Deuteronomy22:1–12

Go astray. —Literally, being driven away, as by wild beasts ( Jeremiah 1:17 ), or by robbers. It is not simply straying. “I will seek that which was lost and bring again that which was driven away ” ( Ezekiel 34:16 ), and so in many other passages. Thou shalt not . . . hide thyself from them. —Comp. Proverbs 24:12 . “If thou sayest, Behold we knew it not . . . doth not He know it?” And Isaiah 58:7 , “that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh.”

"Brother" is a term of extensive application, comprehending persons of every description; not a relative, neighbor, or fellow countryman only, but any human being, known or unknown, a foreigner, and even an enemy (Ex 23:4). The duty inculcated is an act of common justice and charity, which, while it was taught by the law of nature, was more clearly and forcibly enjoined in the law delivered by God to His people.

and hide thyself from them ] Deuteronomy 22:4 , Isaiah 58:7 ( from thine own flesh ), Psalm 55:1 (2); LXX, ὑπεριδεῖν . Cp. Luke 10:31 f., passed by on the other side .

If we duly regard the golden rule of doing to others as we would they should do unto us, many particular precepts might be omitted. We can have no property in any thing that we find. Religion teaches us to be neighbourly, and to be ready to do all good offices to all men. We know not how soon we may have occasion for help.

If thy brother be not nigh unto thee, which may make the duty more troublesome or chargeable. If thou know him not; which implies, that if they did know the owner, they should restore it to him. Thou shalt bring it unto thine own house, to be used like thine own cattle. Thou shalt restore it to him again, the owner, as it may be presumed, paying the charges.

Showing that brotherly affection must be shown, not only to those who dwell near to us, but also to those who are far off.

then thou shall bring it into thine house; not into his dwelling house, but some out house, barn, or stable: and it shall be with thee; remain in his custody, and be taken care of by him; and, as the Targum of Jonathan says, "be fed and nourished by him"

if the owner lived at a distance, or was unknown, he was to take it into his own house or farm, till he came to seek it. He was also to do the same with an ass or any other property that another had lost.

The duty inculcated is an act of common justice and charity, which, while it was taught by the law of nature, was more clearly and forcibly enjoined in the law delivered by God to His people. Indifference or dissimulation in the circumstances supposed would not only be cruelty to the dumb animals, but a violation of the common rights of humanity; and therefore the dictates of natural feeling, and still more the authority of the divine law, enjoined that the lost or missing property of another should be taken care of by the finder, till a proper opportunity occurred of restoring it to the owner.

and so shalt thou do with his raiment; if that is lost and found, it must be restored to the owner, he describing it; a garment is particularly mentioned, it is said (a), because in every garment there is a mark or sign by which the owners can inquire about it; for it is made by the hands of men, and does not come from anything common

i.e. Dissemble that thou hast found it. Or, hide it , i.e. conceal the thing lost.

You are bound to do much more for your neighbour.

An animal fallen under its load needs two persons to put it right: ‘an operation which can be performed for a loaded animal only by lifting up the burden on both sides at once, unless it be unloaded and loaded again, implying much loss of time, and even this often cannot be done without assistance. Jew and Christian, Muslim and Koord mutually assist each other, though inimical to one another’s faith’

A fallen animal belonging to another he was also to help up (as in Exodus 23:5 : except that in this case, instead of a brother generally, an enemy or hater is mentioned).

thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again; that is, help the brother and owner of it, the ox and ass; assist him in getting them up again, and lay on their burden, and fasten them aright, which either were rolled off by the fall, or were obliged to be taken off in order to raise them up; and if this was to be done for an enemy, then much more for a brother, as is required

An animal that had fallen was also to be lifted up, and the owner was to be assisted to do this. In Exodus, it is specially declared that both these services are to be rendered, even though the parties are at enmity with each other, and the one is the object of hatred to the other.

the divine distinction of the sexes, which was kept sacred in civil life by the clothing peculiar to each sex, was to be not less but even more sacredly observed. "There shall not be man's things upon a woman, and a man shall not put on a woman's clothes." כּלי does not signify clothing merely, nor arms only, but includes every kind of domestic and other utensils

That which pertaineth unto a man - i. e. not only his dress but all that especially pertains distinctively to his sex; arms, domestic and other utensils, etc. The distinction between the sexes is natural and divinely established, and cannot be neglected without indecorum and consequent danger to purity (compare 1 Corinthians 11:3-15 ).

As what is forbidden is styled an abomination to Jehovah , the law probably refers to heathen rites, for the practice of which, including the interchange by the sexes of their clothes, weapons, etc., leading to gross impurities, there is much evidence in records of the Syrian and other ancient religions.

the word also signifies armour (h), as Onkelos renders it; and so here forbids women putting on a military habit and going with men to war, as was usual with the eastern women; and so Maimonides (i) illustrates it, by putting a mitre or an helmet on her head, and clothing herself with a coat of mail

“Rabbi Akiba says, You will not find a single duty prescribed in the Law with a promise of reward attached to it, which has not also the resurrection of the dead hanging thereby. In the command to honour thy father and mother, it is written (Deuteronomy 5) ‘that thy days may be prolonged and that it may go well with thee.’ In the liberty of the nest it is written (here), ‘that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days.’

This is a beautiful instance of the humanizing spirit of the Mosaic law, in checking a tendency to wanton destructiveness and encouraging a spirit of kind and compassionate tenderness to the tiniest creatures.

If God detests cruelty done to little birds, how much more to man, made according to his image?

The affectionate relation of parents to their young, which God had established even in the animal world, was also to be kept just as sacred. If any one found a bird's nest by the road upon a tree, or upon the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the mother sitting upon them, he was not to take the mother with the young ones, but to let the mother fly, and only take the young.

the same blessing that is promised to observers of the fifth command, which is one of the weightier matters of the law, is made to this; which the Jews say (d) is but as the value of a farthing, or of little account in comparison of others; wherefore, as Fagius rightly observes (e), God, in bestowing such rewards, has regard not to the works of men, but to his own grace and kindness; for what merit can there be in letting go or preserving the life of a little bird?

Let the dam go; partly for the bird’s sake, which suffered enough by the loss of its young; for God would not have cruelty exercised towards the brute creatures; and partly for men’s sake, to restrain their greediness and covetousness, that they should not monopolize all to themselves, but might leave the hopes of a future seed for others.

The command is related to the one in Leviticus 22:28 and Exodus 23:19 , and is placed upon a par with the commandment relating to parents, by the fact that obedience is urged upon the people by the same promise in both instances (vid., Deuteronomy 5:16 ; Exodus 20:12 ).

The tops of houses in ancient Judea, as in the East still, were flat, being composed of branches or twigs laid across large beams, and covered with a cement of clay or strong plaster. They were surrounded by a parapet breast high. In summer the roof is a favorite resort for coolness, and accidents would frequently happen from persons incautiously approaching the edge and falling into the street or court

The Jews say, that by the equity of this law, they are obliged, and so are we, to fence or remove every thing whereby life may be endangered, as wells, or bridges, lest if any perish through the omission, their blood be required at the hands of those who have neglected to perform so plain a duty.

The roofs of houses in Palestine were flat and used for various purposes. Compare Joshua 2:6 ; 2 Samuel 11:2 ; Acts 10:9 , etc. A battlement was almost a necessary protection. It was to be, according to the rabbis, at least two cubits high (about 3 ft.).

A battlement, i.e. a fence or breastwork, because the roofs of their houses were made flat or plain, that men might walk on them. See Judges 16:27 1 Samuel 9:25 2 Samuel 11:2 Nehemiah 8:16 Matthew 10:27 . Blood, i.e. the guilt of blood, by a man’s fall from the top of thy house, through thy neglect of this necessary provision.

St. Paul gives a spiritual sense to the precept in 2Corinthians 6:14 . “Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.” The ox was a clean animal and fit for sacrifice. The ass was unclean, and must be redeemed with a lamb. The clean and unclean must not till the holy land of Jehovah together. All these precepts are part of the laws of holiness in Leviticus—rules of behaviour arising from the fact that Israel is the special people of a holy God.

be forfeited ] Lit. as R.V. margin, consecrated , separated unto Jehovah and His sanctuary like things under the ban ( Joshua 6:19 ); proof that the prohibited mixture was regarded as a religious, i.e. a ritual, offence.

this and the two following precepts, though in themselves small and trivial, are given, according to that time and state of the church, for documents or instructions in greater matters, and particularly to commend to them simplicity and sincerity in all their carriages towards God and men, and to forbid all mixture of their inventions with God’s institutions, in doctrine or worship.

The tenor of this law is to walk in simplicity and not to be curious about new fads.

An ox and ass, being of different species and of very different characters, cannot associate comfortably, nor unite cheerfully in drawing a plough or a wagon. The ass being much smaller and his step shorter, there would be an unequal and irregular draft.

Either, 1. Because the one was a clean beast, the other unclean; whereby God would teach men to avoid polluting themselves by the touch of unclean persons or things, 2 Corinthians 6:14 . Or, 2. Because of their unequal strength, whereby the weaker, the ass, would be oppressed and overwrought.

The mystery of this is, that godly and ungodly persons are not to be yoked together in religious fellowship: see 2 Corinthians 6:14 .

This is frequently seen in Palestine, as also a camel with one or other of these two. Note that the ox was ‘clean,’ the ass ‘unclean.’ D does not, like H, prohibit cross-breeding.

The essence of the crime (Zep 1:8) consisted, not in wearing a woollen and a linen robe, but in the two stuffs being woven together, according to a favorite superstition of ancient idolaters

No Semitic etymology can be found for the word, and as the Hebrews derived the textile art from Egypt, the home of that art, the word is probably of Egyptian origin.

“The fine linen is the righteousness of saints” ( Revelation 19:8 ), literally, their requirements. That is what they need. But it is said of the priests in Ezekiel, “They shall not gird themselves with anything that causeth sweat: That which cometh out of the man defileth him.”

a foreign word, and perhaps Egyptian (doubtfully derived from the Coptic saht , ‘woven,’ and nudj , ‘false’), LXX κίβδηλος . Also in Leviticus 19:19 , which has a garment of two kinds for the wool and linen together of D.

We may call this fringe (or κράςπεδον , Greek) on the four sides of the square shawl or mantle, a mourning for the one man who was executed for sabbath breaking in the wilderness, as well as a reminder to Israel to do all the commandments and be holy unto their God. Of this κράςπεδον , when worn by our Lord on earth, the sick laid hold and were healed.

partly to bring the commands of God to their remembrance, as it is expressed Numbers 15:38 , and partly as a public profession of their nation and religion, whereby they might be distinguished from strangers, that so they might be more circumspect to behave as became the people of God

Gedilîm , lit. twisted threads , are to be put on the four borders of the quadrangular covering or outer garment ( Deuteronomy 24:13 , Exodus 22:27 ). P (or H), Numbers 15:37-41 , calls them Ṣîṣîth , and explains them as reminders of the commandments of their God, and their obligations, as holy to him

The tunic of the Hebrews appears to have been divided at the bottom in front, and back, so that four corners or wings ( כַּנְפות ) were made, to each of which a tassel was appended (Greek, κράσπεδον , Matthew 9:20 ; Matthew 23:5 , etc.).