Punishment for Molech Worship & Sexual Offenses

INTRO

In Leviticus 18, we studied whom the Israelites could and could not have sexual relations with. Then, in Leviticus 19, we looked at laws for holiness. Now in Leviticus 20, they almost run parallel. We’re going to get into the punishments––what happens if they didn’t live according to the standards.

TEACHING

Leviticus 20:1–2: This message was not just for the Levitical priests but was for all the Israelites. Who was Molech? Molech was a metal image, heated red hot as fire, that the Canaanites would worship and place their children, as a sacrifice, in the arms of this image (2 Kings 23:10; 2 Chronicles 33:6; Jeremiah 32:35).

Leviticus 20:3–5: The Lord was essentially saying to the Israelites, “If you do go back and don’t listen to Me, you will be punished. You will die.” If the Israelites saw a child sacrifice and didn’t put that person to death, then God would turn against that family.

The reason the Israelites wouldn’t turn in the person sacrificing his own children was that their priorities were skewed, and they cared more about their family and friends than God. Jesus updated this in Luke 14:26: “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, and even his own life—he cannot be My disciple.” We tend to filter everything based on how people will perceive us and what causes us fear. We can’t do that and be Jesus’ disciples! The phrase “cut you off” means there would be constant punishment for not living according to God’s standard. When you don’t live according to God’s standard, it leads to sin. Sin often begins with a desire. It then leads to deception, which leads to disobedience, and ultimately death (James 1:15).

Gordon Wenham shares examples from Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers of the punishment of stoning¹:

• If an Israelite gorged an ox = stoned to death
• Practice of divination or sorcery = stoned to death
• Blasphemy = stoned to death
• Plowing on Sabbath = stoned to death
• Idolater = stoned to death
• Adultery = stoned to death

Leviticus 20:6: If a person turned “to mediums or spiritists” (v. 6), God would “turn against that person and cut him off” as punishment. Going against God’s standard of holiness meant punishment was inevitable, and it separated the Israelites from God’s standard. I think the more we interact in this world, we realize that people don’t even think about a standard anymore. As soon as you say that 100 percent of the Bible isn’t true, you’ve strayed away from the standard, and you separate yourself from the holiness of God.

Leviticus 20:7–8: Moses told the people to consecrate themselves and to be holy! They became consecrated when they chose to move toward God’s standard. Yahweh has set His people apart!

Leviticus 20:9–10: Moses said that screaming curses against parents was punishable by death (2 Samuel 16:5; Job 3:1), and that person’s blood was on their own hands (Proverbs 20:20; Mark 7:9–10). The Israelites were not to curse their parents but to honor them. And for the man and woman caught in adultery: both were to be put to death. You’d think that knowing they would be put to death would keep them from doing it!

Leviticus 20:11–12: If a man slept with his father’s wife (Leviticus 18), he must be put to death. They knew the law; their blood was on their own hands. If a man slept with his daughter-in-law, both must be put to death. They knew the law (Leviticus 18); the guilt for their death is their own.

Leviticus 20:12–14: If a man slept with a man, he had to be put to death. In this context, as an Israelite, if they committed the sin, they would die as punishment. As an Israelite, if they messed up, they would die. There was not a whole lot of hope in that—unless they kept the standard, and that was a whole lot of weight.

If a man married a woman and her mother, they were to be burned with fire. Commentators say they were probably stoned first and then burned with fire, possibly because they didn’t want to do a burial in this situation. Judah accused Tamar of prostitution and declared she should be burned, but he was the one who had slept with her which meant he should be burned too (Genesis 38:24).

Leviticus 20:15–18: If a man had sexual intercourse with an animal, both the man and the animal were to be killed. If a woman had sexual intercourse with an animal, both were to be killed. If a man married his sister, they were disgraced and cut off publicly. There were to be no sexual relations with an aunt either. There will always be a punishment, whether death or being cut off from the tribe.

Leviticus 20:19–25: We can go through this laundry list of “If you do this sin, it will catch up with you.” I promise you, if an Israelite committed a sin, it would catch up with them, so they were to keep the statutes and ordinances. Why? To keep the Israelites pure and holy. They needed to be ready to go into the land, so it wouldn’t “vomit them out.” They had to distinguish the clean from the unclean. Basically, God said, “Don’t become contaminated” (Leviticus 10:10). Remember the clean and the unclean.

Leviticus 20:26: Why did the Israelites go through all these lists and talk about these punishments? Because they were to be holy as God is holy! God had set them apart to be HIS! We’ve been talking about the Seed, the Deliverer, and Jesus being our Atonement. God does all this so we can be set apart and be His! This hasn’t stopped. God hasn’t said, “Oh, okay, I’m done with the Israelites.” God still has a plan for the Israelites! And His plan is, “I want you to be holy as I am holy.” God has a standard and He wants us to follow it.

The problem was the Israelites had a hard time keeping the standard. For example, Saul, who was supposed to live according to God’s standards, didn’t (1 Samuel 28:3–9). When things didn’t look good, look at what Saul did. When Saul was feeling the pressure and didn’t hear answers from the Lord, he caved in. He sent for a medium. Saul’s response was not to wait for the Lord.

Leviticus 20:27: “A medium must be put to death.” Saul left the standard, and he knew the standard. I think that’s the issue with all of us. We know the standard, but we keep letting sin get in the way.

CLOSING

Praise the Lord, we have an answer! We don’t have to live in sin any longer. We don’t have to deal with this punishment. The apostle Paul reveals hope and freedom in Romans 8:1: “No condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus.” Because of Jesus becoming a sin offering for us, this punishment, this death that we were destined for is gone. We no longer have to play these games, “should I or should I not?” God has already taken care of it all. The blood that was shed on the cross has set you and me free. Every once in a while, you and I are going to sin. But we don’t have to stay in the sin. We can come back to the standard because of the cross of Christ that allows us the freedom and forgiveness that we need every day. I don’t have to stay in the position of being an adulterous person, a drunkard, or a liar. I don’t have to stay in the position of being a labeled sinner.

While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And He came to give us a relationship with Him.