Leviticus — Chapter 24

The oil of the lamps in the tabernacle, which burned continually from evening to morning before the Lord (Lev. 24:2-4), is expounded by Lapide as a figure of the perpetual prayer and praise of the Church. The lamp never extinguished before the tabernacle figures the Blessed Sacrament reserved in Catholic churches, before which a lamp perpetually burns in honour of Christ present. He cites the perpetual praise of the angels and saints in heaven as the archetype of this earthly symbol.

The twelve loaves of the bread of the Presence (showbread), set out in two rows of six on the golden table every Sabbath, figure the twelve Apostles and the twelve tribes of Israel, now incorporated into the one Church. Lapide: the bread offered before God signifies that the entire Church and all her members are placed before God in continual offering. The weekly renewal on the Sabbath figures the weekly renewal of the Eucharistic sacrifice on Sunday.

The blasphemer, son of an Egyptian father and an Israelite mother (Lev. 24:10-14), blaspheming the name of God in a quarrel, is brought before Moses and stoned by the whole congregation. Lapide uses this passage to show that under the Old Law blasphemy was treated as a capital crime — a measure of the gravity with which God's honour was regarded. He draws the analogy to the Church's temporal penalties for heresy and blasphemy in Christian states.

The blasphemer is stoned at the command of God (Lev. 24:16). Lapide: blasphemy is graver than any external sin against man, because it directly offends the divine majesty. Under the New Law blasphemy remains a mortal sin. He notes that the accusers of Christ used this very text against Him (Matt. 26:65), claiming that by calling Himself the Son of God He blasphemed — when in truth He was the very God they professed to serve.