Leviticus 24
Regulations for the Lampstand and Table of Bread
24:1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 24:2 “Command the Israelites to bring to you pure oil of beaten olives for the light, to make a lamp burn continually. 24:3 Outside the veil-canopy of the congregation in the Meeting Tent Aaron must arrange it from evening until morning before the Lord continually. This is a perpetual statute throughout your generations. 24:4 On the ceremonially pure lampstand he must arrange the lamps before the Lord continually.
The Israelites were to bring pure olive oil to the priests. The priests would use this pure olive oil to keep the light of the lampstand burning continually in the Holy Place.
24:5 “You must take choice wheat flour and bake twelve loaves; there must be two tenths of an ephah of flour in each loaf, 24:6 and you must set them in two rows, six in a row, on the ceremonially pure table before the Lord. 24:7 You must put pure frankincense on each row, and it will become a memorial portion for the bread, a gift to the Lord. 24:8 Each Sabbath day Aaron must arrange it before the Lord continually; this portion is from the Israelites as a perpetual covenant. 24:9 It will belong to Aaron and his sons, and they must eat it in a holy place because it is most holy to him, a perpetual allotted portion from the gifts of the Lord.”
Each Sabbath Day, the priests were to arrange the twelve loaves of shewbread on the table of the Holy Place.
A Case of Blaspheming the Name
24:10 Now an Israelite woman’s son whose father was an Egyptian went out among the Israelites, and the Israelite woman’s son and an Israelite man had a fight in the camp. 24:11 The Israelite woman’s son misused the Name and cursed, so they brought him to Moses. (Now his mother’s name was Shelomith daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.) 24:12 So they placed him in custody until they were able to make a clear legal decision for themselves based on words from the mouth of the Lord.
The mixed-multitude was starting to cause problems in the camp. The half-Israelite-half-Egyptian people blasphemed the name of God. This case was brought to Moses.
24:13 Then the Lord spoke to Moses: 24:14 “Bring the one who cursed outside the camp, and all who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the whole congregation is to stone him to death. 24:15 Moreover, you are to tell the Israelites, ‘If any man curses his God he will bear responsibility for his sin, 24:16 and one who misuses the name of the Lord must surely be put to death. The whole congregation must surely stone him, whether he is a foreigner or a native citizen; when he misuses the Name he must be put to death.
Anyone who blasphemed the name of Jehovah was to receive capital punishment by stoning. God established high standards for his chosen people.
24:17 “ ‘If a man beats any person to death, he must be put to death.
If a man beat another man to death, then he would receive the death penalty.
24:18 One who beats an animal to death must make restitution for it, life for life.
If a man beat an animal to death, then he must pay restitution for it.
24:19 If a man inflicts an injury on his fellow citizen, just as he has done it must be done to him—24:20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth—just as he inflicts an injury on another person that same injury must be inflicted on him.
If a man knocked out the eye of another man, then he would have his eye knocked out as well. Liberals think this is cruel punishment, but they are not God. They do not understand that the heart is desperately wicked. The purpose of the Mosaic Law was not to rehabilitate, but to punish the crime and deter the crime from ever happening again inside of the community.
24:21 One who beats an animal to death must make restitution for it, but one who beats a person to death must be put to death.
There is a difference between man and beast. In the modern world, sea lions are protected, but human babies are aborted.
24:22 There will be one regulation for you, whether a foreigner or a native citizen, for I am the Lord your God.’ ”
The Israelites and the foreigners living among them all lived under the same Mosaic Law. There was no caste system. There was no one above the law.
24:23 Then Moses spoke to the Israelites and they brought the one who cursed outside the camp and stoned him with stones. So the Israelites did just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
The blasphemer was stoned to death outside of the camp by the entire congregation. This was a bloody spectacle to Israel that God was a God of justice.