Exodus 20:14

Thou shall not commit adultery,] Which, strictly speaking, is only that sin which is committed with another man's wife, as Jarchi observes; but Aben Ezra thinks the word here used signifies the same

Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not commit adultery , [ lo' (H3808) tin'aap (H5003)] - a word used with reference both to man and woman (cf.

Here is mentioned one kind of uncleanness, as being eminently sinful, and unjust, and pernicious to human society. But under this are comprehended and forbidden all other kinds of filthiness, as bestiality, sodomy, whoredom, fornication, &c., and all means, occasions, and appearances of them; as it appears, 1. From other scriptures that forbid those things, which either belong to this command, or to none of the ten, which is very improbable. 2. From the large extent of the other commands, noted before. 3. From our Saviour’ s explication, . And contrariwise, all chastity and sobriety in thoughts, affections, words, habits, and gestures, is here prescribed. See ,4 Hebrews 13:4.

Exodus 20:14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.Ver. 14. Thou shalt not commit adultery.] Adultery only is named; because bestiality, sodomy, and other unclcannesses, though more heinous, yet they do not directly fight against the purity of posterity and human society, which the law mainly respects.

(14) Thou shalt not commit adultery.—Next to the duty of respecting a man’s life is placed that of respecting his domestic peace and honour. Adultery is an invasion of the household, a destruction of the bond which unites the family, a dissolution of that contract which is the main basis of social order. It was forbidden by all civilised communities, and in uncivilised ones frequently punished with death. The Mosaic enactments on the subject are peculiar chiefly in the absolute equality on which they place the man and the woman. Adulterers are as hateful as adulteresses, and are as surely to be put to death (Leviticus 20:10; Deuteronomy 22:22-24, &c.). The man who acts treacherously against “the wife of his covenant” is as great a sinner as the woman who breaks the marriage bond (Malachi 2:14-16). There is “no respect of persons” and no respect of sexes with God.

THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT Against adultery and uncleanness. Verse 14. Thou shalt not commit adultery.] Adultery, as defined by our laws, is of two kinds; double, when between two married persons; single, when one of the parties is married, the other single. One principal part of the criminality of adultery consists in its injustice. 1. It robs a man of his right by taking from him the affection of his wife. 2. It does him a wrong by fathering on him and obliging him to maintain as his own a spurious offspring - a child which is not his. The act itself, and every thing leading to the act, is prohibited by this commandment; for our Lord says, Even he who looks on a woman to lust after her, has already committed adultery with her in his heart. And not only adultery (the unlawful commerce between two married persons) is forbidden here, but also fornication and all kinds of mental and sensual uncleanness. All impure books, songs, paintings, c., which tend to inflame and debauch the mind, are against this law, as well as another species of impurity, for the account of which the reader is referred to See Clarke on Genesis 38:30. That fornication was included under this command we may gather from St. Matthew, Matthew 15:19, where our Saviour expresses the sense of the different commandments by a word for each, and mentions them in the order in which they stand; but when he comes to the seventh he uses two words, μοιχειαιπορνειαι, to express its meaning, and then goes on to the eighth, c. thus evidently showing that fornication was understood to be comprehended under the command, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." As to the word adultery, adulterium, it has probably been derived from the words ad alterius torum, to another's bed; for it is going to the bed of another man that constitutes the act and the crime. Adultery often means idolatry in the worship of God.

14. The seventh commandment. The purity of the married state to be maintained (cf. Genesis 2:24 J). Cf. Leviticus 18:20 (H), Job 31:9-12, and Matthew 5:27-32. For the penalty for adultery, see Leviticus 20:10 (H), Deuteronomy 22:22. In LXX. (B, and several cursives,—both here and in Dt.), and the Nash papyrus, the seventh commandment comes before the sixth: the same order is found in Mark 10:19 (Text. Rec.), Luke 18:20, Romans 13:9, James 2:11, in Philo, and in many of the Fathers (Kn.).

THE SEVENTH , Exodus 20:14. 14. Thou shalt not commit adultery — Next to the criminal blood-guiltiness of him who assaults God’s image by destroying human life is that of him or her who violates the