_A.M. 2553. B.C. 1451._ Of divorce, Deuteronomy 24:1. New-married men discharged from the war, Deuteronomy 24:5. Of pledges, Deuteronomy 24:6; Deuteronomy 24:10. Of man-stealers, Deuteronomy 24:7. Of the leprosy, Deuteronomy 24:8; Deuteronomy 24:9. Of daily wages,... [ Continue Reading ]
_Some uncleanness_ Some hateful thing, some distemper of body, or quality of mind, not observed before marriage: or some light carriage, as this phrase commonly signifies, but not amounting to adultery. _Let him write_ This is not a command, as some of the Jews understood it, nor an allowance and ap... [ Continue Reading ]
_Her former husband may not take her again_ This is the punishment of his levity and injustice in putting her away without sufficient cause, which, by this offer, he now acknowledgeth. _Defiled_ Not absolutely, as if her second marriage were a sin, but with respect to her first husband, to whom she... [ Continue Reading ]
_Business_ Any public office or employment, which may cause an absence from or neglect of his wife. _One year_ That their affections may be firmly settled, so as there may be no occasion for the divorces last mentioned.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Millstone_ Used in their hand-mills. Under this he understands all other things necessary to get a livelihood, the taking away whereof is against the laws both of charity and prudence, seeing by those things alone he can be enabled both to subsist and to pay his debts. _Life_ His livelihood, the ne... [ Continue Reading ]
_That thief shall die_ Thus the crime of man-stealing was to be punished with death, though stealing of beasts, or other things, was not.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Remember what the Lord did unto Miriam_ This seems to have been intended as an admonition, to take care lest they spoke evil of dignities, or disobeyed the commands of the priest, which might bring such a stroke upon them as God inflicted upon Miriam.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou shalt not go in_ To prevent both the poor man's reproach, by having his wants exposed, and the creditor's greediness, which might be occasioned by the sight of something which he desired, and the debtor could not spare. _The pledge_ He shall choose what pledge he pleases, provided it be suffic... [ Continue Reading ]
_Not oppress a hired servant_ By detaining his wages from him when due, which is the meaning of oppression here, as appears from the next verse. _At his day thou shalt give him his hire_ That is, at the time appointed, weekly or daily. He speaks of a hireling who was so poor as not to be able to pro... [ Continue Reading ]
_Not be put to death_ If the one be free from the guilt of the other's sin, except in those cases where the sovereign Lord of life and death, before whom none is innocent, hath commanded it, as Deuteronomy 13:15; Joshua 7:24. For though God do visit the father's sins upon the children, (Exodus 20.,)... [ Continue Reading ]
_Raiment_ Not such as he hath daily and necessary use of, as being poor. But this concerns not rich persons, nor superfluous raiment.... [ Continue Reading ]
_It shall be for the stranger_ Moses here exhorts them to be mindful of those provisions made for the poor by this law, (Leviticus 19:9; Leviticus 23:22,) wherein they are ordered not to be over exact in reaping the fruits of their fields and vineyards, but to leave something to be gathered by their... [ Continue Reading ]