Leviticus 20:10

10 '1If there is a man who commits adultery with another man's wife, one who commits adultery with his friend's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

Leviticus 20:10 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 20:10

And the man that committeth adultery with [another] man's
wife
Which is a breach of the seventh command, ( Exodus 20:14 ) ;

[even he] that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife:
which is only an explanation of the former clause; though the Jewish writers, as Jarchi and Ben Gersom, say this is so expressed to except the wife of a stranger, or a Gentile; but it means whether a Gentile or an Israelite; and which may be confirmed by the instance of Phinehas slaying a prince of Israel, that lay with a Midianitish woman, ( Numbers 25:6-8 ) :

the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death;
on account of her that is espoused, by strangling, with a hard napkin within a soft one; and on account of her that is married, by casting stones; even both the adulterer and adulteress, as the Targum: and the Jews say F2, strangling was thus performed; they that were strangled were fixed up to their knees in dung, and then they put a hard napkin within a soft one, and rolled it about his neck, and one drew it to him this way, and another drew it to him that way, until he expired: and there is no unlawful copulation punished with strangling, according to Maimonides F3, but lying with another man's wife; and who observes, that the death which is spoken of in the law absolutely, that is, without specifying any kind of death, is strangling; but stoning seems rather meant, agreeably to ( Deuteronomy 22:24 ) ( John 8:5 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F2 Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 7. sect. 3.
F3 Hilchot lssure Biah, c. 1. sect. 6.

Leviticus 20:10 In-Context

8 'You shall keep My statutes and practice them; I am the LORD who sanctifies you.
9 'If there is anyone who curses his father or his mother, he shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother, his bloodguiltiness is upon him.
10 'If there is a man who commits adultery with another man's wife, one who commits adultery with his friend's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.
11 'If there is a man who lies with his father's wife, he has uncovered his father's nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death, their bloodguiltiness is upon them.
12 'If there is a man who lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death; they have committed incest, their bloodguiltiness is upon them.

Cross References 1

  • 1. Exodus 20:14; Leviticus 18:20; Deuteronomy 5:18
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