Leviticus 24:10-16--Punishment for Blasphemy

Leviticus 24:10-16
English Standard Version

Punishment for Blasphemy​
10 Now an Israelite woman's son, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the people of Israel. And the Israelite woman's son and a man of Israel fought in the camp, 11 and the Israelite woman's son blasphemed the Name, and cursed. Then they brought him to Moses. His mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan. 12 And they put him in custody, till the will of the Lord should be clear to them.

13 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 14 “Bring out of the camp the one who cursed, and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him. 15 And speak to the people of Israel, saying, Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin. 16 Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him. The sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.

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Ever wonder if God cares about if you "take the Lord's name in vain" and use it as an expletive? There should be no doubt after reading this account here that this is a capital punishment in the eyes of God and part of the third commandment forbidding us to take the Name of the LORD our God in vain.  No one was to curse God and live--not even a foreigner or sojourner in the land.  Anyone who was heard doing this was to be stoned by the congregation with those who were witnesses to hear it "laying hands on his head" so as to say "this is the man."  The Name of the Lord is not only His "name" but His character, reputations, attributes, identity, and we know that to all be wrapped up in what He has done.  Therefore the idea of blasphemy is a bit larger than just using God's name as profanity, but it is instead more about profaning that which is holy and set apart for the LORD.  This will not be the last time we have of blasphemy in the Law and it will also play a major role in the gospels as it's going to be the major charge that the religious leaders bring against Jesus, so we should pay attention to what blasphemy is and isn't because we know that Jesus never sinned, so how is it that the religious leaders of Jesus' day got it wrong when they accused Him of blasphemy?  We'll look at it more as that topic continues to come up.