Deuteronomy 22:23-29

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Deuteronomy 22:13-30

These laws relate to the seventh commandment, laying a restraint by laying a penalty upon those fleshly lusts which war against the soul. I. If a man, lusting after another woman, to get rid of his wife slander her and falsely accuse her, as not having the virginity she pretended to when he married her, upon the disproof of his slander he must be punished, Deut. 22:13-19. What the meaning of that evidence is by which the husband's accusation was to be proved false the learned are not agreed,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 22:23

If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband ,.... But not married, not as yet brought home to her husband's house, and the marriage consummated; for the Jews distinguish between being betrothed or espoused, and married; and generally there was some time between the one and the other. And a wife was obtained in this way by three things; by money, which was the most usual; and by writing, which was to be done before witnesses, and with her consent; and by copulation, which,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 22:24

Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of the city ,.... Where the fact was committed; the Targum of Jonathan is,"to the gate of the court of judicature, which is in that city:" and ye shall stone them with stones, that they die ; a man that lay with a married woman, he and she were to be strangled; but this sort of adulterers and adulteresses were to be stoned, and it is thought that of this sort was the woman spoken of in John 8:3 , the damsel because she cried not, being... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 22:25

But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field ,.... Alone, and where she might cry out, and none hear, nor were any to help her: and a man force her, and lie with her ; or "take fast and strong hold on her" F2 והחזיק בה "et apprehenderit (in) eam", Pagninus, Montanus; "et apprehendens eam", Piscator. ; so that she is not able to get out of his hands, and make her escape, he being stronger than she, and so commits a rape upon her: then the man only that lay with her shall... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 22:26

But unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing ,.... Neither fine her, nor beat her, and much less punish her with death: there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death ; because what was done to her was done without her will and consent, and was what she was forced to submit unto; but the Targum of Jonathan adds, that the man to whom she was betrothed might dismiss her from himself by a bill of divorce: for as when a man riseth against his neighbour, and slayeth him, even so is this matter... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 22:27

For he found her in the field ,.... Which is a circumstance in her favour, from which it might he presumed that she was forced, and did not consent; for had the sin been committed by agreement, they would doubtless have betook themselves to another place: and the betrothed damsel cried as it might be concluded from the above circumstance she did, and as she herself declared, and which he could not gainsay, or however disprove: and there was none to save her ; to help her against him, and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 22:28

If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed ,.... That is, meets with one in a field, which is not espoused to a man; and the man is supposed to be an unmarried man, as appears by what follows: and lay hold on her, and lie with her , she yielding to it, and so is not expressive of a rape, as Deuteronomy 22:25 where a different word from this is there used; which signifies taking strong hold of her, and ravishing her by force; yet this, though owing to his first... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 22:29

Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver , For the abuse of his daughter; and besides this was obliged to give her her dowry also, as Philo F4 De Special. Leg. p. 787. says, which is commonly said to be fifty more: and she shall be his wife ; if her father and she agreed to it; and in such a case the man was not at his liberty to refuse, be she what she would, agreeable or not, handsome or ugly; he must, as the Jews express it,... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Deuteronomy 22:25

And the man force her - A rape also, by these ancient institutions, was punished with death, because a woman's honor was considered equally as precious as her life; therefore the same punishment was inflicted on the ravisher as upon the murderer. This offense is considered in the same point of view in the British laws, and by them also it is punished with death. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Deuteronomy 22:23

Verse 23 23.If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed. The severity of the punishment is now extended further, and a betrothed woman is counted as a wife; and this for a very good reason, because she has plighted her troth, and it is a token of abandoned incontinency for the mind of a woman to be so alienated from the man to whom she is betrothed, as to prostitute her virginity to another’s embraces. But since one who has been ravished is not criminal, a woman is absolved if she be forced in a... read more

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