Deuteronomy 22:15 Komentář

The laws of this chapter provide, I. For the preservation of charity and good neighbourship, in the care of strayed or fallen cattle (Deu 22:1-4). II. For the preservation of order and distinction, that men and women should not wear one another's clothes (Deu 22:5), and that other needless mixtures should be avoided (Deu 22:9-11). III. For the preservation of birds (Deu 22:6, Deu 22:7). IV. Of life (Deu 22:8). V. Of the commandments (Deu 22:12). VI. Of the reputation of a wife abused, if she were innocent (Deu 22:13-19), but for her punishment if guilty (Deu 22:20, Deu 22:21). VII. For the preservation of the chastity of wives (Deu 22:22). Virgins betrothed (Deu 22:23-27), or not betrothed (Deu 22:28, Deu 22:29). And, lastly, against incest (Deu 22:30).

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 22 In this chapter are various laws, concerning care of a neighbour's cattle gone astray or in distress, and of anything lost by him, Deu 22:1, forbidding one sex to wear the apparel, of another, Deu 22:5 and the taking away of the dam with the young found in a bird's nest, Deu 22:6, ordering battlements to be made in a new house, Deu 22:8, prohibiting mixtures in sowing, ploughing, and in garments, Deu 22:9, requiring fringes on the four quarters of a garment, Deu 22:12, fining a man that slanders his wife, upon producing the tokens of her virginity, Deu 22:13 but if these cannot be produced, then orders are given that she be put to death, Deu 22:20, then follow other laws, punishing with death the adulterer and adulteress, and one that hath ravished a betrothed damsel, Deu 22:22, amercing a person that lies with a virgin not betrothed and she consenting, and obliging him to marry her, and not suffering him to divorce her, Deu 22:28 and another against a man's lying with his father's wife, Deu 22:30.

And the damsel's father shall say unto the elders,.... Not her mother; hence we learn, says Jarchi, that a woman has not power (or is not allowed) to speak before men; that is, in public see Co1 14:34 and it was most proper for a father to appear in court for her, and defend her; and if she had no parents living then, those that brought her up, her guardians, that had the education of her, and placing her out in marriage, were to undertake her cause; or, as Josephus (r) says, those that were next akin to her; or, as, Aben Ezra, one appointed by the court: I gave my daughter unto this man to wife; and, by the Jewish canons (s), a man might give his daughter in marriage, but a woman might not: and he hateth her; has taken a dislike to her, and wants to be rid of her, and therefore has brought this infamous action against her. (r) Antiqu. l. 4. c. 8. sect. 23. (s) Misn. Sotah, c. 3. sect. 8.

OF HUMANITY TOWARD BRETHREN. (Deu 22:1-4) Thou shalt not see thy brother's ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from them, &c.--"Brother" is a term of extensive application, comprehending persons of every description; not a relative, neighbor, or fellow countryman only, but any human being, known or unknown, a foreigner, and even an enemy (Exo 23:4). The duty inculcated is an act of common justice and charity, which, while it was taught by the law of nature, was more clearly and forcibly enjoined in the law delivered by God to His people. Indifference or dissimulation in the circumstances supposed would not only be cruelty to the dumb animals, but a violation of the common rights of humanity; and therefore the dictates of natural feeling, and still more the authority of the divine law, enjoined that the lost or missing property of another should be taken care of by the finder, till a proper opportunity occurred of restoring it to the owner.

In such a case the parents of the young woman (הנּער for הנּערה, as in Gen 24:14, Gen 24:28, according to the earliest usage of the books of Moses, a virgin, then also a young woman, e.g., Rut 2:6; Rut 4:12) were to bring the matter before the elders of the town into the gate (the judicial forum; see Deu 21:19), and establish the chastity and innocence of their daughter by spreading the bed-clothes before them. It was not necessary to this end that the parents should have taken possession of the spotted bed-clothes directly after the marriage night, as in customarily done by the Bedouins and the lower classes of the Moslem in Egypt and Syria (cf. Niebuhr, Beschr. v. Arab. pp. 35ff.; Arvieux, merkw. Nachr. iii. p. 258; Burckhardt, Beduinen, p. 214, etc.). It was sufficient that the cloth should be kept, in case such a proof might be required.