§ 1 The text
NASB
Leviticus 20:1-5, NASBThen the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “You shall also say to the sons of Israel: ‘Any man from the sons of Israel or from the aliens sojourning in Israel who gives any of his offspring to Molech, shall surely be put to death; the people of the land shall stone him with stones. I will also set My face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given some of his offspring to Molech, so as to defile My sanctuary and to profane My holy name. If the people of the land, however, should ever disregard that man when he gives any of his offspring to Molech, so as not to put him to death, then I Myself will set My face against that man and against his family, and I will cut off from among their people both him and all those who play the harlot after him, by playing the harlot after Molech.’”
“Even if abortion is like child sacrifice, the state may tolerate it rather than punish it.”
§ 2 The argument
God commands that child sacrifice be punished — and adds that if the people 'disregard' (turn a blind eye to) the one who does it, God sets His face against them too. There is thus a double guilt: the one who sacrifices the child, and the community that refuses to do justice. A nation that permits abortion by exception, or declines to punish it, incurs the second guilt.
§ 3 Context & notes
The theological engine of the abolitionist national-judgment argument. The key phrase is the complicity clause (v.4-5): tolerating the evil, not merely committing it, brings God's face against you. Abolitionists identify modern abortion as functional child sacrifice and 'looking away' as national complicity.
§ 4 Themes
child sacrifice Molech complicity turning a blind eye national judgment God's face against
§ 5 Discussion questions
- God warns those who 'disregard' the one sacrificing his child, not only the one who does it. What is the modern equivalent of disregarding it?
- If a law permits the killing but declines to punish it, which of the two guilts in this passage does the nation incur?
- Why does God tie this specifically to the defiling of His sanctuary and name?