Leviticus 24:1-23 NKJV
24 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 “Command the children of Israel that they bring to you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to make the lamps burn continually. 3 Outside the veil of the Testimony, in the tabernacle of meeting, Aaron shall be in charge of it from evening until morning before the Lord continually; it shall be a statute forever in your generations. 4 He shall be in charge of the lamps on the pure gold lampstand before the Lord continually.
5 “And you shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes with it. Two-tenths of an ephah shall be in each cake. 6 You shall set them in two rows, six in a row, on the pure gold table before the Lord. 7 And you shall put pure frankincense on each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, an offering made by fire to the Lord. 8 Every Sabbath he shall set it in order before the Lord continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant. 9 And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place; for it is most holy to him from the offerings of the Lord made by fire, by a perpetual statute.”
10 Now the son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel; and this Israelite woman’s son and a man of Israel fought each other in the camp. 11 And the Israelite woman’s son blasphemed the name of the Lord and cursed; and so they brought him to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.) 12 Then they put him in custody, that the mind of the Lord might be shown to them.
13 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 14 “Take outside the camp him who has cursed; then let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him.
15 “Then you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin. 16 And whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall certainly stone him, the stranger as well as him who is born in the land. When he blasphemes the name of the Lord, he shall be put to death.
17 ‘Whoever kills any man shall surely be put to death. 18 Whoever kills an animal shall make it good, animal for animal.
19 ‘If a man causes disfigurement of his neighbor, as he has done, so shall it be done to him— 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as he has caused disfigurement of a man, so shall it be done to him. 21 And whoever kills an animal shall restore it; but whoever kills a man shall be put to death. 22 You shall have the same law for the stranger and for one from your own country; for I am the Lord your God.’ ”
23 Then Moses spoke to the children of Israel; and they took outside the camp him who had cursed, and stoned him with stones. So the children of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses.
Moses describes how a man who blasphemed the name of God received terrible punishment. God clarified that the one who spoke a curse was to be publicly executed, that he might be punished openly, not in secret, so that the children would take note.
Instead of blasphemy of the name of God being the most prominent message, the main emphasis of the New Testament is on the proper use of God’s name and on the confession of the name of the Lord Jesus. Christians are called to hallow the name of God the Father and use it as He has ordained it to be.
Again, veering from the Old Testament — where it is displayed how much God desires His name to be hallowed — the teaching of Jesus on blasphemy is most surprising. On the one hand, He declares that people can receive forgiveness from God for every kind of blasphemy -except- blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (Mt. 12:31-32). This is so because they depend on the Holy Spirit for their justification —since the Spirit creates faith in Christ, through whom alone comes the forgiveness of sins — and their sanctification. On the other hand, Jesus extends the scope of blasphemy to include all careless words that people utter against Him (Mt. 12:33-37).
Yet, despite that, Jesus is more concerned about the blaspheming heart than blasphemous speech (Mt. 15:19). He aims to make anew man’s evil heart by His Word and Holy Spirit so that the believer, like a fruitful tree, will confess Him as Lord and praise God wholeheartedly (Mt. 12:33-35; Heb. 13:15; Eph. 4:31; and Col. 3:8). Rejoice, for God has turned your stoney hearts of unbelief into fleshly hearts of faith! Let us pray: O Lord God, You led Your ancient people through the wilderness and brought them to the promised land. Guide the people of Your Church that following our Savior we may walk through the wilderness of this world toward the glory of the world to come; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.