Deuteronomy 23

Deuteronomy 23:1-8

We have in this chapter, 1. The confusion of certain persons from the congregation, ver. 1—8. 2. The removal of all unclaimed out of the camp, ver. 9—14. 3. The receiving fugitive fervents, ver. 15, 16. 4. If freedom forbidden, ver. 17, 18. 5. Injury, ver. 19, 20. 6. The branch of town, ver. 21—23. 7. If last liberty it must might take in his neighbour’s field and vineyard, and what not, ver. 24, 25.

1. He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD. 2. A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD: even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD. 3. An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever: 4. Because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt: and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pechor of Melopotamia, to cut the thee. 5. Nevertheless the LORD thy God would not bearden unto Balaam: but the LORD thy God turned the curle into a blessing unto thee, because the LORD thy God loved thee. 6. Thou shalt not seek their peace, nor their prosperity all thy days for ever. 7. Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite, for he is thy brother: Thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian, because thou wast a stranger in his land. 8. The children that are begotten of them, shall enter into the congregation of the LORD in their third generation.

Exclusion from the congregation of the Lord means not a rejection from all communion in religious fervors, for every proolyte was welcome; but from all power and authority as officers or magistrates, and from free intercourse of marriage, Bastards, all who were the offspring of incessions beds, and Eunuchs, were for ever excluded. God will put a brand of disgrace upon such. Moabites and Ammonites are under the same sentence, and the reason given is, because of their unkindness to the people of Israel, in refusing them provisions by the way, and their utter attempt to procure them a cacta from Balaam, which God however over-ruled for a blessing. Those who would injure God’s Israel, he will repay their designs shall not only be abortive, but the evil return upon their own heads. The Edomites, though they had behaved unkind, must not be abhorred, nor the Egyptians, notwithstanding their hard fervitude to them; but the proolytes of these nations after the third generation, are to be admitted to the privileges of true Israelites; and the reason given is, because of the near kindred of the one, and the kindness they had at first experienced from the other. Note, (1.) Near relations, though they may have treated us unnaturally, must be regarded by us with affection still. (2.) The unkindness we may have received, must not cancel our grateful acknowledgment for former favours, we must forget the one, and remember the other.

9. When the host goeth forth against thine enemies, then keep thee from every wicked thing. 10. If there be among you any man that is not clean, by reason of uncleaners that chanceth him by night, then shall he go abroad out of the camp, he shall not come within the camp. 11. But it shall be when evening cometh on, the shall walk himself with water: and when the sun is down, he shall come into the camp again. 12. Thou shalt have a place also without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad. 13. And thou shalt have a puddle upon thy weapon: and it shall be when thou wilt ease thy self abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee. 14. For the LORD thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee: therefore shall thy camp be holy, that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee.

Deuteronomy 23:9-14

A charge is here given to keep their hosts pure from ceremonial, natural, and much more from moral defile-

ment. Sin must be abshamed from of every kind. Soldiers who have death ever before them, have especial calls to keep from evil, as it cannot but tend to make them cometh in battle, and bring down also God’s displeasure upon the host. In the midst of good and captives, they must abhass from cruelty, lust and rapaciousness. If ceremonial uncleaners happened to them, they must be separated from the camp, as unfit to dwell among the hosts where God’s presence appeared; and every thing indecent, or uncleanly, must be carefully avoided, that this confines can to observe neatness in their persons, and cleaners from ceremonial pollutions, might teach them how much more necessary it was to preserve their souls from the defilement of sin. Note, (1.) They who provoke God by their sins, can with little reason expect a blessing on their arms. (2.) Cleanliness is next to godliness: a but or a dozen is ever a slothful person, and neglect of decency and neatness, is not only want of sense, but want of grace. (3.) The cleanliness of a camp is most conducive to the health of the army. (4.) We should be ashamed to do an indecent thing to offend one another, how much more to do a wicked thing to offend God.

15. ¶ Thou shalt not deliver unto his master, the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee. 16. He shall dwell with thee, even among you in that place which he shall choose, in one of thy gates where it liketh him best: thou shalt not oppress him. 17. ¶ There shall be no where of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel. 18. Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the LORD thy God. 19. ¶ Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of any thing that is lent upon usury. 20. Unto a stranger thou mayst lend upon usury, but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury; that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all that thou setest thine hand to, in the land whither thou goest to possess it. 21. ¶ When thou shalt vow a vow unto the LORD thy God, thou shalt not sack to pay it: for the LORD thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would be sin in thee. 22. But if thou shalt forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee. 23. That which is gone out of thy lips, thou shalt keep and perform; even a free-will offering, according as thou hast vowed unto the LORD thy God, which thou hast promised with thy mouth. 24. ¶ When thou comest into thy neighbour’s vineyard, then thou mayst eat grapes thy sall, at thine own pleasure; but thou shalt not put me in thy vessel. 25. When thou comest into the standing-corn of thy neighbours, then thou mayst pluck the ears with thine hand: but thou shalt not move a little unto thy neighbour’s standing-corn.

Deuteronomy 23:15-25

Sundry laws are here enjoined,

1. A servant who had been cruelly and unjustly treated, must find an asylum amongst them. An idle manager it is not supposed they would harbour; but the oppressed and destitute must be not only protected, but if willing to become a proolyte, be provided for. Note, (1.) The people of God must have compulsion on the oppressed, and support them against their persecutors. (2.) Converts deserve peculiar tenderness, that they may have no temptation to return.

2. No where one sodomite must be suffered among them; nor the price of such crimes be permitted to come into the house of the Lord for any vow: God abominates both them and their polluted gains. Note, (1.) The offerings of the wicked are abomination to the Lord. (2.) There can be no commutation for sin; their gifts must perish with them.

3. All usury is forbidden to an Israelite: if he wanted victuals, or money, they must be freely lent. As they were God’s peculiar people, they must show peculiar tenderness and generosity one to another. Of strangers they might receive usury; as they are supposed to live by trade, and to make considerable advantage thereby, it were but just they should share their gains with the lender. Interest for our money is highly reasonable, but the Christian will find many as occasion to practice this generosity to his brethren, and to lend, hoping for nothing in return.

4. Every vow must be carefully fulfilled. It is in our own power not to vow, but it is in our own power not to vow, but it is in our own power not to vow.

5. Travellers, in passing through fields or vineyards, or labourers, in gathering them in, might freely eat, according to their appetite, only they must carry none away. Note, (1.) We must be hospitable, and willing to communicate of our abundance. (2.) We may not abude our neighbour’s liberality, nor, because we are on free coils, be gluttons to devour his meat, or covetous to relieve it.

CHAP In this chapter we have, 1. The toleration of divorce, ver. 1—4. 2. A discharge of new married men from the war, ver. 5. 3. Laws concerning pledges, ver. 6, 10—13, and 17. 4. Against man-feeding, ver. 7. 5. Concerning the leprosy, ver. 8, 9.

6. Against the injustice of matters towards their foreword, ver. 14, 15. Judges in central courts, ver. 16. and civil concerns, ver. 17, 18.

7. Of charity to the poor, ver. 19—22.

WHEN a man hath taken a wife and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in her eyes, because he hath found a some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of a divorce, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. 2. And when the is departed out of his house, the may go and be another man’s wife. 3. And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorce, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife; 4. Her former husband which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled: for that is a combination before the LORD, and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

b. 1—4. For the handness of their heart our Savior says Moses gave them this permission. Since they would put away their wives, yet they must be under these regulations. It must not be for every cause, but some uncleanness; not adultery, for that was death; but some secret disagreements in her person, or perversion in her temper, that made her company and substitution disgusting and offensive. In which case, a bill of divorce must be written, and signed before witnesses, that were uncaverning, such separations might not enlist one ever a quarter. If the matter was resolved, on this bill being delivered to her, she was dismissed, and free to marry whom she chose; only that on the death or dismiss from a second husband, the first might never take her again. Note, Separation of man and wife is a matter deeply to be weighed, and much to be burnt, before such a step be taken. The remedy is usually worse than the disease; and when the breach is rendered hereby too wide to be made up, too late they find they have involved themselves in greater difficulties, than those they meant to avoid.

5. When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, a neither shall he be charged with any business: for he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken. 6. No man shall take the neither or the upper miltone to pledge: for he taketh a man’s life to pledge. 7. If a man be found stealing any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and maketh merchandise of him, or felleth him; then that that shall die, and thou shalt put evil away from among you. 8. Take heed in the plague of leprosy, that thou observe diligently, and do according to all that the priests the Levites shall teach you: as I commanded them, to ye shall observe to do. 9. Remember what the LORD thy God did unto Miriam by the way, after that ye were come forth out of Egypt. 10. When thou dost a lend thy brother any thing, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge. 11. Thou shalt stand abroad, and the man to whom thou dost lend, shall bring out the pledge abroad unto thee. 12. And if the man be poor, thou shalt not sleep with his pledge. 13. In any case thou shalt deliver him the pledge again when the sun goeth down, that he may sleep in his own raiment, and bless thee: and it shall be righteousness unto thee before the LORD thy God.

b. 5—13. Surely laws are here laid down, 1. Concerning a new-married man. During his first year of marriage he was excused from war, and every public avocation that would call him from home, where his presence was needful, that by conjugal endearments love might be cemented, and the union be firm and lasting. Note, Nothing so needful in the marriage state, in order to keep up mutual affection, as the avoiding all needless absences, and shewing on both sides a constant solicitude to please. 2. The miltone, which the man wants to grind his daily bread, must not be taken for a pledge. Though a man may be so distressed, as to offer to put that in our power, which is needed for his own and his family’s fulfillment, we must by no means take advantage of his necessities. 3. Man-feeding is forbidden on pain of death. It was a high

crimes, thus to rob the state of a subject, and an Israelite of liberty. 4. The laws concerning leprosy must be directly complied with. The person must not conceal the malady, but shew himself to the priest, and conform to the regulations prescribed, lest, if he despised authority like Miriam, he should be punished: nor need he think it hard to submit, when he, though so eminent, was obliged to it. Note, Whatever humiliations we are called to undergo for sin, we should readily yield to them; since it is better now to confess and be pardoned, than cover our iniquities, and be condemned for them eternally. 5. The lender may not enter his neighbour’s house to fetch a pledge, but must receive it without; nor must he keep the garments he needs to cover him at night in his custody, but before them, that the poor debtor might bless him, with his prayers and thanks to God for such kindness: and this act of mercy God would own and approve. Note, (1.) We may not lend it, or be assuming, or cruel, towards those who are in debt to us. (2.) They who can make no other pretext recompense to their kind creditors, should beg of God to remember them for good. (3.) Though our works of charity are not in any sense our justifying righteousness before God, yet are they such as he will own and reward in a judgment-day.

14. Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates. 15. At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the son go down upon it, for he is poor, and testeth his heart upon it; lest he cry against thee unto the LORD, and to be sin unto thee. 16. The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin. 17. Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless, nor take a widow’s raiment to pledge. 18. But thou shalt remember that thou wast a bond man in Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee thence: therefore I command thee to do this thing. 19. When thou cuttest down thine harvest in the field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands. 20. When thou beatest thine divorce, thou shalt not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. 21. When thou gathered the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. 22. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bond man in the land of Egypt; therefore I command thee to do this thing.

b. 14—22. 1. God enjoins matters to be kind and punctual in paying their servants. They must not be over-loaded with labour; and when their daily task is done, as their heart would be upon their hire, and their poverty might not suffer delay, they must receive their wages, as they earned it, lest, if it was unkindly or fraudulently detained, their cry should come up before God, and heavy guilt be on their oppressors. Note, There is a God who untrends himself in behalf of the poor and oppressed; and was to those against whom their just complaints arise. 2. Justice must be impartially administered. In criminal cases, the father’s crime must not involve the son, nor the son’s father; but every one must bear his own punishment. In civil cases between party and party, the judge must not pervert the judgment of the stranger or fatherless, nor suffer them, because friendless, to be oppressed; but rather be advocates for such as have more to plead for them, and are unable to plead for themselves. 3. In their harvest and vintage they may not make too nice a scrutiny, or return to bring again a sheaf drop in the field or forgotten. They had been bondmen in Egypt, and their own wants there must reach them tender compulsion, and charitable regard for the stranger, the fatherless, and widow. Note, The more we are sensible of God’s goodness to ourselves, the more will it open our hands and hearts in charity to our neighbours.