III. Third Division of the Laws. Of Crime, War, Property, the Family, and Equity. 19 25 Over 50 laws on all these relations and duties of the ordinary citizen. This division of the Code is distinguished from the two previous, (1) by being uninfluenced except in the case of the first law, on the Cit... [ Continue Reading ]
contain several formulas. On _shall cut off_, etc., see Deuteronomy 12:29; on _whose land the Lord thy God_ IS TO GIVE _thee_and _giveth thee to possess it_, see Deuteronomy 18:9; on _succeed_(dispossess), see Deuteronomy 12:29; on _causeth thee to inherit_, see Deuteronomy 1:38.... [ Continue Reading ]
_separate_ SET APART, Deuteronomy 4:41.... [ Continue Reading ]
_prepare thee the way_ Usually taken as making the road open and firm. But (though Steuern."s objection to this meaning, that such preparation would give equal advantage to the pursuer with the pursued, is hypercritical) this has no relevance to the rest of the _v_., as the older translators already... [ Continue Reading ]
_And this is the case of_ See note on Deuteronomy 15:2, and the introd. to this law. _whoso_ SMITETH _his neighbour unawares … time past_ See Deuteronomy 4:42, which has _slayeth_for _smiteth_.... [ Continue Reading ]
_as when a man goeth_ Heb. _and who goeth_, continuing the construction of the previous clause; but EVV."s rendering is possible by a slight emendation of the Heb. _forest_ As in most instances in which forest is used by EVV., the term misleads. Heb. _ya-ar_was one antithesis to fertile or cultivat... [ Continue Reading ]
_avenger of blood_ Heb. _go-el haddâm_(2 Samuel 14:11; Numbers 35:19-27; Joshua 20:3; Joshua 20:5; Joshua 20:9). The consuetudinary law of the vendetta is not abrogated, but persists so far as the nearest, or other, kinsman of the slain still takes the duty of punishing the slayer. See _v._ 22 and A... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wherefore I command thee_ Cp. Deuteronomy 15:11.... [ Continue Reading ]
_enlarge thy border_ See on Deuteronomy 12:20, and the introd. to this law. _as he hath sworn_, etc.] See on Deuteronomy 1:8. _and give thee … thy fathers_ Redundant after previous clause, and (though confirmed by LXX B and other Codd.) probably not original, Luc. omits. The readings here differ m... [ Continue Reading ]
A parenthesis, being the condition of the promise in Deuteronomy 19:8. _if thou shalt keep all this commandment_, etc.] LXX B, etc., _hear all these commandments_. Cullen, p. 141, takes this passage as an actual quotation from Deuteronomy 11:22. On the formula, _keep … to do_, see Deuteronomy 4:6;... [ Continue Reading ]
_that innocent blood be not shed_ Cp. Deuteronomy 21:8; Deuteronomy 27:25: here the blood of an innocent slayer. _which … for an inheritance_ Another standard phrase, om. by Luc., and some LXX Codd. _and so blood be upon thee_ Upon the nation as a whole, on the principle of ethical solidarity so o... [ Continue Reading ]
_But if any man hate his neighbour_, etc.] The wilful murderer must not escape through the provision of protection for the innocent slayer. _and lie in wait_ Cp. E, Exodus 21:14. For _mortally_see Deuteronomy 19:6.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the elders of his city_, etc.] It is not said who are to judge if wilful murder has been committed (for this see Joshua 20:4-9), but the elders of the murderer's town are responsible for his delivery into the hands of the avenger; it is assumed that they are satisfied as to his guilt. The control o... [ Continue Reading ]
Only by such action on the part of the local authorities and the kinsmen of the murdered man can the guilt of the crime be removed from the whole nation. To this extent the ancient custom of the vendetta is recognised as part of the theocratic system. _thou shalt put away_ See on Deuteronomy 13:5 ... [ Continue Reading ]
Against Removing Boundary Stones In the Sg. address, but as in Deuteronomy 19:4 f., Deuteronomy 19:11 and Deuteronomy 15:2, _q.v._, with _neighbour_instead of _brother_, usual in Sg. passages; and followed by a deuteronomic formula. It is significant that the formula is not only separable from the... [ Continue Reading ]
By Deuteronomy 17:6 (cp. P, Numbers 35:30), a man may not be put to death save on the evidence of more than one witness. Here the same is enforced for all cases. _One witness shall not rise up_ Or, _stand_, that is, of course, as a valid effectual witness; the vb is the same as at the end of the _v... [ Continue Reading ]
Of Witnesses Two or three witnesses are necessary for a conviction (Deuteronomy 19:15). If a witness, forcing his evidence, accuse a man of defection from the law, the two shall stand before God in the supreme court (Deuteronomy 19:16 f.), the judges shall investigate, and if the witness be found f... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT _if_ So Sam. LXX. _unrighteous witness_ Heb. _witness of violence_. So E, Exodus 23:1, and Psalms 35:11, apparently one who _forces_his evidence, does _violence_to the truth or intends _violence_to his neighbour. Driver renders _malicious_, -meditates some covert violence himself or assists by... [ Continue Reading ]
_shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges_, etc.] That is in the supreme court to be instituted at the One Altar, Deuteronomy 17:9. The construction is awkward and betrays expansion. Steuern. and Berth. and Marti take _before the judges_as alone original, as these only are ment... [ Continue Reading ]
_shall make diligent inquisition_ See Deuteronomy 13:14 (15), Deuteronomy 17:4; Deuteronomy 17:9; Sg. _false, falsely_ Heb. _sheḳer_: so in Exodus 20:16, but Deuteronomy 5:20 has _shav, vain_. _brother_ here and next _v_.: the usual term in Sg. passages for _fellow-Israelite_.... [ Continue Reading ]
_shall ye do_ the only Pl. in the passage, confirmed by Sam. LXX; either a clerical error or an instance of the possibility of a writer slipping from one form of address into the other. Read SHALT THOU. _thought_ Heb. _zamam_, DEVISED. _so shalt thou put away_ Frequent in this Code, see on Deutero... [ Continue Reading ]
_those which remain_, etc.] A curious parallel to Deuteronomy 13:11 (12).... [ Continue Reading ]
_thine eye shall not pity_ See on Deuteronomy 19:13; Deuteronomy 7:16. _life for life_, etc.] The _jus talionis_, more fully in E, Exodus 21:24 f.; cp. H, Leviticus 24:18; Leviticus 24:20. Very frequently in the Code of Ḫammurabi. See further Driver's note on Exodus 21:25.... [ Continue Reading ]