פרשת אמור תשכ"ו - נוקב שם ה'

And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying: Whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin.

And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him; as well the stranger, as the home-born, when he blasphemeth the Name, shall be put to death.

ונשא חטאו [WHOSOEVER EXECRATETH HIS GOD] SHALL BEAR HIS SIN — i. e. shall be punished with excision if there was no legal warning preceding the offence (Sifra, Emor, Chapter 19 6; cf. Rashi on Leviticus 20:27).

the entire assembly meaning, the leaders of Israel. Some people apply the phrase who curses his Lord to the case when someone blasphemes secretly. The truth of the matter is that “lord” is a common noun. Both angels [Judges 13:22] [comment on Genesis 3:5] and judges [Exodus 22:27] are called “lords”. How can one know which meaning the blasphemer intended? However, if he utters the Glorious Name, which is not a descriptive name, and cannot be mistaken for a common noun, then it can only denote Him and no one else [cf. comment on Exodus 3:15]. Thus the meaning of this verse is: When someone blasphemes, if he pronounces the Name, then he is put to death for blaspheming the Name . This is what happened in the case of the Egyptian’s son. Notice that, out of respect for God, the passage on blasphemy does not mention the Name. both the alien and the native shall be put to death This leads us to the upcoming passage, which discusses assault (since the two men who fought, above, almost certainly struck one another). Although these laws were given before [Exodus 21:12 ff], they are repeated here to add the phrase “for both the alien and the native” [:22]. We begin with the case of one who kills any other person deliberately (except in wartime), whether the victim be an alien or a native.

And Moses spoke to the children of Israel, and they brought forth him that had cursed out of the camp, and stoned him with stones. And the children of Israel did as the LORD commanded Moses.

The children of Israel did … From that day onwards, they enforced all the laws of personal injury.

ובני ישראל עשו כאשר צוה השם. The children of Israel did as G'd commanded. Why did the Torah write that the children of Israel did what G'd commanded after it had already reported in the first part of the verse that they took the blasphemer out of the camp and executed him by stoning him? Seeing that the cause of this execution was a quarrel between a Jew and the son of a Jewess, one could have argued that though the judgment was carried out, many people harboured reservations in their hearts about this execution. The Torah therefore repeats that the children of Israel did what G'd commanded to indicate that their motivation was to carry out G'd's commandment.

ובני ישראל עשו כאשר צוה ה' את משה, they did not stone him as an act of revenge, or because they hated the individual being stoned; they did it merely in order to fulfill G’d’s commandment.