Render it: (1) If there be a controversy between men, and they come to judgment, and the judges judge them, and justify the righteous and condemn the wicked (compare the marginal reference. and Exodus 23:7; Proverbs 17:15); (2) then it shall be, etc. Deuteronomy 25:2 Scourging is named as a penal... [ Continue Reading ]
The Jews to keep within the letter of the law fixed 39 stripes as the maximum (compare the marginal reference.). Forty signifies the full measure of judgment (compare Genesis 7:12; Numbers 14:33); but the son of Israel was not to be lashed like a slave at the mercy of another. The judge was always t... [ Continue Reading ]
Compare the marginal references. In other kinds of labor the oxen were usually muzzled. When driven to and fro over the threshing-floor in order to stamp out the grain from the chaff, they were to be allowed to partake of the fruits of their labors.... [ Continue Reading ]
The law of levirate marriage. The law on this subject is not unique to the Jews, but is found (see Genesis 38:8) in all essential respects the same among various Oriental nations, ancient and modern. The rules in these verses, like those upon divorce, do but incorporate existing immemorial usages, a... [ Continue Reading ]
This is the only mutilation prescribed by the Law of Moses, unless we except the retaliation prescribed as a punishment for the infliction on another of bodily injuries Leviticus 24:19. The act in question was probably not rare in the times and countries for which the Law of Moses was designed. It i... [ Continue Reading ]
Honesty in trade, as a duty to our neighbor, is emphatically enforced once more (compare Leviticus 19:35). It is noteworthy that John the Baptist puts the like duties in the forefront of his preaching (compare Luke 3:12 ff); and that “the prophets” (compare Ezekiel 45:10; Amos 8:5; Micah 6:10) and “... [ Continue Reading ]