Bible Commentaries
Deuteronomy 22

Verse 1

CHAPTER XXII

Ordinances relative to strayed cattle and lost goods, 1-3.

Humanity to oppressed cattle, 4.

Men and women shall not wear each other's apparel, 5.

No bird shall be taken with her nest of eggs or young ones,

6, 7.

Battlements must be made on the roofs of houses, 8.

Improper mixtures to be avoided, 9-11.

Fringes on the garments, 12.

Case of the hated wife, and the tokens of virginity, and the

proceedings thereon, 13-21.

The adulterer and adulteress to be put to death, 22.

Case of the betrothed damsel corrupted in the city, 23, 24.

Cases of rape and the punishment, 25-27;

of fornication, 28, 29.

No man shall take his father's wife, 30.

NOTES ON CHAP. XXII

Verse Deuteronomy 22:1. Thou shalt not see thy brother's ox or his sheep go astray — The same humane, merciful, and wise regulations which we met with before, Exodus 23:4-5, well calculated to keep in remembrance the second grand branch of the law of God, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. A humane man cannot bear to see even an ass fall under his burden, and not endeavour to relieve him; and a man who loves his neighbour as himself cannot see his property in danger without endeavouring to preserve it. These comparatively small matters were tests and proofs of matters great in themselves, and in their consequences. Exodus 23:4.

Verse 3

Verse Deuteronomy 22:3. Thou mayest not hide thyself. — Thou shalt not keep out of the way of affording help, nor pretend thou didst not see occasion to render thy neighbour any service. The priest and the Levite, when they saw the wounded man, passed by on the other side of the way, Luke 10:31-32. This was a notorious breach of the merciful law mentioned above.

Verse 5

Verse Deuteronomy 22:5. The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man — כלי גבר keli geber, the instruments or arms of a man. As the word גבר geber is here used, which properly signifies a strong man or man of war, it is very probable that armour is here intended; especially as we know that in the worship of Venus, to which that of Astarte or Ashtaroth among the Canaanites bore a striking resemblance, the women were accustomed to appear in armour before her. It certainly cannot mean a simple change in dress, whereby the men might pass for women, and vice versa. This would have been impossible in those countries where the dress of the sexes had but little to distinguish it, and where every man wore a long beard. It is, however, a very good general precept understood literally, and applies particularly to those countries where the dress alone distinguishes between the male and the female. The close-shaved gentleman may at any time appear like a woman in the female dress, and the woman appear as a man in the male's attire. Were this to be tolerated in society, it would produce the greatest confusion. Clodius, who dressed himself like a woman that he might mingle with the Roman ladies in the feast of the Bona Dea, was universally execrated.

Verse 7

Verse Deuteronomy 22:7. Thou shalt - let the dam go, and take the young to thee; that it may be well with thee — This passage may be understood literally. If they destroyed both young and old, must not the breed soon fail, and would it not in the end be ill with them; and by thus cutting off the means of their continual support, must not their days be shortened on the land? But we may look for a humane precept in this law. The young never knew the sweets of liberty; the dam did: they might be taken and used for any lawful purpose, but the dam must not be brought into a state of captivity. They who can act otherwise must be either very inconsiderate or devoid of feeling; and such persons can never be objects of God's peculiar care and attention, and therefore need not expect that it shall be well with them, or that they shall prolong their days on the earth. Every thing contrary to the spirit of mercy and kindness the ever blessed God has in utter abhorrence. And we should remember a fact, that he who can exercise cruelty towards a sparrow or a wren, will, when circumstances are favourable, be cruel to his fellow creatures. The poet Phocylides has a maxim in his admonitory poem very similar to that in the sacred text: -

Μηδε τις ορυιθας καλιης ἁμα παντας ἑλεσθω·

Μητερα δ' εκπρολιπῃς, ἱν' εχῃς παλι τησδε νεοττους.

PHOCYL. Ποιημα Νουθετ., ver. 80.

"Nor from a nest take all the birds away;

The mother spare, she'll breed a future day."

Verse 8

Verse Deuteronomy 22:8. A battlement for thy roof — Houses in the East are in general built with flat roofs, and on them men walk to enjoy the fresh air, converse together, sleep, c. it was therefore necessary to have a sort of battlement or balustrade to prevent persons from falling off. If a man neglected to make a sufficient defence against such accidents, and the death of another was occasioned by it, the owner of the house must be considered in the light of a murderer.

Verse 9

Verse Deuteronomy 22:9. Divers seeds — Leviticus 19:19; Leviticus 19:19.

Verse 10

Verse Deuteronomy 22:10. Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass — It is generally supposed that mixtures of different sorts in seed, breed, c., were employed for superstitious purposes, and therefore prohibited in this law. It is more likely, however, that there was a physical reason for this two beasts of a different species cannot associate comfortably together, and on this ground never pull pleasantly either in cart or plough; and every farmer knows that it is of considerable consequence to the comfort of the cattle to put those together that have an affection for each other. This may be very frequently remarked in certain cattle, which, on this account, are termed true yoke-fellows. After all, it is very probable that the general design was to prevent improper alliances in civil and religious life. And to this St. Paul seems evidently to refer, 2 Corinthians 6:14: Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers; which is simply to be understood as prohibiting all intercourse between Christians and idolaters in social, matrimonial, and religious life. And to teach the Jews the propriety of this, a variety of precepts relative to improper and heterogeneous mixtures were interspersed through their law, so that in civil and domestic life they might have them ever before their eyes.

Verse 12

Verse Deuteronomy 22:12. Fringes — Numbers 15:38; Numbers 15:38.

Verse 15

Verse Deuteronomy 22:15. Tokens of the damsel's virginity — This was a perfectly possible case in all places where girls were married at ten, twelve, and fourteen years of age, which is frequent in the East. I have known several instances of persons having had two or three children at separate births before they were fourteen years of age. Such tokens, therefore, as the text speaks of, must be infallibly exhibited by females so very young on the consummation of their marriage.

Verse 17

Verse Deuteronomy 22:17. They shall spread the cloth, c. — A usage of this kind argues a roughness of manners which would ill comport with the refinement of European ideas on so delicate a subject. Attempts have been made to show that the law here is to be understood metaphorically but they so perfectly fail to establish any thing like probability, that it would be wasting my own and my reader's time to detail them. A custom similar to that above is observed among the Mohammedans to the present day.

Verse 22

Verse Deuteronomy 22:22. Shall both of them die — Thus we find that in the most ancient of all laws adultery was punished with death in both the parties.

Verse 25

Verse Deuteronomy 22:25. And the man force her — A rape also, by these ancient institutions, was punished with death, because a woman's honour was considered equally as precious as her life; therefore the same punishment was inflicted on the ravisher as upon the murderer. This offence is considered in the same point of view in the British laws, and by them also it is punished with death.

Verse 30

Verse Deuteronomy 22:30. A man shall not take his father's wife — This is to be understood as referring to the case of a stepmother. A man in his old age may have married a young wife, and on his dying, his son by a former wife may desire to espouse her: this the law prohibits. It was probably on pretence of having broken this law, that Solomon put his brother Adonijah to death, because he had desired to have his father's concubine to wife, 1 Kings 2:13-25.