_A.M. 2553. B.C. 1451._ Laws for preserving stray or fallen cattle, Deuteronomy 22:1. For a distinction of apparel between women and men, Deuteronomy 22:5. For compassion even toward birds, Deuteronomy 22:6; Deuteronomy 22:7. Of battlements on houses, Deuteronomy 22:8. Against improper mixtures, De... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thy brother's_ Any man's, this being a duty of common justice and charity, which the law of nature taught even heathen. _Hide thyself from them_ Dissemble, or pretend that thou dost not see them, or pass them by as if thou hadst not seen them. _If thy brother be not nigh unto thee_ Which may make t... [ Continue Reading ]
_Shall not wear_ That is, ordinarily or unnecessarily, for in some cases this may be lawful, as to make an escape for one's life. Now this is forbidden for decency's sake, that men might not confound those sexes which God hath distinguished; that all appearance of evil might be avoided, such change... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou shalt not take the dam with the young_ This and such like merciful precepts of the law of Moses tended to humanize the hearts of the Israelites, to produce in them a sense of the divine providence extending itself to all creatures, and to teach them to exercise dominion over them with gentlene... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou shalt make a battlement_ A fence or breast-work, because the roofs of their houses were made flat, that men might walk on them. _Blood_ The guilt of blood, by a man's fall from the top of thy house, through thy neglect of this necessary provision. The Jews say, that by the equity of this law,... [ Continue Reading ]
_Divers seeds_ Either, 1st, With divers kinds of seeds mixed and sowed together between the rows of vines in thy vineyard: which was forbidden to be done in the field, (Leviticus 19:19,) and here in the vineyard. Or, 2d, With any kind of seed differing from that of the vine, which would produce eith... [ Continue Reading ]
_Fringes_ Or _laces_, or _strings_, partly to bring the commands of God to their remembrance, as it is expressed Numbers 15:38, and partly as a public profession of their nation and religion, whereby they might be distinguished from strangers, that so they might be more circumspect to behave as beca... [ Continue Reading ]
_If any man take a wife_ And afterward falsely accuse her. What the meaning of that evidence is, by which the accusation was proved false, the learned are not agreed. Nor is it necessary for us to know: they for whom this law was intended, undoubtedly understood it.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Give them unto the father of the damsel_ Because this was a reproach to his family, and to himself, as such misconduct of his daughter would have been ascribed to his neglect of properly instructing or watching over her. _He may not put her away all his days_ Thus he was deprived of the common bene... [ Continue Reading ]
_She cried not_ And therefore is justly presumed to have consented to it. _As when a man riseth against his neighbour, even so is this matter_ Not an act of choice, but of force and constraint. _The damsel cried_ Which is in that case to be presumed; charity obliging us to believe the best, till the... [ Continue Reading ]
_Shall give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels_ Besides the dowry, as Philo, the learned Jew, notes, which is here omitted, because that was customary, it being sufficient here to mention what was peculiar to this case. _She shall be his wife_ He was not at liberty to refuse her, if her father c... [ Continue Reading ]