Deuteronomy 24
DOYLYChap. XXV. ver. 3. Forty stripes he may give him.] This law forbade exceeding forty stripes: the rabbies decided for thirty-nine: the manner of scourging with three thongs confined it to this number. Dr. Gerard.
Chap. XXVI. ver. 3. — I profess this day [ke.] How suitable is this profession to the offering of the firstfruits! Here is an acknowledgment of the goodness of God; of their own unworthiness to receive so great goodness; of the truth of God’s promises, and God’s faithfulness, in fulfilling His covenant. What useful instruction, what proper praise do these few words express! “Now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land which Thou, O Lord, hast given me.” Lowman.
Deuteronomy 24:4
-
Her former husband, — may not take her again] This was a just punishment for his levity. Besides, this prohibition was very reasonable on several accounts. 1st, It would tend to restrain men from divorcing their wives rashly and for light causes. 2dly, The woman was thereby secured from coming again under the same yoke. 3dly, It prevented the hateful practice of lending out, or prostituting wives, and the many mischiefs, arising thence, which might have been practised, had it not been for this prohibition. For which reason the taking of her again is called “abomination before the Lord;” as what might have served for a pretext to very vicious practices. Bp. Kidder. Thus while God, for particular reasons, gave them this indulgence in a thing not agreeable to the original institution and design of marriage, He so restrained it as to prevent its worst inconveniences. Pyle. The law tolerated polygamy and divorce upon slight occasions, two practices which, though not immoral in their own nature, were attended with bad consequences, produced jealousy and discord, hatred and malice in families, and made it exceeding difficult for children to love their brethren and sisters, and to honour their pa-
-
Thou shalt not muzzle the ox &c.] Homer has described the method of threshing corn by the feet of oxen, as practised in his time and country. The ancient Arabs, Syrians, Egyptians, and Romans, threshed their corn in the same manner by the feet of oxen. And “the Moors and Arabs,” says Dr. Shaw, “continue to tread out their corn after the primitive custom of the East. Instead of beeves they frequently make use of mules and horses, by tying in the like manner, by the neck, three or four of them together, and whipping them afterwards round about the threshing floors, where the sheaves lie open and expanded, in the same manner as they are placed and prepared with us for threshing.” The import of the Commandment, which the Apostle applies to Ministers of the Gospel, is, It is not fit, that he who contributes to prepare food for others, should be denied a portion of sustenance for himself; see Hosea xi. 4; for it should appear, that however, to this day, the oxen which “tread out corn” are not muzzled, in other kinds of labour they were
Deuteronomy 24:9
- Remember what the Lord thy God did unto Miriam] This seems to be mentioned, that they might submit with patience to the confinement and long discipline required for the cure of leprosy, since so great a person as Miriam was excluded so long from the society of God’s people. And it may also be regarded as an admonition, to take care lest they should “speak evil of dignities,” which brought this punishment on Miriam. Bp. Patrick.
9.—loose his shoe from off his foot.] Some think this was done to signify the man’s renouncing all right and title to the woman. But this meaning being countenanced by no parallel passage in Scripture, or the like usage in any country that I know of, it is most agreeable to the design of the law here given, to understand it as an expression of ignominy and disgrace. Compare Is. xx. 3, 4. Pyle. It may have been a mark of infamy for his want of natural affection; which made him unworthy to be reckoned among free-men, and deserving rather of being thrust down into the condition of slaves, who were wont to go barefoot. Bp. Patrick. Concerning the other mark of contempt, see the note on Numb. xii. 14.
Before CHRIST 1451. Or, next Husman. Husman’s wife. d Ruth 4. 7. Of unjust weights. The confession of him
him that smiteth him, and patteeth forth her hand, and taketh him by the secrets:
Deuteronomy 24:10
- — thou shalt not go into his house &c.] How are the feelings, as well as the wants, of the poor consulted in this precept! as if the legislator had said, Intrude not into the abode of thy poor brother, if he is not willing to expose to the stranger’s eye the humiliating
circumstances of want and nakedness, which attend his destitute state: or perhaps there is some little monument of his better days, which he reserves to console his misery, and which he would not wish to be seen by the person from whom he implores aid, lest he should demand that in pledge; and either, if denied, refuse relief, or by tearing away this almost sacred relick, to which his heart clings, embitter his distress. No, says the law; the hovel of the poor must be sacred as an holy asylum: the eye of scorn and the foot of pride must not dare to intrude; even the agent of mercy must not enter it abruptly and unbid, without consulting the feelings of its wretched inhabitant. Dr. Graves.
Deuteronomy 24:16
- — every man shall be put to death for his own sin.] The penalty of “visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children,” Exod. xx. 5, was reserved to God Himself as the Supreme Judge; for no magistrate was allowed, in ordinary cases, to punish the innocent for the guilty. Compare Ezek. xviii. 4—20. Dr. Hales.
Deuteronomy 24:20
- When thou beatest thine olive tree,] This is the usual method of gathering the fruit of the olive tree. In the kingdom of Naples, and in several other parts of
Stripes must not exceed forty. The law of raising up seed. Before CHRIST 1451. ther.
it † afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.