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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Deuteronomy 25:1-4

Here is, I. A direction to the judges in scourging malefactors, Deut. 25:1-3. 1. It is here supposed that, if a man be charged with a crime, the accuser and the accused (Actor and Reus) should be brought face to face before the judges, that the controversy may be determined. 2. If a man were accused of a crime, and the proof fell short, so that the charge could not be made out against him by the evidence, then he was to be acquitted: ?Thou shalt justify the righteous,? that is, ?him that... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Deuteronomy 25:5-12

Here is, I. The law settled concerning the marrying of the brother's widow. It appears from the story of Judah's family that this had been an ancient usage (Gen. 38:8), for the keeping up of distinct families. The case put is a case that often happens, of a man's dying without issue, it may be in the prime of his time, soon after his marriage, and while his brethren were yet so young as to be unmarried. Now in this case, 1. The widow was not to marry again into any other family, unless all the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 25:1

If there be a controversy between men ,.... Between two or more: and they come unto judgment ; into a court of judicature, bring their cause thither: that the judges may judge them ; who were never less than three; the great sanhedrim at Jerusalem consisted of seventy one, the lesser court was of twenty three, and the least of all three only: then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked : acquit the one, whose cause is good, and condemn the other to punishment,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 25:2

And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten ,.... There were four kinds of death criminals were put to by the Jews, stoning, strangling, burning, and slaying with the sword; and such crimes not as severe as these were punished with beating or scourging; and who they were that were worthy to be beaten is at large set forth in the Misnic treatise called Maccoth F24 Ib. c. 3. sect. 1. 2, 3, &c.; , or "stripes", which are too many to be transcribed. Maimonides says F25 ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 25:3

Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed ,.... And that this number might not be exceeded, it is ordered by the Jewish canons that only thirty nine should be given; for it is asked F2 Misn. Maccot, c. 3. sect. 10. Vid. Buxtorf. Synagog. Jud. c. 25. p. 522, 523. ,"with how many stripes do they beat him? with forty, save one, as it is said, in number "forty" that is, in the number which is next to forty;'this they make out by joining the last word of Deuteronomy 25:2 with the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 25:4

Thou shall not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn . As oxen are used in ploughing, so likewise in treading or beating out the corn; of the manner of which; see Gill on 1 Corinthians 9:9 ; now while it was thus employed, it might not be restrained by any means from eating the corn as it had an opportunity, either by a muzzle put over its mouth, or other ways. The Gentiles had several ways of restraining their cattle from eating, while they thus made use of them, to which this law... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 25:5

If brethren dwell together ,.... Not only in the same country, province, town, or city, but in the same house; such who had been from their youth brought up together in their father's house, and now one of them being married, as the case put supposes, they that were unmarried might live with him, and especially if the father was dead; and so may except such as were abroad, and in foreign countries, or at such a distance that this law coals not well be observed by them; though the Targum of... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 25:6

And it shall be that the firstborn that she beareth ,.... To her husband's brother, now married to her: shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead ; the meaning is, as the Targum of Jonathan,"he shall rise up in the inheritance in the name of his brother;'or, as Jarchi expresses it,"he shall take the inheritance of the deceased in the goods of his father;'that is, he shall have his part and share in the inheritance that the deceased brother would have had if he had lived,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 25:7

And the man like not to take his brother's wife ,.... The provision here made by this law, when this was the case, is such as did not take place before it became a law; for then Onan would have taken the advantage of it, and refused marrying his brother's wife, which it is plain was not agreeable to him, Genesis 38:9 ; as many do now on one account or another. Leo of Modena F12 Ut supra, sect. 3. (Leo Modena's History of Rites, &c.; l. 1 sect. 3.) says,"it was anciently accounted... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 25:8

Then the elders of his city shall call him ,.... Require him to come, before them, and declare his resolution, and the reasons for it; recite this law to him, and explain the nature of it, and exhort him to comply with it, or show reason why he does not, at least to have his final resolution upon it: and speak unto him ; talk with him upon this subject, and give him their best advice; and what that was Maimonides F15 Yebum Vechalitzab, c. 4. sect. 1. more particularly informs us;... read more

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