Chapter XXV
Ver. 1-19. Stripes MUST NOT KXTKKD Fonn 2. If the wicked man b«, worthy to l>e beaten—In judicial sentences, which award(Ml punishment short of capital, scourging, like the Egyptian liastinado, was the most common form in which they were executed. The Mosalo law, however, introduced two important restrictions, viz.
»rm, was tree; the (luantlty plucked was a loss never felt by the proprietor, and it was a kindly privi'ege allbrded to U;« poor and wayfaring man.
1st. That the punjshmenl should be liillicted In preseiK-e of the Judge iusleiul of being iiitli(-ted in private by suiue
Ccvfe^^<m of the Offerer of First-fruits. DEUTEEONOjSIY XXVI, XXVII. The 'law to be Written upon Slonea.
Increase tlie third year—Among the Hebrews there were two tithings. The first was appropriated to the Levites (Numbers 18.21). The second, being the tenth of what remained, was brought to Jerusalem in kind ; or it was converted into money, and the owner on arriving in the capital, purchased sheep, bread, and oil (ch. 14. 2'2, 23). This was done for two j'ears together. But this second tithing was eaten .it home, .and the third year distributed amongst tlie poor of the j^lace at discretion (ch. 11. 2S, 29). 13. Thou shalt say before the Lord tliy God, I have brought away the luallowed things out ofmine house This was a solemn declaration tliat noiliiug which should be devoted to the Divine service had been secretly reserved for personal use. li. I liave not eaten thereof In my mourning—in a season of sorrow, which brought defilement on sacred tilings; under a pretence of poverty, and grudging to give any away to the poor, ueitlier, for any unclean use i. e., any common purpose, ditferent from what God had .appointed, and whii-li would have been a desecration of it. nor given auglit thereof for the deail—on any funeral service, or, to an idol, which is a dead thing.
heartless official; and 2tl. That the maximum amount of
It sliould be limited to forty stripes, instead of being awarded according to the arbitrary will or passion of the
magistrate. The Egyptian, like Tmkish and Chinese
rulers, often applied the stick till they caused death or lameness for life. Of what the scourge consisted at first we are not informed; but in later times, when the Jews were exceedingly scrupulous in adhering to the letter of
the law, and, for fear of miscalculation, were desirous of keeping within the prescribed limit, it was formed of
three cords, terminating in leathern thongs, and thirteen
strokes of this counted thirty-nine (2 Corinthians 11. 21).
4. Tliou sUalt not muzzle the ox -wlieii lie treadeth out the com—In Judea, as in modern Syria and Egypt, the larger grains were beaten out by the feet of oxen, which, yoked together, trode round day after day the wide open spaces which form the thresiiing-floors. The animals were allowed freely to pick up a mouthful, when they chose to do so; a wise as well as humane regulation, introduced by the law of Moses (cf. 1 Corinthians 9. 9; 1 Timothy 5. 17, 18). 5-10. the wife of tlie dead shall not marry withoutunto a stranger ; her Itusbniid's brother shall take her to wife—This usage existed before the age of iloses (Genesis 38. 8). But the Mosaic law rendered the cuslotn obligatory (Matthew 22. 25) on younger brothers, or the nearest kinsman, to marry the widow (Ruth 4. 4), by associating the natural desire of perpetuating a broth-