Leviticus 20:2

2 "And to the {Israelites} you shall say, '[If there is] {anyone} from the {Israelites} or from the alien who is dwelling in Israel, who gives {any of} his offspring to Molech, he must surely be put to death; the people of the land must stone him with stones.

Leviticus 20:2 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 20:2

Again thou shalt say to the children of Israel
The body of the people by their elders, and the heads of their tribes; for the following laws were binding on them all: whosoever [he be] of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that
sojourn in Israel;
everyone of the people of Israel, of whatsoever age, sex, or condition of life: and not they only, but the strangers and proselytes; and not the proselytes of righteousness only, but the proselytes of the gate, who, as well as the others, were to shun idolatry, and other impieties and immoralities after mentioned: that giveth [any] of his seed unto Molech;
which Aben Ezra interprets of lying with an idolatrous woman, or a worshipper of Molech, the abomination or idol of the Ammonites, ( 1 Kings 11:7 ) ; of which see ( Leviticus 18:21 ) ; but more than that is here intended, or even than causing their seed or offspring to pass through the fire to Molech, as in the place referred to; more is meant by it than a lustration of them, or a dedicating them to Molech, by delivering them to his priests to lead them between two fires for that purpose, but even the sacrificing of them to him; and so the Targum of Jonathan seems to understand it, which is,

``that makes (or sacrifices) of his seed Molech to be burnt in the fire:''

for that the Phoenicians or Canaanites, whose customs the Israelites were in danger of imitating, and therefore cautioned against, did sacrifice human creatures, and these the dearest to them, even their beloved and only begotten children, to Saturn, is certain, as Porphyry

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 and Eusebius ^F26 affirm, or to Hercules, as Pliny ^F1, and both the same with Molech, or the sun: he shall surely be put to death;
by the hand of the civil magistrate, which death was to be by stoning, as follows: the people of the land shall stone him with stones:
that is, the people of the house of Israel, as both the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan; such as lived in that part of the country where the idolater lived, and where he committed the sin, or was condemned for it; of the manner of stoning, (See Gill on Acts 7:58).
F25 De Abstinent. l. 2. c. 56.
F26 De laudibus Constantin. c. 13. p. 646. Vid. Suidam in voce (sardaniov) .
F1 Nat. Hist. l. 36. c. 5.

Leviticus 20:2 In-Context

1 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

2 "And to the {Israelites} you shall say, '[If there is] {anyone} from the {Israelites} or from the alien who is dwelling in Israel, who gives {any of} his offspring to Molech, he must surely be put to death; the people of the land must stone him with stones.

3 And I myself will set my face against that man, and I will cut him off from the midst of his people, because he has given {some of} his offspring to Molech, so that {he makes my sanctuary unclean} and profanes {my holy name}.

4 And if the people of the land ever shut their eyes from that man at his giving {some of} his offspring to Molech, not putting him to death,

5 then I myself will set my face against that man and against his clan, and I will cut him off and all those from the midst of their people who prostitute after Molech.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "sons/children of Israel"
• [b]. Literally "a man a man"
• [c]. Literally "sons/children of Israel"
• [d]. Or "and"
• [e]. Literally "from"
• [f]. Hebrew "the stone"