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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Deuteronomy 22:1 - 22:12
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Various Minor Regulations
v. 1. Thou shalt not see thy brother's ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from them, by acting as though one did not see and knew nothing of the matter, Exo_23:4; thou shalt in any case, most certainly, bring them again unto thy brother.
v. 2. And if thy brother, the member of the Israelitish nation, be not nigh unto thee, if he does not live in the immediate neighborhood, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it, the lost animal, unto thine own house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it to him again. During this time it was to be guarded most carefully, in the most secure place of the house.
v. 3. In like manner shalt thou do with his ass; and so shalt thou do with his raiment, with all the property of the neighbor, no matter where it might be found; and with all lost thing of thy brother's which he hath lost and thou hast found shalt thou do likewise; thou mayest not hide thyself, attempt to evade the obligation of this duty.
v. 4. Thou shalt not see thy brother's ass or his ox fall down by the way, under an excessive load, and hide thyself from them, try to ignore the happening; thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again, Exo_23:5.
v. 5. The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, literally, "Not shall be the vessels, the clothes, of a man upon a woman," neither shall a man put on a woman's garment; for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord, thy God. The vessels and clothing referred to include all the special articles of wear and use peculiar to the one or the other sex; for the Lord did not want the children of Israel to ignore the difference of the sexes, as it had been fixed in creation.
v. 6. If a bird's nest chance to be before thee, if a person just happens to strike it, in the way in any tree or on the ground, whether they be young ones or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young, Lev_22:28;
v. 7. but thou shalt in any wise, by all means, let the dam go, and take the young to thee, that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days. The mother relation was to be respected also among the irrational beasts. To take the mother-bird thus betrays an inhuman attitude in contrast with the sight presented, and is an unwarranted interference with the course of nature.
v. 8. When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, a parapet, or railing, along the edge of the flat roof, as they are customary in the Orient, that thou bring not blood upon thine house if any man fall from thence; for in the absence of a parapet the blame for any accident would strike the owner of the house.
v. 9. Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds, lest the fruit of thy seed, literally, "the fullness of the seed," the fruit as fully matured, which thou hast sown, and the fruit of the vineyard be defiled, namely, by securing a mixed product or hybrids.
v. 10. Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together, probably on account of the unequal strength and step of the two kinds of animals, which made the attempt both inhumane and unprofitable.
v. 11. Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woolen and linen together, Lev_19:19.
v. 12. Thou shalt make thee fringes, blossoms, tassels, upon the four quarters of thy vesture wherewith thou coverest thyself. "The mantle, or over-cloak, formed out of a four-cornered piece of cloth, should have at its wings, i. e. corners, thus as if growing out from it, tassels, symbolizing the one aim of life, reminding the doer of the commands of God, taking himself out of the world, with heart and eye to have his conversation, his life, in heaven, Num_15:38 ff. " By keeping all these precepts, the children of Israel were to prove themselves the peculiar people of the Lord.