Of Re-marriage after Divorce If a man, for some fault, divorce his wife, and she marry another, who in turn divorces her or dies (Deuteronomy 24:1-3), her former husband may not take her back, this would be an abomination, etc. (4). EVV. do not render the Heb. constr. The law is one conditional sen... [ Continue Reading ]
_When a man taketh a wife_ Deuteronomy 22:13. _then it shall be … that he shall write her_, etc.] Rather, AND IT COME TO PASS … THAT HE WRITE HER, etc. The apodosis does not commence here but in Deuteronomy 24:4. _some unseemly thing_ As in Deuteronomy 23:14 (15), _the nakedness of a thing_, someth... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SHE DEPART … _out of his house_, AND GO AND BECOME _another man's_ Still part of the protasis of the sentence, stating the facts of the case.... [ Continue Reading ]
Still the protasis; delete _if_and _if_.... [ Continue Reading ]
_after that she is defiled_ Ambiguous indeed, as the most carefully chosen terms of some laws often are. But the natural meaning is that she is unclean to the former husband by her union with the latter. It cannot be a matter of indifference to him that she has been another's, as (presumably) the po... [ Continue Reading ]
Exemption of the Newly Married. He shall not go out with the army, nor be under other (public) obligation for a year, for the sake of his house and wife. See introd. to Deuteronomy 20:1-9, and on Deuteronomy 20:7, which refers to military service alone. The addition here recalls such royal levies as... [ Continue Reading ]
Deuteronomy 24:5 to Deuteronomy 25:4. Thirteen Laws of Equity and Humanity Besides the humane temper common to most of them, and a few cue-words, there are no apparent reasons for their being grouped or for the order in which they occur. They have various openings, mostly conditional, otherwise neg... [ Continue Reading ]
Mill or Upper Millstone not to be taken in Pledge. This would be to pledge _life_itself. Milling (as largely still in Palestine) was mainly domestic, the first indispensable duty of the day; _the sound of the millstones_as sure a sign of a living family as the _light of the candle_(Jeremiah 25:10; R... [ Continue Reading ]
Against Manstealing. If a man be found (see Deuteronomy 21:1; Deuteronomy 22:22) stealing a _brother_(see on Deuteronomy 15:2) Israelite, _and playing the owner_(see Deuteronomy 21:14) he shall die: _so shalt thou put away the evil_, etc. (Deuteronomy 13:5 (6)). The parallel in E, Exodus 21:16, has... [ Continue Reading ]
Precautions in Leprosy. Israel shall diligently observe these as taught by the priests under divine command, remembering how God treated the leprous Miriam on the way from Egypt. Full of deuteronomic phrases; on _take heed_, see Deuteronomy 4:9; _observe and do_, Deuteronomy 4:6; _observe todo_, Deu... [ Continue Reading ]
_When thou dost lend_ See on Deuteronomy 15:1 ff. _any manner of loan_ Lit. _loan of anything_, cp, Deuteronomy 23:19. Besides money or victuals, it might be a slave, a working animal or a plough or other instrument. _fetch his pledge_ Lit. _take in pledge his pledge_(Deuteronomy 15:8, _give a ple... [ Continue Reading ]
Of Taking and Restoring Pledges. The lender must not invade the borrower's house to select a pledge for the loan, the borrower shall bring it out (Deuteronomy 24:10 f.); if he be poor, the pledge, usually his outer robe in which he sleeps, shall be restored by sunset (Deuteronomy 24:12 f.). In the S... [ Continue Reading ]
_sleep in his garment_ Heb. _salmah_(Deuteronomy 29:4 and E, Exodus 22), transp. from the more frequent _simlah_(Deuteronomy 8:4; Deuteronomy 10:18; Deuteronomy 21:13; Deuteronomy 22:3; Deuteronomy 22:17), the large outer robe which the peasant can dispense with by day while at work, but which he al... [ Continue Reading ]
_poor and needy_ See on Deuteronomy 15:11. _within thy gates_ See on Deuteronomy 12:17. The preceding _in thy land_, omitted by Sam., LXX, is a gloss.... [ Continue Reading ]
Payment of the Wage-earner. Whether Israelite or _gçr_, if he be poor, his wage is to be paid the day he earns it; if he has to appeal to God it will be sin to thee. Sg. with _brother_(not _neighbour_) and other deuteronomic phrases. Parallel to H, Leviticus 19:13: _thou shalt not oppress thy neighb... [ Continue Reading ]
_his day_ Cp. Job 14:6; Matthew 20:2. _setteth his heart_ Lit. _lifteth up his desire_(_nephesh_). The Heb. term with its several meanings suggests how his life depends on his wage. Being poor he cannot be indifferent to it. _cry against thee_, etc] Cp. Deuteronomy 24:13; Deuteronomy 15:9. _And it... [ Continue Reading ]
Responsibility for Crime is Individual. The opposition of this principle to that which prevailed in many ancient nations (Herod. iii. 119, Esther 9:13 f., Daniel 6:24 (25)), and which seems to have prevailed in Israel (JE, Joshua 7:24; 2 Kings 9:26, cp. Deuteronomy 14:6), when the family was regarde... [ Continue Reading ]
NOR _of the fatherless_ So LXX, Syr., etc. Heb. omits _nor_. Add (with LXX B) NOR OF THE WIDOW.... [ Continue Reading ]
Against Injustice to the _Gçr_, the Orphan and the Widow, the three classes so earnestly cared for by D, Deuteronomy 24:19; Deuteronomy 10:18, _q.v._, Deuteronomy 14:29; Deuteronomy 16:11; Deuteronomy 16:14. Parallels in E, Exodus 22:21 f., Deuteronomy 23:6 (_the poor_), 9, on which see Driver's _Ex... [ Continue Reading ]
_thou shalt remember_, etc.] Almost exactly as in Deuteronomy 24:22, and Deuteronomy 15:5; cp. Deuteronomy 5:15.... [ Continue Reading ]
Of Generosity to the Landless. To the _gçr_, the orphan and the widow shall be left the gleanings of fields, olive-groves and vineyards. It is interesting that no parallels are found in the earlier legislation of J or E. H, Leviticus 19:9 f. forbids the full reaping of the corners of the field and g... [ Continue Reading ]
_beatest thine olive tree_ Isaiah 27:6; Isaiah 24:13 (but with another vb. for _beating_). -Some climb into the trees and shake the boughs, while others stand below and beat off the fruit with long slender poles" (Van Lennep, _op. cit._128).... [ Continue Reading ]
_When thou gatherest_ Lit. _cuttest off_, the usual vb. for harvesting grapes (Judges 9:27). _Ingathering_, applied to the vintage feast (see on Deuteronomy 16:13), is another vb.... [ Continue Reading ]
_And thou shalt remember_ See on Deuteronomy 24:18.... [ Continue Reading ]