Leviticus 20:15

15 `And a man who giveth his lying with a beast is certainly put to death, and the beast ye do slay.

Leviticus 20:15 Meaning and 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:

and ye shall slay the beast;
with clubs, as says the Targum of Jonathan; the reasons given in the Misnah ^F9, why the beast was to be slain, are, because ruin came to the man by means of it, and that it might not be said, as it passed along the streets, that is the beast for which such an one was stoned. Aben Ezra says it was to be slain, that it might not cause others to sin; and he adds, there are that say it was to cover the reproach: no doubt the true reason was to deter the more from this detestable sin, that if a beast, which was only accessory to it, and an instrument of it, was put to death, of how much sorer punishment must the man that committed it be worthy of, even of eternal wrath and destruction, and, unless repented of and forgiven, must be expected by him?

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FOOTNOTES:

F8 Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 7. sect. 4.
F9 Ibid.

Leviticus 20:15 In-Context

13 `And a man who lieth with a male as one lieth with a woman; abomination both of them have done; they are certainly put to death; their blood [is] on them.

14 `And a man who taketh the woman and her mother -- it [is] wickedness; with fire they burn him and them, and there is no wickedness in your midst.

15 `And a man who giveth his lying with a beast is certainly put to death, and the beast ye do slay.

16 `And a woman who draweth near unto any beast to lie with it -- thou hast even slain the woman and the beast; they are certainly put to death; their blood [is] on them.

17 `And a man who taketh his sister, a daughter of his father or daughter of his mother, and he hath seen her nakedness, and she seeth his nakedness: it is a shame; and they have been cut off before the eyes of the sons of their people; the nakedness of his sister he hath uncovered; his iniquity he beareth.