INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 23 Orders are here given to restrain certain persons from entering into the congregation of the Lord, Deuteronomy 23:1, and to take care that there be no unclean person in the camp, or any indecent thing done in it, Deuteronomy 23:9, to protect fugitive servants, and not... [ Continue Reading ]
HE THAT IS WOUNDED IN THE STONES,.... In any of them, not accidentally, but purposely; which are crushed and bruised by the hands of men, with a design to make him unfit for generation, or to make an eunuch of him: OR THAT HATH HIS PRIVY MEMBER CUT BY HIMSELF OR ANOTHER, and is a thorough eunuch by... [ Continue Reading ]
A BASTARD SHALL NOT ENTER INTO THE CONGREGATION OF THE LORD,.... That is born of whoredom, as the Targum of Jonathan; and for the sake of avoiding whoredom and deterring from it was this law made, according to Maimonides h, that adulterers might see, as he observes, that they affect their whole fami... [ Continue Reading ]
AN AMMONITE OR MOABITE SHALL NOT ENTER INTO THE CONGREGATION OF THE LORD,.... Or marry an Israelitish woman, as Jarchi, and so the Targum of Jonathan, "the male Ammonites and Moabites are not fit to take a wife of the congregation of the Lord;'' for the Jews restrain this to men, because it is, as... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE THEY MET YOU NOT WITH BREAD AND WITH WATER,.... To supply them therewith, either as a gift, which was a piece of humanity to strangers and travellers, or rather to sell unto them, for on no other terms did the Israelites desire their bread and their water: IN THE WAY WHEN YE CAME FORTH OUT... [ Continue Reading ]
NEVERTHELESS, THE LORD THY GOD WOULD NOT HEARKEN UNTO BALAAM,.... To his solicitations, and the methods he took to prevail on the Lord to suffer him to curse Israel, which he gladly would have done for the sake of Balak's reward: BUT THE LORD THY GOD TURNED THE CURSE INTO A BLESSING UNTO THEE; in t... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALT NOT SEEK THEIR PEACE NOR THEIR PROSPERITY ALL THY DAYS FOR EVER. Not that they were to retain malice towards them, or indulge a spirit of revenge, or not do them any good offices in a private way, which is contrary to the law of love; nor does this contradict any offices of kindness and f... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALL NOT ABHOR AN EDOMITE,.... Or an Idumean, the descendants of Esau, whose name was Edom, Genesis 25:30 the Targum of Jonathan adds, "that comes to be made a proselyte"; he was not to be rejected with abhorrence, because of the old grudge between Jacob and Esau, and which was become national... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CHILDREN THAT ARE BEGOTTEN OF THEM, Of such as became proselytes: SHALL ENTER INTO THE CONGREGATION OF THE LORD IN THEIR THIRD GENERATION; not in the third generation from the time that this law was made, but from the time that any of them should embrace the true religion; their sons were the s... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THE HOST GOETH FORTH AGAINST THINE ENEMIES,.... An army of soldiers march in order to meet the enemy and fight him: THEN KEEP THEE FROM EVERY WICKED THING; the Targum of Jonathan adds, by way of explanation, "from strange worship, uncovering of nakedness, and from shedding innocent blood;''... [ Continue Reading ]
IF THERE BE AMONG YOU ANY MAN THAT IS NOT CLEAN,.... Any unclean person in the army, that was even ceremonially unclean in any of the instances the law makes so, one of which put for the rest is mentioned: BY REASON OF UNCLEANNESS THAT CHANCETH HIM BY NIGHT; through pollution by a nocturnal flux, a... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IT SHALL BE, WHEN EVENING COMETH ON,.... When the day declines, and it is near sun setting: HE SHALL WASH HIMSELF WITH WATER; dip himself all over in water, not only wash his garments but his flesh: AND WHEN THE SUN IS DOWN HE SHALL COME INTO THE CAMP AGAIN; and take his place and rank in the... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALT HAVE ALSO A PLACE WITHOUT THE CAMP,.... A place prepared, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, provided on purpose for the use hereafter suggested; so Ben Melech: WHITHER THOU SHALT GO FORTH ABROAD; to do the necessities of nature, which they were to do without the camp, not in any pl... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THOU SHALT HAVE A PADDLE UPON THY WEAPON,.... A nail or spike, some kind of instrument to make a hole in the ground with, which was fastened to the sword upon their loins; which was to be instead of a spade or mattock to dig with: AND IT SHALL BE, WHEN THOU SHALL EASE THYSELF ABROAD; without th... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE LORD THY GOD WALKETH IN THE MIDST OF THY CAMP,.... In the tabernacle, which moved when the host marched after the camps of Judah and Reuben, and before those of Ephraim and Dan, in the midst of them: this was the position of it while in the wilderness, and afterwards when they came into the... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALL NOT DELIVER UNTO HIS MASTER THE SERVANT WHICH IS ESCAPED FROM HIS MASTER UNTO THEE. That is, one that has been used ill by a cruel and tyrannical master, and was in danger of his life with him, or of being lamed by him, and therefore obliged to make his escape from him on that account; su... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SHALL DWELL IN THEE, [EVEN] AMONG YOU,.... This seems to confirm the sense of it, being a stranger, a: proselyte servant that is here spoken of, since the law provides for his dwelling among the Israelites: IN THAT PLACE HE SHALL CHOOSE, IN ONE OF THY GATES, WHERE IT LIKETH HIM BEST: he was not... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE SHALL BE NO WHORE OF THE DAUGHTERS OF ISRAEL,.... The word for "whore" is "kedeshah", which properly signifies an "holy" one; and here, by an antiphrasis, an unholy, an impure person, one that is defiled by man; Genesis 38:18. Jarchi interprets the word, one that makes herself common, that is... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALL NOT BRING THE HIRE OF A WHORE,.... Which was given to her as a reward for the use of her body: OR THE PRICE OF A DOG; not of the firstborn of a dog, the price for the redemption of it, as some; nor for the loan of a hunting dog, or a shepherd's dog for breed, as Josephus z interprets thi... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALT NOT LEND UPON USURY TO THY BROTHER,.... One of the same nation and religion, and who is in poor and necessitous circumstances, and wants either food for himself and family, or money to carry on his husbandry, till such times as the fruits of his ground will bring him in a sufficiency for... [ Continue Reading ]
UNTO A STRANGER THOU MAYEST LEND UPON USURY,.... To any Gentile, though some Jewish writers except the Edomites and Ishmaelites, as being brethren, and restrain it to the seven nations of Canaan; but it seems to design one that was not an Israelite, or a proselyte of righteousness, and especially to... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THOU SHALT VOW A VOW UNTO THE LORD THY GOD,.... Which must be of things in a man's power to perform, and of what are lawful to be done, and according to the mind and will of God revealed in his word, and agreeably to the manner of worship prescribed by him; as that he will offer such a sacrific... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IF THOU SHALT FORBEAR TO VOW,.... That a man might do, though there was ability; it was expected indeed that men should vow and bring freewill offerings in proportion to their ability; whether they were of the greater sort, of the herd and flock, or of fowls, or even of fine flour, these were ac... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT WHICH IS GONE OUT OF THY LIPS THOU SHALT KEEP AND PERFORM,.... Which were in their power to perform and lawful to do; and this is observed to make them watchful and cautious, and not be rash in making vows, since, when once they were made, an exact and rigid performance of them was expected; se... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THOU COMEST INTO THY NEIGHBOUR'S VINEYARD,.... To take a walk in it for recreation, and to see how the vines flourish, and what sort of fruit and what quantity of it they bear; being invited thither by the owner, or occasionally passing that way stepped in, and even it may be on purpose to tast... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THOU COMEST INTO THE STANDING CORN OF THY NEIGHBOUR,.... Passest through it to go to some other place, the road lying through it, as it often does through standing corn; so Christ and his disciples are said to go through the corn, Matthew 12:1; but Jarchi says this Scripture speaks of a workman... [ Continue Reading ]