CHAPTER XXIII _Neither_ eunuchs, bastards, Ammonites, _nor_ Moabites, _shall be_ _incorporated with the genuine Israelites_, 1-3. _The reason why the_ Ammonites _and_ Moabites _were excluded_, 4-6. Edomites _and_ Egyptians _to be respected_, 7. _Their descendants in the third generation may be... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 23:2. _A BASTARD SHALL NOT ENTER_] ממזר _mamzer_, which is here rendered _bastard_, should be understood as implying the _offspring_ of an illegitimate or _incestuous_ mixture.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 23:3. _AN AMMONITE OR MOABITE_] These nations were subjected for their impiety and wickedness, (see Deuteronomy 23:4; Deuteronomy 23:5), to peculiar disgrace, and on this account were not permitted to hold any office among the Israelites. But this did not disqualify them from being... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 23:12. _ C._] These directions may appear trifling to some, but they were essentially necessary to this people in their present circumstances. Decency and cleanliness promote health, and prevent many diseases.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 23:15. _THOU SHALT NOT DELIVER - THE SERVANT WHICH IS_ _ESCAPED - UNTO THEE_] That is, a servant who left an idolatrous master that he might join himself to God and to his people. In any other case, it would have been injustice to have harboured the runaway.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 23:17. _THERE SHALL BE NO WHORE_] See on Genesis 38:15-1.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 23:18. _THE HIRE OF A WHORE, OR THE PRICE OF A DOG_] Many public prostitutes dedicated to their gods a part of their impure earnings; and some of these prostitutes were publicly kept in the temple of Venus Melytta, whose gains were applied to the support of her abominable worship.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 23:19. _USURY_] Leviticus 25:36, Leviticus 25:36.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 23:21. _WHEN THOU SHALT VOW, C._] Numbers 30:2, Numbers 30:2, c.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 23:24. _THOU SHALT NOT PUT ANY IN THY VESSEL._] Thou shalt carry none away with thee. The old English proverb, _Eat thy fill_ _but pocket none_, seems to have been founded on this law.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 23:25. _THOU MAYEST PLUCK THE EARS WITH THINE HAND_] It was on the permission granted by this law that the disciples plucked the ears of corn, as related Matthew 12:1. This was both a considerate and humane law, and is no dishonour to the Jewish code.... [ Continue Reading ]