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The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 25:1-3
Humanity to be respected in judicial inflictions. This passage is an interesting illustration of the restraints which the Law of Moses puts on the Hebrews, as to the semi-barbarous customs of other nations. It is well k…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 25:1-3
Corporal punishment. We have here directions given for the punishment of criminals. As the Hebrews had no gaol system, a properly graduated corporal punishment supplied most effectively its place. Moses here directs the…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 25:1-3
Earthly magistracy an argument for the heavenly. It is not conceivable that God should have taken such pains, through Moses, to secure pure administration of justice in earthly courts, unless he had established a like c…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 25:1-3
The bastinado. Professor W. R. Smith regards this law of stripes as indicating a late date for Deuteronomy. He argues from the customs of the free Bedouins. But it is perilous to reason from the customs of the Bedouins…
Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 25:4
This is a charge to husbandmen. It teaches us to make much of the animals that serve us. But we must learn, not only to be just, but kind to all who are employed for the good of our better part, our souls, 1Co 9:9.
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 25:4
The rights of labor. The threshing in the East is done by oxen in many cases still, though horses, where procurable, are found more serviceable. While the animals were engaged in their weary round, they were never muzzl…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 25:4
Laborers to live by their labor. The use of this verse by the apostle has brought it out of an obscurity to which it might have been relegated. It is quoted by Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:10, and is there applied by him as…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 25:4
The leaving the ox unmuzzled when treading out the corn was in order that the animal might be free to eat of the grains which its labor severed from the husks. This prohibition, therefore, was dictated by a regard to th…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 25:4
Doing good inseparable from getting good. Active exercise of our powers is a primary condition of getting good. Real service for others is destined to gain reward. I. SERVICE CAN BE RENDERED TO MAN BY VERY INFERIOR NATU…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 25:4
The oxen. The apostle draws from this passage the general principle that the laborer is entitled to eat of the fruits of his labor (1 Corinthians 9:9, 1 Corinthians 9:10). His application teaches us to look for similar…
Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 25:5-12
The custom here regulated seems to have been in the Jewish law in order to keep inheritances distinct; now it is unlawful.
Marriage of a Brother's Wife. (b. c. 1451.)
MARRIAGE OF A BROTHER'S WIFE. (B. C. 1451.) 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 (Genesis 38:8), for…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 25:5-10
Family honor to be maintained. This law supposes a state of society and a kind of public opinion which does not now exist, and in detail it is therefore obsolete. But the principle it involves is clear, viz. that in mar…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 25:5-10
Levirate marriages. If a man who was married died without issue, his surviving brother was required to marry the widow, so as to raise up a successor to the deceased, who should be his heir. The brother who refused this…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 25:5
Dwell together; i.e. not necessarily in the same house, but in the same community or place (cf. Genesis 13:6; Genesis 26:7). And have no child; literally, have no son; but this is rightly interpreted as meaning child (s…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 25:5-10
The levitate law. At the root of this law, which obtained widely in the East, we find ideas and feelings such as these— I. RESPECT FOR THE HONOR OF THE FAMILY. In the East, as is well known, childlessness is reckoned a…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 25:5-10
The rights of the firstborn. We have already observed that the firstborn had a right to a double share of the family inheritance (Deuteronomy 21:17). We have before us another of his rights—a seed was to be raised up un…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 25:6
Shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead; literally, shall rise up on the name of his deceased brother; i.e. shall be enrolled in the family register as heir of the deceased, and shall perpetuate his name.
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 25:7-10
If the man refused to marry the widow of his deceased brother, he was free to do so; but the woman had her redress. She was to bring the matter before the eiders of the town, sitting as magistrates at the gate, and they…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 25:11-16
Honesty the best policy. We have first a law of purity, which needs no exposition, but in its holy severity (Deuteronomy 25:11, Deuteronomy 25:12) was fitted to check all tendency to lewd practices among the women of Is…
Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 25:13-16
Dishonest gain always brings a curse on men's property, families, and souls. Happy those who judge themselves, repent of and forsake their sins, and put away evil things, that they may not be condemned of the Lord.
Amalek to Be Destroyed. (b. c. 1451.)
AMALEK TO BE DESTROYED. (B. C. 1451.) Here is, I. A law against deceitful weights and measures: they must not only not use them, but they must not have them, not have them in the bag, not have them in the house (Deutero…
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 25:13-16
Rectitude and integrity in trade are here anew inculcated (cf. Le 19:35, etc.).
The Pulpit Commentary on Deuteronomy 25:13
Diverse weights; literally, a stone and a stone—a large one for buying, and a small one for selling (cf. Amos 8:5). Both weights and measures were to be "perfect," i.e. exactly correct, and so just. (On the promise in D…