John Wesley

For the land that you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated on foot…

“And when it did overflow sufficiently, and left its mud upon the earth, yet that mud was in a little time hardened, and needed another watering, and much digging and labour both of the hand and feet, especially in places more remote from that river…”

or the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you. He will shut the heavens so that there will be no rain, nor will the land yield its produce…

“Shut up the heaven - Which is compared sometimes to a great store-house wherein God lays up his treasures of rain, Job xxxviii, 22, the doors whereof God is said to open when he gives rain, and to shut when he witholds it.”

If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you embrace, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods”…

“The son of thy mother - This is added, to restrain the signification of the word brother, which is often used generally for one near a-kin, and to express the nearness of the relation, the mother's, side being usually the ground of the most fervent…”

Instead, you must surely kill him. Your hand must be the first against him to put him to death, and then the hands of all the people.

“Thou shalt kill him - Not privately, which pretense would have opened the door to innumerable murders, but by procuring his death by the sentence of the magistrate. Thou shalt cast the first stone at him, as the witness was to do.”

then you must inquire, investigate, and interrogate thoroughly. And if it is established with certainty that this abomination has been committed among you,

“Inquire - This is, meant of the magistrate, to whose office this properly belongs, and of whom he continues to speak in the same manner, thou, ver. 15, 16.”

you must surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword. Devote to destruction all its people and livestock.

“Utterly - The very same punishment which was, inflicted upon the cities of the cursed Canaanites, to whom having made themselves equal in sin, it is but just God should equal them in punishment.”

At the end of every three years, bring a tenth of all your produce for that year and lay it up within your gates.

“At the end of three years - That is, in the third year, as it is, expressed, chap. xxvi, 12.”

There will be no poor among you, however, because the LORD will surely bless you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess as an…

“Save when there shall be no poor - The words may be rendered thus, as in the margin of our Bibles, To the end that there be no poor among you.”

If a fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you must set him free.

“If thy brother be sold - Either by himself, or his parents, or as a criminal. Six years - To be computed from the beginning of his servitude, which is everywhere limited to the space of six years.”

then take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he will become your servant for life. And treat your maidservant the same way.

“For ever - All the time of his life, or, at least, 'till the year of jubilee. Likewise - That is, either dismiss her with plenty, or engage her to perpetual servitude, in the same manner and by the same rites.”

Do not deny justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.

“A gift doth blind the eyes - Biasseth his mind, that he cannot discern between right and wrong. The words - That is the sentence, of those Judges who are used to do righteous things, it makes them give wrong judgment.”

and going to worship other gods, bowing down to them or to the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven—which I have forbidden—

“The host of heaven - Those glorious creatures, which are to be admired as the wonderful works of God, but not to be set up in God's stead.”

On the testimony of two or three witnesses a man shall be put to death, but he shall not be executed on the testimony of a lone witness.

“Witnesses - Namely, credible and competent witnesses. The Jews rejected the testimonies of children, women, servants, familiar friends or enemies, persons of dissolute lives or evil fame.”

The hands of the witnesses shall be the first in putting him to death, and after that, the hands of all the people.

“First upon him - God thus ordered it, for the caution of witnesses, that, if they had thro' malice or wrath accused him falsely, they might now be afraid to imbrue their hands in innocent blood; and for the security and satisfaction of the people…”

If a case is too difficult for you to judge, whether the controversy within your gates is regarding bloodshed, lawsuits, or assaults, you must go up to the place the…

“For thee - He speaks to the inferior magistrates, who were erected in several cities. If thou hast not skill to determine, between blood and blood - That is, in capital causes.”

You are to go to the Levitical priests and to the judge who presides at that time. Inquire of them, and they will give you a verdict in the case.

“And he may be distinctly named, tho' he be one of the priests, because of his eminency, and to shew that amongst the priests, he especially was to be consulted in such cases. The sentence of judgment - Hebrew.”

you are to appoint over yourselves the king whom the LORD your God shall choose.

“God reserved to himself the nomination both of the family, and of the person. Thy brethren -- of the same nation and religion; because such a person was most likely to maintain true religion, and to rule with righteousness, gentleness, and kindness to his subjects…”

But the king must not acquire many horses for himself or send the people back to Egypt to acquire more horses, for the LORD has said, ‘You are never to…

“He shall not multiply horses - Tho' he might have horses for his own use, yet he was not to have many horses for his officers and guard, much less for war, lest he should trust in them.”

When he is seated on his royal throne, he must write for himself a copy of this instruction on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests.

“He shall write - With his own hand, as the Jews say. Out of that - Out of the original, which was carefully kept by the priests in the sanctuary, that it might be a perfect copy, and that it might have the greater influence…”

This shall be the priests’ share from the people who offer a sacrifice, whether a bull or a sheep: the priests are to be given the shoulder, the jowls, and…

“The maw - The Hebrew word here rendered maw or stomach, may have another signification, and some render it the breast, others take it for the part, which lies under the breast.”

They shall eat equal portions, even though he has received money from the sale of his father’s estate.

“Beside that which cometh - The reason of this law was, because he that waited on the altar, ought to live by the altar: and because it was fit he should keep his money, wherewith he might redeem what he sold, if afterwards he saw…”

Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, practices divination or conjury, interprets omens, practices sorcery,

“An inchanter - Or, a conjecturer, that discovers hidden things by a superstitious use of words or ceremonies, by observation of water or smoke or any contingencies. A witch - One that is in covenant with the devil.”

casts spells, consults a medium or spiritist, or inquires of the dead.

“Or, a fortune-teller, that foretelleth the events of men's lives by the conjunctions of the stars. Spirits - Whom they call upon by certain words or rites. A wizard - Hebrew. a knowing man, who by any forbidden way's undertakes the Revelation of secret things.”

When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD and the message does not come to pass or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken.

“If the thing - Which he gives as a sign of the truth of his prophecy. The falsehood of his prediction shews him to be a false prophet. Presumptuously - Impudently ascribing his own vain and lying fancies to the God of truth.”

Then the elders of the city nearest the victim shall take a heifer that has never been yoked or used for work,

“Which hath not drawn in the yoke - A fit representative of the murderer, in whose stead it was killed, who would not bear the yoke of God's laws.”