10 If there be among you any man, H376 that is not clean H2889 by reason of uncleanness that chanceth H7137 him by night, H3915 then shall he go H3318 abroad H2351 out of the camp, H4264 he shall not come H935 within H8432 the camp: H4264
And if any man's H376 seed H2233 of copulation H7902 go out H3318 from him, then he shall wash H7364 all his flesh H1320 in water, H4325 and be unclean H2930 until the even. H6153
Command H6680 the children H1121 of Israel, H3478 that they put out H7971 of the camp H4264 every leper, H6879 and every one that hath an issue, H2100 and whosoever is defiled H2931 by the dead: H5315 Both male H2145 and female H5347 shall ye put out, H7971 without H2351 the camp H4264 shall ye put H7971 them; that they defile H2930 not their camps, H4264 in the midst H8432 whereof H834 I dwell. H7931
But G1161 now G3570 I have written G1125 unto you G5213 not G3361 to keep company, G4874 if G1437 any man G5100 that is called G3687 a brother G80 be G2228 a fornicator, G4205 or G2228 covetous, G4123 or G2228 an idolater, G1496 or G2228 a railer, G3060 or G2228 a drunkard, G3183 or G2228 an extortioner; G727 with such an one G5108 no not G3366 to eat. G4906 For G1063 what G5101 have I G3427 to do to judge G2919 them also G2532 that are without? G1854 do G2919 not G3780 ye G5210 judge G2919 them that are within? G2080 But G1161 them that are without G1854 God G2316 judgeth. G2919 Therefore G2532 put away G1808 from G1537 among yourselves G5216 that G846 wicked person. G4190
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Deuteronomy 23
Commentary on Deuteronomy 23 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 23
De 23:1-25. Who May and Who May Not Enter into the Congregation.
1-3. He that is wounded …, shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord—"To enter into the congregation of the Lord" means either admission to public honors and offices in the Church and State of Israel, or, in the case of foreigners, incorporation with that nation by marriage. The rule was that strangers and foreigners, for fear of friendship or marriage connections with them leading the people into idolatry, were not admissible till their conversion to the Jewish faith. But this passage describes certain limitations of the general rule. The following parties were excluded from the full rights and privileges of citizenship: (1) Eunuchs—It was a very ancient practice for parents in the East by various arts to mutilate their children, with a view to training them for service in the houses of the great. (2) Bastards—Such an indelible stigma in both these instances was designed as a discouragement to practices that were disgraceful, but too common from intercourse with foreigners. (3) Ammonites and Moabites—Without provocation they had combined to engage a soothsayer to curse the Israelites; and had further endeavored, by ensnaring them into the guilt and licentious abominations of idolatry, to seduce them from their allegiance to God.
3. even to the their tenth generation shall they not enter—Many eminent writers think that this law of exclusion was applicable only to males; at all events that a definite is used for an indefinite number (Ne 13:1; Ru 4:10; 2Ki 10:2). Many of the Israelites being established on the east side of Jordan in the immediate neighborhood of those people, God raised this partition wall between them to prevent the consequences of evil communications. More favor was to be shown to Edomites and Egyptians—to the former from their near relationship to Israel; and to the latter, from their early hospitalities to the family of Jacob, as well as the many acts of kindness rendered them by private Egyptians at the Exodus (Ex 12:36). The grandchildren of Edomite or Egyptian proselytes were declared admissible to the full rights of citizenship as native Israelites; and by this remarkable provision, God taught His people a practical lesson of generosity and gratitude for special deeds of kindness, to the forgetfulness of all the persecution and ill services sustained from those two nations.
9-14. When the host goeth forth against thine enemies, then keep thee from every wicked thing—from the excesses incident to camp life, as well as from habits of personal neglect and impurity.
15, 16. Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which has escaped from his master unto thee—evidently a servant of the Canaanites or some of the neighboring people, who was driven by tyrannical oppression, or induced, with a view of embracing the true religion, to take refuge in Israel.
19, 20. Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother … Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury—The Israelites lived in a simple state of society, and hence they were encouraged to lend to each other in a friendly way without any hope of gain. But the case was different with foreigners, who, engaged in trade and commerce, borrowed to enlarge their capital, and might reasonably be expected to pay interest on their loans. Besides, the distinction was admirably conducive to keeping the Israelites separate from the rest of the world.
21, 22. When thou shalt vow a vow—(See on Nu 30:2).
24, 25. When thou comest into thy neighbour's vineyard, then thou mayest eat grapes thy fill at thine own pleasure—Vineyards, like cornfields mentioned in the next verse [De 23:25], were often unenclosed. In vine-growing countries grapes are amazingly cheap; and we need not wonder, therefore, that all within reach of a person's arm, was free; the quantity plucked was a loss never felt by the proprietor, and it was a kindly privilege afforded to the poor and wayfaring man.