Scripture Daily

Context No. 656 of 4322 · Leviticus

Context · Reflection

Leviticus 24:10-16: in context

10The son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel; and the son of the Israelite woman and a man of Israel strove together in the camp. 11The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name, and cursed; and they brought him to Moses. His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan. 12They put him in custody until the LORD’s will should be declared to them. 13The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 14“Bring him who cursed out of the camp; and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him. 15You shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin. 16He who blasphemes the LORD’s name, he shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall certainly stone him. The foreigner as well as the native-born shall be put to death when he blasphemes the Name.

Leviticus is mostly law, chapter after chapter of instruction for priests and people. Now and then a story breaks into it, and this is one. In the middle of rules about the lamp and the bread of the sanctuary, a fight breaks out in the camp. One of the two men has an Israelite mother, named here as Shelomith of the tribe of Dan, and an Egyptian father. In the quarrel he blasphemes the Name and curses. No one knows what to do with him, so they hold him until the LORD's will is made clear.

The ruling is severe. He is to be taken outside the camp, and those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the whole congregation is to stone him. The reason given is the weight of the Name itself. What follows is the part that reaches past the one man. The same law, it says, binds the foreigner and the native-born alike (24:22). The outsider is not held to a lighter standard, and not to a harsher one. There is one law, and it falls the same way on everyone under it.

The law would not let the Name be cursed, and would not let the outsider be judged by a different rule. Where do I keep two standards, one for my own and one for the stranger?

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