Matthew Henry on Leviticus 20:10-21
Sins against the seventh commandment are here ordered to be severely punished. These are sins which, of all others, fools are most apt to make a mock at; but God would teach those the heinousness of the guilt by the extremity of the punishment that would not otherwise be taught it.
I. Lying with another man's wife was made a capital crime. The adulterer and the adulteress that had joined in the sin must fall alike under the sentence: they shall both be put to death, Lev 20:10. Long before this, even in Job's time, this was reputed a heinous crime and an iniquity to be punished by the judges, Job 31:11. It is a presumptuous contempt of an ordinance of God, and a violation of his covenant, Pro…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Leviticus 20:7
Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy--The minute specification of the incestuous and unnatural crimes here enumerated shows their sad prevalence amongst the idolatrous nations around, and the extreme proneness of the Israelites to follow the customs of their neighbors. It is to be understood, that, whenever mention is made that the offender was "to be put to death" without describing the mode, stoning is meant. The only instance of another form of capital punishment occurs in Lev 20:14, that of being burnt with fire; and yet it is probable that even here death was first inflicted by stoning, and the body of the criminal afterwards consumed by fire (Jos 7:15).
Adam Clarke on Leviticus 20:12
They have wrought confusion - See Leviticus 18, and especially the note on Lev 18:6 (note).
John Gill on Leviticus 20:12
If a man lie with his daughter in law,.... His son's wife, whether in the lifetime of his son, or after his death, or whether she was espoused or married, according to the above tradition (f):
both of them shall surely be put to death; it being a breach of the law in Leviticus 18:15; and this is the penalty annexed to it, even death:
they have wrought confusion: have been guilty of a shocking and shameful mixture, as Jarchi and Ben Gersom, as well as confounded the degrees of relation and affinity:
their blood shall be upon them; it being a capital crime, their, blood shall be shed for it; they shall be found guilty of death by stoning, as the Targum of Jonathan.
(f) Misn. ut supra. (San…
