Leviticus 20:14

Leviticus 20:14 says, 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.  This was still about sexual impurity within a family, this time with a man, his wife and her mother.  In such cases, all three were to be burned to keep wickedness from being in the land of Israel.  Verse fifteen adds, And if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death: and ye shall slay the beast.  Verse sixteen continues, And if a woman approach unto any beast, and lie down thereto, thou shalt kill the woman, and the beast: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.  In the case of either a man or a woman having sex with a beast, both the man and the woman and the beast were to be killed.  Verse seventeen states, And if a man shall take his sister, his father’s daughter, or his mother’s daughter, and see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness; it is a wicked thing; and they shall be cut off in the sight of their people: he hath uncovered his sister’s nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity.  This was a prohibition against brothers and sisters having a sexual relationship.  If they did they were to be cut off from the people.  Verse eighteen adds, And if a man shall lie with a woman having her sickness, and shall uncover her nakedness; he hath discovered her fountain, and she hath uncovered the fountain of her blood: and both of them shall be cut off from among their people.  That pretty much explains itself.  Verse nineteen continues, And thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother’s sister, nor of thy father’s sister: for he uncovereth his near kin: they shall bear their iniquity.  Then verse twenty says, And if a man shall lie with his uncle’s wife, he hath uncovered his uncle’s nakedness: they shall bear their sin; they shall die childless.  These are further prohibitions against relationships involving incest.  Verse twenty-one adds, And if a man shall take his brother’s wife, it is an unclean thing: he hath uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless.  In this case, where a man took his brothers wife, I guess while the brother was still alive, it was an unclean thing and the two were to remain childless.  Some of the penalties were more severe than others, but all had a penalty.  Of course, the ultimate penalty for unforgiven sins is spiritual death, which brings everlasting separation from God.  Verse twenty-two continues, Ye shall therefore keep all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: that the land, whither I bring you to dwell therein, spue you not out.  This was a warning for the people of Israel to keep all of God's laws.  Verse twenty-three states. And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them.  The people of Israel were warned against following the practices of those who God had driven out of the land, just as we as followers of Christ are not to follow the ways of the world today.  Verse twenty-four adds, But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey: I am the LORD your God, which have separated you from other people.  God said He had given them a land flowing with milk and honey, and as Christians, God has prepared for us a land flowing with milk and honey as our everlasting home.  Verse twenty-five continues, Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean: and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean.  God said that they were to follow His laws concerning clean and unclean animals.  Verse twenty-six says, And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine.  God told the people of Israel that they were to be holy, or set apart from the world, because He was holy.  We today as Christians are to be set aside from the world because God is holy and we are His people.  Verse twenty-seven adds, A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them.  This is another warning against witchcraft, and it still applies today.