Deuteronomy 22:8

_WHEN THOU BUILDEST A NEW HOUSE, THEN THOU SHALT MAKE A BATTLEMENT FOR THY ROOF, THAT THOU BRING NOT BLOOD UPON THINE HOUSE, IF ANY MAN FALL FROM THENCE._ Thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof. The tops of houses in ancient Judea, as in the East still, were flat, being composed of branches or twigs laid across large beams, and covered with a cement of clay or strong plaster. They were surrounded by a parapet breast high; for, as in summer the roof is a favourite resort for coolness. Accidents would frequently happen from persons incautiously approaching the edge and falling into the street or court; hence, it was a wise and prudent precaution in the Jewish legislator to provide that a stone balustrade or timber railing round the roof should form an essential part of every new house (2 Kings 1:2). The same precaution is still observed (see Rogers' 'Domestic Life in Palestin

This precept also has reference to the preservation of human life. We know that the roofs of the Jewish houses were fiat, so that they might freely walk upon them. If there were no railings round them, a fall would have been fatal; and every house would have often been a house of mourning. God, therefore, commands the edge to be fortified with battlements, or railings, or other inclosure, and accompanies the injunction with a severe denunciation; for He declares that the houses would be defiled with blood, if any one should fall from an uninclosed roof. Now, if guile were thus _contracted by _mere incautiousness, it hence appears how greatly He abominates deliberate cruelty; and, if it behooved everybody to be thus solicitous as to the lives of their brethren, it shows how criminal it is to injure them purposely and in enmity....

5-12 God's providence extends itself to the smallest affairs, and his precepts do so, that even in them we may be in the fear of the Lord, as we are under his eye and care. Yet the tendency of these laws, which seem little, is such, that being found among the things of God's law, they are to be accounted great things. If we would prove ourselves to be God's people, we must have respect to his will and to his glory, and not to the vain fashions of the world. Even in putting on our garments, as in eating or in drinking, all must be done with a serious regard to preserve our own and others' purity in heart and actions. Our eye should be single, our heart simple, and our behaviour all of a piece....

Verse Deuteronomy 22:8. _A BATTLEMENT FOR THY ROOF_] Houses in the East are in general built with flat roofs, and on them men walk to enjoy the fresh air, converse together, sleep, c. it was therefore necessary to have a sort of battlement or balustrade to prevent persons from falling off. If a man neglected to make a sufficient defence against such accidents, and the death of another was occasioned by it, the owner of the house must be considered in the light of a murderer....

These precepts are designed to cultivate a spirit of humanity. Compare Deuteronomy 25:4; Leviticus 22:28; and 1 Corinthians 9:9. Deuteronomy 22:8 The roofs of houses in Palestine were flat and used for various purposes. Compare Jos 2:6; 2 Samuel 11:2; Acts 10:9, etc. A battlement was almost a necessary protection. It was to be, according to the ra

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....

WHEN THOU BUILDEST A NEW HOUSE,.... Which is to be understood of a house to dwell in, not of a granary, barn, or stable, or such like, and every house that is not four cubits square, as Maimonides observes f: THEN THOU SHALT MAKE A BATTLEMENT FOR THY ROOF; in the Talmud g it is asked, what is the meaning of, or why is it said, "thy roof?" to except synagogues and schools; the gloss upon which is, synagogues, c. do not belong to any single person, and besides are no dwelling place. A battlement, as Jarrift describes it, was a fence round the roof or, as more fully described by Kimchi h, it was an edifice made for a roof round about it, ten hands high, or more, that a person might not fall from it; so Ben Melech from him. The reason of this law was, because the roofs of houses in those countries were flat, on which they used to walk for diversion and recreation, or retire for devotion, me...

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

See Exodus 23:4 f.* (JE) and Leviticus 6:1 * (P), and _cf._ CH. §§ 9- 13. Deuteronomy 22:5. Peculiar to Dt. In one of the rites of Canaanite, Phœ nician, and Syrian heathenism the sexes changed dresses (see references in Driver). Deuteronomy 22:6_ f_. Respect for parenthood, so prominent in Dt. (Deuteronomy 21:18, _cf. Deuteronomy 5:16_) is the probable source of this law (peculiar to Dt.)....

BATTLEMENT: i.e.. low wall about three feet high running round the flat roof....