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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Deuteronomy 22 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/deuteronomy/22.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; 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It is not simply straying. “I will seek that which was lost and bring again that which <span class= "ital">was driven away</span>” (<a href="/ezekiel/34-16.htm" title="I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment.">Ezekiel 34:16</a>), and so in many other passages.<p><span class= "bld">Thou shalt not . . . hide thyself from them.</span>—Comp. <a href="/proverbs/24-12.htm" title="If you say, Behold, we knew it not; does not he that ponders the heart consider it? and he that keeps your soul, does not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?">Proverbs 24:12</a>. “If thou sayest, Behold we knew it not . . . doth not He know it?” And <a href="/isaiah/58-7.htm" title="Is it not to deal your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor that are cast out to your house? when you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you hide not yourself from your own flesh?">Isaiah 58:7</a>, “that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh.”<p>(3) <span class= "bld">In</span> <span class= "bld">like manner . . . with all lost thing of thy brother’s.</span>—This is only a particular case of the second great commandment. “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”<p>(4) <span class= "bld">Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ass or his ox fall down . . . and hide thyself.</span>—In <a href="/context/exodus/23-4.htm" title="If you meet your enemy's ox or his ass going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again.">Exodus 23:4-5</a>, this is put even more strongly. “If thou meet thine <span class= "ital">enemy’s </span>ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again. If thou see the ass of him <span class= "ital">that hateth thee </span>lying under his burden . . . thou shalt surely help with him.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/deuteronomy/22-5.htm">Deuteronomy 22:5</a></div><div class="verse">The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so <i>are</i> abomination unto the LORD thy God.</div>(5) <span class= "bld">The woman shall not wear . . .</span>—One of the things of which we may well say with St. Paul, “Doth not nature itself teach you?”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/deuteronomy/22-6.htm">Deuteronomy 22:6</a></div><div class="verse">If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, <i>whether they be</i> young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young:</div>(6) <span class= "bld">If a bird’s nest.</span>—On this precept there is a remarkable comment in the Talmud (<span class= "ital">Kiddushin, </span>p. 39, <span class= "ital">b</span>)<span class= "ital">. </span>“Rabbi Akiba says, You will not find a single duty prescribed in the Law with a promise of reward attached to it, which has not also the resurrection of the dead hanging thereby. In the command to honour thy father and mother, it is written (Deuteronomy 5) ‘that thy days may be prolonged and that it may go well with thee.’ In the liberty of the nest it is written (here), ‘that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days.’ Suppose a man’s father says to him, Climb up the tower and bring me the young birds. He ascends the tower, lets the dam go, and takes the young. But on his way back, he falls and is killed. Where is the ‘going well ‘in his case, and where is the prolonging of his days? Aye, but that it may go well with thee <span class= "ital">in the world where all goes well, </span>and that thy days may be prolonged in that <span class= "ital">world where all is abiding</span>.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/deuteronomy/22-8.htm">Deuteronomy 22:8</a></div><div class="verse">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.</div>(8) <span class= "bld">When thou buildest a new house.</span>—Obviously the Law refers to houses with flat roofs, upon which it was customary to walk (<a href="/context/1_samuel/9-25.htm" title="And when they were come down from the high place into the city, Samuel communed with Saul on the top of the house.">1Samuel 9:25-26</a>; <a href="/2_samuel/11-2.htm" title="And it came to pass in an evening, that David arose from off his bed, and walked on the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look on.">2Samuel 11:2</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/deuteronomy/22-9.htm">Deuteronomy 22:9</a></div><div class="verse">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.</div>(9-11) These precepts appear also in <a href="/leviticus/19-19.htm" title="You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle engender with a diverse kind: you shall not sow your field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woolen come on you.">Leviticus 19:19</a>, more briefly.<p>(9) <span class= "bld">Defiled</span>—or <span class= "ital">sanctified. </span>Different crops become “common” at different times. The year’s corn was freed by the wave-sheaf and wave-loaves. The trees not for five years. The rule about the ox and the ass may rest partly on the ground of humanity, the step and the pull of the two creatures being so very unlike. St. Paul gives a spiritual sense to the precept in <a href="/2_corinthians/6-14.htm" title="Be you not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion has light with darkness?">2Corinthians 6:14</a>. “Be not <span class= "ital">unequally yoked </span>together with unbelievers.” The ox was a clean animal and fit for sacrifice. The ass was unclean, and must be redeemed with a lamb. The clean and unclean must not till the holy land of Jehovah together.<p>All these precepts are part of the laws of holiness in Leviticus—rules of behaviour arising from the fact that Israel is the special people of a holy God.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/deuteronomy/22-11.htm">Deuteronomy 22:11</a></div><div class="verse">Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts, <i>as</i> of woollen and linen together.</div>(11) <span class= "bld">A garment . . . of woollen and linen together.</span>—In <a href="/context/ezekiel/44-17.htm" title="And it shall come to pass, that when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come on them, whiles they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within.">Ezekiel 44:17-18</a>, the priests are altogether forbidden the use of woollen garments during their ministry. “The <span class= "ital">fine linen </span>is the righteousness of saints” (<a href="/revelation/19-8.htm" title="And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.">Revelation 19:8</a>), literally, <span class= "ital">their requirements. </span>That is what they need. But it is said of the priests in Ezekiel, “They shall not gird themselves with anything that causeth sweat: <span class= "ital">That which cometh out of the man defileth him.” </span>Again, in God’s dwelling-place, the interior or <span class= "ital">mishkân, </span>the tabernacle where He abode, was of fine linen. The outer tent and coverings were of hair and skin and wool. The tabernacle where He dwells, and the <span class= "ital">earthly house </span>of the tabernacle, must be kept distinct, while His tabernacle “remaineth among us in the midst of our uncleanness.” (See <a href="/leviticus/16-16.htm" title="And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remains among them in the middle of their uncleanness.">Leviticus 16:16</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/deuteronomy/22-12.htm">Deuteronomy 22:12</a></div><div class="verse">Thou shalt make thee fringes upon the four quarters of thy vesture, wherewith thou coverest <i>thyself</i>.</div>(12) <span class= "bld">Thou shalt make thee fringes.</span>—See <a href="/context/numbers/16-32.htm" title="And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained to Korah, and all their goods.">Numbers 16:32-41</a> for the origin of this requirement. We may call this fringe (or <span class= "greekheb">κράςπεδον</span><span class= "ital">, </span>Greek) on the four sides of the square shawl or mantle, a mourning for the <span class= "ital">one man who was executed for sabbath breaking in the wilderness, </span>as well as a reminder to Israel to do all the commandments and be holy unto their God. Of this <span class= "greekheb">κράςπεδον</span><span class= "ital">, </span>when worn by our Lord on earth, the sick laid hold and were healed. His obedience and His suffering for the transgressions of God’s people are perfect and without flaw.<p>The <span class= "ital">principle </span>of these precepts is evident. Even the dress of God’s people must be distinctive. And whether they eat or drink, or <span class= "ital">whatsoever </span>they do, they must do all to the glory of God. These laws have a symbolical and a sanitary side; being made for the physical well-being as well as for the spiritual teaching of God’s people.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/deuteronomy/22-13.htm">Deuteronomy 22:13</a></div><div class="verse">If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her,</div><a href="/context/deuteronomy/22-13.htm" title="If any man take a wife, and go in to her, and hate her,">Deuteronomy 22:13-30</a>. <span class= "bld">LAWS OF CONJUGAL FIDELITY.</span><p>(13-21) <span class= "bld">Virginity.</span>—The law in these verses will be best appreciated by considering its <span class= "ital">effects. </span>The maidens in Israel would be compelled to guard their maidenliness and innocence, as they valued their lives. Jealousy and caprice on the part of the husbands, in view of this law, would be avoided as likely to incur discredit and serious penalties. A fine of 100 shekels (as in <a href="/deuteronomy/22-19.htm" title="And they shall amerce him in an hundred shekels of silver, and give them to the father of the damsel, because he has brought up an evil name on a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days.">Deuteronomy 22:19</a>), or 50 (as in <a href="/deuteronomy/22-29.htm" title="Then the man that lay with her shall give to the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he has humbled her, he may not put her away all his days.">Deuteronomy 22:29</a>), was no light matter for a nation who found a quarter shekel sufficient for a present to a great man (<a href="/1_samuel/9-8.htm" title="And the servant answered Saul again, and said, Behold, I have here at hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver: that will I give to the man of God, to tell us our way.">1Samuel 9:8</a>), and half a shekel too much for a poll-tax on the men of military age (<a href="/1_chronicles/21-3.htm" title="And Joab answered, The LORD make his people an hundred times so many more as they be: but, my lord the king, are they not all my lord's servants? why then does my lord require this thing? why will he be a cause of trespass to Israel?">1Chronicles 21:3</a>, and <a href="/exodus/30-15.htm" title="The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering to the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls.">Exodus 30:15</a>; <a href="/nehemiah/10-32.htm" title="Also we made ordinances for us, to charge ourselves yearly with the third part of a shekel for the service of the house of our God;">Nehemiah 10:32</a>). The law of the jealousy offering in <a href="/context/numbers/5-12.htm" title="Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, If any man's wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him,">Numbers 5:12-31</a>, must also be taken into consideration, as guarding the fidelity of the wife. It would be most unadvisable for either man or woman so to act as to bring themselves under the penalties here described. The tendency of these laws would be to make all men watchful and careful for the honour of their families.<p>(21) <span class= "bld">She hath wrought folly in Israel.</span>—This expression should be noticed. It appears for the first time in <a href="/genesis/34-7.htm" title="And the sons of Jacob came out of the field when they heard it: and the men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had worked folly in Israel in lying with Jacob's daughter: which thing ought not to be done.">Genesis 34:7</a>, very shortly after the bestowal of the name <span class= "ital">Israel </span>(Genesis 32). It would almost appear that the name entailed a higher standard of behaviour upon Jacob’s family, after the hand of the Holy One had been laid upon their father. A separate code of rules were binding upon the chosen people from the very beginning of their history. Hardly any point is made of more importance, from the birth of Isaac downwards, than the purity of the chosen seed.<p>(22) <span class= "bld">Adultery.</span>—See <a href="/leviticus/20-10.htm" title="And the man that commits adultery with another man's wife, even he that commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.">Leviticus 20:10</a>. “<span class= "ital">Moses </span>in the Law commanded us that such should be stoned.” It was not disputed by our Saviour (<a href="/john/8-5.htm" title="Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what say you?">John 8:5</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/deuteronomy/22-23.htm">Deuteronomy 22:23</a></div><div class="verse">If a damsel <i>that is</i> a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her;</div><a href="/context/deuteronomy/22-23.htm" title="If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed to an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her;">Deuteronomy 22:23-27</a>. <span class= "bld">PURITY OF THE BETROTHED.</span><p>(24) <span class= "bld">His neighbour’s wife.</span>—It is evident from the language of this precept that a betrothed virgin in Israel is regarded as <span class= "ital">a wife. </span>The man who humbles her “hath humbled <span class= "ital">his neighbour’s wife.” </span>This illustrates the language of Matthew 1 Joseph, when Mary was found with child, sought to <span class= "ital">put her away </span>(as though she were already his wife). The angel said to him, “Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary <span class= "ital">thy wife.” </span>He “took unto him <span class= "ital">his wife.” </span>From the construction of this law it follows that <span class= "ital">Jesus </span>was the <span class= "ital">son of Joseph, </span>according to the Scripture. The Evangelists do not seem to think it worth while to prove that He was the son of David <span class= "ital">except through his father </span>(<span class= "ital">in law</span>)<span class= "ital">.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/deuteronomy/22-28.htm">Deuteronomy 22:28</a></div><div class="verse">If a man find a damsel <i>that is</i> a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found;</div><a href="/context/deuteronomy/22-28.htm" title="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;">Deuteronomy 22:28-29</a>.—<span class= "bld">SEDUCTION.</span><p>See <a href="/context/exodus/22-16.htm" title="And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife.">Exodus 22:16-17</a>. The sin of seduction before marriage is punished by a heavy fine. We have recently amended our own laws in the direction of this very precept. But the fact that marriage was made compulsory in these cases makes the Law stricter still. It seems, however, from <a href="/exodus/22-17.htm" title="If her father utterly refuse to give her to him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins.">Exodus 22:17</a>, that the <span class= "ital">girl’s father </span>might forbid the marriage, though the seducer could not escape from it in any other way.<p>(30) See <a href="/leviticus/18-7.htm" title="The nakedness of your father, or the nakedness of your mother, shall you not uncover: she is your mother; you shall not uncover her nakedness.">Leviticus 18:7</a>. 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