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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"><title>Deuteronomy 22 Pulpit Commentary</title><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'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/deuteronomy/22.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/deuteronomy/22-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">Pulpit Commentary</a> > Deuteronomy 22</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../deuteronomy/21.htm" title="Deuteronomy 21">◄</a> Deuteronomy 22 <a href="../deuteronomy/23.htm" title="Deuteronomy 23">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Pulpit Commentary</div><div class="chap"><div class="versenum"><a href="/deuteronomy/22-1.htm">Deuteronomy 22:1</a></div><div class="verse">Thou shalt not see thy brother's ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 1.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Go astray</span>; wandering at large. The Hebrew verb means primarily to seduce, draw aside, or entice (cf. <a href="/deuteronomy/13-6.htm">Deuteronomy 13:6</a>); and in the passive conveys the idea of wandering through being drawn away by some enticement. <span class="cmt_word">Hide thyself from them</span>; <span class="accented">i</span>.<span class="accented">e</span>. withdraw thyself from them, avoid noticing them or having to do with them. In any case; certainly, without fail. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/deuteronomy/22-2.htm">Deuteronomy 22:2</a></div><div class="verse">And if thy brother <i>be</i> 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.</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/deuteronomy/22-3.htm">Deuteronomy 22:3</a></div><div class="verse">In like manner shalt thou do with his ass; and so shalt thou do with his raiment; and with all lost thing of thy brother's, which he hath lost, and thou hast found, shalt thou do likewise: thou mayest not hide thyself.</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/deuteronomy/22-4.htm">Deuteronomy 22:4</a></div><div class="verse">Thou shalt not see thy brother's ass or his ox fall down by the way, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt surely help him to lift <i>them</i> up again.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 4.</span> - An animal that had fallen was also to be lifted up, and the owner was to be assisted to do this. In Exodus, it is specially declared that both these services are to be rendered, even though the parties are at enmity with each other, and the one is the object of hatred to the other. </div> <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><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 5.</span> - The divinely instituted distinction between the sexes was to be sacredly observed, and, in order to this, the dress and ether things appropriate to the one were not to be used by the other. <span class="cmt_word">That which pertaineth unto a man</span>; literally, <span class="accented">the apparatus</span> (<span class="hebrew">כְּלִי</span>) <span class="accented">of a man</span>, including, not dress merely, but implements, tools, weapons, and utensils. This is an ethical regulation in the interests of morality. There is no reference, as some have supposed, to the wearing of masks for the purpose of disguise, or to the practice of the priests at heathen festivals of wearing masks of their gods. Whatever tends to obliterate the distinction between the sexes tends to licentiousness; and that the one sex should assume the dress of the other has always been regarded as unnatural and indecent (comp. Seneca, 'Epist.,' 122, "Nonne videntur contra naturam vivere qui commutant cum feminis vestem;" and Juvenal, 'Sat.,' 6:252 - <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="accented">"Quem praestare potest muller galeata pudorem<br />Quae fugit a sexu?"</span>) Such a change of vesture is here declared to be an abomination to the Lord, because of its tendency to immorality. </div> <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><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 6, 7.</span> - (Cf. <a href="/leviticus/22-28.htm">Leviticus 22:28</a>; <a href="/exodus/23-19.htm">Exodus 23:19</a>.) These precepts are designed to foster humane feeling towards the lower animals, and not less to preserve regard to that affectionate relation between parents and their young which God has established as a law in the animal world. <span class="cmt_word">That thou mayest prolong thy days</span> (cf. <a href="/deuteronomy/5-16.htm">Deuteronomy 5:16</a>; <a href="/exodus/20-12.htm">Exodus 20:12</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/deuteronomy/22-7.htm">Deuteronomy 22:7</a></div><div class="verse"><i>But</i> thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, and take the young to thee; that it may be well with thee, and <i>that</i> thou mayest prolong <i>thy</i> days.</div><div class="comm"></div> <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><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 8.</span> - Still less was human life to be exposed to danger through neglect of proper precautions. The houses in Palestine, as in other parts of the East, had flat roofs, and, as these were much frequented by the inhabitants for various purposes (cf. <a href="/joshua/2-6.htm">Joshua 2:6</a>; <a href="/2_samuel/11-2.htm">2 Samuel 11:2</a>; <a href="/2_samuel/18-24.htm">2 Samuel 18:24</a>; <a href="/nehemiah/8-16.htm">Nehemiah 8:16</a>; <a href="/matthew/10-27.htm">Matthew 10:27</a>; <a href="/acts/10-9.htm">Acts 10:9</a>), it was necessary that a battlement or balustrade should surround the roof, in order to prevent persons falling over. Hence the direction here given. </div> <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><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 9-11.</span> - (Cf. <a href="/leviticus/19-19.htm">Leviticus 19:19</a>.) God has made distinctions in nature, and these are not to be confounded by the mixing of things distinct. The ox and the ass were chiefly used in husbandry; but, as they were of different size and strength, it was not only fitting that they should not be yoked to the same plough, but it might be cruel so to yoke them. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/deuteronomy/22-10.htm">Deuteronomy 22:10</a></div><div class="verse">Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together.</div><div class="comm"></div> <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><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 11.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">A garment of diverse sorts</span>; <span class="accented">sha'atnez</span>, a kind of cloth in which threads of linen and threads of woollen were interwoven. The meaning of the word is uncertain. The LXX. render by <span class="greek">κίβδηλος</span>, "spurious, bad;" Aquila, by <span class="greek">ἀντιδιακείμενον</span>, "variously disposed, diverse." No Semitic <span class="accented">etymology</span> can be found for the word, and as the Hebrews derived the textile art from Egypt, the home of that art, the word is probably of Egyptian origin. </div> <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><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 12.</span> - (Cf. <a href="/numbers/15-38.htm">Numbers 15:38</a>.) <span class="cmt_word">Fringes</span>; properly, <span class="accented">tassels</span>. The tunic of the Hebrews appears to have been divided at the bottom in front, and back, so that four corners or wings (<span class="hebrew">כַּנְפות</span>) were made, to each of which a tassel was appended (Greek, <span class="greek">κράσπεδον</span>, <a href="/matthew/9-20.htm">Matthew 9:20</a>; <a href="/matthew/23-5.htm">Matthew 23:5</a>, etc.). </div> <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><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 13-29.</span> - The laws in this section have the design of fostering purity and fidelity in the relation of the sexes, and also of protecting the female against the malice of sated lust and the violence of brutal lust. (For the case supposed in ver. 13, cf. <a href="/2_samuel/13-15.htm">2 Samuel 13:15</a>. On the whole section see Michaelis, 'Laws of Moses,' pt. 2. § 92; Niebuhr, 'Description de l'Arabie,' <a href="/deuteronomy/8.htm">Deuteronomy 8</a>; Burckhardt, 'Bedwins,' p. 214.) </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/deuteronomy/22-14.htm">Deuteronomy 22:14</a></div><div class="verse">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:</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/deuteronomy/22-15.htm">Deuteronomy 22:15</a></div><div class="verse">Then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth <i>the tokens of</i> the damsel's virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate:</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/deuteronomy/22-16.htm">Deuteronomy 22:16</a></div><div class="verse">And the damsel's father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her;</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/deuteronomy/22-17.htm">Deuteronomy 22:17</a></div><div class="verse">And, lo, he hath given occasions of speech <i>against her</i>, saying, I found not thy daughter a maid; and yet these <i>are the tokens of</i> my daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city.</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/deuteronomy/22-18.htm">Deuteronomy 22:18</a></div><div class="verse">And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him;</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/deuteronomy/22-19.htm">Deuteronomy 22:19</a></div><div class="verse">And they shall amerce him in an hundred <i>shekels</i> of silver, and give <i>them</i> 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 days.</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/deuteronomy/22-20.htm">Deuteronomy 22:20</a></div><div class="verse">But if this thing be true, <i>and the tokens of</i> virginity be not found for the damsel:</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/deuteronomy/22-21.htm">Deuteronomy 22:21</a></div><div class="verse">Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's 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 father's house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you.</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/deuteronomy/22-22.htm">Deuteronomy 22:22</a></div><div class="verse">If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, <i>both</i> the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 22-29.</span> - Four cases are here distinguished. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="Text_Heading">1.</span> That of a married woman who has been unfaithful; in this case both the woman and her paramour are, when detected, to be put to death (ver. 22). <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="Text_Heading">2.</span> That of a virgin <span class="accented">betrothed</span> who is assailed in a town, where she might have cried for protection, but did not; in this case also both were to be punished with death as adulterers (vers. 23, 24). <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="Text_Heading">3.</span> That of a virgin betrothed who has been forcibly violated in the field, where, if she cried for help, her cry was in vain; in this case only the man should be liable to be put to death, whilst the woman was to be held innocent (vers. 25-27). <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="Text_Heading">4.</span> That of a virgin not betrothed with whom a man has had carnal intercourse; in this case the man should be required to pay a fine of fifty shekels of silver to the damsel's father, and to take her to be his wife, from whom he could not be separated during life (vers. 28, 29). </div> <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><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/deuteronomy/22-24.htm">Deuteronomy 22:24</a></div><div class="verse">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, <i>being</i> in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour's wife: so thou shalt put away evil from among you.</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/deuteronomy/22-25.htm">Deuteronomy 22:25</a></div><div class="verse">But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her: then the man only that lay with her shall die:</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/deuteronomy/22-26.htm">Deuteronomy 22:26</a></div><div class="verse">But unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; <i>there is</i> in the damsel no sin <i>worthy</i> of death: for as when a man riseth against his neighbour, and slayeth him, even so <i>is</i> this matter:</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/deuteronomy/22-27.htm">Deuteronomy 22:27</a></div><div class="verse">For he found her in the field, <i>and</i> the betrothed damsel cried, and <i>there was</i> none to save her.</div><div class="comm"></div> <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><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/deuteronomy/22-29.htm">Deuteronomy 22:29</a></div><div class="verse">Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty <i>shekels</i> of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days.</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/deuteronomy/22-30.htm">Deuteronomy 22:30</a></div><div class="verse">A man shall not take his father's wife, nor discover his father's skirt.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 30.</span> - To these is appended a general prohibition of incestuous connections, the first provision in the earlier law being cited as a sort of index to the whole (<a href="/leviticus/18-7.htm">Leviticus 18:7</a>, etc.). <span class="p"><br /><br /></span> <span class="p"><br /><br /></span> </div></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">The Pulpit Commentary, Electronic Database. 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