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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Deuteronomy 22:13 - 22:30
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Various Sins Against the Sanctity of Holy Wedlock
v. 13. If any man take a wife and go in unto her, in the act which God restricts to the married estate, and hate her, regard her with loathing after the gratification of his fleshly lust, 2Sa_13:15,
v. 14. and give occasions of speech against her, literally, "set upon her deeds of words," that is, reports without foundation, scandal, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid, an unpolluted virgin,
v. 15. then shall the father of the damsel, the designation leaving the matter of a probable guilt open, and her mother, the parents being very decidedly concerned in this accusation, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity, as it was supposed distinguishable by spots of blood, unto the elders of the-city in the gate, for it was the custom to save this evidence for just such an event;
v. 16. and the damsel's father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her;
v. 17. and, lo, he hath given occasions of speech against her, saying, I found not thy daughter a maid; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city, as proof positive that the accusation was a lie.
v. 18. And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him, pronounce upon him the judgment of punishment by whipping;
v. 19. and they shall amerce him, sentence him to pay money, in an hundred shekels of silver (about $64), and give them unto the father of the damsel, to atone, in a way, for the slander brought upon that family, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel; and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days, the right of divorce was taken from him.
v. 20. But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel, when the supposed proofs of her virginity could not be produced;
v. 21. then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, for a testimony against it, because the parents were considered as participants in the guilt through defective discipline, oversight, and, perhaps, even deliberate deceit, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die, because she hath wrought folly in Israel, the shamelessness of unchastity, to play the whore in her father's house; so shalt thou put evil away from among you. So much Israel's dignity, its character as the holy people of God, demanded.
v. 22. If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, under his rule, restricted to him in fleshly intercourse, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman and the woman, for it was a plain case of deliberate adultery; so shalt thou put away evil from Israel.
v. 23. If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, in a rightful betrothal, as it was customary among the Jews, where the consent of the parents on either side and that of the girl had been secured, and a man find her in the city and lie with her,
v. 24. then 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, did not call for help, for such cries would certainly have been heard in the city, whence it followed that she consented to the act; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbor's wife, for a betrothed woman is a married wife in the eyes of God; so thou shalt put away evil from among you, by the summary punishment of the offenders against! the holiness of marriage.
v. 25. But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her, overcome her by main strength, and lie with her, then the man only that lay with her shall die;
v. 26. but unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death, the penalty should not be carried out where it was not deserved; for as when a man riseth against his neighbor and slayeth him, violently takes his life, even so is this matter;
v. 27. for he found her in the field, and the betrothed damsel cried, called for help, and there was none to save her. It was a plain case of rape.
v. 28. If 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,
v. 29. then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver (about $32), as an atonement for the disgrace inflicted by his act, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days. Cf Exo_22:15-16. of course, the father had the right to deny his daughter to the man in such a case.
v. 30. A man shall not take his father's wife, his stepmother, nor discover (uncover) his father's skirt. Incestuous lust is self-injury and a transgression also against the father, by the defiling of his bed. Cf Lev_18:6; Eze_16:8; Deu_27:20. The Lord wants only such servants as are pure and unspotted before Him, members of a people consecrated to His holiness.