Deuteronomy 22 - 24:7
In summary:
Moses continues to teach on the application of the Ten Commandments by detailing the seventh and eighth commands: You shall not commit adultery and you shall not steal.
Moses continues to teach on the application of the Ten Commandments by detailing the seventh and eighth commands: You shall not commit adultery and you shall not steal.
In more detail:
After the detailed explanation of the sixth commandment (You shall not murder) in Deuteronomy 19 – 21, we enter a section that does not seem tied to any of the Ten Commandments but rather the care of another’s property: “You shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep going astray and ignore them. You shall take them back to your brother”(Deuteronomy 22:1). We can say that this, along with the commandments that follow in Deuteronomy 22:2-4, is an application of the great commandment of Leviticus 19:18: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” We can say that it teaches the command “You shall not murder” in a positive way (“Love your neighbor as yourself”) and therefore closes the previous section.
Immediately afterwards there follows several commands that preserve natural distinctions: “A woman shall not wear a man’s garment, nor shall a man put on a woman’s cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD your God” (Deuteronomy 22:5)… “You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest the whole yield be forfeited, the crop that you have sown and the yield of the vineyard. You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together. You shall not wear cloth of wool and linen mixed together” (Deuteronomy 22:9-11). Along with these, a commandment appears that preserves a brother’s life, an echo of the previous commandment: “When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring the guilt of blood upon your house, if anyone should fall from it” (Deuteronomy 22:8) and another that sustains life by preserving future food production (Deuteronomy 22:6-7). We can interpret these as a bridge between the sixth and seventh commandments. Through these laws, the Israelites can preserve their daily life (You shall not murder) and maintain the distinctions that Yahweh has created (You shall not commit adultery). Above all, they will preserve the distinguishing characteristics that identify them and separate them from the surrounding pagan nations. We can see that principle confirmed in 2 Corinthians 6:14 when the apostle Paul echoes Deuteronomy 22:10 by saying, “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.” If we recall that the prohibition of yoking together an ox and a donkey is not based on some limit to agricultural production but because the ox was a ritually clean animal while the donkey was unclean, we can see that Deuteronomy 22:10 looks ahead to the holiness that must be maintained in the new covenant: “For what partnership has
righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?... Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?” (2 Corinthians 6:14-15; Harman, Allen, Deuteronomy: The Commands of a Covenant God; Fearn, Ross-shire: Christian Focus, 2001; pg. 204)
We also can say that the laws in Deuteronomy 22:5-12 prepare the way for the seventh commandment (You shall not commit adultery) where a husband must maintain a distinction between his wife and any other woman. The husband cannot hate her, defame her and look for a pretext to divorce her (Deuteronomy 22:13-19). All men and women must respect their own marriages and those of others under penalty of death
(Deuteronomy 22:22-24; notice that engagement is considered legally equal to marriage). Sexual activity before marriage is prohibited (Deuteronomy 22:20-21, 25-29). In the case of rape, the rapist must die or, if the woman is not engaged, he must receive her as his wife permanently and pay the dowry (Deuteronomy 22:29). In all of these cases, sexual activity limited to marriage preserves the distinctions among families
and protects the wholeness of the family’s inheritance for generations.
The laws of Deuteronomy 23 preserve Yahweh’s assembly from contamination from contact with idolatrous peoples and those who are enemies of Him and His people.
Notice that the “forbidden union” Deuteronomy 23:2 probably refers to one between an Israelite and a pagan (so Harman, Deuteronomy, 210-11); just as the laws against adultery preserve the sanctity of marriage and inheritance, this law and those that follow Deuteronomy 23:3-8 intend to preserve the sanctity of Yahweh’s assembly and the completeness of tribal inheritances. They also seek to protect the Israelites from the illicit sexual practices of the surrounding nations (Deuteronomy 23:1, 17-18) and the ritual contamination that can multiply when they gather in great numbers to fight Yahweh’s battles against them (Deuteronomy 23:9-14; remember the laws in Leviticus 15:1-18, and in particular 15:16-18). Therefore, personal sexual practices resound on a national level and can impact the status of holiness in the entire nation; therefore, the Israelites always must exalt marriage and recognize its priority in their covenant with Yahweh among the nations.
Deuteronomy 23 also enters the theme of the eighth commandment (You shall not steal) when it says, “You shall not give up to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you” (Deuteronomy 23:15). In the background of the chapter as discussed above, we understand this law to apply to foreign servants who flee from their masters in the nations bordering Israel (Harman, Deuteronomy, pg. 214). Since the Israelites have no covenant with these nations, they are not under the obligation to return their escaped servants, nor should they act as if they are under such an obligation. Remember that the book of Exodus decreed laws for the protection of servants including the command: “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 22:21). Perhaps the intention of Deuteronomy 23:15-16 is not only the protection of the servant from the oppression of his foreign master, nor the denial of any
kind of covenant with neighboring peoples but also protection against the temptation of enslaving him for one’s own benefit: “He shall dwell with you, in your midst, in the place that he shall choose within one of your towns, wherever it suits him. You shall not wrong
him” (Deuteronomy 23:16). In a very different case but with some common elements, the apostle Paul writes to Philemon in the New Testament about his escaped slave Onesimus: “I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel, but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your
own accord” (Philemon 13-14). He will not “steal” the services of a slave which belong entirely to his owner. We also can say that the laws in Deuteronomy 23:15-16 are linked with the eighth commandment in that one will not “steal” from his brother by charging him interest (Deuteronomy 23:19-20), nor “steal” from God by not keeping one’s vows (Deuteronomy 23:21-23) nor “steal” from another by taking advantage of the abundance that Yahweh has given him (Deuteronomy 23:24-25).
Deuteronomy 24:1-4 also preserves the integrity of marriage by not allowing a man to remarry a woman whom he has divorced for finding some indecency in her. And in Deuteronomy 24:5 neither will the husband of a newlywed by “stolen” from her by forcing him to serve in the military. Deuteronomy 24:6 protects the tools that a worker needs to earn his provision, and Deuteronomy 24:7 decrees the death sentence against someone who robs another person.
Therefore, in the most general terms we can observe that the explanation of the commandments against adultery and robbery in Deuteronomy 22 – 24:7 emphasize the sanctity of marriage and the protection of personal property and means of production; they also underline the distinctive characteristics of the Israelites as decreed in the covenant. As always, we want to understand these laws in the context of Yahweh’s grace: “The LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loved you”(Deuteronomy 23:5); “The LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you” (Deuteronomy 23:14). “The LORD your God may bless you in all that you undertake in the land that you are entering to take possession of it” (Deuteronomy 23:20). “You shall not bring sin upon the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance”(Deuteronomy 24:4). May Yahweh bless us in our new covenant in Jesus Christ as we also sanctify marriage, preserve the distinctions between us and the world, treat others and their property in righteousness and receive the oppressed foreigner.
After the detailed explanation of the sixth commandment (You shall not murder) in Deuteronomy 19 – 21, we enter a section that does not seem tied to any of the Ten Commandments but rather the care of another’s property: “You shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep going astray and ignore them. You shall take them back to your brother”(Deuteronomy 22:1). We can say that this, along with the commandments that follow in Deuteronomy 22:2-4, is an application of the great commandment of Leviticus 19:18: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” We can say that it teaches the command “You shall not murder” in a positive way (“Love your neighbor as yourself”) and therefore closes the previous section.
Immediately afterwards there follows several commands that preserve natural distinctions: “A woman shall not wear a man’s garment, nor shall a man put on a woman’s cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD your God” (Deuteronomy 22:5)… “You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest the whole yield be forfeited, the crop that you have sown and the yield of the vineyard. You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together. You shall not wear cloth of wool and linen mixed together” (Deuteronomy 22:9-11). Along with these, a commandment appears that preserves a brother’s life, an echo of the previous commandment: “When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring the guilt of blood upon your house, if anyone should fall from it” (Deuteronomy 22:8) and another that sustains life by preserving future food production (Deuteronomy 22:6-7). We can interpret these as a bridge between the sixth and seventh commandments. Through these laws, the Israelites can preserve their daily life (You shall not murder) and maintain the distinctions that Yahweh has created (You shall not commit adultery). Above all, they will preserve the distinguishing characteristics that identify them and separate them from the surrounding pagan nations. We can see that principle confirmed in 2 Corinthians 6:14 when the apostle Paul echoes Deuteronomy 22:10 by saying, “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.” If we recall that the prohibition of yoking together an ox and a donkey is not based on some limit to agricultural production but because the ox was a ritually clean animal while the donkey was unclean, we can see that Deuteronomy 22:10 looks ahead to the holiness that must be maintained in the new covenant: “For what partnership has
righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?... Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?” (2 Corinthians 6:14-15; Harman, Allen, Deuteronomy: The Commands of a Covenant God; Fearn, Ross-shire: Christian Focus, 2001; pg. 204)
We also can say that the laws in Deuteronomy 22:5-12 prepare the way for the seventh commandment (You shall not commit adultery) where a husband must maintain a distinction between his wife and any other woman. The husband cannot hate her, defame her and look for a pretext to divorce her (Deuteronomy 22:13-19). All men and women must respect their own marriages and those of others under penalty of death
(Deuteronomy 22:22-24; notice that engagement is considered legally equal to marriage). Sexual activity before marriage is prohibited (Deuteronomy 22:20-21, 25-29). In the case of rape, the rapist must die or, if the woman is not engaged, he must receive her as his wife permanently and pay the dowry (Deuteronomy 22:29). In all of these cases, sexual activity limited to marriage preserves the distinctions among families
and protects the wholeness of the family’s inheritance for generations.
The laws of Deuteronomy 23 preserve Yahweh’s assembly from contamination from contact with idolatrous peoples and those who are enemies of Him and His people.
Notice that the “forbidden union” Deuteronomy 23:2 probably refers to one between an Israelite and a pagan (so Harman, Deuteronomy, 210-11); just as the laws against adultery preserve the sanctity of marriage and inheritance, this law and those that follow Deuteronomy 23:3-8 intend to preserve the sanctity of Yahweh’s assembly and the completeness of tribal inheritances. They also seek to protect the Israelites from the illicit sexual practices of the surrounding nations (Deuteronomy 23:1, 17-18) and the ritual contamination that can multiply when they gather in great numbers to fight Yahweh’s battles against them (Deuteronomy 23:9-14; remember the laws in Leviticus 15:1-18, and in particular 15:16-18). Therefore, personal sexual practices resound on a national level and can impact the status of holiness in the entire nation; therefore, the Israelites always must exalt marriage and recognize its priority in their covenant with Yahweh among the nations.
Deuteronomy 23 also enters the theme of the eighth commandment (You shall not steal) when it says, “You shall not give up to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you” (Deuteronomy 23:15). In the background of the chapter as discussed above, we understand this law to apply to foreign servants who flee from their masters in the nations bordering Israel (Harman, Deuteronomy, pg. 214). Since the Israelites have no covenant with these nations, they are not under the obligation to return their escaped servants, nor should they act as if they are under such an obligation. Remember that the book of Exodus decreed laws for the protection of servants including the command: “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 22:21). Perhaps the intention of Deuteronomy 23:15-16 is not only the protection of the servant from the oppression of his foreign master, nor the denial of any
kind of covenant with neighboring peoples but also protection against the temptation of enslaving him for one’s own benefit: “He shall dwell with you, in your midst, in the place that he shall choose within one of your towns, wherever it suits him. You shall not wrong
him” (Deuteronomy 23:16). In a very different case but with some common elements, the apostle Paul writes to Philemon in the New Testament about his escaped slave Onesimus: “I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel, but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your
own accord” (Philemon 13-14). He will not “steal” the services of a slave which belong entirely to his owner. We also can say that the laws in Deuteronomy 23:15-16 are linked with the eighth commandment in that one will not “steal” from his brother by charging him interest (Deuteronomy 23:19-20), nor “steal” from God by not keeping one’s vows (Deuteronomy 23:21-23) nor “steal” from another by taking advantage of the abundance that Yahweh has given him (Deuteronomy 23:24-25).
Deuteronomy 24:1-4 also preserves the integrity of marriage by not allowing a man to remarry a woman whom he has divorced for finding some indecency in her. And in Deuteronomy 24:5 neither will the husband of a newlywed by “stolen” from her by forcing him to serve in the military. Deuteronomy 24:6 protects the tools that a worker needs to earn his provision, and Deuteronomy 24:7 decrees the death sentence against someone who robs another person.
Therefore, in the most general terms we can observe that the explanation of the commandments against adultery and robbery in Deuteronomy 22 – 24:7 emphasize the sanctity of marriage and the protection of personal property and means of production; they also underline the distinctive characteristics of the Israelites as decreed in the covenant. As always, we want to understand these laws in the context of Yahweh’s grace: “The LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loved you”(Deuteronomy 23:5); “The LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you” (Deuteronomy 23:14). “The LORD your God may bless you in all that you undertake in the land that you are entering to take possession of it” (Deuteronomy 23:20). “You shall not bring sin upon the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance”(Deuteronomy 24:4). May Yahweh bless us in our new covenant in Jesus Christ as we also sanctify marriage, preserve the distinctions between us and the world, treat others and their property in righteousness and receive the oppressed foreigner.
