John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Deuteronomy 19:1



INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 19



This chapter contains an order to separate three cities of refuge in the land of Canaan, for such that killed a man unawares to flee to, of which those who were guilty of murder purposely were to have no benefit, De 19:1, a law is given against removing landmarks, De 19:14, and others concerning witnesses, that they should be more than one; be two, or three, De 19:15, and that a false witness, on conviction, should be punished, De 19:16.



Ver. 1. When the Lord thy God hath cut off the nations whose land the Lord thy God giveth thee,.... The seven nations of the land of Canaan, whose destruction was of the Lord for their sins, and whose land was a gift of him that had a right to dispose of it to the children of Israel; see De 12:29



and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their cities, and in their houses; should possess their land in their stead, by virtue of the gift of it to them by the Lord, and inhabit their cities and houses built by them.





Deuteronomy 19:2



Ver. 2. Thou shalt separate three cities for thee in the midst of thy land,.... From the cities they took possession of and dwelt in; and indeed from the cities of the Levites, which were given to them to inhabit; three were before ordered to be separated from those inhabited by the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, De 4:41 but these were to be in the midst of the land of Canaan; see Jos 20:7,



which the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it: which as it is often mentioned when this land is spoken of, so it carries in it a reason here why this order of the Lord's should be readily complied with, the whole land and all the cities of it being the gift of his to them.





Deuteronomy 19:3



Ver. 3. Thou shalt prepare thee a way,.... A road, an highway to those cities: on the first of Adar, or February, the magistrates used to meet, and proclaimed, or ordered to be proclaimed, that the ways be repaired {r}, particularly those leading to the cities of refuge; which was done by making them smooth and plain, so that there was not an hill or dale to be seen; and by building bridges over rivers and brooks, that he might escape who had killed anyone through mistake, and not be hindered, lest the avenger of blood should overtake him and kill him {s}; and therefore every obstruction was removed out of the way, that there might be a clear course for him; and at the parting of ways, or where two or more ways met, that he might not be at a loss one moment which way to take, "refuge" was written, as Jarchi and other writers observe, upon posts or pillars erected for that purpose: See Gill on "Nu 35:6",



and divide the coasts of thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee to inherit, in three parts; in each of which was to be a city of refuge, and those at an equal distance: so Jarchi observes, that this was done that there might be from the beginning of the border (of the land) unto the first city of the cities of refuge, according to the measure of a journey, that there is from that to the second, and so from the second to the third, and so from the third to the other border of the land of Israel: of the situation of these cities, so as to answer to those on the other side Jordan, See Gill on "Nu 35:14",



that every slayer may flee thither; to that which is nearest and most convenient for him, that is, who had slain a man unawares, as follows.



{r} Misn. Shekalim, c. 1. sect. 1. {s} Maimon. & Bartenora in ib.





Deuteronomy 19:4



Ver. 4. And this is the case of the slayer, which shall flee thither, that he may live,.... It was not any slayer that might have protection in these cities, but such who were thus and thus circumstanced, or whose case was as follows:



whoso killeth his neighbour ignorantly; without intention, as the Targum of Jonathan, did not design it, but was done by him unawares:



whom he hated not in time past; had never shown by words or deeds that he had any hatred of him or enmity to him three days ago; so that if there were no marks of hatred, or proofs of it three days before this happened, it was reckoned an accidental thing, and not done on purpose, as this phrase is usually interpreted; see Ex 21:29.





Deuteronomy 19:5



Ver. 5. As when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbour to hew wood,.... A wood is a place common to men, and cutting down wood a business which any man might do; whereas a private place, where a man had no right to be, and doing what he had no business with, rendered a case suspicious, and such a man was liable to be taken up when any affair happened of the kind here spoken of; so the Jewish writers observe {t},



"a wood is a public place for him that hurts and him that is hurt to enter there;''



both had a right to go thither, the one as well as the other, he to whom the accident came, and he by whom it came; but they say, a court that belongs to a master of a house (a private court) is excepted, where there is no power or liberty for him that hurts or for him that is hurt to enter. Abba Saul says, What is hewing wood? It is what a man has a right to do, or is in his power; it is what is public and common, and not peculiar to any:



and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree; lifts up the axe and is about to strike with it, in order to cut down the tree pitched upon by him or by his neighbour, or both:



and the head slippeth from the halve; the head of the axe from the handle of it,



or the iron from the wood {u}; the iron part of the axe, which is properly the head, from the wooden part, which is laid hold on by the hand; and this not being well fastened, slips and falls off as the blow is fetching, or the stroke just ready to be given:



and lighteth upon his neighbour, that he die; hits him in some part as he stands by him, which proves fatal:



he shall flee unto one of these cities, and live; be safe and secure from the avenger of blood; such an one might have the benefit of one of these cities, for, for such they were designed: the rule with the Jews is, what is done by way of descent (i.e. which comes down and lights upon a man, and is not levelled against him, or thrown up at him) he is to be exiled (or to have the benefit of a city of refuge), but what is not by way of descent, he is not to have it. Some think this is spoken of the wood which is cleaved, and not of the wood in which the iron is fixed; but the wise men say it is to be so understood {x}; in which they are right.



{t} Misn. Maccot, c. 2. sect. 2. {u} Ueh Nm lzrbh "ferrum e ligno", Pagninus, Montanus. {x} Misn. Maccot, c. 2. sect. 1. Maimon. & Bartenora in ib.





Deuteronomy 19:6



Ver. 6. Lest the avenger of blood pursue the slayer,.... These words are to be connected with De 19:3, where it is ordered to prepare the way to the cities of refuge, and to divide the land into three parts, for the convenience of the slayer to flee thither, lest he that was next of kin, and incensed against the slayer, and determined to avenge what was done, should pursue after him:



while his heart is hot; by reason of the loss of his relation, upon which his passions being raised, his heart becomes inflamed with wrath and anger; which pushes him upon an eager and hasty pursuit of the slayer, before he sits down and coolly considers and deliberates on the affair:



and overtake him, because the way is long, and slay him; wherefore it was proper that everything should be done to make the way to these cities as easy and as short as it could be:



whereas he was not worthy of death; had not committed an action deserving of it, it being done ignorantly and without notice, as follows:



inasmuch as he hated him not in time past;

See Gill on "De 19:4".





Deuteronomy 19:7



Ver. 7. Wherefore I command thee, saying, thou shalt separate three cities for thee. This was to be done immediately, as soon as they were settled in the land of Canaan, and established in the possession of it, the inhabitants being cut off, or driven out, or however subdued.





Deuteronomy 19:8



Ver. 8. And if the Lord thy God enlarge thy coast,.... Extend it further than it was upon their first settlement, even carry it as far as the river Euphrates, as in the times of Solomon, 1Ki 4:21. Jarchi interprets it of such an enlargement as to give them the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites and Kadmonites:



(as he hath sworn unto thy fathers), and give thee all the land which he promised to give unto thy, fathers: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; see

Ge 15:19.





Deuteronomy 19:9



Ver. 9. If thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them, which I command thee this day,.... A phrase often met with before, and signifies the putting in practice the several laws, moral, ceremonial, and judicial, which Moses was now making a repetition of, and enjoining the observance of them by a divine authority:



to love the Lord thy God; which is the source and spring of genuine obedience to the commands of God:



and to walk ever in his ways; noting constancy and perseverance in them; now all this is mentioned as the condition of the enlargement of their coast, which would be the case if a due and constant regard was had to the laws of God:



and then shall thou add three cities more besides these three; three more in the land of Canaan, besides the three now ordered to be separated in it, and besides the three on the other side of Jordan; so that there would have been nine in all, if these had been ever added; but that time never came: the Jews expect the addition of these three cities in the days of the Messiah {y} but the Messiah is already come, and all those cities, as they were typical of him, have had their accomplishment in him the antitype of them, of which

See Gill on "Nu 35:29".



{y} Maimon. Hilchot Rotzeach, c. 8. sect. 4.





Deuteronomy 19:10



Ver. 10. That innocent blood be not shed,.... As it would be if such a slayer as before described was killed by the avenger of blood, before he could get to one of these cities of refuge, or supposing that they had not bean appointed, or a sufficient number of them:



which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance; to be enjoyed by them and their children after them, provided they did not defile it by their sins, but observed the commands of the Lord to obey them and



so blood be upon thee; the guilt of innocent blood crying for vengeance, as would be the case if such a man's blood was shed as before described; it seems as if the guilt would rather affect the whole land, for not having a proper provision of "asylums" for such persons, than the avenger of blood.





Deuteronomy 19:11



Ver. 11. But if any man hate his neighbour,.... Has conceived enmity in his heart against him, bears him a mortal hatred, and has formed a scheme in his mind to take away his life:



and lie in wait for him knowing and expecting he will come by in such a way at such a time:



and rise up against him; out of the place where he lay in wait, just at the time he is passing by:



and smite him mortally that he die; or smite him



in soul or life {z}; in such a part where life is in danger, and the consequence of it is that he dies:



and fleeth into one of these cities; for shelter from the avenger of blood.



{z} vpn, "anima", Montanus, Vatablus.





Deuteronomy 19:12



Ver. 12. Then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him thence,.... The Targum of Jonathan is,



"the wise men of his city,''



the sanhedrim, or court of judicature, or at least the civil magistrates of that city, to which such a murderer belonged, had a power to send to the city of refuge whither he was fled, and demand the delivering of him up to them, that his case might be tried before them, and it might appear whether he was a proper person to receive the benefit of the city of refuge or not, and if not, to pass sentence of death upon him, and see it executed as follows:



and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die; that is, after the examination and trial of him, and when he is found guilty, and sentence is passed upon him, then he was to be delivered into the hands of the avenger of blood, to be the executioner of that sentence.





Deuteronomy 19:13



Ver. 13. Thine eye shall not pity him,.... This is not said to the avenger of blood, who is not to be supposed to have any pity or compassion on such a person, but to the elders, judges, and civil magistrates of the city to which he belonged, who took cognizance of his case; these were to show him no favour on account of his being a citizen, a neighbour, a relation or friend, or a rich man, or on any account whatever; but without favour or affection were to judge him and put him to death as a murderer; see Nu 35:21,



but thou shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel; by which they would be defiled, and be liable to punishment for it; see

Nu 35:33, the Targum of Jonathan is,



"shall put away those that shed innocent blood out of Israel;''



put them away by death:



that it may go well with thee; with the whole land and its inhabitants, and with the city particularly, and the magistrates, and men of it, to which the murderer condemned to death belonged, being continued in the enjoyment of all temporal blessings and mercies.





Deuteronomy 19:14



Ver. 14. Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour's landmark,.... By which one man's land is distinguished from another; for so to do is to injure a man's property, and alienate his lands to the use of another, which must be a very great evil, and render those that do it obnoxious to a curse, De 27:17



which they of old have set in thine inheritance, which thou shall inherit in the land that the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it; the land of Canaan: this is thought to refer to the bounds and limits set in the land by Eleazar and Joshua, and those concerned with them at the division of it; when not only the tribes were bounded; and distinguished by certain marks, but every man's estate, and the possession of every family in every tribe which though not as yet done when this law was made, yet, as it respects future times, might be said to be done of old, whenever there was any transgression of it, which it cannot be supposed would be very quickly done; and it is a law not only binding on the inhabitants of the land of Canaan, but all others, it being agreeably to the light and law of nature, and which was regarded among the Heathens, Pr 22:28.





Deuteronomy 19:15



Ver. 15. One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth,.... Whether capital sins, or pecuniary debts; or whatsoever sins a man may be guilty of whether sins against the first or second table of the law, whether greater or lesser sins, whether in moral or civil things; the Jews except only in the case of a woman suspected of adultery and of beheading the heifer:



at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established; either for acquittance or condemnation; and the witnesses may not, as Jarchi says, write their testimony in a letter, and send it to the sanhedrim, nor may an interpreter stand between the witnesses and the judges;

See Gill on "De 17:6".





Deuteronomy 19:16



Ver. 16. If a false witness rise up against any man,.... In a court of judicature:



to testify against him: that which is not true of him, let it be in what case it will; Aben Ezra instances in idolatry, but it holds good of any other.





Deuteronomy 19:17



Ver. 17. Then both the men between whom the controversy is,.... The man that bears the false witness, and the man against whom it is borne:



shall stand before the Lord; as in the presence of him, the omniscient God, and as represented by judges and civil magistrates, whose vicegerents they are; so it seems to be explained in the next words, which are exegetical of these:



before the priests and the judges which shall be in those days; which shall compose the sanhedrim, or court of judicature; and this seems to confirm it, that by priest and judge, in De 17:9 are meant priests and judges; Jarchi says, this Scripture speaks of witnesses, that is, of the false witness that testifies wrong against a man, and another that contradicts his testimony, and teaches that there is no witness by women; and so it is elsewhere said {a}, an oath of witness is made by men, and not by women; on which it is observed {b} that a woman is not fit to bear witness, as it is written,



then both the men,.... men and not women; and the above writer remarks further, that it teaches that they ought to bear testimony standing.



{a} Misn. Shebuot, c. 4. sect. 1. {b} Bartenora in ib.





Deuteronomy 19:18



Ver. 18. And the judges shall make diligent inquisition,.... Into the case before them, into the nature of the evidence and proof that each witness brings for or against; so the Targum of Jonathan,



"the judges shall interrogate the witness, by whom these things are said, well;''



shall thoroughly examine the testimony given, and look carefully into it:



and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother; it appears plainly by full evidence that he has testified a falsehood of him.





Deuteronomy 19:19



Ver. 19. Then shall ye do unto him as he had thought to have done unto his brother,.... Inflict the same fine or punishment on him he thought to have brought his brother under by his false testimony of him; whether any pecuniary fine, or whipping and scourging, or the loss of a member, or the value of it, or death itself; whether stoning, strangling, burning, or killing with the sword: though, in the case of accusing a priest's daughter of adultery, as Jarchi observes, such were not to be burnt, as would have been her case if proved, but strangled:



so shalt thou put the evil away from among you; the evil man that bears a false testimony of his brother, or the guilt of sin which would be incurred by conniving at him.





Deuteronomy 19:20



Ver. 20. And those which remain shall hear, and fear,.... Those which survive the false witness shall hear of the punishment inflicted on him, and fear to commit the like sin, lest they should be punished in like manner.





Deuteronomy 19:21



Ver. 21. And thine eye shall not pity,.... The false witness when convicted; this is directed to the judges, who should not spare such an one through favour or affection, but pronounce a righteous sentence on him, and see it executed, in proportion to the crime, and that according to the law of retaliation:



but life shall go for life; in such a case where the life of a person must have gone, if the falsehood of the testimony had not been discovered, the false witness must suffer death; in other cases, where a member would have been lost, or the price of it paid for, the same penalty was to be inflicted:



eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot; that is, the price of an eye an eye, &c. see Ex 21:23.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Deuteronomy 20:1



INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 20



In this chapter rules are given to be observed in times of war. When a battle was near, a priest was to address the soldiers, and encourage them to fight, De 20:1, then the officers were to declare who might return home, De 20:5 when an enemy's city was approached, peace was to be proclaimed on certain conditions, which, if accepted of, the inhabitants were to be tributaries and servants, but if not, when taken, all were to be put to the sword, excepting women, children, and cattle, De 20:10, but those of the seven nations were to be utterly destroyed, De 20:16, and, during a siege, no trees bearing fruit fit for food were to be cut down, De 20:19.



Ver. 1. When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies,.... There were two sorts of war the Israelites were engaged in, one commanded and another permitted, as Maimonides {c} distinguishes; one was by the order and appointment of God, as against the seven nations of Canaan; the other was voluntary and arbitrary, which was left to their own discretion and will, as they saw fit, when they were provoked or distressed, or were invaded by their enemies, or they saw reason to go out against them, and either act the offensive or defensive part, or both; and of each of these some things are said in this chapter:



and seest horses and chariots, and a people more than thou; the Israelites had no horses, and so no chariots, their armies were all infantry; but their neighbouring nations that made war with them had a large cavalry, and multitudes of chariots, which made them very formidable; thus Shishak, king of Egypt, in the times of Rehoboam, came against Jerusalem with 1200 chariots and 60,000, horsemen, and people without number; and Zerah the Ethiopian, in the times of Asa, came against him with an host of 100,000 men, and three hundred chariots, 2Ch 12:2



be not afraid of them; because of the strength of their cavalry, the terrible approaches of their chariots, and the number of their men:



for the Lord thy God is with thee; hence, as Hezekiah says, more would be with them than with their enemies, with whom was an arm of flesh, but with them the Lord their God, 2Ch 32:7 and so the Targum of Jonathan,



"for all of them shall be reckoned as one horse and one chariot before the Lord your God;''



with whom numbers are nothing; and which adds,



"for his Word shall be your help;''



the eternal Logos, or Word of God; so Onkelos; and if God and his Word, his only begotten Son, are on the side of his people, they have nothing to fear from enemies, though ever so many and mighty:



which brought thee out of the land of Egypt; which is observed for the encouragement of their faith and confidence in him; for he that did that for them, what is it he cannot or will not do?



{c} Hilchot Melachim, c. 7. sect. 1.





Deuteronomy 20:2



Ver. 2 And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle,.... When all things are preparing for it, and it seems unavoidable:



that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people; not any priest, but one appointed for this service; who is called



the anointed of war, as Jarchi and Aben Ezra observe, and concerning whom Maimonides {d} is more particular; he says,



"they appoint a priest to speak to the people at the time of war, and they anoint him with the anointing oil, and he is called the anointed of war; twice the anointed of war speaks unto the people, once in a book at the time they go forth, before they set in battle array, he says to the people, "what man is there", &c. and when he has caused his words to be heard, he returns; at another time, when they are set in array, he says, "fear not", &c.''



this man seems to be an emblem of Gospel ministers, who are anointed with the gifts and graces of the Spirit of God, and whose business it is to encourage the people of God to fight the Lord's battles against sin, Satan, and the world, and not to be afraid of their spiritual enemies; directing them to take to them the whole armour of God, and to endure hardness as good soldiers of Christ, to follow him the captain of their salvation, assuring them of victory through him who makes them more than conquerors, and that their warfare is or shortly will be accomplished.



{d} Hilchot Melachim, c. 7. sect. 1, 2.





Deuteronomy 20:3



Ver. 3. And shall say unto them, hear, O Israel,.... Exciting their attention to what he was about to say, and which, as Jarchi observes, was spoken in the holy tongue, or in the Hebrew language:



you approach this day unto battle against your enemies; were marching or ready to march, preparing to engage with them, and a battle seemed near at hand:



let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them; many words are made use of to animate them against those fears which the strength, number, and appearance of their enemies, would be apt to cause in them. Jarchi observes, that here are four exhortations, answerable to four things which the kings of the nations do (in order to inject terror into their enemies); they shake their shields, to clash them one against another, that hearing their noise they may be afraid of them and flee; they prance their horses, and make them neigh, to cause the noise of the hoofs of their horses to be heard; they shout with their voices, and blow with their trumpets: and accordingly these several clauses are so interpreted in the Misnah {e}



""and let not your hearts faint"; at the neighing of the horses, and the brightness of swords: "fear not"; at the clashing of shields: "and do not tremble"; at the sound of trumpets: "neither be ye terrified" at the voice of shouting;''



and no doubt but it takes in everything that has a tendency to cause fear, faintness, and dismay, which they are cautioned against.



{e} Misn. Sotah, c. 8. sect. 1.





Deuteronomy 20:4



Ver. 4. For the Lord your God is he that goeth with you,.... To battle, and therefore they had no reason to fear and be dismayed, to be fainthearted, terrified, and tremble:



fear not, I am with thee,.... Isa 41:10, this, according to the Misnah {f}, respects the ark, and so Jarchi, which was a symbol of the divine Presence, and went with them to battle; see Jos 6:4



to fight for you against your enemies, to save you; to annoy and destroy the one, and to protect and save the other; thus far the anointed priest addressed the people in an oration to this purpose: the account Maimonides gives of it is, that



"when they have set their ranks, and are near to a battle, the anointed of war stands on an high place, and all the ranks before him, and says to them in the holy tongue, "hear, O Israel", &c. unto to save you; and then another priest under him causes it to be heard by all the people with an high voice {g};''



he repeated what the anointed of war had said, and expressed it with a loud voice, that all might hear.



{f} Ut supra. (Misn. Sotab, c. 8. sect. 1.) {g} Hilchot Melachim, c. 7. sect. 3.





Deuteronomy 20:5



Ver. 5. And the officers shall speak unto the people,.... What these officers were is not easy to say; they seem not to be officers of the army, for they are distinguished from captains of the armies, De 20:9, unless they can be thought to be general officers; but the word for them is the same that is used of such that attended the judges and were ministers to them, De 16:18, and perhaps they were a sort of heralds that published and proclaimed what the anointed of war had said; and so the above writer {h} affirms, that what here follows was first spoken by him, and after that (what is said, De 20:3) the anointed of war speaks, saying,



what man is there,.... (to the end of De 20:7) thus far the anointed of war speaks, and then an officer causes all the people to hear it with an high voice, saying,



what man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? or perfected it, as the Targum of Jonathan, not quite finished it, has not, as that paraphrast says, fixed in it the door posts, or rather perhaps he means the Mezuzah, or writing, which the Jews thought themselves obliged to fasten to the door posts of their houses; see

De 11:20 until this was done, an house was not thought to be completed; though Jarchi interprets this of inhabitation; of a man's having built a house, but has not yet dwelt in it; see De 28:30, so Josephus {i} explains it, of its not having been used and enjoyed by a man a full year; but there seems to be something more than all this in dedication; for though it does not signify a consecration or dedication of it to holy uses, as the dedication of the tabernacle and temple, yet there was something done, some ceremony used at entrance into a new house; a good man entered into it, no doubt, with prayer and praise, as the thirtieth psalm was composed by David at the dedication of his house; see Ne 12:27 and perhaps it was usual to have their friends together, and make a cheerful entertainment on the occasion. Ben Melech on the place, assures us it was a custom to make a feast and merriment at eating the first meal in a new house:



let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it; or perfect it, as the above Targum, or dwell in it, as well as have the pleasure of entertaining his friends in it at the first opening of it; this was either a command, enjoining a man, in such a circumstance, to return, and so the rest that follow, or a permission to him, allowing him to do it if he thought fit.



{h} Hilchot Melachim, c. 7. sect. 3. {i} Antiqu. l. 4. c. 8. sect. 41.





Deuteronomy 20:6



Ver. 6. And what man is he that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not yet eaten of it?.... Which he has a right to do, and it is hard for him to be deprived of it, 1Co 9:7 or "hath not made it common" {k}; according to the law in Le 19:23. Three years the fruit of trees, and so of vines, might not be eaten; in the fourth, they were devoted to the Lord, and might be redeemed from the priest, and so made common; and on the fifth year were eaten in course; so the Targums of Jerusalem, Jonathan, and Jarchi, interpret it: "let him also go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man eat of it"; or make it common, according to the above law: Aben Ezra seems to have another sense of this passage, deriving the word from another, which signifies piping and dancing, and observes, that it was a custom to sing, pipe, and dance in vineyards; and the Septuagint version is, "hath not been made merry of it"; though that may signify not having drank of the wine of it, to be made merry with it.



{k} wllx al "necdum fecit eam esse communem", V. L. "et non fecit eam communem", Vatablus, Fagius.





Deuteronomy 20:7



Ver. 7. And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her?.... Home to his house and bedded with her; has only betrothed her, but is not properly married to her, the nuptials are not completed; this the Jews understand of anyone betrothed to him, whether a virgin or a widow, or the wife of a deceased brother (yea, they say, if his brother is dead in war, he returns and comes home), but not of a former wife divorced and received again {m}:



let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in battle, and another man take her; or marry her.



{m} Misn. Sotah, ib. sect. 2.





Deuteronomy 20:8



Ver. 8. And the officers shall speak further unto the people,.... According to Maimonides {n}, the priest the anointed of war spoke to the end of De 20:7 and which the officers repeated after him to the people aloud, as before observed; and then after that an officer speaks of himself, or in his own words, and not in those of the priest, as follows;



what man that is fearful, &c. and then another officer causes all the people to hear it:



and they shall say, what man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? that has not courage to face his enemies, to whom the terrors of war, and especially of death, are dreadful; the Targum of Jonathan adds,



"because of his sin;''



whose sins stare him in the face, and lie heavy on his conscience; so that he is afraid he shall die in battle, and in his sins, and suffer divine vengeance; both these senses are observed in the Misnah {y}. According to R. Akiba, a fearful and fainthearted man is one



"that cannot stand in battle array, or behold a drawn sword; but R. Jose the Galilean says, he is one that is afraid of the transgressions he has committed; and therefore the law joins to this all those things for which a man may return;''



as having built a new house, planted a vineyard, and betrothed a wife; that so it might be thought it was on account of one or other of these that he returned, and not through faintheartedness, either because of the terrors of war, or of his own conscience for his sins:



let him go and return to his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart; lest, by his pale looks and trembling joints, his fainting fits and swoons, he discourage the rest in the same company with him, and by his example make them unfit for war also.



{n} Ut supra. (Hilchot Melachim, c. 7. sect. 3.) {y} Misn. Sotah, c. 8. sect. 5.





Deuteronomy 20:9



Ver. 9. And it shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking unto the people,.... By reciting what the anointed of war said unto them, and by speeches of their own framing, to encourage to the battle; and all were dismissed that had leave to depart, and chose to take it:



that they shall make captains of armies to lead on the people; on to battle; that is, either the officers should do this, which may seem to confirm what has been hinted, that they might be generals of the army, who constituted captains under them, to lead the people on to battle: unless this is to be understood of the princes of Israel, or of the king when they had one, and his ministers; for it does not appear in any instance that the people chose their own officers over them, to go out before them, and lead them on to battle; or "to be at the head of them" {z}; which the Jewish writers understand in a very different sense; not to head them, or be at the head of them, to direct and command them, but to keep them from deserting: their sense is, that the officers having dismissed persons in the circumstances before described, and set stout men before them, and others behind them (i.e. the army of the people), with iron hatchets in their hands, and every one that sought to return, they had power to cut off his legs; since flight is the beginning of falling before their enemies {a}.



{z} Meh varb "in capite populi", Pagninus, Montanus. {a} Misn. ut supra (Sotah, c. 8.), sect. 6.





Deuteronomy 20:10



Ver. 10. When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it,.... This is to be understood of an arbitrary war, as Jarchi observes; which they engaged in of themselves, or were provoked to by their enemies; which was their own choice, and according to their own will and pleasure; and their conduct towards their enemies in it was different from that in a war with the seven nations, commanded by the Lord, and distinguished from it, De 20:15.



then proclaim peace unto it; that is, offer them terms of peace; which were, that the inhabitants of it should renounce idolatry, and become their tributaries and servants.





Deuteronomy 20:11



Ver. 11. And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace,.... Comply with the terms of peace offered:



and open unto thee; the gates of the city and its garrisons, and deliver all into their hands:



then it shall be that all the people that is found therein; some having made their escape before the surrender of the city:



shall be tributaries unto thee: pay a yearly tax imposed upon them, as the Moabites sometimes did, and which was paid in lambs and rams with the wool, 2Ki 3:4



and they shall serve thee; not as slaves, or be in continual bondage and servitude; but upon occasion be called out to any public service, as joining them against their enemies, rebuilding palaces and cities, or repairing walls of cities, and the like; and in general acknowledge their dominion over them, and their own subjection to them, by paying an annual tribute, or sending gifts unto them; thus the Moabites, Syrians, and Edomites, became the servants of David, 2Sa 8:2.





Deuteronomy 20:12



Ver. 12. And if it will make no peace with thee,.... Will not accept of terms of peace offered:



but will make war against thee; come out and fight, or prepare to defend themselves: then thou shall besiege it; surround and block it up on all sides with their forces; the Jews say only on three sides, leaving one for any to flee and make their escape if they thought fit;

See Gill on "Nu 31:7".





Deuteronomy 20:13



Ver. 13. And when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thine hands,.... When, what with pressures without, and calamities within, the city is obliged to surrender: this is not to be imputed to the methods and arts of war used in besieging, or to the courage and skill of the besiegers; but to the power and providence of God succeeding means used, and sending famine or pestilence among the besieged, and inclining their hearts to deliver up their city:



thou shall smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword; the men in it, grown persons, as distinguished from little ones in the next verse; because it was owing to these it was not surrendered at once, when terms of peace were offered.





Deuteronomy 20:14



Ver. 14. But the women, the little ones, and the cattle,.... These were to be spared; women, because of the weakness of their sex, and subjection to their husbands; and little ones, which take in males as well as females, as Jarchi observes, because of their tender age; and cattle because of their insensibility; all these having had no concern in holding out the siege:



and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shall thou take unto thyself; gold, silver, merchandise, household goods, utensils in trade, and whatever was of any worth and value to be found in their houses:



and thou shall eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath given thee; that is, enjoy all their wealth and riches, estates and possessions; for this is not to be restrained to things eatable only.





Deuteronomy 20:15



Ver. 15. Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee,.... As all such were reckoned that were without the land of Israel, even all in their neighbouring nations, the Moabites, Edomites, Ammonites, Syrians, &c. for the children of Israel never went to war with any very distant nations, unless they came unto them and invaded them; nor did they seek to carry their conquests to any great distance, when the most powerful and victorious, as in the days of David and Solomon:



which are not of the cities of these nations; of these seven nations, as the Targum of Jonathan, the seven nations of the land of Canaan; all that were not of them were accounted foreign cities, and at a distance.





Deuteronomy 20:16



Ver. 16. But of the cities of those people, which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance,.... The cities of the seven nations, six of which are mentioned by name in the next verse:



thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth; the reason of this severity was because of their wickedness, the capital crimes and gross abominations they were guilty of, and for which they deserved to die; and on account whereof they were reserved to this destruction, when the measure of their iniquities was full, such as idolatry, incest, witchcraft, soothsaying, necromancy, &c. see

Le 18:3.





Deuteronomy 20:17



Ver. 17. But thou shalt utterly destroy them,.... Men, women, and children: some think this is to be understood only of such cities which did not accept of terms of peace; for they are of opinion that Joshua made proclamation of peace to all the cities of Canaan; which being not complied with, he destroyed them as they fell into his hands; and they suppose that the Gibeonites had not heard of such a proclamation, and therefore were spared; and it is certain that there were many who were suffered to live among them, who it may be thought were allowed on their becoming proselytes, which was one of the terms of peace, as Rahab and her household did, and which is the sense of some of the Jewish writers. Jarchi on the following verse observes, that if they repented, and became proselytes, they might be received: namely,



the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites; one of the seven nations is here omitted, the Girgashites, as they are also in Ex 23:23. It is said {b}, that



"Joshua sent three letters into the land of Israel before they went into it; in the first, whoever would turn (and flee) might; in the second, whoever would make peace might; in the third, whoever would make war might: the Girgashites, believing God, went to Africa, according to Isa 36:17, the land there is Africa; the Gibeonites made peace and dwelt in the land; thirty one kings made war, and fell:''



as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee; De 7:1.



{b} T. Hieros. Shebiith, fol. 37. 3. Debarim Rabba, sect. 5. fol. 241. 2. Vid. Maimon. Hilchot Melachim, c. 6. sect. 5. & Migdol Oz in ib.





Deuteronomy 20:18



Ver. 18. That they teach you not to do after all their abominations,.... This is another reason why they were to be utterly destroyed, not only because of the abominations which they committed, but to prevent the Israelites being taught by them to do the same; wherefore, as before observed from Jarchi, such as became proselytes were suffered to live among them, because there was no danger of idolatry from them, which even proselytes of the gate renounced; and though all other abominations are included, yet this is particularly respected, as appears from the following clause:



which they have done unto their gods; to the honour of whom not only many superstitious rites and ceremonies were performed, and idolatrous actions committed, but acts of lewdness, and even unnatural uncleanness:



so should ye sin against the Lord your God; a sin the most provoking to him, as the sin of idolatry was; and cause his anger to rise to such a degree, as to suffer them to be carried captive from the land he gave them to inherit; and which afterwards, was the case, and that through learning the manners and customs of these people; see Ps 106:34.





Deuteronomy 20:19



Ver. 19. When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it,.... Before it will surrender; it holding out the siege a considerable time: the Hebrew text says, "many days" {c}; which the Targum of Jonathan interprets of all the seven days, to make war against it, in order to subdue it on the sabbath day. Jarchi observes, that "days" signify two, and "many" three; hence it is said, they do not besiege cities of the Gentiles less than three days before the sabbath; and he also says it teaches that peace is opened or proclaimed two or three days first:



thou shall not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them; that is, not cut them down with an axe, such trees as were without the city, and in the power of the besiegers: what sort of trees are meant appears by what follows:



for thou mayest eat of them; the fruit of them, which shows them to be fruit trees, and gives a reason for not cutting them down, since they would be useful in supplying them with what was agreeable to eat:



and thou shalt not cut them down to employ them in the siege; in building bulwarks and batteries, and making of machines to cast out stones, and the like, to the annoyance of the besieged; which might as well or better be made of other trees, as in the next verse:



for the tree of the field is man's life; by the fruit of which, among other things, his life is supported and maintained: but some give a different version and sense of this clause, for the tree of the field is man {d}, or is man's; it is his property; but this is not a sufficient reason why it should not be cut down, whether the property of the besieger, in whose hand it is, or of the besieged, to whom it belonged: or, "for, is the tree of the field a man" {e}? that has given any reason of being thus used? no; it is no cause of the war, nor of the holding out of the siege; and had it a voice, as Josephus {f} observes, it would complain of injury done it, and apologize for itself. Some supply the negative, "for the tree of the field is not a man"; so the Targum of Onkelos, as well as makes it a comparative form of speech;



"for not as a man is the tree of the field, to come out against thee in a siege;''



the Targum of Jonathan is,



"for not as a man is the tree of the field, to be hid from you in a siege;''



or, as some in Aben Ezra express it,



"it is not as a man, that it should flee from before thee;''



it can neither annoy thee, nor get out of thy way; and therefore to lift up an axe against it, to cut it down, as if it was a man, and an enemy that stood in the way, is ridiculous and weak; though the sense of the said writer himself is the same with that of our version; but what seems best is to read the words, "for, O man, of the trees of the field" (there is enough of them) to bring "before thee for a bulwark" {g}; to make use of, without cutting down fruit trees: though some understand it metaphorically, that as the tree of the field is, so is man, or should be, bring forth fruit, that he may not be cut down; see Mt 3:10. Plutarch {h} relates, that it was forbidden the worshippers of Osiris to destroy garden trees.



{c} Mybr Mymy "diebus multis", Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, &c. {d} hdvh Ue Mdah yk "quia homo lignum agri", Montanus; "quoniam homo est arbor agri", Drusius. {e} "An putas lignum agri esse hominem?" Munster; "num enim homo est arbor?" Fagius. {f} Antiqu. l. 4. c. 8. sect. 42. {g} Vid. Reinbeck de Accent. Heb. p. 326. {h} De lside, p. 365.





Deuteronomy 20:20



Ver. 20. Only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat,.... Which might be known not only by their not having fruit upon them, but by other tokens, and even at a time of year when there was no fruit on any, which might be sometimes the season of a siege:



thou shalt destroy and cut them down; if so to do was of any disservice to the enemy, or of any service to them, as follows; they had a liberty to destroy them if they would:



and thou shall build bulwarks against the city that maketh war, until it be subdued; build bulwarks of the trees cut down, and raise batteries with them, or make machines and engines of the wood of them, to cast stones into the city to annoy the inhabitants of it, in order to make them surrender, and until they do it. All this may be an emblem of the axe being to be laid to fruitless trees in a moral and spiritual sense; and of trees of righteousness, laden with the fruits of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, being preserved and never to be cut down or rooted up; see Mt 3:10.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Deuteronomy 21:1



INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 21



This chapter treats of the beheading of the heifer, for the expiation of unknown murder, and the rules to be observed in it, De 21:1 of a beautiful captive woman an Israelite is desirous of having for his wife, and what methods he must take to accomplish it, De 21:10, of giving the double portion to the firstborn, which he must not be deprived of in favour of the son of a beloved wife, De 21:15 and of the stubborn and rebellious son, who remaining so must be put to death, De 21:18 and of burying a person hanged on a tree the same day he is executed, De 21:22.



Ver. 1. If one be found slain,.... After public war with an enemy, Moses proceeds to speak of a private quarrel and fight of one man with another, in which one is slain, as Aben Ezra observes:



in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it; where murders might be committed more secretly, and remain undiscovered, when they came to live in separate cities, towns, and villages, with fields adjacent to them, than now encamped together:



lying in the field; where the quarrel begun, and where the fight was fought: or, however, where the murderer met with his enemy, and slew him, and left him; it being common for duels to be fought, and murders committed in a field; the first murder in the world was committed in such a place, Ge 4:8. The Targum of Jonathan is,



"not hidden under an heap, not hanging on a tree, nor swimming on the face of the waters;''



which same things are observed in the Misnah {i}, and gathered from some words in the text:



in the land, and so not under a heap;



lying, and so not hanging;



in the field, and so not swimming on the water:



and it be not known who hath slain him; the parties being alone, and no witnesses of the fact, at least that appear; for, if it was known, the heifer was not beheaded, later mentioned {k}; and one witness in this case was sufficient, and even one that was not otherwise admitted.



{i} Sotah, c. 9. sect. 2. {k} Maimon. Hilchot Rotzeach, c. 9. sect. 11, 12.





Deuteronomy 21:2



Ver. 2. Then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth,.... From the city or cities near to which the murder was committed, to make inquiry about it, and expiation for it; so Aben Ezra interprets it of the elders of the cities near, but others understand it of the elders of the great sanhedrim at Jerusalem; so the Targum of Jonathan,



"then shall go out from the great sanhedrim two of thy wise men, and three of thy judges;''



and more expressly the Misnah {l},



"three go out from the great sanhedrim in Jerusalem;''



R. Judah says five,



"it is said "thy elders" two, and "thy judges" two,''



and there is no sanhedrim or court of judicature equal (or even), therefore they add to them one more:



and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain; that is, from the place where the slain lies, as Jarchi rightly interprets it; on all sides of it, from the four corner's, as the Targum of Jonathan, the cities round about the slain. Maimonides {m} says, they do not behead the heifer for, nor measure, but to a city in which there is a sanhedrim: if it is found between two cities (that is, at an equal distance), both bring two heifers (Maimonides {n} says they bring one between them, which is most reasonable); but the city of Jerusalem does not bring an heifer to be beheaded: the reason is, because it was not divided to the tribes {o}. This measuring, one would think, should be only necessary when it was not certain which was the nearest city; and yet Maimonides {p} says, even when it was found on the side of a city, which was certainly known to be nearest, they measured; the command, he observes, is to measure.



{l} Sotah, c. 9. sect. 1. {m} Hilchot Rotzeach, c. 9. sect. 4. {n} Ib. sect. 8. {o} Maimon Hilchot Rotzeachs, c. 9. sect. 8. {p} lb. c. 9. sect. 1.





Deuteronomy 21:3



Ver. 3. And it shall be, that the city which is next unto the slain man,.... And so suspected, as the Targum of Jonathan, of the murder; or the murderer is in it, or however belonged to it:



even the elders of the city shall take an heifer; of a year old, as the same Targum, and so Jarchi; and in this the Jewish writers agree, that it must be a year old, but not two; though heifers of three years old were sometimes used in sacrifice, Ge 15:9 a type of Christ, in his strength, laboriousness, and patience; see Nu 19:2



which hath not been wrought with; in ploughing land, or treading out corn:



and which hath not drawn in the yoke, which never had any yoke put upon it; or however, if attempted to be put upon it, it would not come under it, and draw with it: no mention is made, as usual, that it should be without blemish: because though in some sense expiatory, yet was not properly a sacrifice, it not being slain and offered where sacrifices were; hence it is said in the Misnah {q}, that a blemish in it did not make it rejected, or unlawful for use: nevertheless, this heifer may be a type of Christ, whose sufferings, bloodshed, and death, atone for secret and unknown sins, as well as for open and manifest ones, even for all sin; and its being free from labour, and without a yoke, may signify the freedom of Christ from the yoke of sin, and the service of it, and from human traditions; that he was not obliged to any toil and labour he had been concerned in, or to bear the yoke of the law, had he not voluntarily undertaken it of himself; and that he expiated the sins of such who were sons of Belial, children without a yoke; and for the same reason, this heifer not being required to be without blemish, might be because Christ, though he had no sin of his own, was made sin for his people, and reckoned as if he had been a sinner; though indeed, had this been the design of the type, all the sacrifices which typified Christ would not have required such a qualification, to be without blemish, as they did.



{q} Ut supra, (Sotah, c. 9.) sect. 5.





Deuteronomy 21:4



Ver. 4. The elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough valley,.... Cities being generally built on hills, and so had adjacent valleys, to which there was a descent; but here a rough valley, or the rougher part of it, was selected for this purpose. As a valley is low, and this a rough one, it may be an emblem of Christ's being brought into this lower world, from heaven to earth, to do the will of his Father, which was to work out the salvation of his people; and of his coming into the lower parts of the earth, the womb of the virgin, at his incarnation, and to the grave at his death, Ps 139:15, and of the low estate he came into by the assumption of human nature; through appearing in the form of a servant, being in indigent circumstances, and ministered to by others, and needing the assistance of angels in the wilderness and garden, by which it appeared he was made lower than they; by his being despised of men, and forsaken by his Father; all which are proofs of the low estate he was brought into, fitly signified by a valley, and which was a rough valley to him; in which he was roughly treated, his life being sought after in his infancy by Herod, which obliged the flight of his parents with him into Egypt; and being not received, but rejected by his own, as the King Messiah, whom they would not have to reign over them, and loaded with opprobrious names by them; and who often sought and attempted by various ways to take away his life; and when apprehended and examined before the high priest, and in Pilate's hall, was used in the rudest manner, being spit upon, buffeted, and scourged; and when led out to be crucified, was treated in the most barbarous and scornful manner, and was put to death in the most painful and shameful way; and, above all, was severely handled by the justice of God, being numbered among the transgressors, when the sword of justice was awaked against him, and he was not in the least spared, but wrath came upon him to the uttermost for the sins of his people; so that this world he was brought into proved a rough valley indeed to him. This some take to be an emblem of the hard heart of the murderer who had committed such a barbarous and cruel action as to kill a man; or of the hard heart of a sinner, into which Christ is brought through the ministry of the word; or of the infamous place, Calvary, where Christ was brought to suffer death; but the former is best. Some interpret it, a "strong stream" {q}, or "rapid torrent"; so Maimonides {r} and others; and indeed in valleys there are generally streams or brooks of water, but this seems not so well to agree with what follows:



which is neither cared nor sown; that is, neither ploughed nor sown, but quite an uncultivated place; and this the Jews understand not of what it had been, or then was, but what it should be hereafter; that from henceforward it should never be manured, but lie barren and useless; so it is said in the Misnah {s}, the place is forbid sowing or tilling, but is free to dress flax in, or to dig stones out of it: so R. Joseph Kimchi {t} interprets this of a fat and fruitful valley, which was not to be tilled nor sown from thenceforward for time to come; the reason of which he thinks was, that they might be the more careful of their countries and borders, and how they encouraged bloody minded men to dwell among them; that no slain person might be found there, and so they lose a choice part of their possessions; and to the same purpose Maimonities {u}: and this became true of the fruitful land of Judea and Jerusalem, after the sufferings and death of Christ there, Lu 21:24



and shall strike off the heifer's neck there in the valley; with an axe, on the back part of it, in the midst of the valley, as the Targum of Jonathan, and the same is said in the Misnah {w}: in this it was a type of Christ, who was put to death at the instigation of the elders of the Jewish nation, Mt 27:1 and without the gates of Jerusalem at Golgotha; see Heb 13:11.



{q} Ntya lxn la "ad torrentem fortem", Montanus. {r} Hilchot Rotzeach, c. 9. sect. 2, so Abarbinel in Muis. & Ben Melech. {s} Ut supra. (Sotah, c. 9. sect. 5.) {t} Apud D. Kimchi, Sepher Shorash, rad. xya {u} Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c. 40. {w} Ut supra. (Sotah, c. 9. sect. 5.)





Deuteronomy 21:5



Ver. 5. And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near,.... Who were clearly of the tribe of Levi, as Aben Ezra notes; about whom there could be no dispute; for it seems there sometimes were persons in that office, of whom there was some doubt at least whether they were of that tribe; these seem to be such that belonged to the court of judicature at Jerusalem; see De 17:9, who were to be present at this solemnity, to direct in the performance of it, and to judge and determine in any matter of difficulty that might arise:



for them the Lord thy God hath chosen to minister unto him; in the service of the sanctuary, by offering sacrifices, &c.



and to bless in the name of the Lord; the people; see Nu 6:23



and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried; every controversy between man and man respecting civil things, and every stroke or blow which one man may give another; and whatsoever came before them was tried by them, according to the respective laws given concerning the things in question, and were not determined by them in an arbitrary way, according to their own will and pleasure; see

De 17:8.





Deuteronomy 21:6



Ver. 6. And all the elders of that city that are next unto the slain man,.... The whole court of judicature belonging to it, all the magistracy of it; even though there were an hundred of them, Maimonides {x} says:



shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley: in token of their innocence, and this they did not only for themselves, but for the whole city, being the representatives of it; see

Ps 26:6. Some think that this is a confirmation of the sense embraced by some, that it was a strong stream to which the heifer was brought; and there might be a stream of water here, and a valley also; though it would be no great difficulty to get from the city, which was near, a sufficient quantity of water to wash the hands of the elders with. This may denote the purification of sin by the blood of Christ, when it is confessed over him; and shows that priests and elders, ministers of the word, as well as others, stand in need of it; and that even those concerned in the death of Christ shared in the benefits of it.



{x} Hilchot Rotzeach, c. 9. sect. 3.





Deuteronomy 21:7



Ver. 7. And they shall answer and say,.... The elders of the city, at the time of the washing of their hands:



our hands have not shed this blood; have been no ways concerned in it, nor accessory to it: the Targum of Jonathan is,



"it is manifest before the Lord that he did not come into our hands, nor did we dismiss him, that has shed this blood;''



which is more fully explained in the Misnah {y}; for had they been aware of him, or had any suspicion of him or his design, they would have detained him, or at least would not have suffered him to have departed alone:



neither have our eyes seen; it, or him; so the Targum of Jerusalem,



"our eyes have not seen him that hath shed this blood;''



by which expression is meant, that they had no manner of knowledge of the murderer, nor of any circumstance that could lead them to suspect or conclude who he was.



{y} Ut supra, (Sotah. c. 9.) sect. 6.





Deuteronomy 21:8



Ver. 8. Be merciful, O Lord, to thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed,.... Out of Egyptian bondage, and claimed as his own; and therefore it is requested he would be favourable to them, and show them mercy, and not punish them for a sin they were entirely ignorant of, though done by some one among them, whom as yet they could not discover. The words seem to be the words of the elders continued, who having made a declaration of their innocence, humbly request mercy of God, not only for themselves, but for all the people of Israel; yet, both the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan take them to be the words of the priests, and so does Jarchi, and the same is affirmed in the Misnah {z}:



and lay not innocent blood unto thy people of Israel's charge; impute not the guilt of innocent blood to a people in general, when only a single person, and he unknown, is chargeable with it: or put it not "in the midst" of thy people; let it not be placed to the whole, because it cannot be found out whose it is, though it is certain it is one in the midst of them:



and the blood shall be forgiven them; that is, God will not impute it, and place it to their account, or lay it to their charge; but will graciously consider the beheading of the heifer as an expiation of it: it is said in the Misnah {a},



"if the murderer is found before the heifer is beheaded, it goes forth and feeds among the herd; but if after it is beheaded, it is buried in the same place; and again, if the heifer is beheaded, and after that the murderer is found, he shall be slain;''



so the Targums, and Jarchi on the next verse.



{z} Ut supra. (Sotah. c. 9. sect. 5.) {a} Hilchot Rotzeach, c. 9. sect. 7.





Deuteronomy 21:9



Ver. 9. So shalt thou put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you,.... Which otherwise, the person not being found out, and brought to just punishment for it, would devolve upon the whole. Aben Ezra interprets it the punishment of innocent blood, which, by the above method being taken, would not be inflicted on them:



when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the Lord; as it was to observe this law concerning the beheading of the heifer, with all the rites and ceremonies belonging to it here enjoined; as well as every other command, statute, and ordinance of the Lord, which are all right to be done, Ps 19:8.





Deuteronomy 21:10



Ver. 10. When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies,.... This refers to an arbitrary war, as Jarchi remarks, which they entered into of themselves, of choice, or through being provoked to it by their enemies; and not a war commanded by the Lord, as that against the seven nations of Canaan, and against Amalek; since there were to be no captives in that war, but all were to be destroyed:



and the Lord thy God hath delivered them into thine hands; given them the victory over their enemies, so that they were obliged to surrender themselves to them prisoners of war:



and thou hast taken them captive, or "led his or their captivity {b} captive"; led them captive who used to lead others, denoting their conquest of victorious nations; see a like phrase in Ps 68:18.



{b} wybv tybvw "et captivam duxerit captivitatem ejus", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus.





Deuteronomy 21:11



Ver. 11. And seest among the captives a beautiful woman,.... Whether a virgin, wife, or widow, according to the Jewish writers, even though another man's wife; so Jarchi {c}, and Maimonides {d}; the marriages of Gentiles being reckoned by the Jews no marriages:



and hast a desire unto her; being captivated with her beauty; some understand this of the strength and rage of lust, but it rather signifies a passionate desire of enjoying her in a lawful way, as follows:



that thou wouldest have her to thy wife; to be married to her in a legal manner; for though it was not allowed the Israelites to marry any of the seven nations of Canaan, nor indeed with any of other nations continuing in their idolatry; yet they might marry such as became their captives and servants, and were wholly in their own power; and especially if proselytes to their religion, and which this fair captive was to become before marriage, as is by some gathered from the following things to be done by her; though after all, this was only a permission, because of the hardness of their hearts, as is said of divorce; and that such marriages were not very grateful to God appears, as some have observed, from the ceremonies used before marriage, to render her contemptible; and the easy dismission of her afterwards, according to the sense of some interpreters.



{c} Vid. T. Bab. Kiddushin, fol. 21. 2. {d} Hilchot Melachim, c. 8. sect. 3.





Deuteronomy 21:12



Ver. 12. Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house,.... In order to make her his wife, after some things were done here directed to; for this is not to be understood of his taking her home with a view to defile her, as Maimonides {e} interprets it; who observes, that when a man's lust so rages that he cannot subdue it, yet he ought not publicly to satisfy his lust, but to have the woman into a private and secret place, as it is said,



thou shalt bring her into the midst of thine house; nor was he permitted to lie with her in the camp, nor was it lawful for him to defile her a second time, until her mourning was at an end; though elsewhere {f} he gives a different sense of this passage, and supposes the man to have lain with the captive woman, before the introduction of her into his house; for it is a notion that prevails with the Jewish writers, that an Israelitish soldier might lie once with an Heathen woman taken captive, to gratify his lust, but might not repeat it; so it is said in the Talmud {g}; yet it must be observed, that there are some, though but few, who are of opinion that the first congress was unlawful, and that he might not touch her until certain conditions were fulfilled, and they were married, as R. Jochanan {h}; and which is embraced, supported, and defended by Abarbinel on the place, and in which he is undoubtedly right; and so it is understood by Josephus {i} and Philo {k}; for this law gives no liberty nor countenance to the violation of the beautiful captive. The plain meaning is, that when a Jewish soldier was passionately in love with a captive, and was desirous of making her his wife, he was to take her home to his house, where she was to remain, to see whether his passion of love would subside, or the woman become a proselyte, or however till certain rites were observed, and then he was permitted to marry her:



and she shall shave her head; either that she might be the less engaging, her flowing locks, or plaited hair, or modish headdress, being removed from her, which had served to excite a passion for her; or as a token of mourning for her present afflicted state and condition; and in afflicted circumstances it was usual to shave the head; see Job 1:20; and though it was forbidden the Israelites, yet not Gentiles; De 14:1



and pare her nails; this and the former some think were ordered to make her fit to be his wife, and were a sort of purification of her, and an emblem of her having renounced Heathenism, and having departed from it, and laid aside all superfluity of former naughtiness; but this phrase is interpreted in the Targum of Onkelos, "let her nails grow"; and so the Arabic version: and this the Jewish writers say was ordered to be done, that she might appear ugly and disagreeable to him, and be abhorred by him; so Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and Ben Melech; the same is observed by Maimonides {l}, and is the sense of R. Akiba {m}. Another of their writers {n} think it refers to a custom in some nations to dye their nails.



"The daughters of the Heathens (he says) used to adorn the nails of their hands and feet, and dye them with various colours, according to the custom of the Ishmaelites (or Turks); that there might be a variety in their hands, and men might look at them, take them and handle them until the fire of hell, and an evil concupiscence, burned; wherefore this is ordered that they might let them grow, without any preparation or die.''



But perhaps this neglect of their nails, and suffering them to grow, was in token of mourning as well as shaving the head, as also sometimes even paring the nails was done on the same account.



{e} Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c. 41. {f} Hilchot Melachim, c. 8. sect. 2. {g} T. Bab. Kiddushin, fol. 21. 2. {h} Apud Abarbinel in loc. & R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 14. 1. {i} Antiqu. l. 4. c. 8. sect. 23. {k} De Charitate, p. 706. {l} Ut supra. (Hilchot Melachim, c. 8.) sect. 5. {m} In T. Bab. Yebamot, fol. 48. 2. {n} R. Abraham Seba in Tzeror Hammor, fol. 146. 2.





Deuteronomy 21:13



Ver. 13. And she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her,.... Her beautiful garments, and gay apparel, in which she was taken captive; and which tended to stir up the stronger affection for her, and greater desire after her; and therefore, as some think, were ordered to be removed, to abate the ardour of love to her. Jarchi observes, that the daughters of the Gentiles used to adorn themselves in war, that they might cause others to commit fornication with them; and another writer before referred to says {o}, the daughters of Heathens used to adorn themselves in raiment of silk, and purple, and fine linen, and needlework, to allure and entice men with them; and therefore the law obliges to put off her beautiful garments, and clothe her with old worn out ones, that she might be less agreeable to him; though the putting off her fine clothes, and being clad with sordid ones, might be only as a token of mourning; as it was customary at such times to lay aside richer clothing, and put on sackcloth, Jon 3:6



and shall remain in thine house: shut up there, and never stir out, as the same writer interprets it. Maimonides {p} says, that she was to be with him in the house, that going in and out he might see her, and she become abominable to him; though perhaps it was only that he might have an opportunity of observing her manners, and of conversing with her, in order to make a proselyte of her; so the Targum of Jonathan interprets it of dipping herself, and becoming a proselytess in his house; or else, as the rest, her abiding in the house, and not going out, might be on account of mourning, as follows:



and bewail her father and her mother a full month; who were either dead in the battle, or however she had no hope of seeing them any more, being a captive, and likely to be settled in another man's house in a foreign country, and so take her farewell of her father's house in this mournful manner. The Jews are divided about the sense of these words; some take them simply to signify her parents, others her idols, according to Jer 2:17. The Targum of Jonathan is,



"and weep for the idols of the house of her father and her mother;''



meaning not for the loss of them, but for the idolatry of her father's house she was now convinced of, being become a proselytess, according to the paraphrast; but the last seems only to have respect to the loss of her father and mother, which she was to bewail a whole month, or "a moon of days" {q}; as many days as the moon is going its course, which it finishes in twenty seven days, seven hours, and forty three minutes, and this is called the periodical month; but is longer in passing from one conjunction of it with the sun to another, called the synodical month, and its quantity is twenty nine days, twelve hours, and forty four minutes. Maimonides {r} says, she was to stay in his house three months, one month of mourning, and two after that, and then he was to marry her. The reason of this the Targum of Jonathan explains, by paraphrasing the words thus,



"and shall stay three months, that it may be known whether she is with child;''



that is, by his lying with her before when taken with her beauty, that so he might distinguish this child begotten on her in Heathenism, from what he might have by her after marriage, which is supposed to be the case of Tamar and Absalom; but as there is no foundation in the text for a permission to lie with her before marriage, so neither for these additional months; only one month was required, which was the usual time for mourning for deceased relations; see Nu 20:29



and after that thou shalt go in unto her; and not before:



and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife he continuing to love her, and she having become a proselytess.



{o} R. Abraham Seba in Tzeror. Hammor, fol. 146. 2. {p} Ut supra. (Hilchot Melachim, c. 8. sect. 2.) {q} Mymy xry "luna dierum", Montanus, Piscator, Grotius. {r} Ut supra (Hilchot Melachim, c. 8.), sect. 6.





Deuteronomy 21:14



Ver. 14. And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her;.... Either some time after marriage:



then thou shalt let her go whither she will; by a bill of divorce, as the Targum of Jonathan, who understands it in this sense, and as the connection of the words seems to require; or else before marriage, at the month's end, or any time before, that if his affections cooled towards her, and all the above methods tended to abate his love of her, then he was obliged to dismiss her, or to grant her her freedom, and let her go wherever she pleased; she was no longer his captive, nor his servant:



but thou shalt not sell her at all for money; as he might have done if he had not made such a proposal to her, and obliged her to the observance of such rites and ceremonies as he did, in order to make her his wife:



thou shalt not make merchandise of her; which seems to express the same thing, and therefore something else is rather intended; as that he should neither make any gain of her by selling her to another, nor retain her in his own service, nor make use of her as a slave; so Jarchi says, that in the Persian language they call service by this word, and which also he says he learnt from an eminent writer of theirs, R. Moses Hadarsan; with which Maimonides {s} agrees, who explains it, shall make no use of her service, or serve himself by her; he should have no profit by her, either by sale, or servitude:



because thou hast humbled her; which phrase it must be owned is often, used of unlawful commerce with a woman, of defiling her, or violating her chastity; and so may seem to confirm the notion of those who think that he lay with her before he took her to his house, and therefore, upon a refusal to marry her afterwards, was obliged to this loss; though the word signifies any kind of affliction, as this was a very great one, a great mortification to her, to be taken into his house, to have her head shaved, and her nails pared, or suffered to grow, and her fine clothes changed for sordid ones; and all this with a profession of a design to marry her, and yet after all is deceived and disappointed by him; wherefore for such a conduct toward her he was obliged to give her her freedom.



{s} Ut supra. (Hilchot Melachim, c. 8. sect. 2.)





Deuteronomy 21:15



Ver. 15. If a man have two wives,.... Which is supposed, but not approved of, though permitted because of the hardness of men's hearts; for it was not so from the beginning, when only one man and one woman were created, and joined together in marriage; but as it was connived at, and become customary, a law is made to prevent confusion, and preserve order in families:



one beloved and another hated; or less loved, yet continued his wife, and not divorced. Aben Ezra observes, this follows upon the former, because it is there said, that though first he had a desire to her (the captive beautiful woman), yet afterwards had no delight in her:



and they have borne him children both, the beloved and the hated; as Rachel and Leah did to Jacob, who were, the one very much beloved by him, and the other less:



and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated; or not so much beloved as the other, as was the case in the above instance.





Deuteronomy 21:16



Ver. 16. Then it shall be, when he maketh his sons to inherit that which he hath,.... By a will in writing, or byword of mouth, or by a deed of gift, actually bestowing his goods upon them, and dividing among them what he is for the present possessed of; see Lu 15:12,



that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, [which is] indeed the firstborn; that is, when such is the case, that the son of his wife he has the least value for is really his firstborn, he may not, through favour and affection to the wife he loves better, prefer her son, and declare him to be the firstborn, by devising to him or bestowing on him the double portion of his goods; for so to do would not be right, or agreeably to the will and law of God; for though previous to this law the birthright was given to Joseph, the eldest son of Rachel, the most beloved wife of Jacob, before Reuben who was the son of Leah, less beloved by him, and was in fact his firstborn; yet this was owing to the sin of Reuben, and by the appointment of God; see Ge 49:3.





Deuteronomy 21:17



Ver. 17. But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn,.... Own him and declare him to be so, both by his will and the division of goods by him; or he shall "separate" him, as Onkelos; distinguish him from all his other sons, and make known to all, as the Targum of Jonathan, that he is his firstborn:



by giving him a double portion of all that he hath; or, "that is found with him" {t}; which he was in the possession of when he made his will, or divided his goods; and so refers not to what might come into his hands afterwards, or should be his in reversion afterwards; in this the firstborn had not his double portion, only in what his father was for the present possessed of; so that if a man had two sons, his goods were divided into three parts, and the firstborn took two parts, and the other the third; if three sons, they were divided into four parts, of which the firstborn had two parts, and the others each of them one; if four sons, they were divided into five parts, and the firstborn took two, and the other three one apiece, and so in proportion; the division was made according to their number:



for he is the beginning of his strength; as Jacob said, of Reuben,

See Gill on "Ge 49:3" the right of the firstborn is his; before this law was given, there was a birthright, or a privilege belonging to the firstborn, which gave him the preeminence in the family to his brethren; but whether he was entitled to a double portion of goods, previous to this law, is not certain; however, by this it was his right, and might not be alienated from him; for, according to the Jewish canons {u},



"if a man say, such an one my son, the firstborn, shall not take the double portion, and my son such an one shall not inherit with his brethren, he says nothing, cause he disposes contrary to what is written in the law.''



This law of the firstborn in the mystery of it may respect our Lord Jesus Christ, the firstborn of God, and the firstborn of Mary; and who had a double portion of the gifts and grace of the Spirit, or rather the Spirit without measure, the oil of gladness he was anointed with above his fellows, and is the firstborn among many brethren, among whom in all things he has the preeminence; and also the elect of God, the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven, who have a double portion, both temporal and spiritual things, the promise of this life and that to come, grace here and glory hereafter; and the ultimate glory is but one inheritance, they all share alike in, being equally children, and all firstborn; and it may have regard also to the Jewish and Gentile churches, the former was the beloved wife, the latter some time not beloved, and yet the children of the Gentile church have a larger measure of the Spirit than those of the jewish church had; see Ro 9:25.



{t} wl aumy rva "quod inventum fuerit ei", Pagninus, Montanus., {u} Misn. Bava Bathra, c. 8. sect. 5.





Deuteronomy 21:18



Ver. 18. If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son,.... It is observed {w} that this law quickly follows, and is subjoined to that which relates to the marriage of a woman taken captive, because often from such marriages wicked and refractory children have sprung, and which they exemplify in the case of Absalom, whose mother they say David took in war and married: the character of such a son follows, and by which it may be known that he is stubborn and rebellious; stubborn in his nature, and rebellious in his actions; behaves contrary to the laws of God, and the instructions of his parents; what he should do, that he does not; and what he should not do, that he does; will not do what is commanded him, and will do what is forbidden him, notwithstanding all counsels, admonitions, and corrections given him;



which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother; is disobedient to the commands of either of them; see

Pr 30:17 and, when they have chastened him, will not hearken to them; when they have reproved him by words, and corrected him with blows; the Jews understand this of scourging or beating by the order of the sanhedrim, after admonition given; it is said {x},



"they admonish him before three (a court of judicature consisting of three judges), and they beat him; but it seems rather to respect private corrections of their own by words and stripes, which having no effect, they were to proceed as follows.''



{w} Moses Kotensis Mitzvot Torah, pr. affirm. 122. Kimchi in 2 Sam. 3. 3. {x} Misn. Sandedrin, c. 8. sect. 4.





Deuteronomy 21:19



Ver. 19. Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him,.... With their own hands, or cause him to be apprehended by others, in which they were to agree, and which the Jews gather from hence;



"if (say they {y}) the father is willing (to bring him to justice), and the mother not willing, if his father is not willing and the mother is willing, he is not reckoned a stubborn or rebellious son, until they both agree:''



and bring him out unto the elders of his city; according to the Misnah {z}, the sanhedrim, or court of judicature, consisting of twenty three; for they say, that after he has been admonished and scourged by order of the bench of three, if he returns to his corrupt and wicked ways again, he is judged by the court of twenty three:



and unto the gate of his place; or city, where the court sat; so the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, to the gate of the sanhedrim of his place.



{y} Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 8. sect. 4. {z} Ibid.





Deuteronomy 21:20



Ver. 20. And they shall say unto the elders of his city,.... In open court, what follows, at the same time, according to the Targum of Jonathan, acknowledging their own sins, for which such a calamity had befallen them, saying,



"we have transgressed the decree of the word of the Lord, because is born unto us a son that is stubborn, &c.''



see Joh 9:2



this our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; one of an obstinate disposition, will have his own will and way, is perverse and refractory; honours not, but despises his parents, and is disobedient to their commands, unruly and ungovernable: the Jews gather {a} many things from hence, for which there is little foundation, as that they must be neither dumb, nor blind, nor deaf; though what they further observe is not much amiss, concerning this rebellious child, that the law respects a son and not a daughter, because a daughter generally is more tractable; and less capable of doing mischief than a son; and a son and not a man, for if at man's estate, and for himself, he is not under the power of his parents; and yet not a child or a little one, for that is not comprehended in the commands; he must be according to them thirteen years of age and one day, and he must be a son and not a father {b}:



[he is] a glutton and a drunkard; which, according to the Misnah {c}, is one that eats half a pound of flesh, and drinks half a log of Italian wine; R. Jose says, a pound of flesh and a log of wine; but the decision was not according to him; the first rule stood: now half a pound of flesh, and half a log of wine, which was about three egg shells, or a quarter of a pint, would be at this day reckoned very little by our grandsons of Bacchus, as Schickard observes {d}; but in an age of severer discipline, as he says, in the tender candidates of temperance, it was reckoned too much, and was a presage of a future glutton: and it must be further observed to denominate him a rebellious son, what he ate and drank was to be what he stole from his parents, and did not eat and drink it at home, but abroad, and in bad company; so Jarchi remarks on the text, he is not guilty until he steals, and eats half a pound of flesh, and drinks half a log of wine; in which he seems to have respect to the Jewish canon {e},



"if he steals from his father and eats it in a place in his father's power, or from others and eats it in a place in their power, or from others and eats it in a place in his father's power; he is not reckoned a stubborn and rebellious son, unless he steals from his father, and eats it in a place in the power of others,''



see Pr 23:20, the Jews seem to refer to this when they charged Christ with being a glutton and a winebibber, Mt 11:19 being desirous of having him thought as such an one.



{a} Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 8. sect. 4. {b} Ut supra, (Misn. Bava Bathra, c. 8.) sect. 1. Maimon. & Bartenora in ib. {c} Ib. sect. 2. {d} Jus Regium Heb. c. 5. Theor. 17. p. 364. {e} Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 8. sect. 3.





Deuteronomy 21:21



Ver. 21. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die,.... The populace; that is, after his trial is finished, and he is condemned to die; and he was not stoned until the three first judges were there (by whom he was admonished, and ordered to be beaten), as it it said, "this is our son", this is he that was beaten before you {f}; and according to the Targum of Jonathan,



"if he feared (God, and showed any token of repentance) and received instruction, and they (his parents) desired to preserve him alive, they preserved him; but if he refused and was rebellious, then they stoned him;''



but the Jews say this law, and that of retaliation, were never put into execution:



so shalt thou put away evil from among you; put a stop to, and prevent such an evil for the future, and remove the guilt of it; or, as the Targum of Jonathan, him that doeth that evil:



and all Israel shall hear, and fear; it being to be publicly notified throughout the land, that such an one suffered death for such a crime, which would be a means of deterring others from the same; so Jarchi remarks,



"here (says he) a proclamation was necessary to be made by the sanhedrim, as that such an one was stoned because he was stubborn and rebellious;''



for the mystical sense of this see Eph 2:2.



{f} Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 3. sect. 4.





Deuteronomy 21:22



Ver. 22. And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death,.... This before mentioned, or any other that deserves death, any kind of death, as strangling, killing with the sword, burning and stoning, to which the Jews restrain it here:



and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him, on a tree; is condemned to stoning, and after that they hang him, as the Targum of Jonathan; and according to the Jewish Rabbins, as Jarchi observes, all that were stoned were to be hanged, and only men, not women {g}; for it is remarked that it is said "him" and not "her" {h}: about this there is a dispute in the Misnah {i};



"all that are stoned are hanged, they are the words of R. Eliezer; but the wise men say none are to be hanged but the blasphemer and idolater; a man is to be hanged with his face to the people, a woman with her face to the tree, they are the words of R. Eliezer; but the wise men say, a man is to be hanged, but no woman, to whom R. Eliezer replied, did not Simeon Ben Shetach hang women in Ashkelon? they answered him, he hung eighty women (at once), but they do not judge or condemn two in one day;''



so that this was a particular case at a particular time, and not be drawn into an example: in the same place it is asked,



"how they hang one? they fix a beam in the earth, and a piece of wood goes out of it (near the top of it, as one of the commentator {k} remarks), and join his two hands together and hang him;''



that is, by his hand, not by his neck, as with us, but rather in the crucifixion; only in that the hands are spread, and one hand is fastened to one part of the cross beam, and the other to the other end.



{g} Misn. Sotah, c. 3. sect. 8. {h} Maimon. & Bartenora in. ib. {i} Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 6. sect. 4. {k} Bartenora in Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 6. sect. 4.





Deuteronomy 21:23



Ver. 23. His body shall not remain all night upon the tree,.... Which is to be understood of any and everyone that was hanged, and not of the rebellious son only; of whom Josephus {l} says, that he was to be stoned by the multitude without the city, and having remained a whole day for a spectacle unto all, was to be buried at night; and indeed such a person was not to remain hanging on the tree any part of the night, but to be taken down at sun setting; so the Targum of Jonathan,



"ye shall bury him at sun setting;''



so says Maimonides {m}, they hang a man near the setting of the sun and loose him immediately, and if he continues they transgress a negative precept, "his body shall not remain", &c. yea, according to him and to the Misnah {n}, and which agrees with the practice of the Jews to this day, not only those that were put to death by the sanhedrim, but whoever suffered his dead to remain unburied a night transgressed a negative command, unless he kept him for his honour, to get for him a coffin and shroud:



but thou shalt in any wise bury him in that day: by all means, if possible; malefactors were not buried in the sepulchre of their fathers, but there were two burying places provided by the sanhedrim, one for those that were stoned and burnt, and another for those that were killed with the sword and strangled {o}; and even the instruments of their death were to be buried also, as Maimonides {p} relates, the tree on which he is hanged is buried with him, that there may be no remembrance of the evil, and they say, this is the tree on which such an one was hanged; and so the stone with which he is stoned, and the sword with which he is killed, and the napkin with which he is strangled, all are buried in the place where he is put to death, but not in the grave itself:



for he that is hanged is accursed of God: plainly appears to be so, having committed some foul sin which has brought the curse of God upon him, and which being hanged on a tree was a plain proof and declaration of; and therefore having hereby suffered the rigour of the law, the curse of it, his body was ordered to be taken down; for the words are not a reason of his being hanged, but a reason why being hanged, and so openly accursed, he should not remain hanging, but be taken down and buried: the meaning is not, as Onkelos gives it, that



"because he sinned before the Lord he is hanged,''



and particularly was guilty of blasphemy; which is given as the reason of his being hanged, and as the sense of this passage; on the mention of which it is said {q},



"it is as if he should say, wherefore is he hanged? because he cursed God, and the name of God was found profaned:''



but though this, or any other capital crime, may be allowed to be the reason of the man's being hanged, and so apparently accursed; yet this is not the reason of his being loosed from thence, but his having bore the curse and satisfied the law: and hence this is applied to Christ by the apostle, in Ga 3:13 showing, that his hanging on the tree was an indication and proof of his being made sin and a curse for his people, or that he bore the curse of the law for their sins, and that the taking of him down from the tree, and burying him, signified the removing the curse from him and his people for whom he suffered; or that thereby he redeemed them from the curse of the law, as the apostle expresses it:



that thy land be not defiled, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance: which is another reason for taking down the body from the tree and burying it, lest the land of Canaan, which the Lord had given them for an inheritance, and which was typical of the undefiled inheritance, 1Pe 1:4 should be polluted, both in a natural sense, through the putrefaction and corruption, and the disagreeable smell of a dead body, and in a ceremonial sense, as every carcass was defiling, if a person but entered where it was; and therefore a dead body was not to be left hanging openly in the air, and rotting there.



{l} Antiqu. l. 4. c. 8. sect. 24. {m} Hilchot Sanhedrin, c. 15. sect. 7. {n} Sanhedrin, c. 6. sect. 5. {o} Sanhedrin, c. 6. sect. 5. {p} Ut supra, (Hilchot Sanhedrin, c. 15.) sect. 9. {q} Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 6. sect. 4.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Deuteronomy 22:1



INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 22



In this chapter are various laws, concerning care of a neighbour's cattle gone astray or in distress, and of anything lost by him, De 22:1, forbidding one sex to wear the apparel, of another, De 22:5 and the taking away of the dam with the young found in a bird's nest, De 22:6, ordering battlements to be made in a new house, De 22:8, prohibiting mixtures in sowing, ploughing, and in garments, De 22:9, requiring fringes on the four quarters of a garment, De 22:12, fining a man that slanders his wife, upon producing the tokens of her virginity, De 22:13 but if these cannot be produced, then orders are given that she be put to death, De 22:20, then follow other laws, punishing with death the adulterer and adulteress, and one that hath ravished a betrothed damsel, De 22:22, amercing a person that lies with a virgin not betrothed and she consenting, and obliging him to marry her, and not suffering him to divorce her, De 22:28 and another against a man's lying with his father's wife, De 22:30.



Ver. 1. Thou shall not see thy brother's ox or his sheep go astray,.... Or "driven away" {r}; frightened and starved away from the herd or from the flock by a wolf or dog; and the ox and sheep are put for every other creature a man has, as camels, asses, &c. which last sort is after mentioned; and a brother means not one in the natural relation of kindred only, for it is supposed, in the next verse, that he might not only be at a distance, but unknown; nor by religion only, or one of the commonwealth or church of the Jews, for what is enjoined is a piece of humanity the law of nature requires and directs unto, and is even to be done to enemies, Ex 23:4 and hide thyself from them; make as if he did not see them, and so be entirely negligent of them, and takes no care and show no concern about them, but let them go on wandering from the herd and flock from whence they were driven, and to which they cannot find the way of themselves:



thou shalt in any case bring them again to thy brother: to his herd or flock, or to his house, and deliver them into his own hands, or to the care of his servants.



{r} Myxdn "expulsos", Montanus; "impulsos", Munster; "depulsos", Piscator.





Deuteronomy 22:2



Ver. 2. And if thy brother be not nigh unto thee,.... Does not live in the same neighbourhood, but at some considerable distance; so that he cannot soon and easily be informed of his cattle, or they be sent to him:



or if thou know him not; the owner of them, what is his name, or where he lives:



then thou shall bring it into thine house; not into his dwelling house, but some out house, barn, or stable:



and it shall be with thee; remain in his custody, and be taken care of by him; and, as the Targum of Jonathan says, "be fed and nourished by him"; for, according to the Jewish canon {s}, whatsoever could work and eat, that should work and eat, and whatsoever did not work and eat was to be sold; for which there was a set time, as the commentators say {t}, for large cattle, as oxen, twelve months; for lesser cattle, as sheep, goats, &c. three months, here it is fixed,



until thy brother seek after it; though in the mean while the finder was to make use of means, whereby the owner might be informed of it; for whatsoever was lost, in which were marks and signs by which inquiries might be made, were to be proclaimed {u}; (and it is asked) how long a man was obliged to proclaim? until it was known to his neighbours; same say (he must proclaim it) at three feasts, and seven days after the last feast, so that he may go home three days, and return three days, and proclaim one day; if (the owner) tells what is lost, but does not tell the marks or signs, he may not give it him; and a deceiver, though he tells the signs, he may not give it him, as it is said, "until thy brother seek after it"; until thou inquirest of thy brother whether he is a deceiver or not: and elsewhere it is said {w}, formerly if a man lost anything, and gave the signs or marks of it, he took it; but after deceivers increased, it was ordered to be said to him, bring witnesses that thou art not a deceiver, and take it; and in the same place it is observed, that there was at Jerusalem a stone, called Eben Toim, "the stone of strays", and whoever had lost or found anything repaired thither, and gave the signs and marks of it, and took it:



and thou shalt restore it to him again; he having made it fully to appear to be his, and having defrayed all expenses in advertising and keeping it; but if no owner appear to claim it, or not to satisfaction, the finder was to keep it as his own; but otherwise he was by all means to restore it, or, as in De 23:1 "in restoring thou shalt restore them" {x}, that is, certainly restore them; and continually wherever it so happens: the Jewish canon is {y},



"if he restores it, and afterwards it strays away, and he restores it again and it strays away, even though four or five times, he is bound to restore it; as it is said, "in restoring thou shalt restore them"; Maimonides says {z}, that even an hundred times he is bound to restore them.''



{s} Misn. Bava Metzia, c. 2. sect. 7. {t} Maimon. & Bartenora in ib. {u} Misn. ib. sect. 5, 6, 7. {w} T. Bab. Bava Metzia, fol. 28. 2. {x} Mbyvt bvh "reducendo reduces eos", Pagninus, Montanus. {y} Misn. ut supra, ({s}) sect. 9. {z} Hilchot Gazelah ve abadah, c. 11. sect. 14.





Deuteronomy 22:3



Ver. 3. In like manner shall thou do with his ass,.... As with his ox or sheep when astray, and found, keep it until it is owned, and then restore it; this is expressly mentioned in Ex 23:4



and so shalt thou do with his raiment; if that is lost and found, it must be restored to the owner, he describing it; a garment is particularly mentioned, it is said {a}, because in every garment there is a mark or sign by which the owners can inquire about it; for it is made by the hands of men, and does not come from anything common:



and with all lost things of thy brother's, which he hath lost, and thou hast found, shalt thou do likewise: this comprehends everything that is lost, that is properly so; it is asked {b};



"what is a lost thing? if a man finds an ox or a cow feeding in the way, this is not a lost thing; an ass whose instruments are inverted, and a cow running among the vineyards, this is a lost thing:''



thou mayest not hide thyself: from seeing it and taking care of it, in order to restore it to the right owner; or dissemble a sight of it, and pretend he never saw it, and so entirely neglect it. In some instances the Jews allow they were not obliged to take any notice or care of it, as,



"if a man find a cow in a cow house (which is not shut), he is not obliged (to take care of it); if in a public place, he is obliged; if it is in a burying ground he may not defile himself for it {c}.''



{a} Bartenora in Misn. Bava Metzia, c. 2. sect. 5. {b} Misn. ib. sect. 9. {c} Ib. sect. 10.





Deuteronomy 22:4



Ver. 4. Thou shall not see thy brother's ox or his ass fall down by the way,.... And lie under his burden, not being able to rise with it of himself, nor with all the assistance about it, without further help:



and hide thyself from them; cover thine eyes, or turn them another way, and make as if thou didst not see them in distress:



thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again; that is, help the brother and owner of it, the ox and ass; assist him in getting them up again, and lay on their burden, and fasten them aright, which either were rolled off by the fall, or were obliged to be taken off in order to raise them up; and if this was to be done for an enemy, then much more for a brother, as is required, See Gill on "Ex 23:5", or "lifting up, thou shall lift them up with him" {d}; that is, most certainly do it, and lift with all his strength, and as often as there is occasion; if they fell down again after raised up, help is still to be continued, even, as Maimonides {e} says, though it was an hundred times.



{d} Myqt Mqh "erigendo eriges", Pagninus, Montanus. {e} Hilchot Rotzeach, c. 13. sect. 5.





Deuteronomy 22:5



Ver. 5. The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man,.... It being very unseemly and impudent, and contrary to the modesty of her sex; or there shall not be upon her any "instrument of a man" {f}, any utensil of his which he makes use of in his trade and business; as if she was employed in it, when her business was not to do the work of men, but to take care of her house and family; and so this law may be opposed to the customs of the Egyptians, as is thought, from whom the Israelites were lately come; whose women, as Herodotus {g} relates, used to trade and merchandise abroad, while the men kept at home; and the word also signifies armour {h}, as Onkelos renders it; and so here forbids women putting on a military habit and going with men to war, as was usual with the eastern women; and so Maimonides {i} illustrates it, by putting a mitre or an helmet on her head, and clothing herself with a coat of mail; and in like manner Josephus {k} explains it,



"take heed, especially in war, that a woman do not make use of the habit of a man, or a man that of a woman;''



nor is he to be found fault with so much as he is by a learned writer {l}, since he does not restrain it wholly to war, though he thinks it may have a special regard to that; for no doubt the law respects the times of peace as well as war, in neither of which such a practice should obtain: but the Targum of Jonathan very wrongly limits it to the wearing fringed garments, and to phylacteries, which belonged to men:



neither shall a man put on a woman's garment; which would betray effeminacy and softness unbecoming men, and would lead the way to many impurities, by giving an opportunity of mixing with women, and so to commit fornication and adultery with them; to prevent which and to preserve chastity this law seems to be made; and since in nature a difference of sexes is made, it is proper and necessary that this should be known by difference of dress, or otherwise many evils might follow; and this precept is agreeably to the law and light of nature: it is observed by an Heathen writer {m}, that there is a twofold distribution of the law, the one written, the other not written; what we use in civil things is written, what is from nature and use is unwritten, as to walk naked in the market, or to put on a woman's garment: and change of the clothes of sexes was used among the Heathens by way of punishment, as of the soldiers that deserted, and of adulteresses {n}; so abominable was it accounted: indeed it may be lawful in some cases, where life is in danger, to escape that, and provided chastity is preserved:



for all that do so are an abomination to the Lord thy God; which is a reason sufficient why such a practice should not be used. Some from this clause have been led to conclude, that respect is had to some customs of this kind used in idolatrous worship, which are always abominable to the Lord. So Maimonides {o} observes, that in a book of the Zabians, called "Tomtom", it is commanded, that a man should wear a woman's garment coloured when he stood before the star of Venus, and likewise that a woman should put on a coat of mail and warlike armour when she stood before the star of Mars; which he takes to be one reason of this law, though besides that he gives another, because hereby concupiscence would be excited, and an occasion for whoredom given: that there was some such customs among the Heathens may be confirmed from Macrobius {p}, and Servius {q} as has been observed by Grotius; the former of which relates, that Philochorus affirmed that Venus is the moon, and that men sacrificed to her in women's garments, and women in men's; and for this reason, because she was thought to be both male and female; and the latter says, there was an image of Venus in Cyprus with a woman's body and garment, and with the sceptre and distinction of a man, to whom the men sacrificed in women's garments, and women in men's garments; and, as the above learned commentator observes, there were many colonies of the Phoenicians in Cyprus, from whom this custom might come; and to prevent it obtaining among the Israelites in any degree, who were now coming into their country, it is thought this law was made; for the priests of the Assyrian Venus made use of women's apparel {r}, and in the feasts of Bacchus men disguised themselves like women {s}.



{f} rbg ylk "instrumentum virile", Pagninus, Junius et Tremellius; "instrumentum viri", Vatablus. {g} Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 35. {h} "Arma viri", Munster. {i} Hilchot Obede Cochabim, c. 12. sect. 10. {k} Antiqu. l. 4. c. 8. sect. 43. {l} Cunaeus de Repub. Heb. l. 2. c. 22. {m} Laert. Vit. Platonis, l. 3. p. 238. {n} Cunaeus ut supra. ({l}) {o} Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c. 37. {p} Saturnal. l. 3. c. 8. {q} In Virgil. Aeneid. l. 2. {r} Jul. Firmic. de Relig. Prophan. p. 6. {s} Lucian.





Deuteronomy 22:6



Ver. 6. If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in any tree, or on the ground,.... Which are the usual places in which birds build their nests; and this, as Jarchi observes, excepts such nests that are prepared, that is, that are purposely made for fowls kept at home; and with which agrees the Jewish canon, which says {t}



"the letting go (the dam out of) the nest is not used but of a fowl, and it is not used but of what is not prepared; what is that which is not prepared? such as geese and hens, whose nest is in an orchard; but if their nest is in the house, and so doves kept at home, a man is free from letting (the dam) go;''



that is, he is not obliged to let it go; and this is to be understood of clean birds only; so the Targum of Jonathan,



"the nests of clean birds;''



agreeably to the same canons and the explanation of them {u},



"an unclean bird is free from letting go; so an unclean bird, that sits upon the eggs of a clean bird, also a clean bird that sits upon the eggs of an unclean bird, are free from letting go,''



or persons are not obliged to let such go:



whether they be young ones or eggs; that are in the nest; and the Jewish canon is {w},



"if there is but one young one, or one egg, a man is obliged to let go the dam, as it is said a nest: a nest is a word of a large sense:''



and the dam sitting upon the young or upon eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young; according to the above canon,



"if she is flying at the time her wings reach the nest, a man is bound to let her go; but if her wings touch not the nest, he is free from letting her go--if the young ones are capable of flying, or the eggs rotten, he is free from letting her go, as it is said, and the dam sitting, &c. as the young are alive, so the eggs must be firm and sound, rotten ones are excepted; and as eggs have need of their dam, so the young have need of their dam; those (therefore) that can fly are excepted:''



the dam is not to be taken with her young upon any account; yea, it is said {x}, not even to cleanse a leper; and whoever does take her is to be beaten: this law was made partly to preserve the species of birds, and prevent the decrease of them; for a dam let go might breed again, and to this purpose are the verses ascribed to Phocylides {y}, which contain the substance of this law, and this reason of it: and partly, as Maimonides observes {z}, that the dam might not be afflicted at the sight of the spoil of her young; for this law does not prohibit the taking of her in any other place but in her nest, nor after her young are taken, but not together; and, as the same writer remarks, if the law would have such care taken of beasts and birds, that they might be freed from sorrow and distress, how much more of man? Wherefore the intention of this law is to teach humanity, compassion, and pity in men to one another, and to forbid cruelty, covetousness, and such like vices; as also to instruct in the doctrine of Providence, which has a respect to birds; and our Lord may be thought to have this law in view, Lu 12:6.



{t} Misn. Cholin, c. 12. sect. 1. {u} Ib. sect. 2. {w} Ib. sect. 3. {x} Misn. Cholin, c. 12. sect. 5. {y} mhde tiv orniyav, &c. Poem. admon. l. 80, 81. {z} Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c. 48.





Deuteronomy 22:7



Ver. 7. But thou shall in any wise let the dam go, and take the young to thee,.... Or "in letting go, let go", or "in sending, send away" {a}; that is, willingly, certainly, entirely, frequently, always; so the Jewish canons {b},



"if anyone lets her go, and she returns, even four or five times, he is obliged to let her go, as it is said, "in letting go, let go";''



nay, Maimonides says {c}, even a thousand times; the canon proceeds,



"if anyone says, lo, I take the dam and let go the young, he is obliged to let her go; if he takes the young, and returns them again to the nest, and after that returns the dam to them, he is free from letting her go;''



that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days; the Targum of Jonathan is,



"that it may be well with thee in this world, and thou mayest prolong thy days in the world to come:''



the same blessing that is promised to observers of the fifth command, which is one of the weightier matters of the law, is made to this; which the Jews say {d} is but as the value of a farthing, or of little account in comparison of others; wherefore, as Fagius rightly observes {e}, God, in bestowing such rewards, has regard not to the works of men, but to his own grace and kindness; for what merit can there be in letting go or preserving the life of a little bird?



{a} xlvt xlv "dimittendo dimittes", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus; so Ainsworth. {b} Misn. Cholin, c. 12. sect. 3. {c} In Misn. ib. {d} Misn. ib. sect. 5. {e} In loc.





Deuteronomy 22:8



Ver. 8. When thou buildest a new house,.... Which is to be understood of a house to dwell in, not of a granary, barn, or stable, or such like, and every house that is not four cubits square, as Maimonides observes {f}:



then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof; in the Talmud {g} it is asked, what is the meaning of, or why is it said, "thy roof?" to except synagogues and schools; the gloss upon which is, synagogues, &c. do not belong to any single person, and besides are no dwelling place. A battlement, as Jarrift describes it, was a fence round the roof; or, as more fully described by Kimchi {h}, it was an edifice made for a roof round about it, ten hands high, or more, that a person might not fall from it; so Ben Melech from him. The reason of this law was, because the roofs of houses in those countries were flat, on which they used to walk for diversion and recreation, or retire for devotion, meditation, prayer, and social conversation; such they were in the times of the Canaanites, Jos 2:6 and in the times of Saul and David, 1Sa 9:25 and in the times of the New Testament;

See Gill on "Mt 10:27",

See Gill on "Mt 24:17",

See Gill on "Mr 2:4",

See Gill on "Ac 10:9", and so in later times, and to this day. Rauwolff {i}, traveller in those parts, relates, that at Tripoli in Phoenicia,



"they have low houses, ill built, and flat at the top, as they are generally in the east; for they cover their houses with a flat roof or floor, so that you may walk about as far as the houses go, and the neighbours walk over the tops of their houses to visit one another; and sometimes in the summer they sleep on the top of them.''



Now to prevent falling from thence, and mischief thereby, such a battlement as before described was ordered:



that thou bring not blood upon thy house; be not the occasion of blood being shed, or contract guilt of blood through negligence of such a provision the law directs to, the guilt of manslaughter, or of shedding innocent blood in thy house, as the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem; hence the Talmudists {k} extend this to other things, and by this law also they suppose men are bound to guard against all dangers in any other way; as if a man had a well or pit of water in his courtyard, he ought either to put a cover over it, or to make a fence round it as high as this battlement {l}:



if any man fall from thence; that is, if a man walking on the roof of an house should make a slip or a false step, and stumble and reel, and so be falling, and fall from thence; which might have been prevented, even his falling from thence or to the ground, if such a battlement had been made.



{f} Hilchot Rotzeach, c. 11. sect. 1. {g} T. Bab. Cholin, fol. 136. 1. So Maimonides, ib. sect. 2. {h} Sepher Shorash. rad. hqe. {i} Travels, par. 1. c. 2. p. 17. Ed. Ray. {k} T. Bab. Bava Kama, fol. 15. 2. {l} Maimon. Hilchot Rotzeach, c. 11. sect. 4.





Deuteronomy 22:9



Ver. 9. Thou shall not sow thy vineyards with divers seeds,.... As wheat and barley between the rows of the vines; and this is to be understood only of divers sorts of corn, and of divers sorts of herbs, but not of trees; hence we read of a fig tree in a vineyard, Lu 13:6, and this only respects what is sown with design, and not what is casual, as the Jews interpret it {e};



"if a man passes through a vineyard, and seeds fall from him, or they are carried out along with dung, or with water; or when a man is sowing, and a storm of wind carries it behind him (i.e. to a vineyard behind him), it is lawful;''



that is, it may be let grow, and the fruit of it enjoyed; the same here is said of the vineyard as of the field in See Gill on "Le 19:19";



lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard; be defiled; that is, lest not only the increase of these divers seeds sown, but also the increase of the vines among which they are sown, become unlawful, and unfit for use, and so a loss of all be sustained: the Targum of Jonathan is,



"lest it be condemned to burning;''



or thou art obliged to burn it; for, according to the Jewish canons {f}, the mixtures of a vineyard, or the divers seeds of it, and the increase thereof, were to be burnt; and the commentators of the Misnah {g} frequently explain this phrase by "lest it be burnt".



{e} Misn. Celaim, c. 5. sect. 7. {f} Misn. Temurah, c. 7. sect. 5. {g} Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Terumot, c. 10. sect. 6. Orla, c. 3. sect. 7. Kiddushin, c. 2. sect. 9.





Deuteronomy 22:10



Ver. 10. Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together,.... They might be used separately, but not together; nor was it uncommon in some countries for asses to be employed in ploughing as well as oxen. Pliny {h} makes mention of some fruitful land in Africa, which when it was dry weather could not be ploughed by oxen, but after showers of rain might be ploughed by a mean little ass; so Leo Africanus {i} says, the Africans only use horses and asses in ploughing. The reason why they were not to be put together was either (as some think) lest the law should be broken which forbids the gendering of cattle with a divers kind, Le 19:19 but Aben Ezra thinks the reason is, because the strength of an ass is not equal to the strength of an ox; and therefore he supposes this law is made from the mercy and commiseration of God extended to all his creatures; though perhaps the better reason is, because the one was a clean creature, and the other an unclean, and this instance is put for all others; and with which agree the Jewish canons, which run thus,



"cattle with cattle, wild beasts with wild beasts, unclean with unclean, clean with clean (i.e. these may be put together); but unclean with clean, and clean with unclean, are forbidden to plough with, to draw with, or to be led together {k}.''



The mystery of this is, that godly and ungodly persons are not to be yoked together in religious fellowship: see 2Co 6:14.



{h} Nat. Hist. l. 17. c. 5. {i} Descriptio Africae, l. 2. p. 104. {k} Misn. Celaim, c. 8. sect. 2.





Deuteronomy 22:11



Ver. 11. Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts,.... The Jews say nothing is forbidden under the name of sorts but what is spun and wove, as it is said, "thou shalt not wear sheatnez", a thing that is carded, spun, and wove {l}; which Ainsworth translates "linsie woolsie", and is explained by what follows: as "of woollen and linen together"; of which See Gill on "Le 19:19", whereas Josephus {m} observes, this was granted to the priests only to wear such garments. Bochart {n} affirms it to be false; but that great man is mistaken; the blue, purple, and scarlet, in the priests' garments, were no other than dyed wool; and it is a sentiment in general received by the Jews, that the priests wore no other but woollen and linen in their service; see the note on the above place; otherwise this law is so strictly observed, as not, to sew a woollen garment with linen thread, and so on the contrary {o}.



{l} Misn. Celaim. c. 9. sect. 8. {m} Antiqu. l. 4. c. 8. sect. 11. {n} Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 2. c. 45. col. 491. {o} Leo Modena's History of Rites, &c. l. 1. c. 5.





Deuteronomy 22:12



Ver. 12. Thou shalt make thee fringes,.... Though a different word is here used from that in Nu 15:38, yet the same things are intended, and Onkelos translates both by one and the same word, and which is no other than a corruption of the Greek word used in Mt 23:5. Though there have been some, whom Aben Ezra takes notice of, who supposed that this is a law by itself, and to be observed in the night, as that in Nu 15:38 was in the day; but these he warmly opposes, and calls them liars:



upon the four quarters of thy vesture, wherewith thou coverest thyself; upon the four skirts of the uppermost vesture, called Talith;

See Gill on "Nu 15:38".





Deuteronomy 22:13



Ver. 13. If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her. That is, marries a wife, and cohabits with her as man and wife, and after some time dislikes her, and is desirous of parting with her, and therefore takes the following wicked method to obtain it: this is to be understood of a virgin taken to wife, as the Targum of Jonathan explains it; and what follows confirms it.





Deuteronomy 22:14



Ver. 14. And give occasions of speech against her,.... Among her neighbours, who by his behaviour towards her, and by what he says of her, will be led in all company and conversation to traduce her character, and speak of her as a very bad woman:



and bring up an evil name upon her; take away her good name, and give her a bad one; defame her, and make her appear scandalous and reproachful to all that know her: though the Jews understand this not of private slander, but of bringing an action against her in a public court of judicature, the substance of which follows: "and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid"; the sense is, that he had married her, and when he came to cohabit with her as man and wife, it appeared to him that she was vitiated, and not a pure virgin. This is the charge in court against her, the action laid by him; so Jarchi observes, a man might not say this but before a magistrate, in a court of judicature, which is thus represented by Maimonides {p};



"a man comes to the sanhedrim, and says, this young woman I married, and I did not find her virginities; and when I inquired into the matter, it appeared to me that she had played the whore under me, after I had betrothed her; and these are my witnesses that she played the whore before them.''



{p} Hilchot Naarah Betulah, c. 3. sect. 6.





Deuteronomy 22:15



Ver. 15. Then shall the father and the mother of the damsel take,.... Power from the court, according to the Targum of Jonathan; having leave and licence granted them to do what follows, these were to, and would, concern themselves in such an affair, partly for the credit and reputation of their child, and partly for their own honour, who were in danger, as Jarchi observes, of coming into contempt for their ill education of her:



and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity; the sheet she lay in when she first bedded with her husband, in her parents' possession, and kept by them as a witness of her purity, should there ever be any occasion for it: and which were to be brought



unto the elders of the city in the gate; which sat in the gate of the city to try causes: the Targum of Jonathan calls it the gate of the sanhedrim, or court of judicature; and, according to Maimonides {q}, this court was the court of twenty three judges; for this was a capital crime accused of, a cause relating to life and death, which could not be heard and tried in a lesser court.



{q} Hilchot Naarah Betulah, c. 3. sect. 3.





Deuteronomy 22:16



Ver. 16. And the damsel's father shall say unto the elders,.... Not her mother; hence we learn, says Jarchi, that a woman has not power (or is not allowed) to speak before men; that is, in public see 1Co 14:34 and it was most proper for a father to appear in court for her, and defend her; and if she had no parents living then, those that brought her up, her guardians, that had the education of her, and placing her out in marriage, were to undertake her cause; or, as Josephus {r} says, those that were next akin to her; or, as, Aben Ezra, one appointed by the court:



I gave my daughter unto this man to wife; and, by the Jewish canons {s}, a man might give his daughter in marriage, but a woman might not:



and he hateth her; has taken a dislike to her, and wants to be rid of her, and therefore has brought this infamous action against her.



{r} Antiqu. l. 4. c. 8. sect. 23. {s} Misn. Sotah, c. 3. sect. 8.





Deuteronomy 22:17



Ver. 17. And, lo, he hath given occasion of speech against her,.... In the neighbourhood where they dwell; has been the cause of persons speaking reproachfully of her, as one of ill fame:



saying, l found not thy daughter a maid; so that it seems he said this not only to his neighbours, and before a court of judicature, but to the parents of the damsel:



and yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity; which were brought with him, and produced in open court:



and they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city; that they might have ocular proof and evidence of the truth of what he said, by having spread before them the sheet stained with the blood of her virginity upon her husband's first congress with her. It seems that the mother, as well as the father, were present and concerned in this action: for it is said, "they shall spread"; and though the mother might not speak, she was the proper person to bring this cloth and spread it; and indeed it was particularly in her care and keeping; for we are told {t}, that two persons, called Mynybvwv, "the friends" of the bride and bridegroom, went first into their bedchamber, and thoroughly examined the bed, whether there was anything relating to the sign of virginity, by which one might impose upon another; and they stood all night keeping watch with great joy and cheerfulness, as if they had been the guards of a king and queen; (to which is thought the allusion is in Joh 3:29) their business was, when the bridegroom and bride came out, to rush in immediately, and examine all things again; and knowing and owning the former linen sheets in which they had lain, took them and delivered them to the mother. Nor need spreading such a cloth before the court be thought unlikely because of the indecency of it, when it is observed that persons and things much more filthy came under the cognizance and examination of the priests, as leprous, menstruous, and profluvious persons, and their respective disorders; nor is it at all improbable that there should be such evident tokens as are said to be given, when it is observed, especially of the Jewish women, at what a tender age they were marriageable, and were frequently married, namely, when twelve years and one day old. And the Africans, as we are told {u}, have a custom with them similar to this at a wedding;



"a feast is prepared, and a certain woman waits without, until the bride is lain with; and then a linen cloth, stained with blood, is reached out to her, which she carries in her hands, and shows to the guests, crying out with a loud voice that this was a virgin hitherto not corrupt; then she, with other women, are splendidly received, first by the parents of the bridegroom, and then of the bride; but if she does not appear to be a virgin, she is returned to her parents under the disgrace of all, and the marriage made null and void.''



Indeed there are some Jewish writers, that interpret this cloth in a parabolical and allegorical sense, and understand by it witnesses that; would make the case as clear and plain as the spreading out a cloth or garment. They suppose that before the damsel was lain with she was examined by several matrons, who declaring her to be a virgin, gave it under their hands in writing to her parents, which they were capable of producing in court when there was occasion for it; so Jarchi says, this is a parable; the meaning is, they made things as clear and as plain as a new cloth; with which agrees the Talmud {w} he seems to have taken it from, where on these words, and they shall spread the cloth, this remark is made; but the literal sense seems best.



{t} Nachman. apud Fagium in loc. Schindler. Lex: Pentaglott. col. 260, 261. {u} Joan. Leon. Descript. Africae, l. 3. p. 325. {w} T. Bab. Cetubot, fol. 46. 1.





Deuteronomy 22:18



Ver. 18. And the elders of that city shall take the man, and chastise him. Not with words, but blows. Jarchi interprets it of beating, and so does the Talmud {x}; and both the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan render it,



"shall beat him;''



that is, with the beating or scourging of forty stripes, save one.



{x} T. Bab. Cetubot, fol. 46. 1.





Deuteronomy 22:19



Ver. 19. And they shall amerce him in an hundred shekels of silver,.... Which was about twelve pounds of our money; this was double the dowry he would have been obliged to have given her, if he had put her away; which he might have done with less trouble, and with a greater certainty of being rid of her; but being willing to save that expense, took this wicked method to accuse her falsely; and therefore is fined double that sum:



and give them unto the father of the damsel; as a sort of satisfaction or reparation for the scandal brought upon him and his family; if the damsel was fatherless, Maimonides {y} says, she was to have them herself:



because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin in Israel: defamed her among her neighbours and acquaintance, or brought a false accusation against her in court; alleging she was not a virgin when he married her, when she was one, which was a very great injury to her character:



and she shall be his wife, he may not put her away all his days: and so he was disappointed in his view of getting rid of her, and obliged to retain her as his wife, though hated, and was not suffered to divorce her as long as he lived; which was permitted and connived at in other men, and which he might have done before, without bringing such a charge against her; all which must be very mortifying to him, as to be whipped, to pay a fine, keep his wife, and not allowed ever to divorce her.



{y} Hilchot Naarah Betulah, c. 3. sect. 1.





Deuteronomy 22:20



Ver. 20. But if this thing be true,.... Which the husband of the damsel laid to her charge, that she was no virgin when married to him, and she had committed whoredom, of which there was plain proof:



and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel; by her parents, or those who had the care of her; or no sufficient reason could be assigned for the want of them, through any family defect, or any disorder of her own; which, as Maimonides {z} says, the judges were to inquire into.



{z} Hilchot Ishot, c. 11. sect. 12.





Deuteronomy 22:21



Ver. 21. Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house,.... For his greater disgrace, and as a sort of punishment for his neglect of her education, not taking care to instruct her, and bring her up in a better manner:



and the men of her city shall stone her with stones, that she die; which was the death this sort of adulteresses were put to; others was by strangling, and the daughter of a priest was to be burnt; see

Le 20:10, which shows that this sin was committed by her after her espousals, as Jarchi and Aben Ezra note; or otherwise it would have been only simple fornication, which was not punishable with death:



because she hath wrought folly in Israel: a sin, as all sin is folly, and especially any notorious one, as this was; and which is aggravated by its being done in Israel, among a people professing the true religion, and whom God had chosen and separated from all others to be a holy people to himself:



to play the whore in her father's house; where she continued after her espousals, until she was taken to the house of her husband, to consummate the: marriage; and between the one and the other was this sin committed, and which is another reason for her execution at the door of her father's house:



so shalt thou put evil away from among you; deter others from it by such an example, and remove the guilt of it from them, which otherwise would lie upon them, if punishment was not inflicted; the Targum of Jonathan interprets it of the putting away of her that did the evil.





Deuteronomy 22:22



Ver. 22. If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband,..... This law respects adultery, and is the same with that in

Le 20:10



then they shall both of them die; with the strangling of a napkin, as the Targum of Jonathan, which is the death such persons were put to; and is always meant when death is simply spoken of, and it is not specified what death; See Gill on "Le 20:10":



both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman; they were both to die, and to die the same death:



so shalt thou put away evil from Israel; such that do it, as the above Targum; See Gill on "De 22:21".





Deuteronomy 22:23



Ver. 23. If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband,.... But not married, not as yet brought home to her husband's house, and the marriage consummated; for the Jews distinguish between being betrothed or espoused, and married; and generally there was some time between the one and the other. And a wife was obtained in this way by three things; by money, which was the most usual; and by writing, which was to be done before witnesses, and with her consent; and by copulation, which, though valid, was not so much approved of {a}. There is a whole treatise in the Misnah, called Kiddushin, or Espousals, which largely treats of this matter:



and a man find her in the city, and lie with her; with her consent, as might be presumed by her not crying out, when, had she, she might have been heard, being in a city; and her being there also makes against her, since, being betrothed to a man, she ought to have abode in her father's house till her husband fetched her home, and not to have gadded abroad in the city, where she was exposed to temptation.



{a} Misn. Kiddushin, c. 1. sect. 1.





Deuteronomy 22:24



Ver. 24. Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of the city,.... Where the fact was committed; the Targum of Jonathan is,



"to the gate of the court of judicature, which is in that city:''



and ye shall stone them with stones, that they die; a man that lay with a married woman, he and she were to be strangled; but this sort of adulterers and adulteresses were to be stoned, and it is thought that of this sort was the woman spoken of in Joh 8:3,



the damsel because she cried not, being in the city, and the man because he hath humbled his neighbour's wife; as she was by espousal, by contract, by promise, and so was guilty of adultery, which was punishable with death:



so thou shall put away evil from among you; see De 22:21.





Deuteronomy 22:25



Ver. 25. But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field,.... Alone, and where she might cry out, and none hear, nor were any to help her:



and a man force her, and lie with her; or "take fast and strong hold on her" {b}; so that she is not able to get out of his hands, and make her escape, he being stronger than she, and so commits a rape upon her:



then the man only that lay with her shall die; he being guilty of adultery, in lying with a woman espoused to another man, but not she, because she consented not to it.



{b} hb qyzxhw "et apprehenderit (in) eam", Pagninus, Montanus; "et apprehendens eam", Piscator.





Deuteronomy 22:26



Ver. 26. But unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing,.... Neither fine her, nor beat her, and much less punish her with death:



there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death; because what was done to her was done without her will and consent, and was what she was forced to submit unto; but the Targum of Jonathan adds, that the man to whom she was betrothed might dismiss her from himself by a bill of divorce:



for as when a man riseth against his neighbour, and slayeth him, even so is this matter; as when a man comes unawares upon another, and lays hold on him, and kills him, being stronger than he, and none to help; so is the case of a woman laid hold on by a man in a field, and ravished by him, where no help could be had; and depriving a woman of her chastity is like taking away a man's life; from this passage Maimonides {c} concludes, that impurities, incests, and adulteries, are equal to murder, to capital cases relating to life and death.



{c} Hilchot Yesode Hattorah, c. 5. sect. 10.





Deuteronomy 22:27



Ver. 27. For he found her in the field,.... Which is a circumstance in her favour, from which it might he presumed that she was forced, and did not consent; for had the sin been committed by agreement, they would doubtless have betook themselves to another place: and the betrothed damsel cried as it might be concluded from the above circumstance she did, and as she herself declared, and which he could not gainsay, or however disprove:



and there was none to save her; to help her against him, and deliver her out of his hands.





Deuteronomy 22:28



Ver. 28. If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed,.... That is, meets with one in a field, which is not espoused to a man; and the man is supposed to be an unmarried man, as appears by what follows:



and lay hold on her, and lie with her, she yielding to it, and so is not expressive of a rape, as De 22:25 where a different word from this is there used; which signifies taking strong hold of her, and ravishing her by force; yet this, though owing to his first violent seizure of her, and so different from what was obtained by enticing words, professions of love, and promises of marriage, and the like, as in

Ex 22:16 but not without her consent:



and they be found; in the field together, and in the fact; or however there are witnesses of it, or they themselves have confessed, it, and perhaps betrayed by her pregnancy.





Deuteronomy 22:29



Ver. 29. Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, &.] For the abuse of his daughter; and besides this was obliged to give her her dowry also, as Philo {d} says, which is commonly said to be fifty more:



and she shall be his wife; if her father and she agreed to it; and in such a case the man was not at his liberty to refuse, be she what she would, agreeable or not, handsome or ugly; he must, as the Jews express it, drink out of his pot, or marry her, if she is lame, or blind, or full of ulcers {e}:



because he hath humbled her he may not put her away all his days: to all the other parts of his punishment, paying a fine of fifty shekels to the damsel's father, a dowry of the same sum to her, obligation to marry her whether he likes her or not, this is added, that he is not allowed to divorce her as long as he lives; which was permitted to other men, and this was wisely ordered to preserve chastity.



{d} De Special. Leg. p. 787. {e} Misn. Cetubot, c. 3. sect. 5.





Deuteronomy 22:30



Ver. 30. A man shall not take his father's wife,.... Not marry her, whether his own mother, or a stepmother; or even, as Aben Ezra thinks, anyone that was deflowered by his father. Jarchi interprets it of his father's brother's wife, which he was obliged to marry by virtue of the law in De 25:5



nor discover his father's skirt; or lie with her his father had thrown his skirt over, or married; and which being the first, is mentioned here as a sample to all the rest forbidden Le 18:7 or, as Bishop Patrick expresses it, is a "short memorandum", to make them careful to observe all the other laws respecting incestuous marriages and copulations there delivered.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

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