Deuteronomy 22:18

_IF ANY MAN TAKE A WIFE, AND GO IN UNTO HER, AND HATE HER,_ If any man take a wife ... The regulations that follow might be imperatively needful in the then situation of the Israelites; and yet it is not necessary that we should curiously and impertinently inquire into usages unknown to the language of civilization. So far was it from being unworthy of God to leave such things upon record, that the enactments must heighten our admiration of His wisdom and goodness in the management of a people so perverse and so given to irregular passions. 'Nor is it a better argument that the Scriptures were not written by inspiration of God to object, that this passage, and others of a like nature, tend to corrupt the imagination, and will be abused by evil-disposed readers, than it is to say that the sun was not created by God, because its light may be abused by wicked men as an assistant in commit...

18._And the elders of that city shall take that man_. Calumny in this case received a threefold punishment; first, that he, who had invented the false accusation, should be beaten with stripes; secondly, that he should pay an hundred pieces of silver to the father of the girl; thirdly, that he should never be allowed to put her away; and tie reason is given, “because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel.” God here shows Himself to be the protector of virgins, that young women may be the more encouraged to cultivate chastity. If any should object that it was a bad provision for the unhappy woman that she should be subjected for ever to tyrannical rule, I reply, that this was done because there was no means for her release; for although, as we shall presently see, men were permitted to obtain a divorce from their wives, still it was neither just nor right to overthrow Go...

13-30 These and the like regulations might be needful then, and yet it is not necessary that we should curiously examine respecting them. The laws relate to the seventh commandment, laying a restraint upon fleshly lusts which war against the soul....

EXPOSITION REGULATIONS REGARDING CATTLE STRAYED OR THINGS LOST, THE APPAREL OF THE SEXES, THE TAKING OF BIRDS, AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF HOUSES. CONFUSIONS TO BE AVOIDED. FRINGES TO BE MADE ON VESTMENTS. PUNISHMENT OF WIFE-SLANDER, ADULTERY, RAPE, FORNICATION, INCEST....

AND THE ELDERS OF THAT CITY SHALL TAKE THE MAN, AND CHASTISE HIM. Not with words, but blows. Jarchi interprets it of beating, and so does the Talmud x; and both the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan render it, "shall beat him;'' that is, with the beating or scourging of forty stripes, save one. x T. Bab. Cetubot, fol. 46. 1....

18. AGAINST INHUMANITY AND DIFFERENT VIOLATIONS, False Testimony and Sins of Adultery CHAPTER 22 _ 1. Laws against inhumanity (Deuteronomy 22:1)_ 2. Concerning false testimony (Deuteronomy 22:13) 3. Sins of adultery (Deuteronomy 22:22) Laws on the second table are now more fully expounded by Moses. The love to the neighbor is to be expressed by guarding and preserving that which is his property. The strayed and fallen animal belonging to another had to be helped. To leave them in that condition would have been a violation of the law “love thy neighbor as thyself” as well as an act of inhumanity. Another interesting law is the one which forbids woma

SINS AGAINST PURE MARRIAGES. Deuteronomy 22:14. tokens of virginity: their absence is now known not to be necessarily a proof of pre-nuptial unchastity, though the ancient peoples held the contrary, as some peoples do still (see J. D. Michaelis, _The Laws of Moses_, i. p. 478ff.; Burckhardt, _The Bedouins_,_ etc._, p. 62f.; Westermarck, _History of Human Marriage_, p. 123f.). The severe punishment for unchastity before (Deuteronomy 22:21) and after (Deuteronomy 22:22) marriage shows the uncompromising attitude of Dt. towards sexual sins a striking contrast to the prevailing customs of surrounding nations: why the difference?...

Charges against a Bride. He who, from a base motive, falsely accuses his wife of unchastity before marriage shall after solemn rebuke from the elders be fined 100 silver-pieces and have his right of divorce withdrawn (Deuteronomy 22:13-19); but if such a charge be true she shall be stoned to death (Deuteronomy 22:20 f.). No direct address to Israel except in the closing formula which is Sg. The physical evidence, on which the woman is acquitted, was regarded as essential by many ancient races and is still called for and displayed (not only in judicial cases but after all marriages) by certain tribes in Syria, Egypt and Morocco (see further Driver's note; Westermarck, _Hist. of Human Marriage_, 123 f.); but its absence is by no means conclusive proof of a woman's previous unch

_VER._ 18, 19. _THE ELDERS—SHALL—CHASTISE—HIM,_ &C.— That is, say the Talmudists, condemn him to receive forty stripes, save one; and they add, that the woman was sent back with a solemn benediction; and that the false witnesses who deposed against her were stoned. See ch. Deuteronomy 19:18. It is thought that this chastisement was only inflicted in case of the non-payment of the fine of _one hundred shekels of silver;_ which sum the father was to receive, as some compensation for the reproach thrown on his family; and because the husband designed to put his wife away without allowing her maintenance, he was to pay a _hundred shekels,_ which is a double dowry. See Exodus 22:17. Besides the two former punishments, in his person and his purse, he was deprived of the common b

k. SEX OFFENSES (Deuteronomy 22:13-30) (1) VIRGINITY OF A BRIDE (Deuteronomy 22:13-21) 13 If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her, 14 and lay shameful things to her charge, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came nigh to her, I found not in her the tokens of virginity; 15 then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate; 16 and the damsel's father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her; 17 and, lo, he hath laid shameful things _to her charge,_ saying, I found not in thy daughter the tokens of virginity; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity.