Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Deuteronomy 25:1 - 25:4

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Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Deuteronomy 25:1 - 25:4


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Of Bodily Punishments

v. 1. If there be a controversy between men, some matter of litigation, and they come unto judgment, bring the matter before the proper officers, that the judges may judge them, then they, the judges, shall justify the righteous and condemn the wicked, declare the latter to be guilty before the law, Exo_22:8; Exo_23:7.

v. 2. And it shall be if the wicked man,
he whom the judges have found to be in the wrong, be worthy to be beaten, literally, "if a son of stripes the guilty one," that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, while he personally witnessed the punishment, according to his fault, by a certain number, in proportion to the severity of his transgression.

v. 3. Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed,
this precept later resulting in the limit's being placed at thirty-nine, for there was danger of miscounting, and the Jews, especially after the return from the exile, were anything if not literal, 2Co_11:24; lest, if he should exceed and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee, lowered beneath the dignity of a man and a member of God's people. The punishment by whipping was in use also in Egypt, where the culprit was laid flat on the ground, his hands and feet held firmly, and the punishment administered on the back in the presence of the judge.

v. 4. Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.
The usual form of threshing in the Orient is that on a threshing-floor out in the open, where the grain was spread out and oxen driven back and forth across the floor to loosen the grain from the hulls by stepping upon the ears. The humane measure of keeping the animals unmuzzled at that time gave them an opportunity to pick up food whenever they became hungry. It seems that this precept was soon understood in the proverbial sense, in which it is also applied by St. Paul, in his admonition to provide properly for the pastors and teachers, 1Co_9:9; 1Ti_5:18.