Nine Laws for Various Occasions and Temptations
All in the Sg. address (and the first two besides with the term
_brother_usual in the Sg passages) and without the opening formula
general in the preceding group and resumed in the following. It is
difficult if not impossible to explain their appearan... [ Continue Reading ]
_go astray_ Heb. _niddaḥim_, usually rendered as a passive part.,
has here, probably, as in Micah 4:6; Zephaniah 3:19; Ezekiel 34:4;
Ezekiel 34:16, a reflexive sense like the Scot. pass. part.
_wandered_: LXX πλανώμενα ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ. Exodus 23:4:
_if thou come upon thine enemy's ox or his ass straying_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Of Restoring Lost Property. No Israelite shall see a brother's ox or
sheep go astray without returning it, or caring for it till it is
claimed, and so with an ass or garment or anything lost; D's expansion
of a law by E, Exodus 23:4 f., which is (remarkably) of an
_enemy's_property. As is evident fr... [ Continue Reading ]
Wholly (except for _his ass_) D's addition to the law.... [ Continue Reading ]
_thou mayest not_ As in Deuteronomy 12:17, _q.v._, etc.... [ Continue Reading ]
Of Assisting to Lift Fallen Beasts. D's more comprehensive and more
simply expressed edition of E's law, Exodus 23:5, which enjoins the
duty of helping him _that hateth thee_to _release_(an archaic word)
his animals when foundered beneath their burdens. On _fallen_, see
Deuteronomy 21:1.
An animal... [ Continue Reading ]
Against Wearing the Clothes, etc., of the Other Sex. Peculiar to D. As
what is forbidden is styled _an abomination to Jehovah_, the law
probably refers to heathen rites, for the practice of which, including
the interchange by the sexes of their clothes, weapons, etc., leading
to gross impurities, th... [ Continue Reading ]
Of Sparing the Mother-bird. Peculiar to D. No reason of ritual such as
we found from Deuteronomy 14:21 is traceable here. The motive may be
prudence; had it been kindness to animals (as in Deuteronomy 25:4, and
H. Leviticus 22:27 f.) we should have expected an injunction not to
take the whole brood.... [ Continue Reading ]
Of Protecting Roofs. Only in D. E, Exodus 21:33 f., exacts from him
who leaves a pit open the price of a beast fallen into it, but says
nothing as to houses. D's frequent reference to building is another
sign of its later date. Neglect of this law would be punished under
the laws on manslaughter and... [ Continue Reading ]
_thy vineyard_ which in Palestine is frequently so planted that there
is room for the growth of vegetables, etc., between the vines.
Leviticus 19:19, _thy field_. Why D mentions only _vineyard_is not
explicable. The inference that his law is later than that in Lev.
(Dillm.) is unjustified. More prob... [ Continue Reading ]
Three Laws against Mixing (1) seeds, (2) animals in ploughing, (3)
cloths in a garment. The first and third also in H, Leviticus 19:19
(cp. P, Leviticus 11:37, against defiling seed), along with one
against cross-breeding; the second peculiar to D. The religious reason
given for the first is to be i... [ Continue Reading ]
_an ox and an ass together_ This is frequently seen in Palestine, as
also a camel with one or other of these two. Note that the ox was
-clean," the ass -unclean." D does not, like H, prohibit
cross-breeding. _Mules_were common in Israel from David's time, see
_Jerus._i. 326 f. On cross-breeding at t... [ Continue Reading ]
_a mingled stuff_ Heb. _sha-aṭnez_, a foreign word, and perhaps
Egyptian (doubtfully derived from the Coptic _saht_, -woven," and
_nudj_, -false"), LXX κίβδηλος. Also in Leviticus 19:19, which
has _a garment of two kinds_for the _wool and linen together_of D.
According to Hosea 2:5; Hosea 2:9, Israe... [ Continue Reading ]
Of Knots or Tassels. _Gedilîm_, lit. _twisted threads_, are to be put
on the four borders of the quadrangular _covering_or outer garment
(Deuteronomy 24:13; Exodus 22:27). P (or H), Numbers 15:37-41, calls
them _Ṣîṣîth_, and explains them as reminders of the
commandments of their God, and their obli... [ Continue Reading ]
_If any man_, etc.] For this opening cp. Deuteronomy 21:15;
Deuteronomy 21:18; Deuteronomy 21:22. _Take a wife_, Deuteronomy
21:11, etc.
_and hate her_ Note this feature in the case; the man had entered on
marriage merely for the satisfaction of his passions, and when this
was achieved turned again... [ Continue Reading ]
Charges against a Bride. He who, from a base motive, falsely accuses
his wife of unchastity before marriage shall after solemn rebuke from
the elders be fined 100 silver-pieces and have his right of divorce
withdrawn (Deuteronomy 22:13-19); but if such a charge be true she
shall be stoned to death ... [ Continue Reading ]
Six Laws on Cases of Unchastity
Of these the first five prescribe the procedure in criminal cases:
1st. Of a Husband's Charges against His Bride (Deuteronomy 22:13-21);
2nd. Of Adultery (Deuteronomy 22:22); 3rd. Of Dishonouring a Betrothed
Virgin with her consent (Deuteronomy 22:23 f.); 4th. Of the... [ Continue Reading ]
_and lay shameful things to her charge_ So some versions, and so still
Marti. But others following Dillm. trans. _frame wanton charges
against her_(Heb. _-ȧlilôth debarîm_, cp. the cognate _ta-alulîm,
caprice_or _wantonness_, Isaiah 3:4; Isaiah 66:4, and Psalms 141:4).
So Dri. Berth., and the Oxford... [ Continue Reading ]
_father of the damsel, and her mother_ Together as in Deuteronomy
21:18 ff. _Damsel_, Heb. _na-ar_, the masc. form used in the Pent, for
the fem. 21 times, 13 of which are here (but fem. form in Deuteronomy
22:19) and the rest in Genesis 24:34; cp. Ruth 2:6; Ruth 4:12.
_elders of the city in the ga... [ Continue Reading ]
TO HER CHARGE] So Sam. LXX; omitted by Heb.... [ Continue Reading ]
_chastise him_ According to Josephus, IV. _Antt._viii. 23, he received
39 stripes; see on Deuteronomy 25:3. But the vb probably means merely
to REBUKE, cp. Deuteronomy 21:18.... [ Continue Reading ]
_amerce_ Or _fine_, also in E, Exodus 21:22. On the estimate of the
silver shekel as = 2 _sh_. 9 _d_., this came to £13. 15 _sh_. It is
paid to the father who had been responsible for his daughter's
integrity (cp. Deuteronomy 22:16, _I gave my daughter to this man_)
and whose family name had been da... [ Continue Reading ]
_But if this_ CHARGE _be true_, etc.] If the physical signs were alone
relied on a miscarriage of justice was possible. Other evidence,
however, may have been forthcoming. Indeed it is possible that the
clause, _the tokens_, etc., is not original.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the door of her father's house_ Not at the town's gate (as in other
cases, Deuteronomy 22:24; Deuteronomy 17:5), because it was her
father's house which she had dishonoured. Therefore instead of _to
play the harlot_, etc., read with Sam. LXX. TURNING HER FATHER'S HOUSE
INTO A HARLOT'S.
_folly_ Rat... [ Continue Reading ]
Of Adultery. Both guilty parties shall die; so H, Leviticus 20:10. By
inference from Deuteronomy 22:21_; Deuteronomy 22:24_the death was by
stoning; so Ezekiel 16:38-40; John 8:5.
So in Arabia to this day; Burton, _Pilgr. to Mecca_, ii. 19, Musil,
_Ethn. Ber._210; among the Arabs of Sinai the man a... [ Continue Reading ]
_betrothed_ see on Deuteronomy 20:7.
_in the city_ Cp. Deuteronomy 22:24. In the city she would have been
heard had she cried, but as she did not she must have been a
consenting party.... [ Continue Reading ]
Of Intercourse with a Betrothed Virgin: (1) Deuteronomy 22:23 f., with
her consent, in which case both she and the man are stoned, as in the
case of Adultery (Deuteronomy 22:22), for the bride-price having been
paid at betrothal the woman is as good as married (Genesis 29:21; Joel
1:8); (2) Deuteron... [ Continue Reading ]
_bring them both out unto the gate of that city_, etc.] see on
Deuteronomy 13:10 (11), Deuteronomy 17:5.
_because_, etc.] This construction is found in D only here and
Deuteronomy 23:5. _Humbled, Deuteronomy 22:29_and Deuteronomy 21:14.... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IF IN THE FIELD _the man find_, etc.] So the emphatic Heb. order.
_Field_here in its wider and probably earlier sense, of the
uncultivated, therefore uninhabited, land. So Deuteronomy 22:27;
Deuteronomy 21:1.
_force_ Rather, _seize_, LAY HOLD OF, as in Deuteronomy 25:11.... [ Continue Reading ]
_thou shalt do nothing_ Sam. LXX, _ye shall_, Pl. as in Deuteronomy
22:24.
_no sin worthy of death_ See introd. to Deuteronomy 22:13-30.
_riseth against … and slayeth him_ Deuteronomy 19:11, but here Heb.,
using a stronger vb, unnecessarily adds _life_from Deuteronomy 19:6;
Deuteronomy 19:11.... [ Continue Reading ]
_cried_ Here at least the woman has the advantage of the doubt.... [ Continue Reading ]
Of Intercourse with a Virgin not Betrothed. The man shall pay a
bride-price (see on Deuteronomy 22:22) and marry her without power of
divorce. For seduction E, Exodus 22:16 f., exacts the bride-price but
the father may refuse his daughter to the man. Among the
_Tiyâha_Arabs the seducer of a woman pa... [ Continue Reading ]
_humbled_ See Deuteronomy 22:24. _He may not_, etc., as in Deuteronomy
22:19.... [ Continue Reading ]
(Heb. ch. Deuteronomy 23:1.) Against Intercourse with a Father's Wife,
cp. Deuteronomy 27:20, and H, Leviticus 18:8; Leviticus 20:11, where
the prohibition is extended to other female relatives. Either D's law
is earlier than H's or D did not know of H's. Its limitation to this
special case is expla... [ Continue Reading ]