Leviticus 24:11

And the Israelitish woman's son blasphemed the name [of the Lord], and cursed,.... As they were striving together, or when the trial was over, he being cast, fell into outrageous blasphemies against

And the Israelitish woman's son blasphemed the name of the LORD, and cursed. And they brought him unto Moses: (and his mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan:) Blasphemed the name of the LORD.

The name of the Lord: the words of the Lord, or of Jehovah, are here conveniently supplied out of , where they are expressed, but here they are omitted for the aggravation of his crime. He blasphemed the name, so called by way of eminency; that name which is above every name; that name which a man should in some sort tremble to mention; which is not to be named without cause and without reverence. For which reason the godly Jews did many times rather understand than express the name of God, as , the right hand of power, for of the power of God, as it is ; and the Blessed for the blessed God, . And cursed, not the Israelite only, but his God also, as appears from ,16. They brought him; either the people who heard him, or the inferior magistrate, to whom he was first brought. Unto Moses, according to the order settled by Jethro’ s advice, .

Leviticus 24:11 And the Israelitish woman’ s son blasphemed the name [of the LORD], and cursed. And they brought him unto Moses: (and his mother’ s name [was] Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan:)Ver. 11. Blasphemed the name, &c.] Heb., Bored it through; gored it; pierced it; as did those Syrians, slain by the fall of the wall of Aphek; Rabshakeh that dead dog; Julian the apostate, Chosroes the Persian, the raging Turk at the siege of Scodra; that foul mouthed Papist that dared say, The God of the Protestants is worse than Pan, god of clowns, which can endure no ceremonies nor good manners at all. To these add Paul Best, who hath lately published blasphemous verses against the Trinity. See the "London Ministers’ Testimonial to the Truth of Jesus Christ." Turk. Hist., 423. Sheldon’ s Mark of the Beast, epis. dedic.

(11) Blasphemed the name of the Lord, and cursed.—Better, cursed the Name and reviled. In accordance with the above interpretation, this happened after sentence was given against him, and when they had left the court. Being vexed with the Divine enactments which excluded him from encamping in the tribe of his mother, he both cursed God who gave such law, and reviled the judges who pronounced judgment against him. The expression, “the Name,” which in after times was commonly used instead of the Ineffable Jehovah, has been substituted here for the Tetragrammaton by a transcriber who out of reverence would not combine cursing with it. The same shyness on the part of copyists has been the cause of inserting the word Lord (Adonaî) and God (Elohîm) for Jehovah in sundry passages of the Old Testament. During the second Temple, however, this passage was rendered, “he pronounced the Name and cursed.” Hence it was enacted that the simple pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton was criminal. In accordance with the ancient interpretation, the Chaldee version translates this part of the verse, “And when they came out of the house of judgment, having been condemned, the son of the Israelitish woman pronounced and reviled the great and glorious name of manifestation which had been heard on Sinai, and he was defiant and annoying.” And they brought him unto Moses.—The contention about his right to pitch his tent among the tribe to which his mother belonged being a minor point, came within the jurisdiction of the rulers, according to the advice of Jethro (Exodus 18:22); whilst blaspheming God was considered too serious an offence, and hence the criminal was brought to Moses. And his mother’s name was Shelomith.—Whether we accept the traditional explanation, that Shelomith was no consenting party to her union with the Egyptian, or whether we regard her as having voluntarily married him, the fact that both her personal and tribal names are here so distinctly specified, indicates that the record of this incident is designed to point out the ungodly issue of so unholy an alliance, and to guard the Hebrew women against intermarriage with heathen.

11. blasphemed the Name] The Heb. verb denotes ‘to indicate by name’ either honourably or with reproach. In the latter sense it is used in Numbers 23:8; Proverbs 11:26, etc., and obviously must be so interpreted here. But the Jews, taking the word in its more general sense, understood the passage as forbidding the mention of the Sacred Name, and wherever it occurs in the Scriptures they either pronounced it Adônai instead (rendered in English by ‘the Lord’), or, where the word Adônai was itself in immediate juxtaposition with the Sacred Name, they substituted for the latter Elôhîm.

11. Blasphemed — The Seventy and Rashi erroneously render the original accurately pronounced, this being looked upon before God as a reviling of him.