Who are excluded from the

CHAP. XXIII.

congregation of the Lord.

The Israel-
Vows must

vered up to his former master, 15, 16. There shall be no prostitutes nor sodomites in the land, 17. The hire of a prostitute or the price of a dog is not to be brought into the house of God, 18. ites shall not lend on usury to each other, 19; but they may take usury from strangers, 20.be diligently paid, 21–23. In passing through a vineyard or field a man may eat of the grapes or corn, but must carry away none with him, 24, 25.

HE that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD.

2 A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD.

3 b An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation, shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever:

4

If there be among you any man, that is clean, by reason of uncleanness that chanceth him by night, then shall he go abroad out of the camp, he shall not come within the camp:

11 But it shall be, when evening cometh on, he shall wash himself with water and when the sun is down, he shall come into the camp again.

Because they met you not with bread 12 Thou shalt have a place also without and with water in the way, when ye came the camp, whither thou shalt go forth forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor, of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee.

abroad:

13 And thou shalt have a paddle upon thy 'weapon; and it shall be, when thou m wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee:

14 For the LORD thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee :

15 P Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee:

16 He shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that place which he shall choose in

xxiii. 9; Lev. xix. 34; chap. x. 19.- i Lev. xv. 16. Heb. turneth toward. Lev. xv. 5.- Heb. sittest down.Lev. xxvi. 12. o Heb. nakedness of any thing.- -P1 Sam. xxx. 15.

Verse 3. An Ammonite or Moabite] These nations were subjected for their impiety and wickedness, (see ver. 4 and 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 proselytes: Ruth, who was a Moabitess, was married to Boaz, and she became one of the progenitors of our Lord:

NOTES ON CHAP. XXIII. Verse 1. Shall not enter into the congregation, &c.] If by entering into the congregation be meant the bearing a civil office among the people, such as magistrate, judge, &c., then the reason of the law is very plain; no man with any such personal defect as might render him contemptible in the sight of others should bear rule among the people, lest the contempt felt for his personal defects might be transferred to his important office, and thus his authority be disregarded. The general meaning of these words is, simply, that the persons here designated should not be so incorporated with the Jews as to partake of their civil privileges. Verse 2. A bastard shall not enter] D mamzer, which is here rendered bastard, should be understood as implying the offspring of an illegitimate or inces-is escaped-unto thee] That is, a servant who left an tuous mixture.

Even to their tenth generation] That is, for ever, as the next clause explains; ́see Neh. xiii. 1.

Verse 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. Verse 15. Thou shalt not deliver-the servant which

idolatrous master that he might join himself to God

one of thy gates, where it a liketh | LORD thy God, thou shalt not
him best: * thou shalt not op- slack to pay it for the LORD thy An. Ex. Isr. 40.
press him.
God will surely require it of thee;

Verse 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 Me-hand] It was on the permission granted by this law lytta, whose gains were applied to the support of her that the disciples plucked the ears of corn, as related abominable worship. Matt. xii. 1. This was both a considerate and huVerse 19. Usury] mane law, and is no dishonour to the Jewish code.

CHAPTER XXIV.

The case of a divorced wife, 1-4. No man shall be obliged to undertake any public service for the first year of his marriage, 5. The mill-stones shall not be taken as a pledge, 6. The man-stealer shall be put to death, 7. Concerning cases of leprosy, 8, 9. Of receiving pledges, and returning those of the poor before bed-time, 10-13. Of servants and their hire, 14, 15. Parents and children shall not be put to death for each other, 16. Of humanity to the stranger, fatherless, widow, and bondman, 17, 18. Gleanings of the harvest, &c., to be left for the poor, stranger, widow, fatherless, &c., 19–22.

d

2 And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's wife. 3 And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife;

4. Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

5 When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business; but he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken.

Concerning the leprosy

A. M. 2553.
B. C 1451.

6 No man shall take the nether or the upper mill-stone to pledge: An. Ex. Isr. 40. for he taketh a man's life to

pledge.

Sebat.

8 Take heed in the plague of leprosy, that thou observe diligently, and do according to all that the priests the Levites shall teach you as I commanded them, so ye shall observe to do.

9.m Remember what the LORD thy God did a unto Miriam by the way, after that ye were come forth out of Egypt.

10 When thou dost lend thy brother any thing, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge.

11 Thou shalt stand abroad, and the man to

i Exod. xxi. 16. k Chap. xix. 19. m See Luke xvii. 32; 1 Cor. x. 6. lend the loan of any thing to, &c.

Lev. xiii. 2; xiv. 2. n Num. xii. 10.- - Heb.

and defilement; and it is on this ground that our Lord argues, in the places referred to above, that whoever marries the woman that is put away is an adulterer: now this could not have been the case if God had allowed the divorce to be a legal and proper separation of the man from his wife; but in the sight of God nothing can be a legal cause of separation but adultery on either side. In such a case, according to the law of God, a man may put away his wife, and a wife may put away her husband; (see Matt. xix. 9 ;) for it appears that the wife had as much right to put away her husband, as the husband had to put away his wife, see Mark x. 12.

Verse 3. And write her a bill of divorcement] These another? Though God, for the hardness of their hearts, bills, though varying in expression, are the same in suffered them to put away their wives, yet he consisubstance among the Jews in all places. The follow-dered all after-marriages in that case to be pollution ing, collected from Maimonides and others, is a gene, ral form, and contains all the particulars of such in struments. The reader who is curious may find a full account of divorces in the Biblioth. Rab. of Bartolocci, and the following form in that work, vol. iv., p. 550. - "In day of the week, or —— day of the month A., in year from the creation of the world, or from the supputation (of Alexander) after the account that we are accustomed to count by, here, in the place B., I, C., the son of D., of the place B., (or if there be any other name which I have, or my father hath had, or which my place or my father's place hath had,) have voluntarily, and with the willingness of my soul, without constraint, dismissed, and left, and put away thee, even thee, E., the daughter of F., of the city G., (or if thou have any other name or surname, thou or thy father, or thy place or thy father's place,) who hast been my wife heretofore; but now I dismiss thee, and leave thee, and put thee away, that thou mayest be free, and have power over thy own life, to go away to be married to any man whom thou wilt; and that no man be refused of thine hand, for my name, from this day and for ever. And thus thou art lawful for any man; and this is unto thee, from me, a writing of divorcement, and book (instrument) of dismission, and an epistle of putting away; according to the Law of Moses and Israel.

A., son of B., witness.
C., son of D., witness."
Verse 4. She is defiled] Does not this refer to her
having been divorced, and married in consequence to

Verse 5. When a man hath taken a new wife] Other people made a similar provision for such circumstances. Alexander ordered those of his soldiers who had married that year to spend the winter with their wives, while the army was in winter quarters. See Arrian, lib. i. ;

Verse 6. The nether or the upper mill-stone] Small hand-mills which can be worked by a single person were formerly in use among the Jews, and are still used in many parts of the East. As therefore the day's meal was generally ground for each day, they keeping no stock beforehand, hence they were forbidden to take either of the stones to pledge, because in such a case the family must be without bread. On this account the text terms the mill-stone the man's life.

Verses 8, 9. The plague of leprosy] See on Lev. xiii. and xiv.

Laws against oppression,

A. M. 2553. B. C. 1451. An. Ex. Isr. 40. Sebat.

whom thou dost lend shall bring | nor take the widow's raiment to
out the pledge abroad unto thee. pledge:

12 And if the man be poor, thou shalt not sleep with his pledge :

13 In any case thou shalt deliver him the pledge again when the sun goeth down, that he may sleep in his own raiment, and bless thee and it shall be righteousness unto thee before the LORD thy God.

16 The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers every man shall be put to death for his own sin.

A. M. 2553. B. C. 1451. An. Ex. Isr. 40. Sebat.

18 But thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee thence: therefore I command thee to do this thing.

19 a When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hands.

20 When thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.

21 When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean it afterward : it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.

22 And thou shalt remember that thou wast 17 * Thou shalt not pervert the judg- a bondman in the land of Egypt: therefore I ment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; command thee to do this thing.

PExod, xxii. 26.9 Job xxix. 11, 13; xxxi. 20; 2 Cor. ix. 13; 2 Tim. i. 18.- r Chap. vi. 25; Psa. cvi. 31; cxii. 9; Dan. iv. 27. Mal. iii. 5.- Lev. xix. 13; Jer. xxii. 13; Tob. iv. 14; James v. 4.—" Heb. lifteth his soul unto it; Psa. xxv. 1; lxxxvi. 4.- James v. 4.V 2 Kings xiv. 6; 2 Chron. xxv. 4; Jer. xxxi. 29, 30; Ezek. xviii. 20.

W

Verse 12. And if the man be poor, &c.] Did not this law preclude pledging entirely, especially in case of the abjectly poor? For who would take a pledge in the morning which he knew, if not redeemed, he must restore at night? However, he might resume his claim in the morning, and have the pledge daily returned, and thus keep up his property in it till the debt was discharged; see the note on Exod. xxii. 26. The Jews in several cases did act contrary to this rule, and we find them cuttingly reproved for it by the Prophet Amos, chap. ii. 8.

* Exodus xxii. 21, 22; Prov. xxii. 22; Isa. i. 23; Jer. v. 28; xxii. 3; Ezek. xxii. 29; Zech. vii. 10; Mal. iii. 5.— Exod. xxii. 26.- -2 Verse 22; chap. xvi. 12.- Lev. xix. 9, 10; xxiii. 22. b Chapter xv. 10; Psa. xlj. 1; Proverbs xix. 17. e Heb. thou shalt not bough it after thee. 4 Hebrew, after thee. e Verse 18.

the children, &c.] - This law is explained and illustrated in sufficient detail, Ezek. xviii.

Verse 18. Thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman] Most people who have affluence rose from comparative penury, for those who are born to estates frequently squander them away; such therefore should remember what their feelings, their fears, and anxieties were, when they were poor and abject. A want of attention to this most wholesome precept is the reason why pride and arrogance are the general characteristics of those who have risen in the world from poverty to affluence; and it is the conduct of those men which gave rise to the rugged proverb, "Set a beggar on horseback, and he will ride to the devil.”

Verse 15. He is poor, and setteth his heart upon il] How exceedingly natural is this! The poor servant who seldom sees money, yet finds from his master's affluence that it procures all the conveniences and comforts of life, longs for the time when he shall receive his wages; should his pay be delayed after the time is expired, he may naturally be expected to cry unto God against him who withholds it. See most of these subjects treated at large on Exod. xxii. 21-27. Verse 16. The fathers shall not be put to death for verses of this chapter.

798

This

Verse 19. When thou cuttest down thine harvest] This is an addition to the law, Lev. xix. 9; xxiii. 22. The corners of the field, the gleanings, and the forgotten sheaf, were all the property of the poor. the Hebrews extended to any part of the fruit or produce of a field, which had been forgotten in the time of general ingathering, as appears from the concluding

a

CHAP. XXV.

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. Of false weights and measures, 13-16 Amalek is to be destroyed, 17-19.

IF there be a controversy be- | him to lie down, and to be beaten tween men, and they come before his face, according to his An. Ex. Isr. 40. unto judgment, that the judges fault, by a certain number. may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked. 2 And it shall be, if the wicked