HarperCollins Study Bible

by Harold W. Attridge

  28If a man meets a virgin who is not engaged, and seizes her and lies with her, and they are caught in the act, 29the man who lay with her shall give fifty shekels of silver to the young woman’s father, and she shall become his wife. Because he violated her he shall not be permitted to divorce her as long as he lives.

  30a A man shall not marry his father’s wife, thereby violating his father’s rights.b

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  a Ch 23.1 in Heb

  b Heb uncovering his father’s skirt

  22.1–3 This redraft of Ex 23.4 prescribes initiatives to aid fellow Israelites in the recovery of straying livestock (cf. 1 Sam 9.3) and, by extension, any other lost property.

  22.4 A reformulation of Ex 23.5.

  22.5 Classification of cross-dressing as abhorrent to the LORD (see note on 7.25–26) suggests that the prohibition has in view pagan cultic practices, perhaps associated with worship of the Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar.

  22.6–7 The article urges self-interest (well-being, longevity) as ample motive for ecological sensitivity (cf. 20.19–20; Lev 22.28).

  22.8 Flat roofs of houses functioned as domestic space (e.g., Josh 2.6). Bloodguilt (cf. 19.10). The homeowner was liable for injury or death resulting from negligent construction.

  22.9–11 Traditional interpretation understood these and related provisions (Lev 19.19) to exemplify distinctions in the created order that were not to be blurred by human agency; e.g., “nature does not delight in the combination of dissimilar things” (Josephus, Antiquities 4.228–29; cf. Philo, Special Laws 4.203–12; Mishnah Kilayim).

  22.9 Forfeited, or “hallowed” i.e., treated like tithed produce (cf. 26.13; Lev 27.10, 21; Josh 6.19).

  22.12 See Num 15.38–41 (which develops a theological rationale for the practice).

  22.13–21 Emphasis in this case as drafted falls on constraining a husband who falsely accuses his bride of losing her virginity prior to marital consummation; a codicil sketches punitive response should the accusation be unrefuted (vv. 20–21). The litigants in contention before the town elders (cf. 21.19–20) are the bride’s parents and the husband, whose charges of breach of contract have implicitly defamed them as well as their daughter.

  22.13–14 Motive for the slander is not stated; that the husband dislikes, or “hates,” his wife would suffice as grounds for formal divorce (cf. 21.15; 24.1). Evidence of her virginity, a sign of blood from a rupture of the hymen (see v. 17).

  22.18–19 Although punishment could include flogging (cf. 21.18; 25.1–3), it most clearly refers to monetary damages awarded the bride’s father, which are double the amount specified for rape (22.29; cf. Ex 22.7). Since the husband accused his wife of a capital offense comparable to adultery (cf. vv. 21–24), the preclusion of divorce falls well short of talion in severity (see note on 19.19–21); the woman’s wishes are not considered.

  22.21 Disgraceful act, an “outrage,” usually of sexual nature (e.g., Gen 34.7; Judg 19.23–24; 2 Sam 13.12), threatening to the integrity of the social order. Purge. See note on 13.5.

  22.22–30 The series on sexual offenses continues, first by prescribing the death penalty in the case of a man caught in adultery with another’s wife (cf. 5.18; Ex 20.14; Lev 20.10) and then by reviewing related cases complicated by circumstances or rules of evidence.

  22.22 Both…shall die, execution of the pair, presumably by stoning (cf. vv. 21, 24; Lev 20.10; Ezek 16.38–40; Jn 8.5).

  22.23–27 Intercourse with an engaged, or formally betrothed, woman is equated with the crime of adultery. The question of the woman’s culpability distinguishes the two outcomes: she is punished when there is reason, because of locale, to charge her with complicity.

  22.26 This case is like, reasoning by analogy to accidental homicide (see 19.4–10).

  22.28–29 Seizes, violated (cf. 21.14). The wording indicates coercion, but biblical law does not sharply distinguish between rape and seduction of an unbetrothed woman (cf. Ex 22.16–17). Preclusion of divorce. See 22.19.

  22.30 Violating his father’s rights. The categorical prohibition of a son marrying his widowed or divorced step-mother (father’s wife) is a matter of decency and respect for paternal privilege (cf. 27.20; Gen 49.4; Lev 18.8; 20.11; Ezek 22.10).

  DEUTERONOMY 23

  Those Excluded from the Assembly

  1No one whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off shall be admitted to the assembly of the LORD.

  2Those born of an illicit union shall not be admitted to the assembly of the LORD. Even to the tenth generation, none of their descendants shall be admitted to the assembly of the LORD.

  3No Ammonite or Moabite shall be admitted to the assembly of the LORD. Even to the tenth generation, none of their descendants shall be admitted to the assembly of the LORD, 4because they did not meet you with food and water on your journey out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam son of Beor, from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you. 5(Yet the LORD your God refused to heed Balaam; the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loved you.) 6You shall never promote their welfare or their prosperity as long as you live.

  7You shall not abhor any of the Edomites, for they are your kin. You shall not abhor any of the Egyptians, because you were an alien residing in their land. 8The children of the third generation that are born to them may be admitted to the assembly of the LORD.

  Sanitary, Ritual, and Humanitarian Precepts

  9When you are encamped against your enemies you shall guard against any impropriety.

  10If one of you becomes unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then he shall go outside the camp; he must not come within the camp. 11When evening comes, he shall wash himself with water, and when the sun has set, he may come back into the camp.

  12You shall have a designated area outside the camp to which you shall go. 13With your utensils you shall have a trowel; when you relieve yourself outside, you shall dig a hole with it and then cover up your excrement. 14Because the LORD your God travels along with your camp, to save you and to hand over your enemies to you, therefore your camp must be holy, so that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you.

  15Slaves who have escaped to you from their owners shall not be given back to them. 16They shall reside with you, in your midst, in any place they choose in any one of your towns, wherever they please; you shall not oppress them.

  17None of the daughters of Israel shall be a temple prostitute; none of the sons of Israel shall be a temple prostitute. 18You shall not bring the fee of a prostitute or the wages of a male prostitutea into the house of the LORD your God in payment for any vow, for both of these are abhorrent to the LORD your God.

  19You shall not charge interest on loans to another Israelite, interest on money, interest on provisions, interest on anything that is lent. 20On loans to a foreigner you may charge interest, but on loans to another Israelite you may not charge interest, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all your undertakings in the land that you are about to enter and possess.

  21If you make a vow to the LORD your God, do not postpone fulfilling it; for the LORD your God will surely require it of you, and you would incur guilt. 22But if you refrain from vowing, you will not incur guilt. 23Whatever your lips utter you must diligently perform, just as you have freely vowed to the LORD your God with your own mouth.

  24If you go into your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes, as many as you wish, but you shall not put any in a container.

  25If you go into your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbor’s standing grain.

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  a Heb a dog

  23.1–8 These rules understand the Lord’s assembly to be a cohort of adult male Israelites, i.e., the covenant community functioning as a restricted religious, military, and political association. (Cf. 16.16; 20.1–9; 33.5 with, e.g., 5.2
2; 31.30; Isa 56.3–8. Cf. also Judg 20.2; 1 Kings 12.3, 20.)

  23.1 Exclusion by reason of genital impairment; cf. Lev 21.17–23.

  23.2 Illicit union was traditionally understood to mean incest (Mishnah Yebamot 4.13; cf. Gen 19.30–38; Lev 18.6–18).

  23.3–6 Ethnic disqualifications. Cf. Ezra 10.10–44; Neh 13.1–3, 23–27.

  23.4 Balaam. See Num 22–24.

  23.6 Welfare (“peace,” Hebrew shalom) and prosperity may connote political alliance or treaty (cf. Ezra 9.12; Jer 29.7; 38.4); cf. this injunction with 2.9, 19; Isa 16.4.

  23.7–8 Abhor. Cf. 7.26. Edomites. Cf. 2.4–8; Gen 36; Am 1.11. Benevolence toward Egyptians is remarkable in view of 24.22; 26.5, 6; 28.60, 68 (but see Gen 12.10–20). Children, apparently the descendants of intermarriage.

  23.9–14 Specific rules together with theological rationale for maintenance of personal hygiene during holy-war campaigns (cf. 20.1–20; 2 Sam 11.11).

  23.10–11 Cf. Lev 15.16–17; also the Dead Sea Scrolls Temple Scroll (11QTa) 45.7–12; 46.18.

  23.12 Designated area, privy (lit. “hand”); cf. Temple Scroll (11QTa) 46.13–16.

  23.14 Travels along. See, e.g., 1.30; 20.4; 31.6, 8; 2 Sam 7.6–7. Indecent, repugnant or “objectionable” (cf. 24.1).

  23.15–16 Extradition of slaves who seek asylum in Israel is prohibited (contrast 1 Kings 2.39–40; Code of Hammurabi 15–20).

  23.17–18 Proscriptions in defense of Israel’s sacral integrity. Temple prostitute. The term refers to “consecrated” persons, associated in biblical usage with Canaanite or otherwise pagan rites (cf. Gen 38.21–22; 1 Kings 14.24; 15.12; 22.46; 2 Kings 23.7; Hos 4.14). On a harlot’s “wages” or fee, cf. Isa 23.17–18; Ezek 16.31, 34, 41; Hos 9.1; Mic 1.7. Abhorrent to the LORD. See note on 7.25–26.

  23.19–20 In accord with 15.1–11, distinction is made between interest-free welfare loans to fellow Israelites (cf. 24.10–13; Ex 22.25; Lev 25.35–38) and profit-making commercial loans to foreigners (cf. 15.6; 28.12). Interest, increment, lit. “bite,” usually taken by the creditor when making the loan (cf. Ezek 18.8, 13, 17; 22.12).

  23.21–23 The closely comparable admonitions in Eccl 5.4–6 are derivative. Vow, a form of promissory oath, sworn in anticipation of divine favor (e.g., Gen 28.20–22; Num 21.2–3; 1 Sam 1.11; Ps 132.1–5).

  23.23 Whatever, usually a sacrifice or equivalent monetary payment (cf. Lev 27.2–29; Num 30.2–15; Pss 56.12–13; 66.13–15).

  23.24–25 These rulings cogently define the limits of traditional hospitality extended to hungry wayfarers as well as to field hands (cf. 25.4; Mt 12.1; Josephus, Antiquities 4.234–37).

  DEUTERONOMY 24

  Laws concerning Marriage and Divorce

  1Suppose a man enters into marriage with a woman, but she does not please him because he finds something objectionable about her, and so he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house; she then leaves his house 2and goes off to become another man’s wife. 3Then suppose the second man dislikes her, writes her a bill of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house (or the second man who married her dies); 4her first husband, who sent her away, is not permitted to take her again to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that would be abhorrent to the LORD, and you shall not bring guilt on the land that the LORD your God is giving you as a possession.

  Miscellaneous Laws

  5When a man is newly married, he shall not go out with the army or be charged with any related duty. He shall be free at home one year, to be happy with the wife whom he has married.

  6No one shall take a mill or an upper millstone in pledge, for that would be taking a life in pledge.

  7If someone is caught kidnaping another Israelite, enslaving or selling the Israelite, then that kidnaper shall die. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

  8Guard against an outbreak of a leprousa skin disease by being very careful; you shall carefully observe whatever the levitical priests instruct you, just as I have commanded them. 9Remember what the LORD your God did to Miriam on your journey out of Egypt.

  10When you make your neighbor a loan of any kind, you shall not go into the house to take the pledge. 11You shall wait outside, while the person to whom you are making the loan brings the pledge out to you. 12If the person is poor, you shall not sleep in the garment given you asb the pledge. 13You shall give the pledge back by sunset, so that your neighbor may sleep in the cloak and bless you; and it will be to your credit before the LORD your God.

  14You shall not withhold the wages of poor and needy laborers, whether other Israelites or aliens who reside in your land in one of your towns. 15You shall pay them their wages daily before sunset, because they are poor and their livelihood depends on them; otherwise they might cry to the LORD against you, and you would incur guilt.

  16Parents shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their parents; only for their own crimes may persons be put to death.

  17You shall not deprive a resident alien or an orphan of justice; you shall not take a widow’s garment in pledge. 18Remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this.

  19When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be left for the alien, the orphan, and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all your undertakings. 20When you beat your olive trees, do not strip what is left; it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow.

  21When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, do not glean what is left; it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow. 22Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I am commanding you to do this.

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  a A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain

  b Heb lacks the garment given you as

  24.1–4 Unlike the exceptional cases of 22.19, 29, divorce is here left to a husband’s discretion (does not please, v. 1; dislikes, v. 3). But he is prohibited from remarrying a former spouse after she has become another man’s wife, thus preventing interpretation of her second marriage as harlotry or wife swapping (so Nachmanides, a medieval Jewish commentator).

  24.1 Something objectionable (indecent, 23.14) apparently means for any cause, though the sense was already disputed in antiquity (cf. Sir 7.26; 25.25–26; Mt 19.3–9; Josephus, Antiquities 4.253). Certificate of divorce, a writ proving the husband had relinquished claim on the woman, freeing her to remarry (cf. Isa 50.1; Jer 3.8; Mt 5.31; Mishnah Gitin).

  24.4 Been defiled, by the husband, who had enabled or caused her to seek another marriage. Abhorrent. See note on 7.25–26. Guilt on the land, pollution comparable to that caused by homicide (19.13; 21.9; cf. Jer 3.1–3; Hos 4.2–3).

  24.5 A supplement to 20.7. Related duty, e.g., conscripted labor or government service (cf. 1 Sam 8.11–13; 1 Kings 5.13–18; 9.15–21).

  24.6–25.4 Most of these otherwise diverse provisions exemplify concern for humane, charitable treatment of persons, especially the economically disadvantaged; together with parallels in other bodies of biblical law, they form the bedrock of biblical social ethics.

  24.6 Legitimate surety for creditors must not compromise the means of debtors to subsist. Pledge, as collateral for a loan; cf. 24.17; Ex 22.25–27; Job 24.3.

  24.7 A redraft of Ex 21.16. Enslaving or selling, e.g., abuse of distrainees (cf. 2 Kings 4.1; Job 24.9; Am 2.6). Purge. See note on 13.5.

  24.8–9 On priestly dermatology, see Lev 13–14. For the judgment on Miriam, see Num 12.10–15.

  24.10–13 Additional restrictions on distraint (see vv. 6, 17), including a redraft of Ex 22.25–27 (cf. Job 22.6; Prov 20.16; 27.13; Am 2.8).

  24.13 Be to your credit, counted as “merit” (cf. 6.25), the converse of 15.9; 24.15.

  24.14–15 Daily receipt of wages is a laborer’s right (cf. Lev 19.13; Jer 22.13; Mt 20.2–15). On equa
l treatment for aliens (“sojourners”), cf. vv. 17–22; 1.16; 10.17–19; Lev 19.33–34; Ezek 47.22–23.

  24.15 Cry to the LORD. See note on 15.9.

  24.16 This juridical principle limiting liability for capital offenses to the actual perpetrators of crimes is cited in 2 Kings 14.6. (For theological reverberations, see Deut 7.10; Jer 31.29, 30; Ezek 18.)

  24.17–18 For the theological rationale, see 10.17–19; 15.15; 24.22 (cf. also 27.19; Ex 22.21–24; 23.6, 9).

  24.19–22 Provisions on gleaning. Cf. Ex 23.10–11; Lev 19.9–10; 23.22; Isa 17.5–6; Ruth 2; Mishnah Pe‘a.

  DEUTERONOMY 25

  1Suppose two persons have a dispute and enter into litigation, and the judges decide between them, declaring one to be in the right and the other to be in the wrong. 2If the one in the wrong deserves to be flogged, the judge shall make that person lie down and be beaten in his presence with the number of lashes proportionate to the offense. 3Forty lashes may be given but not more; if more lashes than these are given, your neighbor will be degraded in your sight.

  4You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.

  Levirate Marriage

  5When brothers reside together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her, taking her in marriage, and performing the duty of a husband’s brother to her, 6and the firstborn whom she bears shall succeed to the name of the deceased brother, so that his name may not be blotted out of Israel. 7But if the man has no desire to marry his brother’s widow, then his brother’s widow shall go up to the elders at the gate and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to perpetuate his brother’s name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.” 8Then the elders of his town shall summon him and speak to him. If he persists, saying, “I have no desire to marry her,” 9then his brother’s wife shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, pull his sandal off his foot, spit in his face, and declare, “This is what is done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.” 10Throughout Israel his family shall be known as “the house of him whose sandal was pulled off.”