Deuteronomy 22:23 Kommentar

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.

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 Joh 8:3, the damsel because she cried not, being in the city, and the man because he hath humbled his neighbour's wife; as she was by espousal, by contract, by promise, and so was guilty of adultery, which was punishable with death: so thou shall put away evil from among you; see Deu 22:21.

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 connection with the seduction of a virgin (נער, puella, a marriageable girl; בּתוּלה, virgo immaculata, a virgin), two, or really three, cases are distinguished; viz., (1) whether she was betrothed (Deu 22:23-27), or not betrothed (Deu 22:28, Deu 22:29); (2) if she were betrothed, whether it was (a) in the town (Deu 22:23, Deu 22:24) or (b) in the open field (Deu 22:25-27) that she had been violated by a man. Deu 22:23-24 If a betrothed virgin had allowed a man to have intercourse with her (i.e., one who was not her bridegroom), they were both of them, the man and the girl, to be led out to the gate of the town, and stoned that they might die: the girl, because she had not cried in the city, i.e., had not called for help, and consequently was to be regarded as consenting to the deed; the man, because he had humbled his neighbour's wife. The betrothed woman was placed in this respect upon a par with a married woman, and in fact is expressly called a wife in Deu 22:24. Betrothal was the first step towards marriage, even if it was not a solemn act attested by witnesses. Written agreements of marriage were not introduced till a later period (Tobit 7:14; Tr. Ketuboth i. 2). Deu 22:25-27 If, on the other hand, a man met a betrothed girl in the field, and laid hold of her and lay with her, the man alone was to die, and nothing was to be done to the girl. "There is in the damsel no death-sin (i.e., no sin to be punished with death); but as when a man riseth against his neighbour and slayeth him, even so is this matter." In the open field the girl had called for help, but no one had helped her. It was therefore a forcible rape. Deu 22:28-29 The last case: if a virgin was not betrothed, and a man seized her and lay with her, and they were found, i.e., discovered or convicted of their deed, the man was to pay the father of the girl fifty shekels of silver, for the reproach brought upon him and his house, and to marry the girl whom he had humbled, without ever being able to divorce her. This case is similar to the one mentioned in Exo 22:15-16. The omission to mention the possibility of the father refusing to give him his daughter for a wife, makes no essential difference. It is assumed as self-evident here, that such a right was possessed by the father.