Leviticus 20:13-16

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Leviticus 20:10-21

Sins against the seventh commandment are here ordered to be severely punished. These are sins which, of all others, fools are most apt to make a mock at; but God would teach those the heinousness of the guilt by the extremity of the punishment that would not otherwise be taught it. I. Lying with another man's wife was made a capital crime. The adulterer and the adulteress that had joined in the sin must fall alike under the sentence: they shall both be put to death, Lev. 20:10. Long before... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 20:13

If a man lie also with mankind, as he lieth with a woman ,.... Is guilty of the sin of sodomy, this is a breach of the law in Leviticus 18:22 , both of them have committed an abomination ; he that lies, and he that is lain with, both consenting to perpetrate the abominable wickedness; which may well be called an abomination, being contrary to nature, and more than brutish, for nothing of that kind is to be found among brutes: they shall surely be put to death ; if he that is lain... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 20:14

And if a man take a wife, and her mother ,.... Marry both the one and the other, or commit uncleanness with them, they consenting to it: it is wickedness ; abominable wickedness, shocking and detestable; there are other things, which also are wicked and not to be done, but this is extremely wicked, wickedness to a high degree: they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they ; the man, the mother and her daughter both being married together to him, or both consenting to his lying... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 20:15

If a man lie with a beast ,.... A sin quite unnatural, exceeding shocking and detestable, forbid Leviticus 18:23 , he shall surely be put to death : by stoning, as the Targum of Jonathan adds; and this is the death such are condemned to in the Misnah F8 Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 7. sect. 4. : and ye shall slay the beast ; with clubs, as says the Targum of Jonathan; the reasons given in the Misnah F9 Ibid. , why the beast was to be slain, are, because ruin came to the man by... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Leviticus 20:16

And if a woman approach unto any beast, and lie down thereto ,.... In order that the beast may lie with her, and solicit it to commit such an action with her, see Leviticus 18:23 , thou shall kill the woman and the beast : the woman by stoning, and the beast with clubs, as the Targum of Jonathan; and this for the same reasons as before, as well as to prevent monstrous births: they shall surely be put to death ; both the one and the other, and not spared: their blood shall be ... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Leviticus 20:14

They shall be burnt with fire - As there are worse crimes mentioned here, (see Leviticus 20:11 ; and Leviticus 20:17 ;), where the delinquent is ordered simply to be put to death, or to be cut off, it is very likely that the crime mentioned in this verse was not punished by burning alive, but by some kind of branding, by which they were ever after rendered infamous. I need not add that the original, ישרפו באש baesh yishrephu , may, without violence to its grammatical meaning, be... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Leviticus 20:16

If a woman approach unto any beast - We have the authority of one of the most eminent historians in the world, Herodotus, to say that this was a crime not unknown in Egypt; yea, that a case of this nature actually took place while he was there. Εγενετο δ ' εν τῳ νο μῳ τουτῳ επ ' εμευ τουτο το τερας, Γυναικι Τραγος εμισγετο αναφανδον. Τουτο ες επιδειξιν ανθρωπων απικετο. - Herod. in Euterp., p. 108. Edit. Gale, Lond. 1679. "In this district, within my own recollection, this... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Leviticus 20:13

Verse 13 13.If a man also (63) God had hitherto taught what was right, in order to restrain the people from sin, not only from fear of punishment, but for conscience’ sake. But whereas all do not voluntarily dispose themselves to obedience, the awards severe punishments to those wicked despisers in whom there is no effort to be religious. And it is astonishing that almost all the Gentiles have so sunk into stupid and brutal folly, that they have tolerated with little less than impunity... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Leviticus 20:1-21

The difference between the religious and the secular law is more marked in modern nations than in the Hebrew commonwealth; the primary object of the first being to forbid and prevent sin; of the second, to protect life and property. The distinction is shown by the separation of the eighteenth and the twentieth chapters; but as in the Mosaic legislation both the law which denounces sin and the law which pronounces penalties for crime proceeded from God, it was not necessary that the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Leviticus 20:1-27

The first of these penalties, burning with fire, does not mean that those on whom it was inflicted were burnt alive, but that their dead bodies were burnt after they had been stoned to death, as in the case of Achan ( Joshua 7:25 ). It is the punishment for taking a mother and daughter together into the same harem ( Leviticus 18:14 ). Stoning with stones is appointed for crimes which are at once offenses against religion and morals, viz. giving of his seed to Molech ( Leviticus... read more

Group of Brands