Deuteronomy 21:10

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Deuteronomy 21:10

hands. Hebrew text reads "hand"; but some codices, with The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel Septuagint, and Syriac, read "hands", as Authorized Version. read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Deuteronomy 21:10

RIGHTS OF CAPTIVE TAKEN AS WIFE"When thou goest forth to battle against thine enemies, and Jehovah thy God delivereth them into thy hands, and thou carriest them away captive, and seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and thou hast a desire unto her, and wouldest take her unto thee to wife; then thou shalt bring her home to thy house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails; and she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thy house, and bewail her... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Deuteronomy 21:10

10-14. When thou goest to war . . . and seest among the captives a beautiful woman . . . that thou wouldest have her to thy wife—According to the war customs of all ancient nations, a female captive became the slave of the victor, who had the sole and unchallengeable control of right to her person. Moses improved this existing usage by special regulations on the subject. He enacted that, in the event that her master was captivated by her beauty and contemplated a marriage with her, a month... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Deuteronomy 21:10-14

Limits on a husband’s authority 21:10-14Israelite men could marry women from distant conquered cities taken as prisoners of war (provided they did not already have a wife). Such a woman had to shave her head and trim her nails. These were rituals of purification customary in the ancient Near East. [Note: Keil and Delitzsch, 3:406.] She received one month to mourn her parents (Deuteronomy 21:13). This may presuppose that they had died in the battle or, more likely, that she was to cut off all... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Deuteronomy 21:10-21

Wives and children 21:10-21Everything in this section has some connection with the sixth commandment remote though it may be in some cases. read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Deuteronomy 21:1-23

Expiation of Undetected Homicide. Marriage of Captive Women. Punishment of a Rebellious SonThe last sub-section of the Second Discourse begins here, containing a variety of social and domestic regulations.1-9. The Expiation of Undetected Homicide. The cases of accidental and open, wilful murder have been already provided for in Deuteronomy 19. This passage treats the case of undetected homicide. Murder pollutes the land and must be expiated. When the murderer cannot be discovered the... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Deuteronomy 21:10-14

Deuteronomy 21:10-14. MARRIAGE OF CAPTIVE WOMEN.(10, 11) When thou . . . seest among the captives a beautiful woman.—This could not be among the seven nations, of whom it is said (Deuteronomy 20:1-6), “thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth.” But it may well apply to the recent case of the Midianitish maidens (Numbers 31:15-18), who had been taken captive in great numbers, and would naturally be reduced to slavery. It is clear from this passage that they could not be treated as... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 21:1-23

THE ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF ISRAELITE LIFEIT has often and justly been said that the life of Israel is so entirely founded on the grace and favor of God that no distinction is made between the secular and the religious laws. Whatever their origin may have been, whether they had been part of the tribal constitution before Moses’ day or not, they were all regarded as Divinely given. They had been accepted as fit building stones for the great edifice of that national life in which God was to reveal... read more

Arno Clemens Gaebelein

Arno Gaebelein's Annotated Bible - Deuteronomy 21:1-23

17. The Expiation of an Uncertain Murder and Various Instructions CHAPTER 21 1. The expiation of an unknown murder (Deuteronomy 21:1-9 ) 2. Concerning a wife, who had been a prisoner of war (Deuteronomy 21:10-14 ) 3. The right of the firstborn (Deuteronomy 21:15-17 ) 4. The punishment of a rebellious son (Deuteronomy 21:18-21 ) 5. The burial of one who hanged on a tree (Deuteronomy 21:22-23 ) The expiation of an unknown murder seems to find an interesting application in the case of... read more

L.M. Grant

L. M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible - Deuteronomy 21:1-23

UNSOLVED MURDER (vs.1-9) If one was killed and his body found removed from any city or town, the murderer being unknown, then elders and judges of Israel were required to ascertain what was the nearest city. Then the elders of that city must take the responsibility of facing this righteously. This involved taking a young heifer that had never been worked or yoked for service, bringing it down to a valley where there was running water, a valley in its pristine condition. There the elders... read more

Group of Brands