Leviticus 20:5

Leviticus 20:5

Then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go a whoring after him, to commit whoredom with Molech, from among their people.

a. NLT: I myself will turn against them and their families and will cut them off from the community. This will happen to all who commit spiritual prostitution by worshiping Molech.

b. NIV: I myself will set my face against him and his family and will cut them off from their people together with all who follow him in prostituting themselves to Molek.

c. YLT: then I have set My face against that man, and against his family, and have cut him off, and all who are going a-whoring after him, even going a-whoring after the Molech, from the midst of their people.

d. Amplified Bible: Then I will set My face against that man and against his family and will cut him off from among their people, him and all who follow him to [unfaithfulness to Me, and thus] play the harlot after Molech.

e. Septuagint: then will I set my face against that man and his family, and I will destroy him, and all who have been of one mind with him, so that he should go a whoring to the princes, from their people.

f. Stone Edition Torah/Prophets/Writings: then I shall concentrate My attention upon that man and upon his family; I will cut off from among their people, him and all who stray after him to stray after the Molech.

1. “Then I will set my face against that man…”

a. [Then] I [Strong: 589 'aniy an-ee' contracted from 595; I:--I, (as for) me, mine, myself, we, X which, X who.]

b. will set [7760 * suwm] [Strong: a primitive root; to put (used in a great variety of applications, literal, figurative, inferentially, and elliptically):--X any wise, appoint, bring, call (a name), care, cast in, change, charge, commit, consider, convey, determine, + disguise, dispose, do, get, give, heap up, hold, impute, lay (down, up), leave, look, make (out), mark, + name, X on, ordain, order, + paint, place, preserve, purpose, put (on), + regard, rehearse, reward, (cause to) set (on, up), shew, + stedfastly, take, X tell, + tread down, ((over-))turn, X wholly, work.]

c. my face [6440 * paniym] [Strong: from 5437); the face (as the part that turns); used in a great variety of applications (literally and figuratively); also (with prepositional prefix) as a preposition (before, etc.):--+ accept, a-(be- )fore(-time), against, anger, X as (long as), at, + battle, + because (of), + beseech, countenance, edge, + employ, endure, + enquire, face, favour, fear of, for, forefront(-part), form(-er time, -ward), from, front, heaviness, X him(-self), + honourable, + impudent, + in, it, look(-eth) (- s), X me, + meet, X more than, mouth, of, off, (of) old (time), X on, open, + out of, over against, the partial, person, + please, presence, propect, was purposed, by reason of, + regard, right forth, + serve, X shewbread, sight, state, straight, + street, X thee, X them(-selves), through (+ - out), till, time(-s) past, (un-)to(-ward), + upon, upside (+ down), with(- in, + -stand), X ye, X you.]

d. [against] that [Strong: 1931 huw' hoo of which the feminine (beyond the Pentateuch) is hiyw {he}; a primitive word, the third person pronoun singular, he (she or it); only expressed when emphatic or without a verb; also (intensively) self, or (especially with the article) the same; sometimes (as demonstrative) this or that; occasionally (instead of copula) as or are:--he, as for her, him(-self), it, the same, she (herself), such, that (...it), these, they, this, those, which (is), who.]

e. man [376 * ‘iysh] [Strong: contracted for 582 (or perhaps rather from an unused root meaning to be extant); a man as an individual or a male person; often used as an adjunct to a more definite term (and in such cases frequently not expressed in translation):--also, another, any (man), a certain, + champion, consent, each, every (one), fellow, (foot-, husband-)man, (good-, great, mighty) man, he, high (degree), him (that is), husband, man(-kind), + none, one, people, person, + steward, what (man) soever, whoso(-ever), worthy.]

2. “…and against his family, and will cut him off…”

a. [and against his] family [4940 * mishpachah] [Strong: from 8192 (Compare 8198); a family, i.e. circle of relatives; figuratively, a class (of persons), a species (of animals) or sort (of things); by extens. a tribe or people:--family, kind(-red).]

b. and will cut him off [3772 * karath] [Strong:  a primitive root; to cut (off, down or asunder); by implication, to destroy or consume; specifically, to covenant (i.e. make an alliance or bargain, originally by cutting flesh and passing between the pieces):--be chewed, be con-(feder-)ate, covenant, cut (down, off), destroy, fail, feller, be freed, hew (down), make a league ((covenant)), X lose, perish, X utterly, X want.]

1). This is the same Hebrew word used when describing cutting a covenant. Note the use of it in the following verses.

a). Genesis 15:18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

b). Genesis 21:27 And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech; and both of them made a covenant.

c). Genesis 21:32 Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba: then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the chief captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines.

2). Notice the same Hebrew word is used to describe the circumcision of Moses and Zipporah’s son.

a). Exodus 4:25  Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me.

3). Then here in Leviticus 20:5 it is used to describe the killing by God of those in covenant with God but who violate the covenant by turning a blind eye toward it, by ignoring that it is happening. In all covenants there are parameters, that is, what the boundaries of the covenant are, what each participant is bound by, the responsibilities of each participant, what happens when one fails to fulfill the covenant. All these are to be decided when the covenant is made. Depending on the parameters each covenant is different, some have positives and negative vows to them while some have only positive. The Mosaic Covenant had both.

a). Unger’s Bible Dictionary, p.224. “Covenants were not only concluded with an oath, but after an ancient custom, confirmed by slaughtering and cutting a victim into two halfs, between which the parties passed, to intimate that if either of them broke the covenant it would fare with him as with the slain and divided beast.”

4). In this passage we see a negative, and what is fascinating to me is the same Hebrew word is used, illustrating both sides of the covenant.

3. “…and all that go a whoring after him…”

a. and [Strong: 853 'eth ayth apparent contracted from 226 in the demonstrative sense of entity; properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely):--(as such unrepresented in English).]

all [Strong: 3605 kol kole or (Jer. 33:8) kowl {kole}; from 3634; properly, the whole; hence, all, any or every (in the singular only, but often in a plural sense):--(in) all (manner, (ye)), altogether, any (manner), enough, every (one, place, thing), howsoever, as many as, (no-)thing, ought, whatsoever, (the) whole, whoso(-ever).]

that go a whoring [2181 * zanah] [Strong: a primitive root (highly-fed and therefore wanton); to commit adultery (usually of the female, and less often of simple fornication, rarely of involuntary ravishment); figuratively, to commit idolatry (the Jewish people being regarded as the spouse of Jehovah):--(cause to) commit fornication, X continually, X great, (be an, play the) harlot, (cause to be, play the) whore, (commit, fall to) whoredom, (cause to) go a-whoring, whorish.]

b. after [him] [310 * ‘achar] [Strong: from 309; properly, the hind part; generally used as an adverb or conjunction, after (in various senses):--after (that, -ward), again, at, away from, back (from, -side), behind, beside, by, follow (after, -ing), forasmuch, from, hereafter, hinder end, + out (over) live, + persecute, posterity, pursuing, remnant, seeing, since, thence(-forth), when, with.]

4. “…to commit whoredom with Molech…”

a. to commit whoredom [2181 * zanah] [Strong: a primitive root (highly-fed and therefore wanton); to commit adultery (usually of the female, and less often of simple fornication, rarely of involuntary ravishment); figuratively, to commit idolatry (the Jewish people being regarded as the spouse of Jehovah):--(cause to) commit fornication, X continually, X great, (be an, play the) harlot, (cause to be, play the) whore, (commit, fall to) whoredom, (cause to) go a-whoring, whorish.]

b. with [Strong: 310 'achar akh-ar' from 309; properly, the hind part; generally used as an adverb or conjunction, after (in various senses):--after (that, -ward), again, at, away from, back (from, -side), behind, beside, by, follow (after, -ing), forasmuch, from, hereafter, hinder end, + out (over) live, + persecute, posterity, pursuing, remnant, seeing, since, thence(-forth), when, with.]

c. Molech [4432 * Molek] [Strong: from 4427; Molek (i.e. king), the chief deity of the Ammonites:--Molech.]

5. “…from among their people.”

a. from among [7130 * qereb] [Strong: from 7126; properly, the nearest part, i.e. the center, whether literal, figurative or adverbial (especially with preposition):--X among, X before, bowels, X unto charge, + eat (up), X heart, X him, X in, inward (X -ly, part, -s, thought), midst, + out of, purtenance, X therein, X through, X within self.]

b. their people [5971 * ‘am] [Strong: from 6004; a people (as a congregated unit); specifically, a tribe (as those of Israel); hence (collectively) troops or attendants; figuratively, a flock:--folk, men, nation, people.]