Leviticus 20:10

10 He that breaketh wedlocke with another mans wife shall dye for it: because he hath broke wedlocke with his neghbours wife, and so shall she likewise.

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 And se that ye kepe myne ordinaunces and doo them. For I am the Lorde which sanctifie you.
9 Whosoeuer curseth his father or mother, shall dye for it, his bloude on his heed, because he hath cursed his father or mother.
10 He that breaketh wedlocke with another mans wife shall dye for it: because he hath broke wedlocke with his neghbours wife, and so shall she likewise.
11 Yf a man lye with his fathers wife ad vncouer his fathers secrettes, they shall both dye for it, their bloude be apon their heedes.
12 Yf a man lye with his doughter in lawe thei shall dye both of them: they haue wrought abhominacion, their bloud vpon their heedes.
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