Leviticus 20

Now that we've read a whole bevy or rules, directives, decrees, and regulations, we finally get to the crunchy bits: punishments for disobedience. To quote a line from the song "The Court of Miracles" in Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame, "We like to get the trial over with quickly / Because it's the sentence that's really the fun!"

Most of the sins listed here are punishable by death, so, somewhat paradoxically, I sit up and take notice when a sin doesn't lead to the death penalty. Said crimes include consulting mediums (verse 6), men marrying their sisters (verse 17 and 19), consummation during a woman's period (verse 18), and getting busy with one's aunt or brother's wife (verses 20-21). The consequence for most of these is being cut off from everyone else, while the sins in verses 20 and 21 result in barrenness. I get why the period thing (verse 18) wouldn't result in as severe a punishment, but I'm puzzled about the rest, as most of them seem no less horrible than the sins punishable by death.

The most severe punishment, however, comes in verse 14: "If a man marries both a woman and his mother, it is wicked. Both he and they must be burned in the fire, so that no wickedness will be among you." Death by fire is a particularly painful way to go out. Perhaps Robert Towne, the screenwriter of the classic (and depressing) film Chinatown had this verse in mind when he crafted one of cinema's most realistically reprehensible villains (portrayed with malignant amiability by John Huston, no less).

A recurring statement in this chapter is, "their blood will be on their own head" (e.g., verse 9). In the last chapter, blood represented one's life force, but now, it represents guilt. (We all remember Lady Macbeth and her little quandary regarding blood.) Some sins are difficult, if not impossible, for an outside observer to espy, but to God, they're as vivid as a mandrill's tushy.

Somewhat amusingly, after God reminds the Israelites of their role as His chosen people, He closes the chapter rather abruptly with another decree, this one involving mediums. I wonder why this verse wasn't placed right before or after verse 6, where it would make more sense thematically. Many of the sins stated in the chapter, however, are punishable by death.