Matthew Poole and continuators on Deuteronomy 22

1 THou shalt not see thy brothers ox, or his sheep go astray, and hide thy self from them : thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother.

So called by communion not of Religion, but of nature, as having one Father, even God, Mal: 2. 10. as appears 1. Because the same Law is given about their Enemies ox, &c. Exod. 23. 4. 2. Because else the obligation of this law had been uncertain, seeing men could not ordinarily tell whether the straying Ox or Sheep belonged to a Iew or to a stranger. 3. Because this was a duty of common justice and charity, which the Law of Nature taught even Heathens, and it is absurd to think that the Law of God delivered to the Iews should have less charity in it than the law of nature given to the Gentiles.

(i. e.) Dissemble or pretend that thou dost not see them, or neglect and pass them by as if thou hadst not seen them.

Marginal references: Exod. 23. 4.

2 And if thy brother be not nigh unto thee , or if thou know him not , then thou shalt bring it unto thine own house , and it shall be with thee until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it to him again .

Which may make the duty more troublesome or chargeable.

Which implies, that if they did know the owner, they should restore it to him.

To be used like thine own Cattel.

The owner, as it may be presumed, paying the charges.

3 In like manner shalt thou do with his ass, and so shalt thou do with his raiment, and with all lost things of thy brothers, which he hath lost, and thou hast found, shalt thou do likewise; thou mayest not hide thy self .

(i. e.) Dissemble that thou hast found it. Or, hide it, i. e. conceal the thing lost.

4 Thou shalt not see thy brothers ass, or his ox fall down by the way, and hide thy self from them: thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again.

(i. e.) Thy Brother, the owner. Compare Exod. 23. 5.

5 The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a womans garment : for all that do so, are abomination unto the LORD thy God.

To wit, ordinarily or unnecessarily, for in some cases this may be lawful, as to make an escape for ones life. Now this is forbidden, partly for decency sake, that men might not confound, nor seem to confound those [illegible: 1 word] which God hath distinguished, that all appearance of evil might be avoided, such change of garments carrying a manifest umbrage or sign of softness and effeminacy in the man, of arrogance and impudency in the woman, of lightness and petulancy in both; and partly to cut off all suspicions and occasions of evil, which this practice opens a wide door unto.

7 But thou shalt in any wise let the dam go , and take the young to thee, that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy dayes.

Partly for the Birds sake, which suffered enough by the loss of its young; for God would not have cruelty exercised towards the brute Creatures: and partly for mens sake to restrain their greediness and covetousness that they should not monopolize all to themselves, but might leave the hopes of a future seed for others.

8 When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any man fall from thence.

(i. e.) A fence or breastwork, because the roofs of their houses were made flat or plain, that men might walk on them See Iudg. 16. 27. 1 Sam. 9. 25. 2 Sam. 11. 2. Neh. 8. 16. Mat. 10. 27.

(i. e.) The guilt of blood, by a mans fall from the top of thy house, through thy neglect of this necessary provision.

9 Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds : lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard be defiled .

Either 1. With divers kinds of seeds mixed and sowed together between the rows of Vines in thy Vineyard: which was forbidden to be done in the Field, Levit. 19. 19. and here, in the Vineyard. Or 2. With any kind of seed differing from that of the Vine, which would produce either Herbs, or Corn, or Fruit-bearing-Trees, whose Fruit might be mingled with the Fruit of the Vines. Now this and the two following precepts, though in themselves small and trivial, are given, according to that time and state of the Church, for documents or instructions in greater matters, and particularly to commend to them simplicity and sincerity in all their carriages towards God and Men, and to forbid all mixture of their Inventions with Gods Institutions in Doctrine or Worship.

Heb. The fulness of thy seed, i. e. that seed when it is ripe and full. See Exod. 22. 29. Numb. 18. 27.

Either 1 Naturally, corrupted or marred, whilest one seed draws away the fat and nourishment of the Earth from the other, and so both are starved and spoiled. Or rather 2. Legally and Morally, as being prohibited by Gods Law, and thereby made unclean; as on the contrary, things are sanctifyed by Gods word, allowing and approving them, 1 Tim. 4. 5. Heb. be sanctified, or, be as a sanctified thing, by an Ellipsis of the particle, as, i. e. unlawful for the owners use, as things sanctified were. Or, sanctifying is put for polluting, by a figure called Euphemismus, which is frequent in Scripture, as when blessing is put for [illegible: 1+ letters]rsing, as Iob 2. 9. and in other Authors, as when they use sacred for execrable.

Marginal references: Lev. [illegible: 1 word] ▪; He[illegible: 1+ letters] [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] ▪

10 Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together .

Either 1. Because the one was a clean beast, the other unclean; whereby God would teach men to avoid polluting themselves by the touch of unclean persons or things, 2 Cor. 6. 14. Or, 2. Because of their unequal strength, whereby the weaker, the ass, would be oppressed and over-wrought. Or 3. For mystical reasons, of which see on v. 8. and Levit. 19. 19.

12 Thou shalt make thee fringes upon the four quarters of thy vesture, wherewith thou coverest thy self .

Or Laces, or Strings, partly to bring the commands of God to their remembrance, as it is expressed▪ Numb. 15. 38. and partly as a publick profession of their Nation and Religion, whereby they might be discerned and distinguished from strangers, that so they might be more circumspect to behave themselves as became the people of God, and that they should not be ashamed to own their God and Religion before all the World.

These words are either restrictive to the upper Garment wherewith the rest were covered; or argumentative, why they should use these things, because herewith they might possibly fasten their Garments, and prevent the uncovering themselves, as might easily happen, when they wore no breeches, but onely loose Garments.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]; H[illegible: 1+ letters] [illegible: 1 word]

13 If any man take a wife, and go in unto her , and hate her,

(i. e.) Hath had carnal knowledge of her.

14 And give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid;

Heb. of words, i. e. of discourses or diffamations.

15 Then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsels virginity , unto the elders of the city, in the gate.

(i. e.) The linnen cloth or sheet, as is expressed v. 17. which in the first congress was infected with blood, as is natural and usual. But because this is not now constant, the enemies of Scripture take occasion to quarrel with this Law, as unreasonable and unjust, and such as might oppress the innocent, and hence take occasion to reject the Holy Scriptures. It were much more reasonable for these men either to expound this place metaphorically of producing those proofs and testimonies of her virginity which should be as satisfactory as if that cloth were produced, as some of the Iews understand it, or modestly to acknowledge their own Ignorance in this, as they are forced to do in many other things, and not impudently to conclude it is insoluble, because they cannot resolve it. But there is no need of such general answers, many things may be particularly said for the vindication of this [illegible: 1+ letters]w. 1. That it was necessary for that people, because of their hard-heartedness towards their Wives, and their levity and desire of change of Wives. 2. That either this tryal, or at least the proof of her Virginity, was to be taken presently after the day of marriage, and that proof was to be admitted afterwards upon occasion. 3. That this Law was seldom or never put in execution, as the Iews note, and seems to be made for terrour and caution to Husbands and Wives, as many other Laws have been in like cases, 4. That that God who gave this Law, did by his Providence govern all Affairs, and rule the Tongues and Hearts of Men, and therefore would doubtless take care so to order matters that the innocent should not suffer by this means, which he could prevent many wayes. 5. That there is a great difference in times and climates. Who knows not that there are many things now by our Moderns thought uncertain or false, which by the Antient Physitians were thought and affirmed to be true and certain in their times and Countreys, and that many signs of Diseases and other things do generally hold true in those more Southernly and warmer parts of the World which are many times deceitful in our Northern and colder Climates? 6. That this very way of tryal of Virginity hath been used not onely by the Iews, but also by the Arabians and Egyptians, as is affirmed by divers Learned Writers, among whom yet it was more doubtful and hazardous than among the Iews, who might promise to themselves that God would guide the execution of his own Law to a just and good issue. 7. That this sign if it were uncertain in persons of riper years, yet it may be reasonably thought certain and constant in Virgins of young and tender age, and that the Jews did ordinarily marry their Daughters when they were about 12 or 13 years old, as is confessed, as making haste to roll away that reproach which they thought to be in an unmarried state.

18 And the elders of that city shall take that man, and chastise him .

Either 1. By the following mu[illegible: 1+ letters]ct. Or, 2. By severe reproofs, which that word oft signifies. Or, 3. By stripes, as is expressed, Deut. 25. 2, 3. Which is not strange, considering how pretious a thing ones good Name is, of which he endeavoured to deprive his Wife.

19 And they shall amerce him in an hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife, he may not put her away all his dayes .

Because this was a reproach to his family, and to himself, because such a miscarriage of his Daughters would have been ascribed to his evil education.

Which seems to have been his design in this false accusation, and therefore that liberty of a divorce which is permitted to others, Deut. 24. 1. shall be denied to him.

21 Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her fathers house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones, that she die , because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her fathers house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you.

Qu. Why should she die when her crime was onely Fornication, which was not punished in a woman with death, Exod. 22. 16, 17? Answ. Because there was not onely Fornication in this case, as Exod. 22▪ but this was accompanyed with deep dissimulation and injury to her Husband in the false profession of Virginity, and it might be presumed that she committed this folly after she was betrothed to him, and therefore so obstinately denyed it, as knowing the danger of it in that case; Or God ordered it thus for the honour and custody of the matrimonial bed from all defilement, that she, who being defiled before she was married or betrothed, and therefore not punishable by death, yet if she should presume to carry her defilement into the married estate with a pretence of Virginity, she should then be put to death.

Marginal references: Chap. 13. 5.

22 If a man be found lying with a woman marryed to an husband, then they shall both of them die: both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel.

If he be convicted of this fault, though not taken in the very act.

Marginal references: Lev. 20. 10.

23 If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband , and a man find her in the city, and lie with her:

For by this betrothing she had actually engaged her self to another man, and was in some sort his Wife, and therefore is sometimes so called, as Gen. 29. 21. Mat. 1. 20.

24 Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones, that they die: the damsel because she cried not , being in the city: and the man because he hath humbled his neighbors wife: so thou shalt put away evil from among you.

And therefore is justly presumed to have consented to it.

25 But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her , and lie with her: then the man onely that lay with her shall die.

Which was to be examined and determined by the consideration of all the circumstances.

Marginal references: Or, take strong [illegible: 1+ letters]old of he[illegible: 1+ letters].

26 But unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing, there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death: for as when a man riseth against his neighbour and slayeth him, even so is this matter .

Not an act of choice, but of force and constraint.

27 For he found her in the field, and the betrothed damsel cried , and there was none to save her.

Which is in that case to be presumed, charity obliging us to believe the best till the contrary be manifest.

28 If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her , and lie with her, and they be found:

(i. e.) An unmarried man, as appears, 1. From his obligation to marry the person he abused, which it is not probable would have been imposed upon him. 2. Because if the man had been married, this had been adultery, and so had been punished with death.

Which notes some kind of force or artifice whereby she was overpowred, whereas Exod. 22. 16. she was enticed, which implies consent, and therefore the man doth here receive a greater punishment, because he used hostile violence towards her, which was the greater sin.

Marginal references: Exod. 22. 16.

29 Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsels father fifty shekels of silver , and she shall be his wife , because he hath humbled her: he may not put her away all his dayes .

Besides the dowry, as Philo the Learned Iew notes, which is here omitted, because that was common and customary, and because it might easily be gathered out of Exod. 22. 16. it being sufficient here to mention what was peculiar to this case.

To wit, if her Father consent to it, which is to be supposed out of Exod. 22. 16. it being not likely that the Father should lose his paternal right of disposing his Child when she was in some sort forced, rather than when she was inticed.

Which others were suffered to do, Deut. 24. 1. and he who inticed the maid, Exod. 22. 16. was not prohibited to do.

30 A man shall not take his fathers wife , nor discover his fathers skirt .

To Wife. So this respects the state, and the next branch speaks of the act onely.

His Mother in law. See Levit. 18. 8. and 20. 11. 1 Cor. 5. 1.

(i. e.) The skirt of the Mothers Garment, i. e. the nakedness, which is here called his fathers skirt, because his Father and Mother were one flesh, or because his Father alone had the right to uncover it. The phrase is taken from the ancient custome or ceremonie of the Bridegrooms spreading the skirt of his Garment over the bride, to signifie his right to her, and authority over her, and his obligation to the marriage duty. See Ruth. 3. 9. Ezek. 16. 8.

Marginal references: Lev. 18. 8.