Deuteronomy 22
ButlerAmong the many provisions of the Deuteronomic code inculcating humanity, or conceived especially in a humane spirit, is that regarding a complaint of unchastity previous to marriage, preferred by a husband against a newly-married wife (22 : 13-21). One main object of it seems to have been to protect an otherwise helpless woman against the brutality of a selfish and unscrupulous lord to whom she was legally bound. The rigorous punishment inflicted on the plaintiff, if he failed to make out his case, the fine (cf. Ex. 21 : 22), the beating (cf. De. 25 : 1-3), and the denial of the right of future separation on any terms (24 : 1-4) bring the statute into line with other enactments of the present code and bespeak for it the same origin. E. C. B.
29,21. If the charge made against the wife prove true, then she is to be stoned to death for her sin. Immorality was really treason toward the Divine King, it was incompatible with his kingdom, and so was put into the category of capital crimes. The morale of the Theocracy was really higher in idea than that of any other kingdom then or now existing. Edgar.
Adultery (Lev. 18 : 20 ; 20 : 10. De. 22 : 22-29). Incest (Lev. 20 : 11, 12, 14, 17-21). Lying with bond, betrothed, etc. (Ex. 22 : 16, 17. Lev. 19 : 20-22). Lying with Mankind (Lev. 18 : 22 ; 20 : 13). With a Beast (Ex. 22 : 19. Lev. 20 : 15, 16 ; 18 : 23). Prostitution of Daughter, etc. (Lev. 19 : 29. De. 23 : 17, 18). Of these the first, second, fourth, and fifth were punished with death to the guilty parties, one or both.
No blame can lie against the Scriptures because they legislate on such detestable matters. The blame must lie at the door of depraved humanity, which perpetrates such deeds and makes Divine legislation necessary. The obscenity appertains to the vices, only praise belongs to the remedy. An.
Unnatural lusts, sodomy, and bestiality are sins not to be named or thought of without the utmost abhorrence imaginable. Other sins level men with the beasts, but these sink them much lower. That ever there should have been occasion for the making of these laws, and that since they are published they should ever have been broken, is the perpetual reproach and scandal of the human nature: the giving of men up to these vile affections was frequently the punishment of their idolatries; so the apostle shows (Rom. 1 : 24). H.—There are specific forms of vice prohibited by express enactments in the Mosaic Law which to many are simply inconceivable. Such was the case with the writer till assured by one who knew, and whose word was to be trusted, that the grossest and most beastly of all is an actual, well-known, and widespread fact of human life in the heart of Asia to this day. And to an angel’s eye are the gilded, sugared, ornamented vices of a high civilization, at its most populous centres in our own day, any less revolting? Herrick.—Human nature, wherever without cultivation and without the revelation of God, is everything that is vile in principle and detestable in practice. Nor would any part of the habitable globe materially differ from Egypt and Canaan had they not that rule of righteousness, the revealed Law of God, and life and immortality been brought to light by the Gospel among them. From these accounts, for which we could easily find parallels in ancient Greece and Italy, we may see the absolute need of a Divine revelation, without which man even in his best estate differs little from the brute. A. C.
Lev. 18 : 24-30 ; 20 : 22-24.
The land designed and consecrated for his people by Jehovah is here impersonated, and represented as vomiting forth its present inhabitants, in consequence of their indulgence in the abominations that have been mentioned. The iniquity of the Canaanites was now full. The Israelites in this place and throughout the chapter are exhorted to a pure and holy life, on the ground that Jehovah, the Holy One, is their God and that they are his people. It is upon this high sanction that they are peremptorily forbidden to defile themselves with the pollutions of the heathen. Clark.—By the coming doom of the Canaanites he would have them take warning. If guilty of similar crimes they might anticipate a more aggravated and fearful judgment, according to the declared principle of the Divine administration, “Because you only have I known of all the nations of the earth, therefore will I punish your iniquities.” Bush.
God has made our nature, in every part thereof, for himself. In making man male and female, God has opened up to each wondrous possibilities of love, of holiness, of usefulness, by each rendering to the other due honor in accordance with Divine Law. By as much as the joy and culture are great when God’s laws are obeyed, by so much are the misery and debasement great when they are disobeyed. He who trifles with himself or with others in regard to the holiest of all human relations will find that sins of impurity nip his nature in the bud, embitter life beyond all power of expression, and render true greatness altogether impossible. One sin will drag the whole man after it. C. C.—A close and constant adherence to God’s ordinances is the most effectual preservative from the infection of gross sin. The more we taste of the sweetness and feel of the power of holy ordinances, the less attachment we shall have to the forbidden pleasures of sinners’ abominable customs. It is the grace of God only that will secure us, and that grace is to be expected only in the use of the means of grace. Nor does God ever leave any to their own hearts’ lusts, till they have first left him and his institutions. H.
IDOLS AND ALTARS TO BE DESTROYED, IDOLATERS, ENTICERS, FALSE PROPHETS, AND WONDER-WORKERS PUT TO DEATH, AND IDOLATROUS CITIES TO BE BURNED. MAGICAL ARTS AND DIVINATION CONDEMNED; ALSO CHILD-SACRIFICE TO MOLECH.