_NEITHER EUNUCHS, BASTARDS, MOABITES, NOR AMMONITES, ARE TO BE ADMITTED INTO THE CONGREGATION: UNCLEANNESS TO BE AVOIDED IN THE CAMP: HARLOTS ARE NOT TO BE ALLOWED IN ISRAEL: USURY IS FORBIDDEN._ _Before Christ 1451._... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 1. _SHALL NOT ENTER INTO THE CONGREGATION_— This law is directed against the infamous practice of making eunuchs: such persons were not to be deemed Israelites, nor have their names entered in the public register, and consequently were not to be accounted members of the Jewish community. See... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 2. _A BASTARD SHALL NOT ENTER,_ &C.— Some render these words, _a foreigner_ or _an alien._ See Spenc. p. 105. But Mr. Locke observes, upon the original word ממזר _mamzer,_ that it is his opinion, with Maimonides, that the _mamzer_ here spoken of, is one who cometh of any of the _nakedness, i.... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 4. _BECAUSE THEY MET YOU NOT WITH BREAD AND WATER_— It was a piece of ancient hospitality, to give strangers in their travels refreshment of _bread and water;_ that is, of _meat and drink._ The Israelites, therefore, might well expect this civility from the Ammonites and Moabites, not only as... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 6. _THOU SHALT NOT SEEK THEIR PEACE_— All that is here forbidden is, the entering into public confederacies and alliances with them; notwithstanding which prohibition, they were bound to treat those people according to the rule of common justice and humanity. The words may be considered as a... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 7, 8. _THOU SHALT NOT ABHOR AN EDOMITE—AN EGYPTIAN_— The first, the descendants of Esau, the brother of Jacob, were thereby more than _neighbours;_ they were the _brethren_ of the Israelites: and as to the _Egyptians,_ though they at length cruelly oppressed the Jewish nation, yet were their... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 9. _WHEN THE HOST GOETH FORTH AGAINST THINE ENEMIES,_ &C.— As the Israelites were to commence a war against the Canaanites, the success of which depended immediately upon the miraculous assistance of God, Moses ordains, that, in so delicate and dangerous a conjuncture, they should be especial... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 13. _THOU SHALT HAVE A PADDLE,_ &C.— See Fuller's Miscellanea Sacra, lib. 6: cap. 5. The Turks, we are told, still use the same cleanliness in their camp. In all the intercourses of life, there cannot be too great a regard to natural decency, whereto this law has an immediate reference, as we... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 15. _THOU SHALT NOT DELIVER UNTO HIS MASTER THE SERVANT,_ &C.— i.e. _A foreign servant,_ says Houbigant, not one of the Jewish nation; for it is not added, _the servant of thy brother, or of thy neighbour:_ besides, Moses addresses the whole nation, as appears from the words, _in one of thy g... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 19, 20. _THOU SHALT NOT LEND UPON USURY TO THY BROTHER,_ &C.— i.e. To an _Israelite._ See Exodus 22:25. But though they might not lend to Israelites, they are allowed to do so to _strangers;_ for, as nothing was more reasonable, than that their neighbours the Sidonians, Tyrians, Egyptians, an... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 24, 25. _WHEN THOU COMEST INTO THY NEIGHBOUR'S VINE-YARD,_ &C.— The rabbis understand this law in favour of poor labourers, who were hired to work in vineyards in the time of the vintage: for, if the very oxen were not to be muzzled whilst they trod out the corn, how much less ought the labou... [ Continue Reading ]