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The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 22:1-4
Love unfeigned. The precepts in these verses fairly anticipate the gospel love of one's neighbor, and even its inculcation of love to enemies (cf. Exodus 23:4, Exodus 23:5). Whatever authority the scribes in Christ's ti…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 22:1-4
Brotherly service in daily life. In a healthy state, our souls should so overflow with love, that every neighbor should be regarded as a brother. If the esteem should not at first be reciprocated, our kindness would sof…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 22:1-4
Consideration for man and beast. We have here such express directions given as should have made of the Israelites a most neighborly people. The finding of lost oxen, or sheep, or asses, or raiment, is here made to carry…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 22:1-30
EXPOSITION REGULATIONS REGARDING CATTLE STRAYED OR THINGS LOST, THE APPAREL OF THE SEXES, THE TAKING OF BIRDS, AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF HOUSES. CONFUSIONS TO BE AVOIDED. FRINGES TO BE MADE ON VESTMENTS. PUNISHMENT OF WIF…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 22:1-4
Moses repeats here the law formerly given (Exodus 23:4, Exodus 23:5), with additional details. Not only the ox or the ass that had strayed was to be taken and restored to its owner, but articles of raiment, and, in shor…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 22:1
Go astray; wandering at large. The Hebrew verb means primarily to seduce, draw aside, or entice (cf. Deuteronomy 13:6); and in the passive conveys the idea of wandering through being drawn away by some enticement. Hide…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 22:1-4
The duty of cultivating neighborly kindness. It will be a valuable study in Divine ethics if we first of all show what it is which is here required of the Hebrews, and then, with the Mosaic teaching for a starting-point…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 22:4
An animal that had fallen was also to be lifted up, and the owner was to be assisted to do this. In Exodus, it is specially declared that both these services are to be rendered, even though the parties are at enmity wit…
Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 22:5-12
God's providence extends itself to the smallest affairs, and his precepts do so, that even in them we may be in the fear of the Lord, as we are under his eye and care. Yet the tendency of these laws, which seem little,…
Various Prohibitions. (b. c. 1451.)
VARIOUS PROHIBITIONS. (B. C. 1451.) Here are several laws in these verses which seem to stoop very low, and to take cognizance of things mean and minute. Men's laws commonly do not so: De minimis non curat lex—The law t…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 22:5
Against deceptions in dress. Truthfulness in act is as needful as truthfulness in speech. Our very dress is a manifesto of truth or of falsehood. God has stamped a visible distinction in the appearance of the human sexe…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 22:5
The philosophy of clothes. We have here particular directions as to the maintenance of the distinction of dress between the sexes. On the termination of what Carlyle calls "Adamitism," in his 'Sartor Resartus,' when thr…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 22:5
The divinely instituted distinction between the sexes was to be sacredly observed, and, in order to this, the dress and ether things appropriate to the one were not to be used by the other. That which pertaineth unto a…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 22:5
Man and woman. Woman has her rightful place and function in society. So has man his. Their places, while complementary, are distinct. In modern society, a variety of influences—competition in business, difficulty of fin…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 22:6-12
The minutiae of conduct. The Law descends to very slight points of conduct. It keeps in view that character is made up of the result of our actions in the million trivial details of life. "Trifles," said Michael Angelo,…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 22:8
The perils of inadvertence. Thoughtlessness is the parent of much mischief. To reach a state of security and bliss, there must be life in our every part—in intellect, foresight, prudence. I. MAN IS EXPOSED TO MANY NATUR…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 22:8-12
Linsey-woolseys. The different directions here given may be reduced to one idea, that of genuineness. The houses were to be substantial edifices, not endangering the lives of others by defective buildings or deficient b…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 22:8
Still less was human life to be exposed to danger through neglect of proper precautions. The houses in Palestine, as in other parts of the East, had fiat roofs, and, as these were much frequented by the inhabitants for…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 22:8
Risks to human life to be minimized. It is well known that "the roofs of the Israelitish houses were fiat, as they mostly are in the East;" the inhabitants often walked upon them. Hence it is easy to see that a danger m…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 22:9-12
Directions in minor matters. What was, in primitive days, matter for direct revelation from God, is now ascertained by scientific observation. Herein we learn that revelation and science spring from one origin and subse…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 22:9-11
(Cf. Le Deuteronomy 19:19.) God has made distinctions in nature, and these are not to be confounded by the mixing of things distinct. The ox and the ass were chiefly used in husbandry; but, as they were of different siz…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 22:11
A garment of diverse sorts; sha‛atnez, a kind of cloth in which threads of linen and threads of woollen were interwoven. The meaning of the word is uncertain. The LXX. render by κίβδηλος, "spurious, bad;" Aquila, by ἀ…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 22:12
(Cf. Numbers 15:38.) Fringes; properly, tassels. The tunic of the Hebrews appears to have been divided at the bottom in front, and back, so that four corners or wings ( כַּנְפוֹת) were made, to each of which a tassel wa…
Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 22:13-30
These and the like regulations might be needful then, and yet it is not necessary that we should curiously examine respecting them. The laws relate to the seventh commandment, laying a restraint upon fleshly lusts which…