https://esv.literalword.com/?q=leviticus+24
Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Wednesday, 12 March 2025:
Leviticus 24:14 – …let all who heard him lay their hands on his head.
Witnesses of a crime that carried the penalty of death had to participate in the execution of the convicted offender so the witness would feel the burden of responsibility for their testimony. The intent was to deter innocent blood being shed by false witnesses. If the witnesses proved false, they would be guilty of murder.
Leviticus 24:16 – Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death.
Blasphemy carried the same penalty as murder. Times certainly have changed.
Thoughts from David Platt – “This is a sobering verse to say the least. A humbling verse. Overwhelming, in a sense, that the penalty for blasphemy is death. As I reflect on this verse, I am overwhelmed in a fresh way by the reverence and awe and honor that is indeed due the name of the Lord. And I’m convicted.
I’m convicted when I think about how I can, in this world, hear God’s name taken in vain, God’s name misused, God’s name even just used casually. Not even just to hear that. How I can do that if I’m not careful in my own life. So hear these things, even speak this way, in ways that do not honor and revere the name of the Lord. I could watch a movie or listen to a song, and if I’m not careful, I can hear God’s name taken in vain and not even notice it. Not even notice it. That’s not a good place to be. That’s not a good place for any one of us to be. May we not be casual in our approach of God and let us be sensitive to ways that God’s name is being misused around us.
So, let me encourage you to be sensitive to the name of God, to the way you use the name of God, the way I use the name of God, that we would not be casual; that we would realize who we’re talking about; when we pray, that we’d realize who we’re talking to.
[A complacent approach to God] is at the core of just dry, religious, wrote routine. It’s a casual approach to the name of God. It’s a, “Hey, let’s pray.” And we just start saying some words. We don’t even think about who we’re talking to. This is not good.
Let’s treat His name with honor when we call on Him. Let’s realize who we’re calling upon. And then, when we speak about Him, let’s speak about Him with reverence and awe and fear. Let’s be sensitive to ways that His name is being misused around us. Let us hate it. Let’s not be content with that. Let’s certainly not be so complacent with it that we don’t even notice when His name is taken in vain.
God, … Your name is worthy of reverence and fear and respect and awe. And when we say it, when we hear it, we want to say it and listen to Your name with a sense of awe and reverence and fear and love and worship. So help us, we pray, to honor Your name even as we pray. Just like You’ve taught us to pray, Lord Jesus. Hallowed by Your name, oh, God, in all the earth. We pray that You would cause Your name to be hallowed, revered, feared, loved, glorified, in our lives, in our families, and in our churches, and more and more in the world, we pray. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
Leviticus 24:16 – The sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.
God’s laws applies to all.
Leviticus 24:17 — Whoever takes a human life shall surely be put to death.
Those who protest capital punishment with signs that say, “Though shalt not kill,” seem to miss the OT penalty for murder.
Leviticus 24:17-21 – … as he has done it shall be done to him….
God’s ways bring punishment equal to and corresponding with the crime.
“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) – 12 March 2025: Today, Pray that God will help you see and appreciate more fully His holiness and majesty that you would naturally glorify Him as God in your attitudes, thoughts, words, and deeds.
Defenders Bible Reading Plan 