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Leviticus 20 Bible study: Set apart to be mine
Leviticus 20 sets penalties for many of the wrongs chapter 18 forbade, and frames them with holiness: "be holy" and "I am the LORD who sanctifies you" (20:7-8), and "You shall be holy to me… that you should be mine" (20:26). Even the people who look away from a wrong are answered: "then I will set my face against that man" (20:5).
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“You shall be holy to me, for I, the LORD, am holy, and have set you apart from the peoples, that you should be mine.”
Try it · Did you catch it?
“In Leviticus 20, the LORD says he will act against the man who gives his offspring to Molech even if the people of the land look away.”
Is that in Leviticus 20, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
Molech, and the people who look away
The chapter opens with the law against giving children to Molech, and it covers everyone: "Anyone of the children of Israel, or of the strangers who live as foreigners in Israel, who gives any of his offspring to Molech shall surely be put to death" (20:2). The LORD gives the reason in his own words: "to defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy name" (20:3). Then the law looks at everyone else. "If the people of the land all hide their eyes from that person" (20:4), the LORD says, "then I will set my face against that man and against his family, and will cut him off" (20:5). Looking away doesn't end the matter: the LORD acts himself.
Where it leads to Jesus
Neither do I condemn you
Leviticus 20:10leads toJohn 8:3-11
The law says, "the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death" (20:10). In John 8 the scribes and the Pharisees brought Jesus "a woman taken in adultery" (John 8:3) and said, "Now in our law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. What then do you say about her?" (John 8:5). They said it "testing him, that they might have something to accuse him of" (John 8:6). Jesus said, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone at her" (John 8:7), and they "went out one by one" (John 8:9). Then he said to her, "Neither do I condemn you. Go your way. From now on, sin no more" (John 8:11). They name Moses, not a verse, and John doesn't say which law they meant: Leviticus 20:10 and Deuteronomy 22:22 both set death for adultery. Reading John 8 beside this verse is an interpretation.
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Leviticus 20
That was a taste
The rest of Leviticus 20 is waiting in Favor
- Chapter 18 gave the commands; chapter 20 names a penalty for each
- Holiness on both sides
- Mediums at the start and the end
- The law Jesus quoted
- 8 questions as you read
- 8 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
Favor reads the Bible in order, so you'll reach Leviticus 20 with everything before it in view. First week free, then $10 a month per person.
The Hebrew word behind it
בָּדַלbadalsay ba-DAL
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "divide, separate", "separate, set apart", and "make a distinction between clean and unclean, holy and profane". Strong's: "to divide". It comes four times at the end of this chapter. The LORD says, "I am the LORD your God, who has separated you from the peoples" (20:24). "You shall therefore make a distinction between the clean animal and the unclean", animals "which I have separated from you as unclean for you" (20:25). And "You shall be holy to me, for I, the LORD, am holy, and have set you apart from the peoples, that you should be mine" (20:26). Because the LORD has separated Israel, Israel is "therefore" to make the distinction (20:25). Its first use in the Hebrew Bible is "God divided the light from the darkness" (Genesis 1:4).
For your group
Leviticus 20 Bible study questions
- 1The LORD says both "be holy" (20:7) and "I am the LORD who sanctifies you" (20:8). How do you hold together what God asks of you and what he does in you?
- 2"that you should be mine" (20:26). What difference does it make to know you belong to God, not only that he has rules for you?
- 3Jesus said to the woman, "Neither do I condemn you. Go your way. From now on, sin no more" (John 8:11). Which half of that is harder for you to hear?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Leviticus 20 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
What is Favor?
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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Can I read Leviticus 20 straight away?
Favor takes the Bible as one story, in order, so you'll reach Leviticus 20 with everything that leads up to it in view. Start from Genesis, or meet Jesus first in the Gospels. You can read the text of any chapter in Favor's Look up whenever you like.
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No. Many people read on their own. If you'd like to read with others, start a Bible study and share one link. Everyone's answers stay private until you meet.
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The World English Bible, a modern, readable translation in the public domain. God's name appears as "the LORD", as in most English Bibles.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home