Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 20:14
And if a man take a wife and her mother, it [is] wickedness: they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they; that there be no wickedness among you.
The burning under the sentence of the Law took place after the death of the criminal by stoning, or strangling. Jos 7:25.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 14. They shall be burnt with fire] As there are worse crimes mentioned here, (see Le 20:11 and Le 20:17), where the delinquent is ordered simply to be put to death, or to be cut off, it is very likely that the crime mentioned in this verse was not punished by burning alive, but by some kind of branding, by which they were ever after rendered infamous. I need not add that the original, baesh yishrephu, may, without violence to its grammatical meaning, be understood as above, though in other places it is certainly used to signify a consuming by fire. But the case in question requires some explanation; it is this: a man marries a wife, and afterward takes his mother-in-law or wife’s mother to wife also: now for this offence the text says all three shall be burnt with fire, and this is understood as signifying that they shall be burnt alive. Now the first wife, we may safely presume, was completely innocent, and was legally married: for a man may take to wife the daughter if single, or the mother if a widow, and in neither of these cases can any blame attach to the man or the party he marries; the crime therefore lies in taking both. Either, therefore, they were all branded as infamous persons, and this certainly was severe enough in the case of the first wife; or the man and the woman taken last were burnt: but the text says, both he and they; therefore, we should seek for another interpretation of they shall be burnt with fire, than that which is commonly given. Branding with a hot iron would certainly accomplish every desirable end both for punishment and prevention of the crime; and because the Mosaic laws are so generally distinguished by humanity, it seems to be necessary to limit the meaning of the words as above.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
It is wickedness, i.e. abominable and extraordinary wickedness, as the singularity of the punishment showeth.
Both he and they; either, or both or all of them, if they consented to it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And if a man take a wife, and her mother,…. Marry both the one and the other, or commit uncleanness with them, they consenting to it:
it [is] wickedness; abominable wickedness, shocking and detestable; there are other things, which also are wicked and not to be done, but this is extremely wicked, wickedness to a high degree:
they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they; the man, the mother and her daughter both being married together to him, or both consenting to his lying with them; otherwise, if one of them was first his wife, it was not reasonable that she should be put to death; and therefore some interpret “they”, one of them, as Jarchi observes, one or other of them; and so Aben Ezra explains it, this or that; if the mother was his wife, the daughter was to be burnt; and so on the contrary, if the daughter was his wife, the mother was to be burnt; according to the Targum of Jonathan, they were to be burnt by pouring lead into their mouths: and so the manner of burning is described in the Misnah g; they that are to be burnt are fixed in dung up to their knees, then they put a hard napkin within a soft one, and roll it about is neck; one draws it one way, and another another way, until he opens his mouth; then they take hot melted lead, and pour it into his mouth, which goes down into his bowels and burns them. But it was rather done with faggots, of which an instance is given:
that there be no wickedness among you; of such kind, continued, countenanced, and pass unpunished. This punishment was to be inflicted, to deter persons from it. The law against it is in Le 18:17.
g Sanhedrin, c. 7. sect. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(14) A wife and her mother.See Lev. 18:17.
They shall be burnt with fire.This, as we have seen, is the second of the four modes of capital punishment. (See Lev. 20:2.) In the following ten cases those guilty of the sins specified suffered this punishment: (1) the unchaste high priests daughter (Lev. 21:9); (2) he who had commerce with his daughter; (3)or with his daughters daughter; (4) or with his sons daughter; (5) or with his wifes daughter; (6) or with her daughters daughter; (7) or with her sons daughter; (8) or with his mother-in-law; (9) or with the mother of his mother-in-law; and (10), or with the mother of his father-in-law. It will thus be seen that with the exception of the high priests daughter this death was only inflicted for incest. As the Bible nowhere states the precise mode in which this kind of death is to be carried out, the authorities during the second Temple maintained that it must be executed in such a manner as to leave the body externally un changed by the flames, because, when God himself inflicted this punishment, the dead bodies of Nadab and Abihu were in a perfect state of preservation. (See Lev. 10:2.) To effect this the criminal was put into dung up to his knees, a soft cloth containing a hard one was then tied around his throat, while the two witnesses who had secured his sentence drew tighter by the two cords till the criminal opened his mouth, when molten lead was poured down his throat, thus burning him to death. Hence the ancient Chaldee Version renders it here, they shall be burnt with fire, with melted lead in their mouth.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
14. Burnt with fire The heinousness of the incest specified in this verse is emphasized by burning the dead bodies of the culprits after they had been stoned. Cremation, so common among the Greeks and Romans, was exceedingly abhorrent to the Hebrews. Burning alive is not a penalty of the Mosaic law. See Jos 7:15, note. Hence little confidence is to be put in the Targum of Palestine, which says, “Let them be burned with fire, with melted lead in their mouths.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Lev 20:14. If a man take a wife, &c.they shall be burnt with fire Some have thought it very extraordinary, that this crime should be punished with burning alive; when simple death only is assigned as a punishment for a more monstrous crime: (Lev 20:15-16.) and, therefore, they have thought that burning with fire here means, the marking of their bodies with a red-hot instrument, as a present punishment, and a future brand of infamy.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Lev 20:14 And if a man take a wife and her mother, it [is] wickedness: they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they; that there be no wickedness among you.
Ver. 14. See on Lev 18:1-30 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
wife and her mother. See Ch. Lev 18:17.
wickedness = disgraceful thing. Hebrew. chesed (App-44). Chesed is a Homonym : i.e. another word, spelled the same. It means (1) mercy, grace, goodness (Gen 24:12. 2Sa 7:15. 1Ch 19:2. 2Ch 6:14. Job 37:13. Psa 103:4, Psa 103:8, Psa 103:11, &c. But here (2) it is chesed, a disgraceful or reproachful thing. It is so taken here and in Pro 14:34.
burnt = burnt up: i.e. in judgment. Hebrew. saraph. App-43.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
a wife: Lev 18:17, Deu 27:23, Amo 2:7
burnt: Lev 21:9, Jos 7:15, Jos 7:25
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lev 20:14. They All who consented to it.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
20:14 And if a man take a wife and her mother, {f} it [is] wickedness: they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they; that there be no wickedness among you.
(f) It is an abominable and detestable thing.