View Deuteronomy 24 in the note window.
Of Divorce, ver. 1 - 4.
New - married men discharged from the war, ver. 5.
Of pledges, ver. 6. 10 - 13.
Of man - stealers, ver. 7.
Of the leprosy, ver. 8, 9.
Of daily wages, ver. 14, 15.
None to be punished for another's sin, ver. 16.
Of justice and mercy to the widow, fatherless and stranger,
ver. 17 - 22.
1: Some uncleanness - Some hateful thing, some distemper of body or
quality of mind not observed before marriage: or some light carriage, as
this phrase commonly signifies, but not amounting to adultery. Let him
write - This is not a command as some of the Jews understood it, nor
an allowance and approbation, but merely a permission of that practice for
prevention of greater mischiefs, and this only until the time of
reformation, till the coming of the Messiah when things were to
return to their first institution and purest condition.
4: May not - This is the punishment of his levity and injustice in
putting her away without sufficient cause, which by this offer he now
acknowledgeth. Defiled - Not absolutely, as if her second marriage were a
sin, but with respect to her first husband, to whom she is as a defiled or
unclean woman, that is, forbidden things; forbidden are accounted and called
unclean, (Jdg 13:7), because they may no more be touched or used than
an unclean thing. Thou shalt not cause the land to sin - Thou shalt not
suffer such lightness to be practised, lest the people be polluted, and the
land defiled and accursed by that means.
5: Business - Any publick office or employment, which may cause an
absence from or neglect of his wife. One year - That their affections may
be firmly settled, so as there may be no occasions for the divorces last
mentioned.
6: Mill - stone - Used in their hand - mills. Under this, he understands
all other things necessary to get a livelihood, the taking away whereof is
against the laws both of charity and prudence, seeing by those things alone
he can be enabled both to subsist and to pay his debts. Life - His
livelihood, the necessary support of his life.
10: Thou shalt not go in - To prevent both the poor man's reproach
by having his wants exposed, and the creditor's greediness which might be
occasioned by the sight of something which he desired, and the debtor could
not spare.
11: The pledge - He shall chuse what pledge he pleases,
provided it be sufficient for the purpose.
12: Thou shalt not sleep - But restore it before night, which
intimates that he should take no such thing for pledge, without which a
man cannot sleep.
13: Bless thee - Bring down the blessing of God upon thee by his
prayers: for though his prayers, if he be not a good man, shall not avail
for his own behalf, yet they shall avail for thy benefit. It shall be
right - Esteemed and accepted by God as a work of righteousness, or mercy.
15: At this day - At the time appointed,
weekly or daily.
16: Not put to death - If the one be free from the guilt of the
others sin, except in those cases where the sovereign Lord of life and
death, before whom none is innocent, hath commanded it, as(De 13:1-18,Jos 7:24). For though God do visit the father's sins
upon the children, (Ex 20:5), yet he will not suffer men to do so.
17: Raiment - Not such as she hath daily and necessary use of, as
being poor. But this concerns not rich persons, nor superfluous raiment.
