22If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel. 23If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find [meet] her in the city, and lie with her; 24Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled [abased] his neighbour’s wife: so thou shalt put away 25evil from among you. But [And] if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her [seize hold of her] and lie with her; then the man only that lay with her shall die: 26But unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death: for as when a man riseth [standeth up] against his neighbour, and slayeth him, even so is this matter: 27For he found her in the field, and the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her. 28If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found [surprised, caught]; 29Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days [all his life long]. 30A man shall not take his father’s wife, nor discover his father’s skirt.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. As the foregoing directions give the occasion for representing the coveting forbidden in the tenth command, as the lust of the flesh, so this is still more practically the case; the desire cannot be more evident. The discourse, however, recapitulates the sixth, eighth, and ninth commands, although it is directed mainly to the seventh. Deu_22:22.
áòìúÎáòì
(Deu_21:13) married to an husband, ruled of her lord, and intimates quietly that lust is of the nature of theft, violation of the rights of property. As they lie together so they shall both die; for the adultery cries out against the one as well as against the other, Lev_20:10. The betrothed maiden (Deu_22:14) is placed on an equality with the married woman, Deu_22:23 (Gen_29:21; Mat_1:20). In Deu_22:22 as in Deu_22:23, the life, the continuous life of the neighbor in his descendants, was violated. Hence in Deu_22:24 the like punishment also as in Deu_22:22, life for life. She cried not, a closer modification of in the city, where help could be had. Thus the supposition is of fellowship in the lust.
òðä
(Deu_21:14) a violation at the same time of her true honor, thus a breach of the ninth command. In the case stated in Deu_22:25, the man alone is to be put to death, since Deu_22:26 presents his violence as a murderous attack upon the betrothed. No sin of death,which should be punished with death, (Deu_21:22; 1Jn_5:16). Comp. Deu_19:11; Deu_19:6. The reason is stated still more definitely in Deu_22:27, either the fact, or its supposition, she cried and there was none to save her. The 28th verse is a more precise completion of Exo_22:16-17. The law can only take cognizance of lust in the constructive deed, otherwise it would open the floodgates to the lust of slander (the ninth commandment). Deu_22:29. (Comp. Deu_22:19) the violation of the property of the father, whose right to refuse his daughter is presupposed in the fifth command, and did not need to be further guarded here on the occasion of the second table. The prohibition of lust closes in Deu_22:30, with the most aggravated case, of the injured mother (step-mother) and father. Comp. upon Lev_18:8 (Gen_35:22). Incestuous lust going out from the blood reaches blood. It needs therefore only the prohibition, the specializing of all that is forbidden in this regard occurs elsewhere. Incest is self-injury. The skirt (wing, edge, corner, Deu_22:12) the paternal upper garment [Ges.: Coverlet of the bed, so that to discover the skirt was to defile the bed,—A. G.], (Rth_3:9) covering all that belonged to the father, even his widow, bride, as it covered his own nakedness, which was uncovered with that of his wife. Lev_18:6; Eze_16:8. Comp. Deu_27:20.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. If the last commandment is directed against covetous desire, as the root of every sin with respect to the second table of the law; so the same was already asserted, Deu_5:18, in reference to the woman. It is not only practically continued, to bring out lust now in its application to the same reference, but as nature divides the race into the twofoldness of the sexes, presents her as the very closest neighbor, at the same time the most natural form of desire of which men are conscious, Gen_2:20. The law must address itself the more, to this form of lust, since with its spread there occurs also the spreading of sin, the mystery of life becomes the mystery of death, and the law must not only restrain the excesses of the sinful inclination, but as its final goal must be a way-mark, a school-master to Christ, Eph_5:32.
2. The twofoldness of the sexes exhibits nothing more than the necessity on the one side, and the prospect of satisfaction on the other. Marriage is the legal and proper removal of the natural contrasts, so much so that any outrage against this, may be regarded as the transgression of lust against all the commands of the second table. In marriage the neighbor is regarded as with regard to his wife, so with regard to his life, property, honor, indeed generally as the individual with respect to the species.
3. Only as the wife of her husband is she apprehended as a person who supplements, completes another person. Regard for this, chastity, preserves her from being regarded and treated as a thing. With this application of lust therefore as sexual, there is connected the apprehension of the personality, that which is the most spiritual in the one nearest, the closest neighbor.
4. The repeated and prominent allusion to the maiden (Deu_22:27-28), and as she is the betrothed, may personify chastity, as inclination and desire are glorified and taken up into affection and love. As
ðַòַø
(Keri
ðַòֲøָä
) she is the youth, humanity generally in its youthful being. As
ëְúåּìָä
she appears as the sexual other being. As the betrothed she represents, in the bride, the poetry of the first love. Violence in such a case, still more the perversion and corruption when the bride-like yields consent, as over against the ideality of this relation, must be punished as the most flagrant excess and crime, (Deu_22:24-25). So also the protection and compassion of the law (Deu_22:26 sq.) in regard to the tragic fate of one involved in misfortune, helpless against overcoming violence.
5. The sexual inclination should (28, 29) through that lasting union, to which attention is called, find its purification, be glorified into love, lose its barbarous and bestial character, be elevated to its moral form and idea.
6. When now the treatment in regard to lust closes with the peculiar crying crime of incest (Deu_22:30), the man in this case has fallen entirely into the power of the inclination, of the animal man; indeed more, the sexual lust passion, appears as the very thing in view, etc.1Co_5:1 sq. Incest is regarded here in its relation to the universal moral consciousness, for the animal, e.g., manifests no limit of blood. So here in Deut. the instance selected is not from the relation of sister; the marriage of the sister was the closest original form of marriage.
7. Since in what follows the discourse passes over to all Israel, the treatment of lust, as the sexual lust, agrees well with the connection. As the life instinct concerns the individual, his life and support, so the sexual instinct the life and existence of the whole.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
As love is the fulfilling of all the commands, so lust is their transgression. Eph_5:3; Col_3:5. Deu_22:22. Lange: “The marriage contract is very far from a mere civil one.” Schultz: “The married woman, through harlotry, is viewed in the Old Testament as an adulteress under all circumstances, the married man only, when the wife of another is concerned, as he is the destroyer of another marriage. Laxity in the law leads necessarily to a laxity in practice. The Christian Church, which has no ban for the adulterer other than that of present laws, becomes a participator in his sin.”
Berl. Bib.: “The promise and not first the actual dwelling together constitutes the marriage before God.” Deu_22:25. Luther: “The city and field represent conditions; that, in which some help might be near, this when the cry would be ineffectual because unheard.” Deu_22:26. Richter: “What a lightning flash against all unchastity is the close of this verse!” Deu_22:27. How much helplessness in the world! How many vain cries for help! In this view human statutes, in regard to many a wretched one, should be mildly enforced.—Piscator: “Uncleanness is a dreadful sin, especially among Christians whose bodies should be temples of the Holy Ghost.” Deu_22:29. Richter: “They need not leave each other, as is now repeatedly the case.” Piscator: “He who had brought her to disgrace, should now cheerfully bring her to honor again.” Deu_22:30. Calvin: “Perhaps he looks to the act of Ham, who, publishing his father’s disgrace, betrays his own godlessness.” [Deu_22:23-27. Henry: “It is presumed that she consented, if it were done in the city, where help would have come had she cried—silence implies consent; if it were done in the field, it is presumed that she cried out; charity and equity require us to do so. It may be presumed that those willingly yield to temptation who do not use the means to avoid it, etc.”—A. G.].
Footnotes:
[Deu_22:15.
äðòø
. Keri
äðòøä
and so in Deu_22:16; Deu_22:21. Sept.
ðáéäὸò
. The Keri explains the reading: although, the text is doubtless genuine as the usage in the case is frequent, and a like idiom occurs in other Semitic languages.—A. G.].
