This passage, like the narrative in Leviticus 10, recounts failure by a member of the community that led to his death. This time it is an ordinary person who brawled and blasphemed. So his case becomes the occasion for additional divine legislation regarding blasphemy and assault.

The blasphemer is the son of an Israelite woman and an Egyptian man. So it appears that he belongs to the “mixed multitude” that left Egypt with the Israelites (Exod. 12:38 NASB). The identity of his mother is more important than that of his father. She is Shelomith, daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan. Ironically, the name Shelomith is from the same Hebrew root as the noun for “well-being” or “peace” and the verb for “make restitution” (see Lev. 24:18, 21); Dibri is from the same root as the verb “speak” an…