Deuteronomy 25

De 25:1-19.

STRIPES

MUST

NOT

EXCEED

FORTY.

2, 3. if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten--In judicial sentences,

which awarded punishment short of capital, scourging, like the Egyptian

bastinado, was the most common form in which they were executed. The

Mosaic law, however, introduced two important restrictions; namely: (1)

The punishment should be inflicted in presence of the judge instead of

being inflicted in private by some heartless official; and (2) The

maximum amount of it should be limited to forty stripes, instead of

being awarded according to the arbitrary will or passion of the

magistrate. The Egyptian, like Turkish and Chinese rulers, often applied

the stick till they caused death or lameness for life. Of what the

scourge consisted at first we are not informed; but in later times, when

the Jews were exceedingly scrupulous in adhering to the letter of the

law and, for fear of miscalculation, were desirous of keeping within the

prescribed limit, it was formed of three cords, terminating in leathern

thongs, and thirteen strokes of this counted as thirty-nine stripes

(2Co 11:24).

4. Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn--In

Judea, as in modern Syria and Egypt, the larger grains were beaten out

the wide open spaces which form the threshing-floors. The animals were

allowed freely to pick up a mouthful, when they chose to do so: a wise

as well as humane regulation, introduced by the law of Moses (compare

1Co 9:9;

1Ti 5:17, 18).

5-10. the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger:

her husband's brother . . . shall take her to him to wife--This usage

existed before the age of Moses

(Ge 38:8).

But the Mosaic law rendered the custom obligatory

(Mt 22:25)

on younger brothers, or the nearest kinsman, to marry the widow

(Ru 4:4),

the preservation of property in the Hebrew families and tribes. If the

younger brother declined to comply with the law, the widow brought her

claim before the authorities of the place at a public assembly (the

gate of the city); and he having declared his refusal, she was ordered

to loose the thong of his shoe--a sign of degradation--following up

that act by spitting on the ground-- the strongest expression of

ignominy and contempt among Eastern people. The shoe was kept by the

magistrate as an evidence of the transaction, and the parties

separated.

13-16. Thou shalt not have . . . divers weights--Weights were anciently

made of stone and are frequently used still by Eastern shopkeepers and

traders, who take them out of the bag and put them in the balance. The

man who is not cheated by the trader and his bag of divers weights must

be blessed with more acuteness than most of his fellows

[ROBERTS].

(Compare

Pr 16:11; 20:10).

17-19. Remember what Amalek did--This cold-blooded and dastardly

atrocity is not narrated in the previous history

(Ex 17:14).

It was an unprovoked outrage on the laws of nature and humanity, as

well as a daring defiance of that God who had so signally shown His

favor towards Israel (see on

1 Samuel 15;

27. 8;

30).