One Law for the Foreigner and the Native
10 The son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel; and the son of the Israelite woman and a man of Israel strove together in the camp. 11 The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name, and cursed; and they brought him to Moses. His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan. 12 They put him in custody until Yahweh’s will should be declared to them. 13 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 14 “Bring him who cursed out of the camp; and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him. 15 You shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin. 16 He who blasphemes Yahweh’s name, he shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall certainly stone him. The foreigner as well as the native-born shall be put to death when he blasphemes the Name. 17 “‘He who strikes any man mortally shall surely be put to death. 18 He who strikes an animal mortally shall make it good, life for life. 19 If anyone injures his neighbor, it shall be done to him as he has done: 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. It shall be done to him as he has injured someone. 21 He who kills an animal shall make it good; and he who kills a man shall be put to death. 22 You shall have one kind of law for the foreigner as well as the native-born; for I am Yahweh your God.’” 23 Moses spoke to the children of Israel; and they brought him who had cursed out of the camp, and stoned him with stones. The children of Israel did as Yahweh commanded Moses.
A blasphemy case is held over until a ruling is given, and the ruling ends by making the law identical for foreigners and Israelites.
The narrative interrupts the legislation, and it is only the second story in the book.
A man whose father was an Egyptian fights with an Israelite in the camp, and in the quarrel he blasphemed the Name, and cursed Leviticus 24:10–11. His mother is named, and her tribe, which is more than the book usually supplies.
What happens next is the most important procedural detail in the chapter: they put him in custody until Yahweh's will should be declared to them Leviticus 24:12.
Nobody acts. There is no precedent, the man's status is ambiguous — half Israelite, half Egyptian — and the community holds him and waits rather than improvising. The same thing happens in the only other comparable case in the law Numbers 15:34, and both times the restraint is recorded approvingly.
The sentence, when it comes, is death, and the procedure puts the weight on the witnesses: let all who heard him lay their hands on his head Leviticus 24:14. The men whose testimony convicts him identify themselves in public and act first.
Then the general legislation, and this is where the case turns out to have been about something else.
The rules run through homicide, killing an animal, and injury — fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth Leviticus 24:20. As in Deuteronomy, this is a limit on penalties administered by a court, and the distinction it draws is between a man and an animal: he who kills an animal shall make it good; and he who kills a man shall be put to death Leviticus 24:21. Property is repaid; a life cannot be.
And the conclusion is the sentence the whole incident was recorded for: you shall have one kind of law for the foreigner as well as the native-born; for I am Yahweh your God Leviticus 24:22.
The case that raised the question was a man of mixed parentage, and the answer given is that there is no separate legal category for him. He is tried under the same law and receives the same sentence an Israelite would have received — which is a hard mercy, and it is the same principle the book applies when it commands that the foreigner be loved as oneself Leviticus 19:34.
settled What this mark means