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Deuteronomy 25

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Judicial Justice and Humane Punishment 1–4

1
If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, and the judges judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked. ​
2
And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his wickedness, by number.
3
Forty stripes he may give him, he shall not exceed; lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee. ​
4
Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the grain. ​

The Law of Levirate Marriage 5–10

5
If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no son, the wife of the dead shall not be married without unto a stranger: her husband’s brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother unto her. ​
6
And it shall be, that the first-born that she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother that is dead, that his name be not blotted out of Israel.
7
And if the man like not to take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall go up to the gate unto the elders, and say, My husband’s brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother unto me.
8
Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak unto him: and if he stand, and say, I like not to take her;
9
then shall his brother’s wife come unto him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face; and she shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto the man that doth not build up his brother’s house. ​
10
And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed.

Protecting Vulnerable Body Parts 11–12

11
When men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draweth near to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and putteth forth her hand, and taketh him by the secrets; ​
12
then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall have no pity.

Honest Weights and Measures 13–16

13
Thou shalt not have in thy bag diverse weights, a great and a small. ​
14
Thou shalt not have in thy house diverse measures, a great and a small.
15
A perfect and just weight shalt thou have; a perfect and just measure shalt thou have: that thy days may be long in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee. ​
16
For all that do such things, even all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto Jehovah thy God. ​

The Command to Destroy Amalek 17–19

17
Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way as ye came forth out of Egypt; ​
18
how he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not God. ​
19
Therefore it shall be, when Jehovah thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Deuteronomy 25

Verse 1

justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked — Tsadaq, to declare righteous, is the verb of Isa 53:11, 'shall my righteous servant justify many'. Here it is a judge's verdict, and the reverse is called an abomination: 'He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD' (Prov 17:15; cf. Ex 23:7).

Verse 3

Forty stripes he may give him — The number is fixed ('by a certain number', v.2) so that the offender, even after the beating, is still 'thy brother' (ach), not 'vile' in the eyes of the one who beat him. Paul counted the practice in his own record: 'Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one' (2 Cor 11:24).

Verse 4

Thou shalt not muzzle the ox — The ox is working, and is allowed to eat while it works. Paul reads the law as written for those who labour in the gospel: 'Doth God take care for oxen?' and 'Or saith he it altogether for our sakes?' (1 Cor 9:9–10); and again, with 'The labourer is worthy of his reward', for the elders who rule well (1 Tim 5:17–18).

Verse 5

shall go in unto her — Yabam is the husband's brother, and 'perform the duty of an husband's brother' is a verb made from it. The firstborn son 'shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel' (v.6). Judah's order to Onan, 'raise up seed to thy brother' (Gen 38:8), is an earlier case; the Sadducees cited the law to Christ (Matt 22:24).

Verse 9

loose his shoe from off his foot — The widow brings the case 'to the gate unto the elders' (v.7). Ruth 4:7–8 records the same sign in another form, the kinsman who 'drew off his shoe' to give up his claim. 'Spit in his face' is a sign of shame (cf. Num 12:14), and v.10 names his house 'The house of him that hath his shoe loosed'.

Verse 11

taketh him by the secrets — Mabush, found only here, is from the root of shame and means the male parts. The wife acts 'to deliver her husband' from the one who smites him, yet v.12 sets the sentence, 'Then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall not pity her', in the words of 19:13 and 19:21.

Verse 13

divers weights, a great and a small — Literally 'a stone and a stone'. Weights were stones kept in a bag: 'the bag of deceitful weights' (Mic 6:11), and 'all the weights of the bag are his work' (Prov 16:11). Two sizes in one bag give two standards. Lev 19:35–36 gives the rule: 'Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have'.

Verse 15

a perfect and just weight — Shalem, complete, and tsedeq, right. The ephah, named here as the measure, is a word of Egyptian origin. 'That thy days may be lengthened' (arak) is the promise of 22:7 and of the commandment to honour father and mother (Ex 20:12); honest dealing in the marketplace carries it too.

Verse 16

an abomination unto the LORD — Toebah, the word used in Deut 22:5 and 23:18. Dishonest scales are named in the same terms in Prov 11:1, 'A false balance is abomination to the LORD', and Prov 20:10, 'Divers weights, and divers measures, both of them are alike abomination to the LORD'. 'Unrighteously' is evel, injustice.

Verse 17

Remember what Amalek did — Amalek was a grandson of Esau (Gen 36:12), and his people 'fought with Israel in Rephidim' (Ex 17:8). The LORD told Moses, 'Write this for a memorial in a book… for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven' (Ex 17:14), and swore 'war with Amalek from generation to generation' (Ex 17:16).

Verse 18

smote the hindmost of thee — Zanab, to cut off the tail, the stragglers at the rear. They were 'feeble', 'faint and weary', and he 'feared not God'. The charge is the one in Ps 36:1, which Paul cites in his indictment of all men: 'There is no fear of God before their eyes' (Rom 3:18).

Verse 19

blot out the remembrance of Amalek — Machah, to wipe out, the verb of Ex 17:14. The command waits for the time 'when the LORD thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about', as in 12:10 and 2 Sam 7:1. Samuel gave it to Saul: 'I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way' (1 Sam 15:2–3).