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Leviticus 24 · a question people ask

Why did they hold him and wait, instead of deciding themselves?

In the text

The chapter doesn't say why. It says what they did: "They put him in custody until the LORD’s will should be declared to them" (24:12). Exodus had already said, "You shall not blaspheme God" (Exodus 22:28), but that verse names no penalty. Numbers records a case handled the same way, a man found gathering sticks on the Sabbath: "They put him in custody, because it had not been declared what should be done to him" (Numbers 15:34), and there too the LORD answered and the man was stoned outside the camp (Numbers 15:35-36). When other men came to him with a question, Moses said, "Wait, that I may hear what the LORD will command concerning you" (Numbers 9:8).

The verses

“They put him in custody until the LORD’s will should be declared to them.”
Leviticus 24:12 · World English Bible
““You shall not blaspheme God, nor curse a ruler of your people.”
Exodus 22:28 · World English Bible
“There were certain men who were unclean because of the dead body of a man, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day, and they came before Moses and Aaron on that day. Those men said to him, “We are unclean because of the dead body of a man. Why are we kept back, that we may not offer the offering of the LORD in its appointed season among the children of Israel?” Moses answered them, “Wait, that I may hear what the LORD will command concerning you.””
Numbers 9:6-8 · World English Bible
“While the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. Those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation. They put him in custody, because it had not been declared what should be done to him. The LORD said to Moses, “The man shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him with stones outside of the camp.” All the congregation brought him outside of the camp, and stoned him to death with stones, as the LORD commanded Moses.”
Numbers 15:32-36 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Leviticus 24

Leviticus 24: The lamp, the bread and the Name

Leviticus 24 sets the lamp and the bread "before the LORD continually" (24:3, 24:8) beside a man who "blasphemed the Name" (24:11). Nobody decided his case alone: they waited "until the LORD’s will should be declared" (24:12). The law that came is "one kind of law for the foreigner as well as the native-born" (24:22), and its "life for life" is about an animal (24:18).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions