Leviticus 24:10

"And the sons of an Israelitish woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel; and the son of the Israelitish woman and a man of Israel strove together in the camp: and the son of the Israelitish woman blasphemed the Name, and cursed; and they brought him unto Moses. And his mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan. And they put him in ward, that it might be declared unto them at the mouth of Jehovah."

"Went out among the children of Israel ..." This identifies the woman and her son as part of the "mixed multitude" that went up with Moses out of Egypt. It may be surmised that the offender's father had chosen to remain in Egypt. The paganism of the father, however, was continued IN the son, and, alas, this is the tragic pattern that usually appears in the lives of Christian women who marry unbelievers. This must surely be one of the reasons God why commanded that "Believers should not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers" (whether men or women). "It is wrong for a believer to marry an unbeliever. God says that. I would never have known it was wrong unless God had said it (2 Corinthians 6:14)."[19]

"(He) blasphemed the Name ..." The Hebrew word for "blasphemed" has a double meaning, and from this, one of the great tragedies of history developed. It can mean simply, pronounced;[20] and another meaning is "to revile,"[21] this being without any doubt the meaning of the word here. However, the translators of the Septuagint (LXX) made it mean "pronounced,"[22] thus initiating the superstition that it was sinful even to PRONOUNCE the sacred Name. The Jews accepted this superstitious reverence of the Name, refusing to pronounce it at all, and substituting for it the name [~'Adonay] (which means "Lord"). Scholars in these times suppose that "Jehovah" or "Yahweh" must have been the Sacred Name, but the simple truth is that the pronunciation is unknown. The Samaritans who did NOT follow that superstition continued to pronounce the Name; from their usage, Meyrick concluded that the word was almost certainly [~Yahweh].[23]

From the most ancient times, the nature of the reviling done by angry and sinful men has taken the form of slander directed against the victim's mother, or against his God. It was the latter pattern followed here.

The reason for the appearance of this episode exactly here in the Mosaic narrative was in all probability due to this event's being "historical,"[24] being dealt with by Moses at the time it occurred. The reason the people did not know what to do with the offender derived from his being Egyptian. After the handling of his crime here, no one was ever able afterward to plead freedom from the penalties of Mosaic law on the basis of his being non-Israelite. Until this time, there had been uncertainty, and so they confined him until God Himself should decide the matter.

Concerning the vice of profane swearing, which is blasphemy, it has only one source from which it could issue, that being a malignity in man's spirit against God Himself. It gratifies no lust, satisfies no appetite, and affords no profit of any kind whatever to those who indulge in it. It is a violation of the second Commandment of the Decalogue and was designated as a capital offense by God Himself. Men, of course, do not agree with this, but what else is new?