27 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Deuteronomy 23 Orders are here given to restrain certain persons from entering into the congregation of the Lord, Deuteronomy 23:1, and to take care that there be no unclean person in the camp, or any indecent thing done in it, Deuteronomy 23:9, to protect fugitive servants, and not deliver them up to their masters, Deuteronomy...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
He that is wounded in the stones,.... In any of them, not accidentally, but purposely; which are crushed and bruised by the hands of men, with a design to make him unfit for generation, or to make an eunuch of him: or that hath his privy member cut by himself or another, and is a thorough eunuch by the hands of men; for of such eunuchs that are...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
The laws of this chapter provide, I. For the preserving of the purity and honour of the families of Israel, by excluding such as would be a disgrace to them, ver. 1-8. II. For the preserving of the purity and honour of the camp of Israel when it was abroad, ver. 9-14. III. For the encouraging and entertaining of slaves who fled to them, ver. 15,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord,.... That is born of whoredom, as the Targum of Jonathan; and for the sake of avoiding whoredom and deterring from it was this law made, according to Maimonides (h), that adulterers might see, as he observes, that they affect their whole family with an irreparable stain, should they...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord,.... Or marry an Israelitish woman, as Jarchi, and so the Targum of Jonathan, "the male Ammonites and Moabites are not fit to take a wife of the congregation of the Lord;'' for the Jews restrain this to men, because it is, as Aben Ezra observes, an Ammonite, not an...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Because they met you not with bread and with water,.... To supply them therewith, either as a gift, which was a piece of humanity to strangers and travellers, or rather to sell unto them, for on no other terms did the Israelites desire their bread and their water: in the way when ye came forth out of Egypt; not as soon as they came forth from...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Nevertheless, the Lord thy God would not hearken unto Balaam,.... To his solicitations, and the methods he took to prevail on the Lord to suffer him to curse Israel, which he gladly would have done for the sake of Balak's reward: but the Lord thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee; in the very mouth of Balaam, as the Targum of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever. Not that they were to retain malice towards them, or indulge a spirit of revenge, or not do them any good offices in a private way, which is contrary to the law of love; nor does this contradict any offices of kindness and friendship that might be performed in a personal...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thou shall not abhor an Edomite,.... Or an Idumean, the descendants of Esau, whose name was Edom, Genesis 25:30 the Targum of Jonathan adds, "that comes to be made a proselyte"; he was not to be rejected with abhorrence, because of the old grudge between Jacob and Esau, and which was become national in their posterity: for he is thy brother; the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The children that are begotten of them, Of such as became proselytes: shall enter into the congregation of the Lord in their third generation; not in the third generation from the time that this law was made, but from the time that any of them should embrace the true religion; their sons were the second generation, and their grandchildren the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
When the host goeth forth against thine enemies,.... An army of soldiers march in order to meet the enemy and fight him: then keep thee from every wicked thing; the Targum of Jonathan adds, by way of explanation, "from strange worship, uncovering of nakedness, and from shedding innocent blood;'' that is, from idolatry, uncleanness of every sort,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
If there be among you any man that is not clean,.... Any unclean person in the army, that was even ceremonially unclean in any of the instances the law makes so, one of which put for the rest is mentioned: by reason of uncleanness that chanceth him by night; through pollution by a nocturnal flux, as the Septuagint version, or a gonorrhoea, an...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But it shall be, when evening cometh on,.... When the day declines, and it is near sun setting: he shall wash himself with water; dip himself all over in water, not only wash his garments but his flesh: and when the sun is down he shall come into the camp again; and take his place and rank in the army. Now if all this was necessary on account of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thou shalt have also a place without the camp,.... A place prepared, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, provided on purpose for the use hereafter suggested; so Ben Melech: whither thou shalt go forth abroad; to do the necessities of nature, which they were to do without the camp, not in any place they thought fit and most convenient, but what...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon,.... A nail or spike, some kind of instrument to make a hole in the ground with, which was fastened to the sword upon their loins; which was to be instead of a spade or mattock to dig with: and it shall be, when thou shall ease thyself abroad; without the camp, in the place appointed for that use,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp,.... In the tabernacle, which moved when the host marched after the camps of Judah and Reuben, and before those of Ephraim and Dan, in the midst of them: this was the position of it while in the wilderness, and afterwards when they came into the land of Canaan, and went to war with their...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thou shall not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee. That is, one that has been used ill by a cruel and tyrannical master, and was in danger of his life with him, or of being lamed by him, and therefore obliged to make his escape from him on that account; such an one, when he fell into the hands of an...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
He shall dwell in thee, [even] among you,.... This seems to confirm the sense of it, being a stranger, a: proselyte servant that is here spoken of, since the law provides for his dwelling among the Israelites: in that place he shall choose, in one of thy gates, where it liketh him best: he was not to be detained by the person that took him up in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel,.... The word for "whore" is "kedeshah", which properly signifies an "holy" one; and here, by an antiphrasis, an unholy, an impure person, one that is defiled by man; [See comments on Genesis 38:18]. Jarchi interprets the word, one that makes herself common, that is sanctified, or set apart; that...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thou shall not bring the hire of a whore,.... Which was given to her as a reward for the use of her body: or the price of a dog; not of the firstborn of a dog, the price for the redemption of it, as some; nor for the loan of a hunting dog, or a shepherd's dog for breed, as Josephus (z) interprets this law. Abarbinel understands it figuratively of...