Leviticus 24:10-16

Leviticus 24:10-Nehemiah : ; Leviticus 24:23 . The punishment for blasphemy connected, as in Leviticus 10:1-Judges : and Sabbath breaking, with an actual example. Language and literary manner suggest that the section is later than H, as also the new beginning in Leviticus 24:15 and the position of Leviticus 24:23. The guilty man, the offspring of a mixed marriage (forbidden in Deuteronomy 7:3, Exodus 34:16), is a proselyte or “ stranger” ( Leviticus 24:16). “ The Name” (for the name of Yahweh) does not occur elsewhere in OT, though frequent in later Jewish writings. The man is to be brought “ outside the camp” as being unholy and polluting the community. The sin is more than the careless invocation of the Name in a moment of passion ( Exodus 20:7). The “ stranger” renounces his allegiance to Yahweh altogether ( cf. Job 1:11, where the word is different though the meaning is probably the same). For the laying on of hands, see on Leviticus 1:4: the sinner, like the sacrificial victim, purges the whole community by his death. For the stoning, cf. Deuteronomy 17:7 . The whole ceremony is purgative, not judicial.