Leviticus 20 repeats much material that is already recorded in Lev 18 on forbidden sexual unions. In describing the difference between the two chapters, commentators often point out that the laws in Lev 18 are apodictic ("don't do x"), while those in Lev 20 are casuistic ("if someone does x, then .....).
A number of the cases in Lev 20 mention the death penalty. In such cases, we should keep several things in mind.
It is often pointed out that the Hebrew word "Torah" means "instruction" rather than law, but in reading the Pentateuch, we still have a tendency to revert to things familiar from our own culture. So it's helpful to remember that chapters like Lev 20 are not part of an "Israelite Revised Criminal Code". Ancient Israel did not have jails or a police force. There wasn't a vice squad that hauled in sex offenders to be executed.
The punishments mentioned in connection with various offenses in the Pentateuch express how serious these offenses are to God. The penalties mentioned are maximum penalties, not required ones, except in the case of first-degree murder (as implied by Num 35:31). And in practice, the death penalty was not often carried out in Israel, as far as we know, partly because there was a high bar for the evidence required to convict someone of a capital crime.
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