Deuteronomy 21:14

_WHEN THOU GOEST FORTH TO WAR AGAINST THINE ENEMIES, AND THE LORD THY GOD HATH DELIVERED THEM INTO THINE HANDS, AND THOU HAST TAKEN THEM CAPTIVE,_ When thou goest forth to war ... and seest among the captives a beautiful woman (cf. Numbers 31:18). According to the war customs of all ancient nations, a female captive became the slave of the victor, who had the sole and unchallengeable control of right to her person. Moses improved this existing usage by special regulations on the subject. He enacted that, in the event of her master being captivated by her beauty and contemplating a marriage with her, a month should be allowed to elapse, during which her perturbed feelings might be calmed, her mind reconciled to her altered condition, and she might bewail the loss of her parents, now to her the same as dead. A month was the usual period of mourning with the Jews; and the ci

14._And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her_. I have been compelled to separate this sentence from the foregoing context which I have explained elsewhere; (161) for Moses there gave instructions how a captive woman was to be taken to wife if her beauty attracted a Jewish husband. That law then had reference to chastity and conjugal fidelity, and especially to the purity of God’s worship; but now Moses prescribes that, if a man have dishonored a captive woman, he should not sell her, but let her go free, and by this satisfaction wipe out, or at any rate diminish, the injury. Hence we infer that this rule of justice depends on the Eighth Commandment, Let none defraud another. This condition was at least tolerable for the captive; for, although chastity is a special treasure, yet liberty, which is justly called an inestimable blessing, was no trifling consolation to her. The penalty...

10-14 By this law a soldier was allowed to marry his captive, if he pleased. This might take place upon some occasions; but the law does not show any approval of it. It also intimates how binding the laws of justice and honour are in marriage; which is a sacred engagement....

THOU SHALT NOT MAKE MERCHANDISE OF HER - Rather, thou shalt not constrain her: literally “treat her with constraint,” or “treat her as a slave.”...

EXPOSITION EXPIATION OF UNCERTAIN MURDER. TREATMENT OF A CAPTIVE TAKEN TO WIFE. RIGHTS OF THE FIRSTBORN. A REBELLIOUS, REFRACTORY SON TO BE JUDGED AND PUNISHED. A MALEFACTOR WHO HAS BEEN HANGED TO BE BURIED ERE NIGHTFALL. One general idea, viz. the sacredness of human life and of personal rights, connects the laws in this chapter together, as well as connects them with the laws in the two preceding chapters....

AND IT SHALL BE, IF THOU HAVE NO DELIGHT IN HER;.... Either some time after marriage: THEN THOU SHALT LET HER GO WHITHER SHE WILL; by a bill of divorce, as the Targum of Jonathan, who understands it in this sense, and as the connection of the words seems to require; or else before marriage, at the month's end, or any time before, that if his affections cooled towards her, and all the above methods tended to abate his love of her, then he was obliged to dismiss her, or to grant her her freedom, and let her go wherever she pleased; she was no longer his captive, nor his servant: BUT THOU SHALT NOT SELL HER AT ALL FOR MONEY; as he might have done if he had not made such a proposal to her, and obliged her to the observance of such rites and ceremonies as he did, in order to make her his wife: THOU SHALT NOT MAKE MERCHANDISE OF HER; which seems to express the same thing, and therefore some...

17. THE EXPIATION OF AN UNCERTAIN MURDER AND VARIOUS INSTRUCTIONS CHAPTER 21 _ 1. The expiation of an unknown murder (Deuteronomy 21:1)_ 2. Concerning a wife, who had been a prisoner of war (Deuteronomy 21:10) 3. The right of the firstborn (Deuteronomy 21:15) 4. The punishment of a rebellious son (Deuteronomy 21:18) 5. The burial of one who hanged on a tree (Deuteronomy 21:22) The expiation of an unknown murder seems to find an interesting applicati

Another regulation (only here) pertaining to war (see ch. 20, which it should perhaps immediately follow). It is another example of D's humanitarianism (Deuteronomy 15:12 *). The relief claimed for the captive woman could not apply to a Canaanitish woman, as no Israelite was allowed to marry such a woman (Deuteronomy 7:3); besides, when conquered, the entire Canaanite foe (including women and children), was to be utterly destroyed (Deuteronomy 20:16). DEUTERONOMY 21:12. Shaving the head (Deuteronomy 14:1 *

WHITHER SHE WILL. according to her soul. Hebrew. _nephesh._ See App-13. MAKE MERCHANDISE. Hebrew. _'amar._ In this sense, only here and Deuteronomy 24:7....

Of Marriage with a Captive of War If a woman taken in war is desired for a wife (Deuteronomy 21:11 f.), she may be brought home, but the marriage shall not take place till she has shaved her hair, pared her nails, put away her former garments, and mourned her parents for a month (Deuteronomy 21:12 f.). If her husband's love for her fades he may let her go out free (Deuteronomy 21:14). In the Sg. address, with no feature incompatible with D's authorship, and impressed by his spirit both of humanity and of caution against infection by foreign idolatries. Yet in the light of Deuteronomy 7:3, forbidding marriage