15 July 2014

EJ&T: Leviticus 20: Who to kill and how to kill them

In the Every Jot and Tittle project, I am listing all of the Bible's commandments from Genesis to Revelation, in accordance with Jesus's words in Matthew 5:18-19. I have no idea how many commandments I'll find, but Jewish tradition claims there are 613. See here for a list of those that I've found so far.

  1. Stone to death parents who sacrifice their children to Molech.
  2. Whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth any of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones. ... And if the people of the land do any ways hide their eyes from the man, when he giveth of his seed unto Molech, and kill him not: Then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go a whoring after him, to commit whoredom with Molech, from among their people. Leviticus 20:2-5

  3. If a man has sex with another man's wife, kill them both.
  4. The man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. Leviticus 20:10

    If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel. Deuteronomy 22:22

  5. If a man has sex with his father's wife, kill them both.
  6. And the man that lieth with his father's wife hath uncovered his father's nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. Leviticus 20:11

  7. If a man has sex with his daughter in law, kill them both.
  8. And if a man lie with his daughter in law, both of them shall surely be put to death: they have wrought confusion; their blood shall be upon them. Leviticus 20:12

  9. If a man has sex with another man, they have committed an abomination. Kill them both.
  10. If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. Leviticus 20:13

  11. If a man has sex with his wife and her mother, burn all three.
  12. If a man take a wife and her mother, it is wickedness: they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they. Leviticus 20:14

  13. Kill any animal that has sex with humans. (Kill the people too. See #86)
  14. If a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death: and ye shall slay the beast. And if a woman approach unto any beast, and lie down thereto, thou shalt kill the woman, and the beast: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. Leviticus 20:15-16

  15. If a man has sex with his sister or half-sister, exile (or kill) them both.
  16. If a man shall take his sister, his father's daughter, or his mother's daughter, and see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness; it is a wicked thing; and they shall be cut off in the sight of their people: he hath uncovered his sister's nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity. Leviticus 20:17
    If any man take his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother, and see her nakedness, and she behold her brother's shame: they have committed a crime: they shall be slain, in the sight of their people, because they have discovered one another's nakedness, and they shall bear their iniquity. Douay-Rheims Bible

  17. If a man has sex with a menstruating woman, exile (or kill) them both.
  18. And if a man shall lie with a woman having her sickness, and shall uncover her nakedness; he hath discovered her fountain, and she hath uncovered the fountain of her blood: and both of them shall be cut off from among their people. Leviticus 20:18
    If any man lie with a woman in her flowers, and uncover her nakedness, and she open the fountain of her blood, both shall be destroyed out of the midst of their people. Douay-Rheims Bible

  19. If a man has sex with his uncle's wife, they both will die childless.
  20. If a man shall lie with his uncle's wife, he hath uncovered his uncle's nakedness: they shall bear their sin; they shall die childless. Leviticus 20:20

  21. If a man has sex with his brother's wife, they both will die childless.
  22. If a man shall take his brother's wife, it is an unclean thing: he hath uncovered his brother's nakedness; they shall be childless. Leviticus 20:21

  23. If you fail to distinguish between clean and unclean animals, your soul will be abominable to God.
  24. Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean: and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean. Leviticus 20:25

  25. Stone to death wizards and people with familiar spirits.
  26. A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them. Leviticus 20:27

10 comments:

Unknown said...

So what personal tragedy lead you to this? This is not a smart alec comment but a serious question. Also before you spend so much of your time cataloging the "sins" of God do a little research on the "Scarlet Thread" that runs through the Bible.

Steve Wells said...

No personal tragedy lead me to this. The Bible is enough of a tragedy in itself. But please, tell me about the "Scarlet Thread."

Unknown said...

Perhaps Maurice J could elaborate why Leviticus is full of complete and utter tosh.

Stephen said...

People often seem to think that anyone who is an atheist must have had some sort of event (like the "personal tragedy" mentioned by Maurice J.) which sent them down that path.

My experience is different. I've noticed that hyper-religious people have usually had some sort of mental or physical crisis in their lives which precipitated their entrance (I call it a "descent") into their religious world-view.

A guy I was in college with tried to proselytize me in the laundry room. The next day he tried to "heal" a polio survivor in the dining hall in front of hundreds of students. We never saw him again.
A former girlfriend fell off a bicycle and suffered a head injury. Subsequently she came to know Jesus (or so she said) and prevailed on me to do the same.

My life has been remarkably free of tragedy. I have a successful career, a long-standing happy marriage (to a woman!) and two bright, well-adjusted and successful children (both atheists). Of course, it's possible that god is using me to piss off miserable religious types, but he'd have to be a real prick to do that!
Steve Weeks

Unknown said...

I have presented below a outline of the idea of the Scarlet Thread that runs through the entire Bible.

****DISCLAIMER******
I do not know nor do I assume to know anything about

Dr. R. L. Hymers, Jr. I only used his sermon outline that is freely available online to give some background to what I am saying. This way you can read the references for yourself and then we can reason together.

My presuppositions:

First, I am a christian.

Second, I believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Messiah spoken of in the old testament.

Third, I believe that the Bible as we have it today, in it's original languages, is the very word of God.

If you will allow me I will over the course of time address the violence so prevalently displayed throughout the Bible.

The Bible is by it's very nature a book about redemption. That is it's primary focus and purpose.

With that being said, I will say that the Bible is indeed a book of blood. Specifically the redeeming blood of Christ.

Please read through the references below and I will continue with this discourse as time allows.

THE SCARLET THREAD THROUGH THE BIBLE
Taken from the sermon outline of
by Dr. R. L. Hymers, Jr.


"Thou shalt bind (or tie) this line of scarlet thread in the window" (Joshua 2:18).

(Hebrews 11:31).

I. The Blood pictured in the Old Testament
1. Adam and Eve, Genesis 3:21; Hebrews 9:7.
2. Cain and Abel, Genesis 4:2-5; Hebrews 9:22.
3. Noah, Genesis 8:20-21.
4. Abraham, Genesis 12:1-3; Genesis 22:7, 2, 12-13;
John 1:29.
5. Moses at the Passover, Exodus 12:7, 13.
6. Moses at Sinai, Exodus 31:18; 24:8.
7. Moses in the dietary law, Leviticus 17:11;
Hebrews 10:4; Hebrews 10:19.
II. The Blood described by Jesus Christ
1. In the "Bread of Life Discourse," John 6:53-56;
John 1:12; Acts 16:31; Romans 5:10; I John 1:7.
2. In instituting the Lord's Supper, Matthew 26:27-28;
I Corinthians 11:23-26.
III. The Blood in the teaching of the Apostles, Romans 3:24-25;
Romans 5:9; I Corinthians 10:16; Galatians 6:14;
Ephesians 1:7; Ephesians 2:13; Colossians 1:20; Hebrews 9:12;
Hebrews 9:14; Hebrews 10:19; Hebrews 12:24; Hebrews 13:12-13; Hebrews 13:20; I Peter 1:2; I Peter 1:18-19; I John 1:7;
Revelation 1:5; Revelation 5:8-9; Revelation 7:14;
Revelation 12:11; Joshua 2:21.

Stephen said...

@ Maurice J:
I think first you need to present credible evidence that god (in this case, the god of the bible) exists. Then you need to present credible evidence that this god wrote, inspired or directed the bible and that it's not a purely human fabrication. There is plenty of good evidence for the latter.
Quoting from the book itself doesn't suffice.
Steve Weeks

Unknown said...

Spell out for me you definition of "credible evidence".
I have a suspicion that I could provide an autographed copy autographed by the Man Himself and you would still doubt the authenticity. Define "credible" and we'll proceed.

Stephen said...

Well, for starters, I'd need to witness the book being autographed. That would seem credible. Can you arrange it? According to Matthew 7:7-8 and Mark 11:23-24, you should be able to do this. You could also just pray for me to be convinced... that might be easier.

Another piece of evidence that would probably do it: I'd like to see an amputee have a missing limb restored. God does this for salamanders, and I think they are not even "clean".

Proceed away!
Steve Weeks

Stephen said...

Well, I'm not holding my breath here. But I *do* have an autographed bible already! It's the Skeptic's Annotated Bible, and it's autographed by Steve Wells. Although I didn't witness the signing, I know Steve Wells exists based on credible evidence!
Steve Weeks

Stephen said...

Well, this morning I woke up with a sort of "full" feeling, and I thought maybe someone successfully petitioned the LORD with prayer and I was feeling the fullness of god's love. Then I had a good dump and was back to normal. Thanks be to Dog All Bitey. ;-)
Steve Weeks