CHAPTER XXV _Punishment by whipping not to exceed forty stripes_, 1-3. _The ox that treads out the corn is not to be muzzled_, 4. _The ordinance concerning marrying the wife of that brother who_ _has died childless_, 5-10. _Of the woman who acts indecently in succouring her husband_, 11, 12.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 25:2. _THE JUDGE SHALL CAUSE HIM TO LIE DOWN, AND TO BE_ _BEATEN BEFORE HIS FACE_] This precept is literally followed in China; the culprit receives in the presence of the magistrate the punishment which the law directs to be inflicted. Thus then _justice_ is done, for the magistra... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 25:3. _FORTY STRIPES HE MAY GIVE HIM, AND NOT EXCEED_] According to God's institution a criminal may receive _forty_ stripes; not one more! But is the institution from _above_ or _not_, that for any offence sentences a man to receive _three hundred_, yea, a _thousand_ stripes? Wha... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 25:4. _THOU SHALT NOT MUZZLE THE OX, C._] In Judea, as well as in Egypt, Greece, and Italy, they make use of beeves to tread out the corn and Dr. Shaw tells us that the people of Barbary continue to tread out their corn after the custom of the East. Instead of beeves they frequent... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 25:9. _AND LOOSE HIS SHOE_] It is difficult to find the reason of these ceremonies of degradation. Perhaps the _shoe_ was the emblem of _power_; and by _stripping it off, deprivation_ of that power and authority was represented. _Spitting_ in the face was a mark of the utmost igno... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 25:13. _DIVERS WEIGHTS_] אבן ואבן _eben vaaben_, a _stone and_ _a stone_, because the weights were anciently made of stone, and some had two sets of stones, a _light_ and a _heavy_. With the _latter_ they bought their wares, by the _former_ they sold them. In our own country this... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 25:14. _DIVERS MEASURES_] Literally, _an ephah and an ephah_; one _large_, to buy thy neighbour's wares, another _small_, to sell thy own by. So there were _knaves_ in all ages, and among all nations. Exodus 16:16, Exodus 16:16, and Leviticus 19:35, Leviticus 19:35.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Deuteronomy 25:18. _SMOTE THE HINDMOST OF THEE_] Exodus 17:8. It is supposed that this command had its final accomplishment in the death of Haman and his ten sons, Esther 3, Esther 7, Esther 9, as from this time the memory and name of Amalek was blotted out from under heaven, for through every... [ Continue Reading ]