Portion to Read: Lev 24-27 Msg: Lev 24:10-23 Now the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites, and a fight broke out in the camp between him and an Israelite. The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name with a curse; so they brought him to Moses. (His mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri the Danite.) They put him in custody until the will of the LORD should be made clear to them.
Then the LORD said to Moses: "Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him. Say to the Israelites: 'If anyone curses his God, he will be held responsible; anyone who blasphemes the name of the LORD must be put to death. The entire assembly must stone him. Whether an alien or native-born, when he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death.
Blasphemer: to speak impiously or irreverently of (God or sacred things).
a.. Then let all who heard him lay their hands on his head: In accord with the principle of Deuteronomy 17:6-7. Two or three of the witnesses publicly laid hands on the accused, as a sure testimony to his guilt - and so the accused would know his accuser.
b. And let all the congregation stone him: God commanded execution by stoning for several reasons. First, stones were and are plentiful in Israel, so it was a ready means of execution. As well, it was so that the community could participate in the execution, for both a deterrent and a means of proclaiming, "This man has not only sinned against God, he has sinned against the community."
c. Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death: To keep themselves from blaspheming the name of the Lord, the Jews, in their traditions, went to extreme lengths to avoid saying or writing the name of God - because, in their thinking, you could not blaspheme God's name if you never said it.
So, only the High Priest was allowed to pronounce the holy name of God (Yahweh), and only once a year - on the day of atonement. The proper pronunciation of the name would be passed on from the high priest to his successor, with the former's last breath. This is why where was confusion for many years about the exact pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton (YHWH), some mistakenly pronouncing the name "Jehovah" instead of "Yahweh" or "Yah-veh."
The Jews also did not write the name of God, because if that paper were destroyed, it might be considered blasphemy or taking the name of the Lord in vain. So, they would write Adonai ("Lord") instead of Yahweh, and instead of "God" write "G-d" and refer to God with names like "the Name" instead of saying "God."
What does blasphemy against the Holy Spirit means?
b. And let all the congregation stone him: God commanded execution by stoning for several reasons. First, stones were and are plentiful in Israel, so it was a ready means of execution. As well, it was so that the community could participate in the execution, for both a deterrent and a means of proclaiming, "This man has not only sinned against God, he has sinned against the community."
c. Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death: To keep themselves from blaspheming the name of the Lord, the Jews, in their traditions, went to extreme lengths to avoid saying or writing the name of God - because, in their thinking, you could not blaspheme God's name if you never said it.
So, only the High Priest was allowed to pronounce the holy name of God (Yahweh), and only once a year - on the day of atonement. The proper pronunciation of the name would be passed on from the high priest to his successor, with the former's last breath. This is why where was confusion for many years about the exact pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton (YHWH), some mistakenly pronouncing the name "Jehovah" instead of "Yahweh" or "Yah-veh."
The Jews also did not write the name of God, because if that paper were destroyed, it might be considered blasphemy or taking the name of the Lord in vain. So, they would write Adonai ("Lord") instead of Yahweh, and instead of "God" write "G-d" and refer to God with names like "the Name" instead of saying "God."
What does blasphemy against the Holy Spirit means?
He that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness. - Mark 3:29
And by him that believe are justified from all things. - Acts 13:39
There's been a ton of concern by various parties over this verse in Mark, with some wondering if they have committed this "unpardonable sin" of blaspheming the Holy Ghost, and this is held against the Acts verse by skeptics. But the discussion really warrants no consternation by the believer because the "unpardonable sin" is this and nothing more: UNBELIEF. Thus, there is no contradiction with Acts 13:39 at all, for it sets as a pre-condition, "those who believe" -- and once you believe, you are of course "justified" from your unbelief!
Since this is an important issue, I'd like to explain this a bit further. The Holy Spirit is God's active principle in the world, as the Son (Word, Logos) is the Father's command and direction. By "active principle" we mean that the Holy Spirit is the personified effect of God in the lives of people and in the world. (See our essay here.) By "blaspheming" the Holy Spirit, Jesus therefore refers to one who denies the divine authority and activity of the Spirit -- as did those who attributed the exorcisms of the story to Beelzebul. Dunn, in Vol. 2 of Christ and the Spirit, puts it this way:
...the beneficial effect of [Jesus'] exorcisms was so self-evidently of God and wrought by his Spirit, that to attribute it to Satan was the worse kind of perversity -- deliberately to confuse the Spirit of God with the power of Satan was to turn one's back on God and his forgiveness (Mark 3:29).
In terms of the post-resurrection scenario, this also applies to those who refuse the prodding of the Holy Spirit to believe the Gospel. They deny the activity of the Holy Spirit in prodding them to believe, and thus blaspheme the Holy Spirit by putting his activity down to guilt feelings, intestinal gas, etc. This is why we are also told that "whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him" -- the Son of man, God's Word and Wisdom, is the message of God; it is not that part of the Godhead which convicts us.
Dear God, I love You so much with all my heart and soul. I've been scared and horrified, worrying whether or not I committed the blasphemy against the precious Holy Ghost. I am horribly sorry for [whatever I did.] I may have felt it at the time, or maybe it was just an accidental thought, but I know that you know my heart better than I know mine. I will no longer fear demonic words that I committed the unpardonable sin. I did not blaspheme the Holy Spirit in my heart at all. I may have said some evil with my tongue, or with my brain, but not with my heart! I love You more than anything, and I want to know the Holy Ghost and be His best friend! Thank You for forgiving me, for you are the most merciful in all existance. Thank You so much, dear Father, in Jesus's Name. Amen.
Hallelujah! You're back!