Whedon's Commentary on the Bible - Leviticus 24:14
14. Lay their hands upon his head For the significance of this ceremony, in the case of a victim for the altar, see chap. Leviticus 1:4, note. In this particular case, the witnesses who heard the blasphemy were required to cast off the guilt which they had involuntarily contracted by transferring it to the head of the sinner. By laying their hands upon his head they gave back the infection which they had received. In later ages it was a Jewish practice, when a person heard blasphemy, to... read more
Whedon's Commentary on the Bible - Leviticus 24:10-23
THE BLASPHEMER STONED, Leviticus 24:10-23. In the midst of the Sinaitic legislation we find an account of the arrest and punishment of a blasphemer. This unnatural and unexpected mingling of statutes and snatches of history, so different from the studied artifices of the forger, is a striking evidence of the authenticity of the book as a whole. See Numbers, Introduction, (1.) read more