Deuteronomy 21:14 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Deuteronomy 21:10-14

By this law a soldier is allowed to marry his captive if he pleased. For the hardness of their hearts Moses gave them this permission, lest, if they had not had liberty given them to marry such, they should have taken liberty to defile themselves with them, and by such wickedness the camp would have been troubled. The man is supposed to have a wife already, and to take this wife for a secondary wife, as the Jews called them. This indulgence of men's inordinate desires, in which their hearts... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 21:14

And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her ;.... Either some time after marriage: then thou shalt let her go whither she will ; by a bill of divorce, as the Targum of Jonathan, who understands it in this sense, and as the connection of the words seems to require; or else before marriage, at the month's end, or any time before, that if his affections cooled towards her, and all the above methods tended to abate his love of her, then he was obliged to dismiss her, or to grant her her... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Deuteronomy 21:14

Verse 14 14.And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her. I have been compelled to separate this sentence from the foregoing context which I have explained elsewhere; (161) for Moses there gave instructions how a captive woman was to be taken to wife if her beauty attracted a Jewish husband. That law then had reference to chastity and conjugal fidelity, and especially to the purity of God’s worship; but now Moses prescribes that, if a man have dishonored a captive woman, he should not sell... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 21:10-14

If an Israelite saw among captives taken in war a woman, fair of aspect, and loved her, and took her to be his wife, he was to allow her a full month to mourn her lost kindred, and become accustomed to her new condition, before he consummated his union with her. This refers to captives from other nations than those of Canaan, with whom the Israelites were to form no alliance, and whom they were not to take captive, but either wholly destroy or render tributary (cf. Deuteronomy 7:3 ; Numbers... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 21:10-14

The female captive; or, Divine regard for woman's safety and honor. Any one who is acquainted with the fearful license practiced among many nations towards female captives taken in war, can surely appreciate the humanizing influence which the injunction in this paragraph was intended to exert. The law here laid down may or may not be abstractly the best; but if it was the best that the people could bear: if it would certainly lift up the people a step higher in their regard for womanly... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 21:10-14

Through love to liberty. We have here a regulation or law of war. Captives might be sold as slaves, but through love they might reach the position of a wife in a Jewish household, and if she did not please her conqueror, then she was to be made free again. So that the possible fate of the captive was "through love to liberty." I. LOVE IS THE BEST CURE FOR THE ILLS OF WAR . The men were to be slain: women might be kept as a prey ( Deuteronomy 20:14 ). It was a... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 21:10-14

The captor captured. God's laws are accommodations to human infirmities. To require from men summarily, and as the result of law, perfect conduct of life is impracticable. Hence legislation, to be successful, must be adapted to the case, and must lead by gradations to a nobler life. This law, though tolerant of lesser evil, is a marked amelioration of earlier custom—a step towards order and purity. I. FEMALE BEAUTY WINS THE HEARTS EVEN OF WARRIORS . There are other... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 21:10-15

The captive wife. The kindness, thoughtfulness, and strict justice of the Mosaic laws is very striking. The Law here interposes to secure— I. CONSIDERATE TREATMENT OF ONE BEREAVED . ( Deuteronomy 21:10-14 .) The case supposed comes under the law of Deuteronomy 20:14 . The woman was a captive in war and a heathen, yet the Israelite is required to respect her chastity, and, if he conceive a passion for her, must not only make her his wife in a proper manner, but must allow... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 21:14

Should the man afterwards come no longer to have pleasure in her, he was to let her go whither she would, but he was not to sell her for money or use any violence to her. Thou shalt not make merchandise of her. The verb in the form here used occurs only hero and in Deuteronomy 24:7 ; derived from a root which signifies to gather or press, it properly means to press for one's self, to lay hands on one, to use violence to one. read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Deuteronomy 21:14

Thou shalt not make merchandise of her - Rather, thou shalt not constrain her: literally “treat her with constraint,” or “treat her as a slave.” read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Deuteronomy 21:10-14

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 21:14

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Deuteronomy 21:14

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 21:10-14

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 21:10-14

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 21:10-14

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 21:10-14

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 21:10-15

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 21:14

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Deuteronomy 21:14

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