Deuteronomy 22:19

That marriage be entered into by all, Genesis 1:28. 2. That a contract or betrothing precede marriage, Deuteronomy 20:7. 3. That the new married man rejoice with his wife the first year, Deuteronomy 24:5. 4. That the male children of Israel be circumcised, Genesis 17:10; Leviticus 12:3. 5. That the widow of a man dying without children marry unto her husband's brother, Deuteronomy 25:5. 6. That he who refuseth so to take the widow of one dying without children, being next of kin, have his shoe pulled off, and be spit upon, Deuteronomy 25:7–9. 7. That he who hath violated the chastity of a virgin by force be compelled to marry her, Deuteronomy 22:29. 8. That he who hath defamed his wife without cause keep her without hope of divorce, Deuteronomy 22:13–19. 9. That he who seduceth a virgin to fornication pay fifty shekels, Exodus 22:16, 17. 10 That a fair woman taken in war be dealt withal according to the law, Deuteronomy 21:10–14. 11. That divorce be made by a writing, or bill of divorcement, Deuteronomy 24:1. 12. That a woman suspected of adultery be dealt withal according to the law, Numbers 5:30. 16. The eleventh family concerneth CRIMINAL JUDGMENTS AND PUNISHMENTS, and hath eight precepts belonging unto it:—1. That criminal persons not guilty of sins deserving capital punishment be beaten with stripes, Deuteronomy 25:2, 3. 2. That he who slew a man at unawares be banished from conversing among the people, Numbers 35:25. 3. That those guilty of it be hanged or strangled, Deuteronomy 21:22. 4.

These laws relate to the seventh commandment, laying a restraint by laying a penalty upon those fleshly lusts which war against the soul. I. If a man, lusting after another woman, to get rid of his wife slander her and falsely accuse her, as not having the virginity she pretended to when he married her, upon the disproof of his slander he must be punished, v. 13-19. What the meaning of that evidence is by which the husband's accusation was to be proved false the learned are not agreed, nor is it at all necessary to enquire--those for whom this law was intended, no doubt, understood it: it is sufficient for us to know that this wicked husband, who had thus endeavoured to ruin the reputation of his own wife, was to be scourged, and fined, and bound out from ever divorcing the wife he had thus abused, v. 18, 19. Upon his dislike of her he might have divorced her if he had pleased, by the permission of the law (ch. xxiv. 1), but then he must have given her her dowry: if therefore to save that, and to do her the greater mischief, he would thus destroy her good name, it was fit that he should be severely punished for it, and for ever after forfeit the permission to divorce her. Observe, 1. The nearer any are in relation to us the greater sin it is to belie them and blemish their reputation.

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 wicked method to accuse her falsely; and therefore is fined double that sum: and give them unto the father of the damsel; as a sort of satisfaction or reparation for the scandal brought upon him and his family; if the damsel was fatherless, Maimonides (y) says, she was to have them herself: because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin in Israel: defamed her among her neighbours and acquaintance, or brought a false accusation against her in court; alleging she was not a virgin when he married her, when she was one, which was a very great injury to her character: and she shall be his wife, he may not put her away all his days: and so he was disappointed in his view of getting rid of her, and obliged to retain her as his wife, though hated, and was not suffered to divorce her as long as he lived; which was permitted and connived at in other men, and which he might have done before, without bringing such a charge against her; all which must be very mortifying to him, as to be whipped, to pay a fine, keep his wife, and not allowed ever to divorce her. (y) Hilchot Naarah Betulah, c. 3. sect. 1.

Deuteronomy 22:19 . Give them unto the father of the damsel — Because this was a reproach to his family, and to himself, as such misconduct of his daughter would have been ascribed to his neglect of properly instructing or watching over her. He may not put her away all his days — Thus he was deprived of the common benefit which every Israelite had who did not like his wife, which was to sue out a divorce.

And they shall amerce him in an hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father {i} of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days. (i) For the fault of the child becomes the shame of the parents: therefore he was recompensed when she was faultless.

Unto the father of the damsel; because this was a reproach to his family, and to himself, because such a miscarriage of his daughter would have been ascribed to his evil education. He may not put her away all his days; which seems to have been his design in this false accusation, and therefore that liberty of a divorce which is permitted to others, Deu 24:1 , shall be denied to him.

The fine was to be paid to the father, because the slander was against him principally as the head of the wife's family. If the damsel were an orphan the fine reverted to herself. The fact that the penalties attached to bearing false witness against a wife are fixed and comparatively light indicates the low estimation and position of the woman at that time.

13-30. If a man take a wife, &c.—The regulations that follow might be imperatively needful in the then situation of the Israelites; and yet, it is not necessary that we should curiously and impertinently inquire into them. So far was it from being unworthy of God to leave such things upon record, that the enactments must heighten our admiration of His wisdom and goodness in the management of a people so perverse and so given to irregular passions. Nor is it a better argument that the Scriptures were not written by inspiration of God to object that this passage, and others of a like nature, tend to corrupt the imagination and will be abused by evil-disposed readers, than it is to say that the sun was not created by God, because its light may be abused by wicked men as an assistant in committing crimes which they have meditated [Horne].

19 . amerce ] Or fine , also in E, Exodus 21:22 . On the estimate of the silver shekel as = 2 sh . 9 d ., this came to £13. 15 sh . It is paid to the father who had been responsible for his daughter’s integrity (cp. Deuteronomy 22:16 , I gave my daughter to this man ) and whose family name had been damaged by the slanderer; but also the national name, cp. a virgin of Israel . By § 127 of Ḫammurabi the false accuser of another man’s wife was branded. and she shall be his wife ] Heb. emphatic; and to him shall she (continue to) be to wife . It is just that he should not be free of his obligations to her, for the motive of his slander had been to get rid of her. But for her it is rough justice. A woman could not divorce a man. By § 142 of Ḫammurabi, if a woman repudiated her husband her past was investigated, and if she had no vice but the husband had belittled her she took her marriage portion and went back to her father’s house. Deuteronomy 22:19

The elders, as the magistrates of the place, were then to send for the man who had so calumniated his young wife, and to chastise him (יסּר, as in Deuteronomy 21:18 , used to denote bodily chastisement, thought the limitation of the number of strokes to forty save one, may have been a later institution of the schools); and in addition to this they were to impose a fine upon him of 100 shekels of silver, which he was to pay to the father of the young wife for his malicious calumniation of an Israelitish maiden, - twice as much as the seducer of a virgin was to pay to her father for the reproach brought upon him by the humiliation of his daughter ( Deuteronomy 22:29 ); and lastly, they were to deprive the man of the right of divorce from his wife.

[Bible] 22:16. And the father shall say: I gave my daughter unto this man to wife: and because he hateth her, 22:17. He layeth to her charge a very ill name, so as to say: I found not thy daughter a virgin: and behold these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the ancients of the city: 22:18. And the ancients of that city shall take that man, and beat him, 22:19. Condemning him besides in a hundred sicles of silver, which he shall give to the damsel's father, because he hath defamed by a very ill name a virgin of Israel: and he shall have her to wife, and may not put her away all the days of his life. 22:20. But if what he charged her with be true, and virginity be not found in the damsel: 22:21. They shall cast her out of the doors of her father's house, and the men of the city shall stone her to death, and she shall die: because she hath done a wicked thing in Israel, to play the whore in her father's house: and thou shalt take away the evil out of the midst of thee. 22:22. If a man lie with another man's wife, they shall both die, that is to say, the adulterer and the adulteress: and thou shalt take away the evil out of Israel. 22:23. If a man have espoused a damsel that is a virgin, and some one find her in the city, and lie with her, 22:24. Thou shalt bring them both out to the gate of that city, and they shall be stoned: the damsel, because she cried not out, being in the city: the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour's wife. And thou shalt take away the evil from the midst of thee. 22:25. But if a man find a damsel that is betrothed, in the field, and taking hold of her, lie with her, he alone shall die: 22:26. The damsel shall suffer nothing, neither is she guilty of death: for as a robber riseth against his brother, and taketh away his life, so also did the damsel suffer: 22:27. She was alone in the field: she cried, and there was no man to help her.