Now these [are] the judgments which thou shalt set before them. Ver. 1. _Now these are the judgments,_] i.e., The judicial laws, fitly annexed to the Decalogue, whereof the civil magistrate is the lord-keeper. It was written upon the sword of Charles the Great, _Decem praeceptorum custos Carolus._... [ Continue Reading ]
_If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing._ Ver. 2. _In the seventh year._] No longer might they serve, because they were God's servants; Lev 25:42 whose privilege, see in Isa 65:13-14 Christ's "freemen." 1Co 7:22... [ Continue Reading ]
If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him. Ver. 3. _If he came in by himself,_] Without a second-self, a yoke fellow, standing on even ground with himself, though drawing on the left side.... [ Continue Reading ]
If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself. Ver. 4. _Have given him a wife,_] viz., One of his heathen handmaids, whom to part with was no great punishment, because an unlawful couple.... [ Continue Reading ]
And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free: Ver. 5. _I love my master._] A little better than he in Plautus, that said, _Ego non servio libenter; herus meus me non habet libenter, tamen utitur me ut lippis oculis._... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever._ Ver. 6. _And he shall serve him._] Being υπερετης και οργανον και ολως εκεινου, as Aristotle hath it... [ Continue Reading ]
And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do. Ver. 7. _She shall not go out._] But upon better terms. He that was to come "in the form of a servant," Php 2:7 see what care he takes of poor servants' welfare. Lawyers seldom speak but for great men, o... [ Continue Reading ]
If she please not her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her. Ver. 8. _He hath dealt deceitfully with her._] By not answering her expectation. This God tolerate... [ Continue Reading ]
And if he have betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters. Ver. 9. _After the manner of daughters._] Not put her off, as they say they do their daughters in Hungary, without a portion, only with a new coat at their wedding: much less set her to sale, as the Thr... [ Continue Reading ]
If he take him another [wife]; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish. Ver. 10. _Her duty of marriage._] See 1 Corinthians 7:5, _See Trapp on "_ 1Co 7:5 _"_... [ Continue Reading ]
And if he do not these three unto her, then shall she go out free without money. Ver. 11. _And if he do not these three unto her._] _Picus est imago ingrati mariti, quia sub autumnum eiecit coniugem, ne cogatur per hyemem nutrire: postea sub vernum tempus eam ad se blande revocat, ac in consortium... [ Continue Reading ]
He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death. Ver. 12. _Shall be surely put to death._] _See Trapp on "_ Gen 9:6 _"_... [ Continue Reading ]
And if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver [him] into his hand; then I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee. Ver. 13. _But God deliver him._] Who is the Lord of our lives, and to whom we have frequently forfeited them; so that it is his mercy that we are not consumed; Lam 3:22 that we... [ Continue Reading ]
But if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbour, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die. Ver. 14. _Thou shalt take him, &c._] "A man that doeth violence to the blood of any person shall flee to the pit; let none stay him"; - where Pro 28:17 the word _Adam_,... [ Continue Reading ]
And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death. Ver. 15. _He that smiteth._] By the law of God, of nature, and of nations, such a man should die. And herein, I think, our laws are defective: albeit, I am not of Carolostadius's mind, who, if Melancthon misreport him not,... [ Continue Reading ]
And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death. Ver. 16. _He that stealeth a man._] Akin to these are they that steal other men's books, and father them, setting them out in their own names. Diagoras was so served by a plagiary, which, wh... [ Continue Reading ]
And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death. Ver. 17. _And he that curseth._] _See Trapp on "_ Exo 21:15 _"_ _See Trapp on "_ Mat 15:4 _"_ _a_ a _Immane verbum est ultio._ - _Seneca._... [ Continue Reading ]
_And if men strive together, and one smite another with a stone, or with [his] fist, and he die not, but keepeth [his] bed:_ Ver. 18. _If men strive together._] This is counted manhood, when indeed it is doghood rather: heathens condemned it; _a_ and yet Navarrus, a Popish casuist, _Caedem recte ad... [ Continue Reading ]
_If he rise again, and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he that smote [him] be quit: only he shall pay [for] the loss of his time, and shall cause [him] to be thoroughly healed._ Ver. 19. _Upon his staff._] See 2Sa 3:29 Zechariah 8:4 .... [ Continue Reading ]
And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished. Ver. 20. _He shall be surely punished._] At the discretion of the magistrate, who is the "revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil." Rom 13:4... [ Continue Reading ]
Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he [is] his money. Ver. 21. _For he is his money._] And therefore he hath power over his flesh. Col 3:22 Yet "hide not thine eyes from thine own flesh," saith the prophet. Isa 58:7... [ Continue Reading ]
If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart [from her], and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges [determine]. Ver. 22. _And yet no mischief follow,_] i.e., No life be lost. Th... [ Continue Reading ]
And if [any] mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, Ver. 23. _And if any mischief follow._] Either by death or maim, either of mother or child.... [ Continue Reading ]
Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, Ver. 24. _Eye for eye._] How the Pharisees had wrested that text. _See Trapp on "_ Mat 5:39 _"_ This kind of law, in use among heathens also, Aristotle calls το αντιπεπονθος and was given against private revenge.... [ Continue Reading ]
And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish; he shall let him go free for his eye's sake. Ver. 26. _And if a man smite the eye of his servant._] Think the same, saith Aben Ezra, of the other principal members, which the Jews call _capita membrorum:_ these are t... [ Continue Reading ]
If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die: then the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox [shall be] quit. Ver. 28. _Then the ox shall be surely stoned._] God requiring man's blood even of beasts. Gen 9:5 _See Trapp on "_ Gen 9:5 _"_... [ Continue Reading ]
But if the ox were wont to push with his horn in time past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and he hath not kept him in, but that he hath killed a man or a woman; the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death. Ver. 29. _That he hath killed a man, &c._] Since the fall, al... [ Continue Reading ]
If there be laid on him a sum of money, then he shall give for the ransom of his life whatsoever is laid upon him. Ver. 30. _Sum of money._] Taxed upon him by the next of kin, or, if he be unreasonable, by the judge. Exo 21:22... [ Continue Reading ]
Whether he have gored a son, or have gored a daughter, according to this judgment shall it be done unto him. Ver. 31. _A son or a daughter._] A little one, and in his minority, as _Puerilitas est periculorum pelagus._... [ Continue Reading ]
_If the ox shall push a manservant or a maidservant; he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned._ Ver. 32. _Thirty shekels._] This same was that "goodly price" that our Lord Christ was valued at by the vile Jews. Zec 11:12-13 Mat 26:15... [ Continue Reading ]
And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit, and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein; Ver. 33. _And an ox or an ass._] We can hardly open the deep pit of God's bottomless, boundless mercy, but some silly beast will be falling thereinto; "stumbling at the word, being disobe... [ Continue Reading ]
The owner of the pit shall make [it] good, [and] give money unto the owner of them; and the dead [beast] shall be his. Ver. 34. _The owner of the pit shall make it good._] Think the same of other cattle also, good vel ad usum, vel ad esum, as horse, ass, sheep, &c.: _a parte, tolum intelligendum,_... [ Continue Reading ]
Or if it be known that the ox hath used to push in time past, and his owner hath not kept him in; he shall surely pay ox for ox; and the dead shall be his own. Ver. 36. _Ox for ox._] These were those "right judgments, true laws, good statutes, and commandments." Neh 9:13... [ Continue Reading ]