Deuteronomy 22:1-30
1 Thou shalt not see thy brother's ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother.
2 And if thy brother be not nigh unto thee, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it unto thine own house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it to him again.
3 In like manner shalt thou do with his ass; and so shalt thou do with his raiment; and with all lost thing of thy brother's, which he hath lost, and thou hast found, shalt thou do likewise: thou mayest not hide thyself.
4 Thou shalt not see thy brother's ass or his ox fall down by the way, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again.
5 The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God.
6 If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young:
7 But thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, and take the young to thee; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days.
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.
9 Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest the fruit of thy seeda which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard, be defiled.
10 Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together.
11 Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woollen and linen together.
12 Thou shalt make thee fringes upon the four quartersb of thy vesture, wherewith thou coverest thyself.
13 If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her,
14 And give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid:
15 Then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate:
16 And the damsel's father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her;
17 And, lo, he hath given occasions of speech against her, saying, I found not thy daughter a maid; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city.
18 And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him;
19 And they shall amerce him in an hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days.
20 But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel:
21 Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father's house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you.
22 If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel.
23 If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her;
24 Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour's wife: so thou shalt put away evil from among you.
25 But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man forcec her, and lie with her: then the man only that lay with her shall die:
26 But unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death: for as when a man riseth against his neighbour, and slayeth him, even so is this matter:
27 For he found her in the field, and the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her.
28 If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found;
29 Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days.
30 A man shall not take his father's wife, nor discover his father's skirt.
Deuteronomy 22:5. All that do so are abomination to the Lord. The note of Maimonides here is, that men presenting themselves before Venus, appeared partially in female attire; and women presenting themselves before Mars, appeared in armour. Sardanapalus, the last king of Nineveh, was despised by Arbactus for being found in the dress of his queens, and assisting them in spinning.
Deuteronomy 22:8. When thou buildest a new house thou shalt make a battlement, lest waking out of sleep one should fall down and be killed. In the east they often slept on the flat roof of their houses, which was cool and airy; and indeed they lived much there for better air than below.
Deuteronomy 22:10. Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass; as the land might then be polluted by unnatural intercourse.
Deuteronomy 22:17. The cloth. Uteri virginalis was given by nature to be the glory of a virgin, and to place her above the tongue of calumny, and the power of malice.
Deuteronomy 22:21. The door of her father's house. This would add very much shame and anguish to the father, for not having taken better care of his daughter. Wickedness cannot be suppressed without severity of justice; nor can sinners be converted without fervent cooperation with the aids of grace. Hence we learn, that the head of every house was responsible for the preservation of female virtue. Surely this law of the Hebrews was founded in wisdom, and it is worthy of adoption by every other nation.
Deuteronomy 22:22. They shall both of them die. We do not inflict more than a fine, and often with indecent laughter in our courts. But where is the use of letting such characters live. If it be lawful to hang a man for stealing a sheep, it cannot be wrong to hang him for stealing another man's wife. If our laws be not relax, why is Europe so full of lewdness? The Roman laws, under foul circumstances, punished adultery with death.
REFLECTIONS.
This chapter opens with the law of brotherly kindness; and though the duties are small in themselves, attention to them very much endears the heart of one man to another; whereas the want of these social virtues alienates the affections of neighbours. The man who restores lost property to his brother confers a favour without expense, and proves his heart to be actuated by the love of God.
The tenderness also enjoined towards the little birds, and in fact, towards every irrational creature which God has made, shows that religion should be characterized by humanity and compassion. By the fall we have brought misery enough on the creatures, and we should never augment it by any wanton treatment. One who can feast his ferocious dispositions by cruelty to either bird, beast, or insect, does himself a greater injury than that he inflicts on the helpless creature.
The injunction to build a battlement around the roof of every house, is equally humane; and assuredly it is highly applicable to our collieries, not being ventilated; to our machinery, not properly guarded, which occasion the loss of many lives. Men pursuing their business, and forgetful of danger, are often killed when a small expense would have prevented the calamity. We have before been reminded that sins of ignorance, and sins of negligence require atonement. What guilt then must the proprietors of public works bring upon themselves, by avarice and neglect.
The prohibition of yoking an ox with an ass, the one being much stronger than the other, has the same object of humanity in view. Cruelty is at all times displeasing to God. From this law, it would seem, St. Paul has taken occasion to enforce another on the christian church, and with the most pressing appeals to reason. “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what fellowship hath light with darkness.”
The judicial attestation of a virgin's purity against the jealous or wicked slander of her husband, and the awful manner in which she was punished, in case she had been profligate in her father's house, gives us a sanctifying character of the purity of God, and of the holiness he requires of his people. It is assuredly the duty of every woman when tempted, to cry and shame a false lover at once, rather than suffer herself to be ruined for ever. If she was where her cries could not be heard, the law compelled the young man to marry her, and to indemnify the father. The Consistories of Switzerland, we are told by Ostervald, still enforce this law. The elders and ministers of the Kirk of Scotland have very much followed the Swiss; but in England and Ireland we are strangely relaxed. Oh what crimes might be prevented, if all good men would vigorously concur in the suppression of vice and wickedness. An institution should be established for this purpose in every town, which would urge and embolden the magistrates to act, and make the wicked afraid.