Deuteronomy 23:2

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Deuteronomy 23:1-8

Interpreters are not agreed what is here meant by entering into the congregation of the Lord, which is here forbidden to eunuchs and to bastards, Ammonites and Moabites, for ever, but to Edomites and Egyptians only till the third generation. 1. Some think they are hereby excluded from communicating with the people of God in their religious services. Though eunuchs and bastards were owned as members of the church, and the Ammonites and Moabites might be circumcised and proselyted to the Jewish... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 23:2

A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord ,.... That is born of whoredom, as the Targum of Jonathan; and for the sake of avoiding whoredom and deterring from it was this law made, according to Maimonides F8 Targum Jon. in loc. Misn. Yebamot, c. 8. sect. 2, 4, 5, 6. Maimon. Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c. 49. , that adulterers might see, as he observes, that they affect their whole family with an irreparable stain, should they commit such an infamous action; though the Jews... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Deuteronomy 23:2

A bastard shall not enter - ממזר mamzer , which is here rendered bastard, should be understood as implying the offspring of an illegitimate or incestuous mixture. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Deuteronomy 23:2

Verse 2 2.A bastard shall not enter. All agree that by the word ממזר, mamzer, a bastard is signified, who is born of an uncertain father; but they take it in different ways, For some extend it to all bastards who spring from fornication, whilst others imagine that it refers to those only whose origin is doubtful, and who are called vulgo geniti; viz, whose mothers, in their base and common prostitution of themselves, have brought it about by their gross licentiousness, that their children... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 23:1-6

Loss of sacred privilege a grievous penalty. In such passages as this, very much more is intended than is expressed. We have to read between the lines, for only they who lived in those days of Jewish life could comprehend the shadowy hints, the pregnant suggestions, which are here reduced to words. I. THE ABUSE OF REPRODUCTIVE VITALISM IS A GIGANTIC SIN . The law of the natural kingdom, with regard to every species of life, that its "seed should be in itself," obtains... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 23:1-8

EXPOSITION CIVIL RIGHTS . WHO MAY AND WHO MAY NOT ENTER INTO THE CONGREGATION . UNCLEANNESS IN THE CAMP TO BE AVOIDED . RECEPTION OF FUGITIVE SLAVES . LICENTIOUS PERSONS TO BE REMOVED , AND GIFTS THE PRICE OF IMPURITY TO BE REFUSED . LAWS REGARDING USURY , VOWS , AND CERTAIN DUTIES OF CITIZENSHIP . Five classes of persons are here excluded from the congregation of the Lord. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 23:1-8

Stern safeguards sometimes needed. It was no small part of the education of the Hebrew people at once to stamp as disreputable the practices of bodily mutilation which were common enough among heathen nations. The honor of the congregation of the Lord was bound up in its freedom from complicity therewith. Eunuchs and illegitimate offspring were excluded from the congregation of the Lord, lest the moral virus connected with the associations of their life should be as poison in the camp.... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 23:1-8

The excluded from the congregation. Certain principles underlie these exclusions which it is worth our while to note. It will be seen that, though bars of this kind are done away in Christ, there was a fitness, under the theocracy, in the exclusion of the classes specified from full participation in covenant privilege, such exclusion being in harmony with the idea of "a holy nation"—type in earthly mold of the ideal kingdom of God. I. THE EXCLUSION OF THE MUTILATED . ( ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 23:1-8

The congregation of the Lord jealously guarded. There has been considerable controversy about what the term" entering into the congregation of the Lord signifies. It cannot be the Old Testament equivalent for our " communicants ," or "Church members;" for it would seem from Exodus 12:48 , Exodus 12:49 , that Jewish privileges were open to strangers on condition of their circumcision. Nor need we interpret it as merely indicating the marriage connections which Israelites were to... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 23:2

A bastard ; one born of a harlot; so the Hebrew word ( מָמְזֶר ), which occurs only here and in Zechariah 9:6 , is said to mean; LXX ; ἐκ πόρνης : Vulgate, de scorto natus ; the Talmud and the rabbins represent the word as denoting one begotten in adultery or incest (Maimon; 'Issure Biah.,' c. 15. §§ 1, 2, 7, 9); so also the Syriac bar gamo , "son of adultery." To his tenth generation; i . e . forever , ten being the number of indefiniteness (cf. Genesis 31:7 ; ... read more

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