Leviticus 20:3 Commentary - Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

(3) And I will set my face against that man.—That is, make him feel my anger. (See Lev. 17:10.)

And will cut him off.—As the preceding verse describes the offender as having been stoned to death by the people, the declaration on the part of God that He will cut off the sinner has occasioned some difficulty. Hence some take it simply to express the same thing—that the judicial execution is God’s mode of cutting off the sinner from his people. According to the administrators of the law during the second Temple, however, the legislator supposes a case where the man has been actually guilty of the crime, and that there has not been a sufficient amount of evidence to convict him. In that case God himself would interpose and cut the offender off. This is more in accordance with what follows.

To defile my sanctuary.—By sinning, the Israelites contracted defilement, and they defiled the sanctuary which was in their midst. (See Lev. 15:31; Lev. 16:16.) These very people, moreover, when they had sacrificed their children to Molech, afterwards came to the sanctuary to worship God (Jer. 7:9-10; Eze. 23:37-39).

Profane my holy name.—See Lev. 18:21.