Deuteronomy 22:24

_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...

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....

THEN YE SHALL BRING THEM BOTH OUT UNTO THE GATE OF THE CITY,.... Where the fact was committed; the Targum of Jonathan is, "to the gate of the court of judicature, which is in that city:'' AND YE SHALL STONE THEM WITH STONES, THAT THEY DIE; a man that lay with a married woman, he and she were to be strangled; but this sort of adulterers and adulteresses were to be stoned, and it is thought that of this sort was the woman spoken of in John 8:3, THE DAMSEL BECAUSE SHE CRIED NOT, BEING IN THE CITY, AND THE MAN BECAUSE HE HATH HUMBLED HIS NEIGHBOUR'S WIFE; as she was by espousal, by contract, by promise, and so was guilty of adultery, which was punishable with death: SO THOU SHALL PUT AWAY EVIL FROM AMONG YOU; see Deuteronomy 22:21....

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?...

WIFE. See note on Deuteronomy 22:23, above....

Six Laws on Cases of Unchastity Of these the first five prescribe the procedure in criminal cases: 1st. Of a Husband's Charges against His Bride (Deuteronomy 22:13-21); 2nd. Of Adultery (Deuteronomy 22:22); 3rd. Of Dishonouring a Betrothed Virgin with her consent (Deuteronomy 22:23 f.); 4th. Of the Same without her consent (Deuteronomy 22:25-27); 5th. Of Dishonouring an Unbetrothed Virgin (Deuteronomy 22:28 f.); while the 6th forbids Marriage with a Father's Wife (30 ...

_VER._ 24. _YE SHALL STONE THEM WITH STONES_— Moses appoints the same punishment for debauching a young woman contracted with a man, though not actually married, as for adultery; provided the fact was committed while she was at home, with her friends about her; in which case, it is presumed, it was not accomplished by force, but with her consent, she having all fair opportunities of avoiding any compulsion to such an action; and thus she is to die for violating her faith and chastity; as the man is, for invading the right of him to whom she was contracted. The case in the next verses is founded upon the presumption of a rape....

(3) DEFILEMENT OF A MAIDEN BETROTHED (Deuteronomy 22:23-27) 23 If there be a damsel that is a virgin betrothed unto a husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her; 24 then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them to death with stones; the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and he man, because he hath humbled his neighbor's wife: so thou shalt put away the evil from the midst of thee. 25 But if the man find the damsel that is betrothed in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her; then the man only that lay with her shall die: 26 but unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death: for as when a man riseth against his neighbor, and slayeth him, even so is this matter; 27 for he found her in the field, the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her.