Leviticus 24

Le 24:1-23.

OIL FOR THE

LAMPS.

2. Command the children of Israel--This is the repetition of a

law previously given

(Ex 27:20, 21).

pure oil olive beaten--or cold-drawn, which is always of great

purity.

3, 4. Aaron shall order it from the evening unto the

morning--The daily presence of the priests was necessary to

superintend the cleaning and trimming.

4. upon the pure candlestick--so called because of pure gold.

This was symbolical of the light which ministers are to diffuse through

the Church.

5-9. take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes--for the showbread,

as previously appointed

(Ex 25:30).

Those cakes were baked by the Levites, the flour being furnished by the

people

(1Ch 9:32; 23:29),

oil, wine, and salt being the other ingredients

(Le 2:13).

two tenth deals--that is, of an ephah--thirteen and a half

pounds weight each; and on each row or pile of cakes some frankincense

was strewed, which, being burnt, led to the showbread being called "an

offering made by fire." Every Sabbath a fresh supply was furnished; hot

loaves were placed on the altar instead of the stale ones, which,

having lain a week, were removed, and eaten only by the priests, except

in cases of necessity

(1Sa 21:3-6;

also

Lu 6:3, 4).

10. the son of an Israelitish woman, &c.--This passage narrates

the enactment of a new law, with a detail of the circumstances which

gave rise to it. The "mixed multitude"

[Ex 12:38]

that accompanied the Israelites in their exodus from Egypt creates a

presumption that marriage connections of the kind described were not

infrequent. And it was most natural, in the relative circumstances of

the two people, that the father should be an Egyptian and the mother an

Israelite.

11. And the Israelitish woman's son blasphemed the name of the

Lord--A youth of this half-blood, having quarrelled with an

Israelite

[Le 24:10],

vented his rage in some horrid form of impiety. It was a common

practice among the Egyptians to curse their idols when disappointed in

obtaining the object of their petitions. The Egyptian mind of this

youth thought the greatest insult to his opponent was to blaspheme the

object of his religious reverence. He spoke disrespectfully of One who

sustained the double character of the King as well as the God of the

Hebrew people; as the offense was a new one, he was put in ward till

the mind of the Lord was ascertained as to his disposal.

14. Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp--All

executions took place without the camp; and this arrangement probably

originated in the idea that, as the Israelites were to be "a holy

people"

[De 7:6; 14:2, 21; 26:19; 28:9],

all flagrant offenders should be thrust out of their society.

let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head, &c.--The

imposition of hands formed a public and solemn testimony against the

crime, and at the same time made the punishment legal.

16. 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--Although

strangers were not obliged to be circumcised, yet by joining the

Israelitish camp, they became amenable to the law, especially that

which related to blasphemy.

17-22. he that killeth any man shall surely be put to

death--These verses contain a repetition of some other laws,

relating to offenses of a social nature, the penalties for which were

to be inflicted, not by the hand of private parties, but through the

medium of the judges before whom the cause was brought.

23. the children of Israel did as the Lord's commanded--The

chapter closes with the execution of Shelomith's son

[Le 24:14]

--and stoning having afterwards become the established punishment in

all cases of blasphemy, it illustrates the fate of Stephen, who

suffered under a false imputation of that crime

[Ac 7:58, 59].