And they shall amerce him in an hundred shekels of silver,.... Which was about twelve pounds of our money; this was double the dowry he would have been obliged to have given her, if he had put her away; which he might have done with less trouble, and with a greater certainty of being rid of her; but being willing to save that expense, took this...
But if this thing be true,.... Which the husband of the damsel laid to her charge, that she was no virgin when married to him, and she had committed whoredom, of which there was plain proof: and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel; by her parents, or those who had the care of her; or no sufficient reason could be assigned for the...
Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house,.... For his greater disgrace, and as a sort of punishment for his neglect of her education, not taking care to instruct her, and bring her up in a better manner: and the men of her city shall stone her with stones, that she die; which was the death this sort of adulteresses...
If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband,..... This law respects adultery, and is the same with that in Leviticus 20:10 then they shall both of them die; with the strangling of a napkin, as the Targum of Jonathan, which is the death such persons were put to; and is always meant when death is simply spoken of, and it is not...
If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband,.... But not married, not as yet brought home to her husband's house, and the marriage consummated; for the Jews distinguish between being betrothed or espoused, and married; and generally there was some time between the one and the other. And a wife was obtained in this way by three...
Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of the city,.... Where the fact was committed; the Targum of Jonathan is, "to the gate of the court of judicature, which is in that city:'' and ye shall stone them with stones, that they die; a man that lay with a married woman, he and she were to be strangled; but this sort of adulterers and...
But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field,.... Alone, and where she might cry out, and none hear, nor were any to help her: and a man force her, and lie with her; or "take fast and strong hold on her" (b); so that she is not able to get out of his hands, and make her escape, he being stronger than she, and so commits a rape upon her: then...
But unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing,.... Neither fine her, nor beat her, and much less punish her with death: there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death; because what was done to her was done without her will and consent, and was what she was forced to submit unto; but the Targum of Jonathan adds, that the man to whom she was betrothed...
For he found her in the field,.... Which is a circumstance in her favour, from which it might he presumed that she was forced, and did not consent; for had the sin been committed by agreement, they would doubtless have betook themselves to another place: and the betrothed damsel cried as it might be concluded from the above circumstance she did,...
If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed,.... That is, meets with one in a field, which is not espoused to a man; and the man is supposed to be an unmarried man, as appears by what follows: and lay hold on her, and lie with her, she yielding to it, and so is not expressive of a rape, as Deuteronomy 22:25 where a different...
Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, .] For the abuse of his daughter and besides this was obliged to give her her dowry also, as Philo (d) says, which is commonly said to be fifty more: and she shall be his wife; if her father and she agreed to it; and in such a case the man was not at his...
A man shall not take his father's wife,.... Not marry her, whether his own mother, or a stepmother; or even, as Aben Ezra thinks, anyone that was deflowered by his father. Jarchi interprets it of his father's brother's wife, which he was obliged to marry by virtue of the law in Deuteronomy 25:5 nor discover his father's skirt; or lie with her his...