This is another narrative section of Leviticus (cf. chs. 8-10). Its position in the book must mean that it took place after God had given Moses the instructions about the holy lamps and showbread (24:1-9). This fact underlines that Leviticus is essentially a narrative work. God gave the legal information at specific times and places to meet particular situations in Israel's life.271This is how case law developed in Israel.
God evidently preserved the record of this significant incident in Scripture not just because it took place at the time God was revealing these standards of sanctification. It illustrates how God regarded those who despised the very standards He was giving. This event was a warning to the people concerning the seriousness of sanctification just as the death of Nadab and Abihu (ch. 10) was a similar warning to the priests.
The "Name"referred to (vv. 11, 16) was Yahweh, the name by which God manifested His nature to His people. The man's blasphemy consisted of his cursing Yahweh (v. 11), cursing Yahweh in the name of Yahweh,272or using Yahweh's name in a curse.273Maybe since his father was an Egyptian (v. 10) he did not have the proper respect for Yahweh and did not sanctify Him in thought and speech as God required.
The Jews interpreted this blasphemy as a flippant use of the name Yahweh. The desire to avoid using the name of Yahweh in vain led them to omit the name Yahweh from their vocabularies completely. They substituted "the Name"in its place in conversation and in composition.274
When the witnesses placed their hands on the head of the offender (v. 14) they symbolized the transference of the blasphemer's curse, which had entered their ears, back onto the blasphemer's head.
"The emphasis of the narrative is that the whole congregation' was responsible for stoning the blasphemer (v. 14). This may be the reason why there is a reminder of the penalty for murder (lex talionis) just at this point in the narrative. The narrative thus sets up a contrast between the whole congregation's acting to take the life of a blasphemer and a single individual's (acting as an individual) taking the life of a human being' (v. 17). Thus the writer has made an important distinction between capital punishment and murder. Capital punishment was an act of the whole community, whereas murder was an individual act."275
The legal principle of limiting retaliation to retribution in kind (an eye for an eye, vv. 19-21, the lex talionis, or law of retaliation, Lat. law of the talon, claw) is another evidence of God's grace. In contemporary ancient Near Eastern culture, people commonly took excessive revenge (e.g., Gen. 4:23). A person who took another person's eye, for example, usually suffered death. In the Mosaic Law, God limited the amount of retaliation that His people could take.
"The eye for an eye' legal policy . . . is paralleled in the Code of Hammurabi [an eighteenth century B.C. king of Babylon], but there it operated only in the same social class. For a slave to put out a noble's eye meant death. For a noble to put out a slave's eye involved [only] a fine. In Israel its basic purpose was to uphold equal justice for all and a punishment that would fit the crime. The so-called law of retaliation was intended to curb excessive revenge due to passion and to serve as a block against terror tactics."276
"In the code of Hammurabi, property was often considered more important than person; property offenses such as theft were capital crimes. In Israelite law, sins against the family and religion were most serious."277
"Retribution is a principal goal of the penal system in the Bible.
"It seems likely that this phrase eye for eye, etc. was just a formula. In most cases in Israel it was not applied literally. It meant that compensation appropriate to the loss incurred must be paid out."278
Christians should not live on a tit-for-tat basis. Rather totally selfless love should mark our interpersonal relationships (cf. Matt. 5:38-42). However in public life punishment should match the crime (cf. Acts 25:11; Rom. 13:4; 1 Pet. 2:14, 20). This is how God will judge humankind (Luke 12:47-48; 1 Cor. 3:8).
"The Bible doesn't present capital punishment as cure-all' for crime. It presents it as a form of punishment that shows respect for law, for life, and for humans made in the image of God."279
