. They shall be burned with fire, both he and they, that there may be no wickedness among you. 15 If a man mates with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal. 16 If a woman approaches any animal and mates with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood is upon them.
17 ‘If a man takes his sister, his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter, and sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness, it is a wicked thing. And they shall be cut off in the sight of their people. He has uncovered his sister’s nakedness. He shall bear his guilt. 18 If a man lies with a woman during her sickness and uncovers her nakedness, he has exposed her flow, and she has uncovered the flow of her blood. Both of them shall be cut off from their people.
19 ‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister nor of your father’s sister, for that would uncover his near of kin. They shall bear their guilt. 20 If a man lies with his uncle’s wife, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness. They shall bear their sin; they shall die childless. 21 If a man takes his brother’s wife, it is an unclean thing. He has uncovered his brother’s nakedness. They shall be childless.
22 ‘You shall therefore keep all My statutes and all My judgments, and perform them, that the land where I am bringing you to dwell may not vomit you out. 23 And you shall not walk in the statutes of the nation which I am casting out before you; for they commit all these things, and therefore I abhor them. 24 But I have said to you, “You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am the LORD your God, who has separated you from the peoples. 25 You shall therefore distinguish between clean animals and unclean, between unclean birds and clean, and you shall not make yourselves abominable by beast or by bird, or by any kind of living thing that creeps on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean. 26 And you shall be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.
27 A man or a woman who is a medium, or who has familiar spirits, shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones. Their blood shall be upon them.’”
The penalties of various Law-breaking sins are explained here. Prostituting themselves with false gods and lifeless idols resulted in God turning away His face from them as not His children, cut off and away from the promises and protection. That is like someone today trying to serve Christ and other gods of unbiblical teachings such as Buddhists or Jehovah Witnesses or Mormons or Muslims. They do not worship the same God and are so separated from the Lord’s kingdom unless they repent and forsake them. God is not mocked by false ecumenism. Likewise, those who consorted with mediums were also selling themselves for hire in spiritual adultery by trying to speak with the dead or read the future by any means other than God’s word and Spirit. Therefore, those claiming Christ today have no part in astrology, seances, or witchcraft of any sort without deeply offending the Lord and bringing their salvation into question if not repented of. The short admonition not to curse one’s parents also met with such a swift and harsh response from the LORD because they defied God’s authority given to them for their children. Various types of sexual immorality are also condemned for the same reason of defying God’s design, desire, and commands of authority to be holy. They included adultery, adultery within the family, homosexuality, bestiality, and incest. Such gross abominations of immorality equaled the depravity and wickedness of the perversion of the soul and their punishments as consequences if not repented (1 Corinthians 6:9-10) of and stopped (1 Corinthians 6:11). We see that idolatry and immorality are linked in Romans chapter 1 in greater detail (Romans 1:23, 24-25) as well as those who defy God and are unable to enter His kingdom apart from true repentance that stops the self-centered and self-serving sins of idolatry and immorality set against the nature of creation by God’s design. Here are the warnings for us as well to do as the Lord tells us to live in His scriptures and not as the fallen world wallowing in sin around us tells us is acceptable and desirable (Genesis 3:6) to make us wise in the world’s eyes of corrupted society set against the Lord. Those inheriting the kingdom of God therefore are expected to live in holiness and not gross immorality such as adultery and homosexuality of any kind, living in accord to the created order and design instead and desiring what God desires and has told us and not living for the passing pleasures of sin. He tells us plainly here, “you shall be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine” just as it is reiterated in 1 Peter 1:15-16 for us to understand the essential nature of His commands and desires for His children and the consequences for the continuing sins of idolatry and immorality.
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