_NEITHER EUNUCHS, BASTARDS, MOABITES, NOR AMMONITES, ARE TO BE
ADMITTED INTO THE CONGREGATION: UNCLEANNESS TO BE AVOIDED IN THE CAMP:
HARLOTS ARE NOT TO BE ALLOWED IN ISRAEL: USURY IS FORBIDDEN._
_Before Christ 1451._... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 1. _SHALL NOT ENTER INTO THE CONGREGATION_— This law is
directed against the infamous practice of making eunuchs: such persons
were not to be deemed Israelites, nor have their names entered in the
public register, and consequently were not to be accounted members of
the Jewish community. See... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 2. _A BASTARD SHALL NOT ENTER,_ &C.— Some render these words,
_a foreigner_ or _an alien._ See Spenc. p. 105. But Mr. Locke
observes, upon the original word ממזר _mamzer,_ that it is his
opinion, with Maimonides, that the _mamzer_ here spoken of, is one who
cometh of any of the _nakedness, i.... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 4. _BECAUSE THEY MET YOU NOT WITH BREAD AND WATER_— It was a
piece of ancient hospitality, to give strangers in their travels
refreshment of _bread and water;_ that is, of _meat and drink._ The
Israelites, therefore, might well expect this civility from the
Ammonites and Moabites, not only as... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 6. _THOU SHALT NOT SEEK THEIR PEACE_— All that is here
forbidden is, the entering into public confederacies and alliances
with them; notwithstanding which prohibition, they were bound to treat
those people according to the rule of common justice and humanity. The
words may be considered as a... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 7, 8. _THOU SHALT NOT ABHOR AN EDOMITE—AN EGYPTIAN_— The
first, the descendants of Esau, the brother of Jacob, were thereby
more than _neighbours;_ they were the _brethren_ of the Israelites:
and as to the _Egyptians,_ though they at length cruelly oppressed the
Jewish nation, yet were their... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 9. _WHEN THE HOST GOETH FORTH AGAINST THINE ENEMIES,_ &C.— As
the Israelites were to commence a war against the Canaanites, the
success of which depended immediately upon the miraculous assistance
of God, Moses ordains, that, in so delicate and dangerous a
conjuncture, they should be especial... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 13. _THOU SHALT HAVE A PADDLE,_ &C.— See Fuller's Miscellanea
Sacra, lib. 6: cap. 5. The Turks, we are told, still use the same
cleanliness in their camp. In all the intercourses of life, there
cannot be too great a regard to natural decency, whereto this law has
an immediate reference, as we... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 15. _THOU SHALT NOT DELIVER UNTO HIS MASTER THE SERVANT,_
&C.— i.e. _A foreign servant,_ says Houbigant, not one of the Jewish
nation; for it is not added, _the servant of thy brother, or of thy
neighbour:_ besides, Moses addresses the whole nation, as appears from
the words, _in one of thy g... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 19, 20. _THOU SHALT NOT LEND UPON USURY TO THY BROTHER,_ &C.—
i.e. To an _Israelite._ See Exodus 22:25. But though they might not
lend to Israelites, they are allowed to do so to _strangers;_ for, as
nothing was more reasonable, than that their neighbours the Sidonians,
Tyrians, Egyptians, an... [ Continue Reading ]
_VER._ 24, 25. _WHEN THOU COMEST INTO THY NEIGHBOUR'S VINE-YARD,_
&C.— The rabbis understand this law in favour of poor labourers, who
were hired to work in vineyards in the time of the vintage: for, if
the very oxen were not to be muzzled whilst they trod out the corn,
how much less ought the labou... [ Continue Reading ]