Leviticus 24:16 (NASBStr)
Moreover, the one who blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him. The alien as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.
This command comes at the end of a story about a man who either used God's name to curse another, or actually cursed God directly. He violated the third commandment and was to be punished accordingly. Moses sought God's will on the issue and the foregoing verse is God's final command on the subject. Those who heard him curse in a way that brought blasphemy to God's Holy name were to put their hands on the head of the offender and then the rest of the congregation was to stone the man to death. By placing their hands on the man they were openly admitting that this man did indeed curse God and was the one deserving of death. God takes blasphemy seriously. You have to consider how far our society, or any society, has gone away from this treatment of blasphemy. How many times do we here Jesus name or God's name taken in vain and used as a simply curse word? How many times do we here of people who curse God directly for His acting (or, according to them, failure to act) in their lives? Cursing God has become as common place as a simply language slang. And, those who here it are no longer offended by it. In this story someone was sensitive enough to take it to God's appointed leader. In our world today, as believers, we are seldom even offended and never in shock, when we hear God's name blasphemed. Before we can be too hard on the nation of Israel for their failure to keep from sin, we ought to make sure we have some sensitivity of our own to the holiness of God.
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