Deuteronomychapter 24
22 verses · Moses, by tradition · 15th to 13th century BC · The Law
When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.
Introduction
Moses, by tradition, The Law, Deuteronomy Overview.
Moses addresses these statutes to whoever holds the stronger hand, the husband, the lender, the employer and the farmer at harvest. The chapter belongs to the long central section of the book, where the covenant is set out case by case. Every rule in it guards someone who cannot enforce a claim of his own. Listen for the reason Moses gives more than once, drawn from Israel's own past. Listen also for the small objects the law names, because each one stood for a family's daily life. It is the law's clearest word on the poor.
Context
- Who
- Employers, lenders and husbands
- What
- A set of statutes on divorce and remarriage, pledges, wages, personal guilt and the harvest left for the poor.
- Where
- The plains of Moab, legislating for the homes, fields and hired workers of the land ahead
- When
- The fortieth year after the Exodus, about 1406 BC on the early date of the Exodus, a date reached from the evidence since the chapter names no year.
- Why
- To protect people with no margin, since Israel had been slaves in Egypt and the LORD had redeemed them.
Historical context
The chapter is Moses speaking in the fortieth year, and its statutes are addressed to whoever holds the stronger position. The house reading dates it to about 1406 BC, stated as a reading rather than a settled date. The place is the plains of Moab, and the households in view are the ones Israel will keep in the land. The occasion is the protection of people who cannot enforce a claim, from a dismissed wife to a day labourer to a widow gleaning. A first hearer knew what the certificate at verse 1 was for, since a document proved a woman free to remarry. A first hearer knew what a millstone was worth, since taking a hand mill in pledge took away a family's ability to make bread. A cloak was worth as much, since a poor man's cloak was his covering at night. Wages were paid by the day, so a worker holding out for pay overnight had no reserve to wait on. A first hearer also knew that collective family punishment was ordinary practice under the legal systems of the day, which is the background to the rule at verse 16.
Significance
Every statute in the chapter protects somebody who could not enforce a contract. The ground given for them is stated twice, that Israel was a slave in Egypt and the LORD redeemed them from there. The harvest rules backed the wage rules up, since what a reaper forgot in the field belonged to the stranger, the fatherless and the widow. The rule that fathers are not put to death for children made each person answer in court for his own sin.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
The gifts to the poor in this chapter were measured by the rabbis and became a working part of the harvest. The forgotten sheaf is left where it lies. Rashi limits the rule to a sheaf rather than a stack, so that a sheaf holding two seahs falls outside it (Rashi on Deuteronomy 24:19:1, citing Sifrei Devarim 283:1 and Mishnah Peah 6:6). From the olive harvest the rabbis derived that a corner of the crop is left on fruit trees as well as in the field (Rashi on Deuteronomy 24:20:1, citing Chullin 131b and Mishnah Peah 4:1). In the vineyard the small clusters are left. Rashi defines them as the clusters that have neither the part the rabbis called arms nor the part they called drippings (Rashi on Deuteronomy 24:21:1, citing Mishnah Peah 7:4 and Talmud Yerushalmi Peah 7:4).
The laws of the pledge run the same way. A creditor coming through the court may take no article used in preparing food (Rashi on Deuteronomy 24:6:1, citing Bava Metzia 113b and 115a). He may not go to sleep holding the pledge (Rashi on Deuteronomy 24:12:1, citing Sifrei Devarim 277:2 and Bava Metzia 111b). Rashi sets out the daily rhythm the law requires, that a night garment goes back at sundown and a day garment in the morning (Rashi on Deuteronomy 24:13:1, citing Bava Metzia 114b). The bill of divorcement of 24:1 is written and given by the husband. A man newly married stays home for his first year. Rashi extends that to a wife new to him, even if she is a widow (Rashi on Deuteronomy 24:5:1, citing Sifrei Devarim 271:1 and Sotah 44a).
How it is read
Two readings here are worth a Christian reader's attention. The first is the verse about the bill of divorcement, which is the verse Jesus is questioned about at Matthew 19:3. Rashi reads the case as one where the husband is under a duty to send his wife away, since she should find no favour in his eyes (Rashi on Deuteronomy 24:1:1, citing Gittin 90b). He reads the second husband as a different sort of man from the first, since one turned her out of his house and the other took her in (Rashi on Deuteronomy 24:2:1, citing Gittin 90b). Of the second marriage he says Scripture is telling the reader in advance that it will end in hatred or in the man's death (Rashi on Deuteronomy 24:3:1, citing Sifrei Devarim 270:4-5). The bar on remarriage is extended to cover the wife suspected of adultery who had been secluded with another man (Rashi on Deuteronomy 24:4:1, citing Sifrei Devarim 270:10 and Yevamot 11b).
The second is 24:16, which an English reader takes as a rule against punishing a child for a parent's sin. Rashi reads the Hebrew otherwise, as a rule of evidence. Fathers are not put to death on the testimony of their children (Rashi on Deuteronomy 24:16:1, citing Sifrei Devarim 280:1 and Sanhedrin 27b). The clause about every man dying for his own sin already carries the other meaning. Two laws about the poor are read as doubling an existing command. Wronging a hired servant who is poor breaks two prohibitions rather than one (Rashi on Deuteronomy 24:14:1, citing Bava Metzia 61a). Perverting the judgment of the stranger or the fatherless does the same, because the judgment of the defenceless is the easier to pervert (Rashi on Deuteronomy 24:17:1, citing Sifrei Devarim 281:1). The corpus holds Ibn Ezra on Deuteronomy 24:1:1, 24:2:1, 24:3:1 and 24:22:1 without an English text, and all four are cited without quotation.
What the rabbis say
The rabbis read the two verses about leprosy as one warning about speech. Rashi puts it directly. A man who wishes to keep himself from the plague should keep from slander. He should remember what was done to Miriam when she spoke against her brother (Rashi on Deuteronomy 24:9:1, citing Sifrei Devarim 275:1). Beside it they placed the rule that a man may not pluck out the marks of uncleanness or cut away the spot (Rashi on Deuteronomy 24:8:1, citing Makkot 22a).
On the wages of the day labourer the rabbis explained why the money cannot wait until morning. Rashi says the man stakes his life on that hire, climbing a steep staircase or hanging on a high tree to earn it (Rashi on Deuteronomy 24:15:1, citing Sifrei Devarim 279:3 and Bava Metzia 112a). On the reminder of Egypt at the end of the chapter he has God say that the release was granted on one condition. Israel must keep these statutes even where keeping them costs money (Rashi on Deuteronomy 24:18:1).
The corpus carries more locators on this chapter, given for a reader to follow. Bamidbar Rabbah 9:12 and Bamidbar Rabbah 9:30 stand at 24:1. Gittin 78b:11 stands at 24:2, Gittin 25a:5 at 24:3, Bereshit Rabbah 18:5 at 24:4. Jerusalem Talmud Sotah 8:6:2 stands at 24:5, Bereshit Rabbah 84:16 at 24:7. Devarim Rabbah 6:10 stands at 24:9, Eikhah Rabbah 1:28 at 24:12. Bamidbar Rabbah 19:33 stands at 24:15. Avot DeRabbi Natan 36:4 and Bamidbar Rabbah 8:4 stand at 24:16. Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Bereshit 60 stands at 24:17, and Aggadat Bereshit 84:3 at 24:19.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Deuteronomy 24:1 to 24:21, Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, public domain, 1929-1934; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Deuteronomy 24:1:1, 24:2:1, 24:3:1 and 24:22:1, cited without text; The Sefaria corpus on disk, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/deuteronomy/24.json, fetched 2026-09-19, 2026.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A bill of divorcement, and no going back
Deuteronomy 24:1-4
Verses 1 to 3 set out a case, and verse 4 alone gives the command: the first husband may not take her back after a second marriage. The Pharisees cite this law at Matthew 19:7, and Jesus answers that Moses permitted divorce because of hard hearts. The schools of Shammai and Hillel divided over how much “some indecency” covers.
Deuteronomy 24:1
“When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes--It appears that the practice of divorces was at this early period very prevalent amongst the Israelites, who had in all probability become familiar with it in Egypt [LANE]. The usage, being too deep-rooted to be soon or easily abolished, was tolerated by Moses (Mt 19:8).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Deuteronomy 24:1
“That the husband must give it into the hand of his wife, and send her away, which some think obliged him to endow her and make provision for her, according to her quality and such as might help to marry her again; and good reason he should do this, since the cause of quarrel was not her fault, but her infelicity.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Deuteronomy 24:1
“Let him write - This is not a command as some of the Jews understood it, nor an allowance and approbation, but merely a permission of that practice for prevention of greater mischiefs, and this only until the time of reformation, till the coming of the Messiah when things were to return to their first institution and purest condition.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Cross references
Deuteronomy 24:1
- Quoted inMatthew 5:31“It has also been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’”
'Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement'
Henry reads the certificate of verse 1 as ending the marriage as fully as death would, leaving the woman free to become another man's wife. Divorce was older than this law, since Leviticus 21:14 already bars the high priest from marrying a divorced woman. Moses here regulates an existing custom.
Deuteronomy 24:2
“The divorce had dissolved the bond of marriage as effectually as death could dissolve it; so that she was as free to marry again as if her first husband had been naturally dead.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Death and a second divorce stand side by side here, and either one leaves the first husband unable to remarry her. A written certificate handed to her with legal form gave a husband time to think before he sent a wife away. Clarke prints a common form of such a certificate.
Deuteronomy 24:3
“And write her a bill of divorcement - These bills, though varying in expression, are the same in substance among the Jews in all places. The following, collected from Maimonides and others, is a general form, and contains all the particulars of such instruments. The reader who is curious may find a full account of divorces in the Biblioth.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Defiled describes her state toward the first husband alone, and her marriage to the second man brought no sin. Wesley reads the ban as the first husband's penalty. Wesley adds that such lightness would defile the land the LORD was giving.
Deuteronomy 24:4
“Defiled - Not absolutely, as if her second marriage were a sin, but with respect to her first husband, to whom she is as a defiled or unclean woman, that is, forbidden things; forbidden are accounted and called unclean, Judg. xiii, 7, because they may no more be touched or used than an unclean thing.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Deuteronomy 24:4
“Although what relates to divorce was granted in indulgence to the Jews, yet Christ pronounces that it was never in accordance with the Law, because it is directly repugnant to the first institution of God, from whence a perpetual and inviolable rule is to be sought.”
John Calvin · Commentaries (1554)reformed
A year at home; no millstone taken in pledge
Deuteronomy 24:5-9
Chapter 20 sent home the man who was betrothed and not yet married, and verse 5 gives the newly married man a full year at home. Verses 6 and 7 both guard a man's life: a millstone taken in pledge takes “one’s livelihood”, and kidnapping is capital, as Exodus 21:16 had said. Verse 9 sets Miriam at Numbers 12:10-15 beside the order to follow the priests.
Deuteronomy 24:5
“When a man hath taken a new wife - Other people made a similar provision for such circumstances. Alexander ordered those of his soldiers who had married that year to spend the winter with their wives, while the army was in winter quarters. See Arrian, lib. i.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Deuteronomy 24:5
“When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war--This law of exemption was founded on good policy and was favorable to matrimony, as it afforded a full opportunity for the affections of the newly married pair being more firmly rooted, and it diminished or removed occasions for the divorces just mentioned.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Each day's grain was ground that morning, so a man whose upper millstone was taken as security had no bread by evening. Wesley extends it to every tool of a man's livelihood.
Deuteronomy 24:6
“The nether or the upper mill-stone - Small hand-mills which can be worked by a single person were formerly in use among the Jews, and are still used in many parts of the East. As therefore the day’s meal was generally ground for each day, they keeping no stock beforehand, hence they were forbidden to take either of the stones to pledge, because in such a case the family must be without bread. On this account the text terms the millstone the man’s life.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Deuteronomy 24:6
“Mill-stone - Used in their hand-mills. Under this, he understands all other things necessary to get a livelihood, the taking away whereof is against the laws both of charity and prudence, seeing by those things alone he can be enabled both to subsist and to pay his debts.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Deuteronomy 24:6
“No man shall take the nether or the upper millstone to pledge--The "upper" stone being concave, covers the "nether" like a lid; and it has a small aperture, through which the corn is poured, as well as a handle by which it is turned. The propriety of the law was founded on the custom of grinding corn every morning for daily consumption.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Kidnapping an Israelite took his freedom and his inheritance, and Henry adds that it drove him out to serve other gods, as David complained at 1 Samuel 26:19. Gill records that brothers here covers young and old, the freed slave and the foreigner who joined Israel. Other thefts were settled by restitution.
Deuteronomy 24:7
“If a man be found stealing any of his brethren of the children of Israel,.... Whether grown up or little, male or female, an Israelite or a proselyte, or a freed servant; all, as Maimonides (f) says, are included in this general word "brethren"; though Aben Ezra observes, that it is added, "of the children of Israel", for explanation, since an Edomite is called a "brother".”
1 more voice on this verse
Deuteronomy 24:7
“It was not death by the law of Moses to steal cattle or goods; but to steal a child, or a weak and simple man, or one that a man had in his power, and to make merchandize of him, this was a capital crime, and could not be expiated, as other thefts, by restitution--so much is a man better than a sheep, Matt. xii.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
In cases of skin disease the sufferer went to the priests, and Henry reads the charge as forbidding him to hide the disease, cut out its marks or turn to a physician. Henry limits the duty to follow the priests to what agrees with the law the LORD commanded them. Leviticus 13 and 14 hold that law.
Deuteronomy 24:8
“The laws concerning it we had, Lev. xiii. They are here said to be commanded to the priests and Levites, and therefore are not repeated in a discourse to the people; but the people are here charged, in case of leprosy, to apply to the priest according to the law, and to abide by his judgment, so far as it agreed with the law and the plain matter of fact.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Miriam was struck for speaking against Moses, and though she was a prophetess and his own sister she was shut outside the camp for seven days. Henry draws two warnings from her case, against speaking evil of those God set over the people and against expecting exemption when struck. Her rank spared her nothing.
Return his cloak before the sun goes down
Deuteronomy 24:10-15
The creditor stands outside and the debtor brings the security out, so a poor man's house is never entered over a debt. Exodus 22:26-27 already required the cloak back by sunset, and verse 13 adds that returning it “will be credited to you as righteousness before the LORD your God”. The hired hand is paid before sunset, Israelite or foreigner, as Leviticus 19:13 also rules.
Deuteronomy 24:10
“The borrower (says Solomon) is servant to the lender; therefore lest the lender should abuse the advantage he has against him, and improve it for his own interest, it is provided that he shall take not what he pleases, but what the borrower can best spare. A man's house is his castle, even the poor man's house is so, and is here taken under the protection of the law.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The borrower chooses the pledge he brings out, and Wesley allows any pledge that covers the debt. Henry cites Proverbs 22:7, that the borrower is servant to the lender, and reads the rule as keeping the lender from taking what he fancies. The poor man's want stays hidden, Wesley adds.
A pledge that must return to the poor man at sunset gives the lender little security, and Henry and Wesley read the rule as forbidding his cloak as security at all. Clarke answers that the lender could collect it again each morning. The poor man could still sleep in his cloak.
In the East a poor man slept in the cloak he wore by day. His blessing is a prayer, and Wesley holds that the LORD hears it for the good of the one who returned the cloak. Henry calls such prayers the poor man's payment.
Deuteronomy 24:13
“Bless thee - Bring down the blessing of God upon thee by his prayers: for though his prayers, if he be not a good man, shall not avail for his own behalf, yet they shall avail for thy benefit. It shall be right - Esteemed and accepted by God as a work of righteousness, or mercy.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Pay the hired man the same day
Henry names three ways to oppress a poor hired hand: work beyond his strength, harsh rebuke, and wages kept back. His master has a Master in heaven, Henry adds.
Deuteronomy 24:14
“Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy--Hired servants in the East are paid at the close of the day; and for a master to defraud the laborer of his hire, or to withhold it wrongfully for a night, might have subjected a poor man with his family to suffering and was therefore an injustice to be avoided (Le 19:13).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Depends on them renders a Hebrew idiom, he lifts up his soul to it, and Henry sets beside it the hired man of Job 7:2 who waits for his wages. A day labourer had no bread for tomorrow until he was paid. The vineyard owner of Matthew 20:8 pays his workers when evening comes.
Deuteronomy 24:15
“He is poor, and setteth his heart upon it - How exceedingly natural is this! The poor servant who seldom sees money, yet finds from his master’s affluence that it procures all the conveniences and comforts of life, longs for the time when he shall receive his wages; should his pay be delayed after the time is expired, he may naturally be expected to cry unto God against him who withholds it. See most of these subjects treated at large on Exo 22:21-27 (note).”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Deuteronomy 24:16-18
At 2 Kings 14:6 Amaziah spares the sons of his father's murderers and the text cites this law, so the rule stands on record as kept. Exodus 20:5 speaks of what God does across generations, while this verse governs what a court may do, and Ezekiel 18 takes up the difference. The foreigner, the fatherless and the widow are protected because Israel was once slaves in Egypt.
Deuteronomy 24:16
“Not put to death - If the one be free from the guilt of the others sin, except in those cases where the sovereign Lord of life and death, before whom none is innocent, hath commanded it, as chap. xiii, 1-18 Josh. vii, 24. For though God do visit the father's sins upon the children, Exod. xx, 5, yet he will not suffer men to do so.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Deuteronomy 24:16
“The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, etc. - This law is explained and illustrated in sufficient detail, Ezekiel 18.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Deuteronomy 24:16
“Accordingly, we find Amaziah sparing the children, even when the fathers were put to death for killing the king, 2 Kings xiv. It was in an extraordinary case, and no doubt by special direction from heaven, that Saul's sons were put to death for his offence, and they died rather as sacrifices than as malefactors, 2 Sam. xxi.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The verse turns from lending to justice, and Henry charges the judge to plead for the foreigner and the fatherless, who have no friends to speak for them. The widow's cloak may never be taken as security, where the poor man's cloak was returned at sunset. Wesley limits the ban to the clothing she needs every day.
Deuteronomy 24:17
“Compare the marginal references. The motive assigned for these various acts of consideration is one and the same Deu 24:18, Deu 24:22.”
Israel's memory of Egypt is the motive given for justice here. Henry reads it two ways: a former slave knows how heavy a taskmaster's hand is, and a redeemed people owes gratitude to the God who set it free.
Deuteronomy 24:18
“Thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman - Most people who have affluence rose from comparative penury, for those who are born to estates frequently squander them away; such therefore should remember what their feelings, their fears, and anxieties were, when they were poor and abject.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Leave the forgotten sheaf in the field
Deuteronomy 24:19-22
Leviticus 19:9-10 and 23:22 left the corners and the gleanings, and this law adds the forgotten sheaf, so what is lost by accident becomes the portion of the poor. Ruth 2 shows the law at work, since Ruth is both a foreigner and a widow. At 2:16 Boaz has stalks pulled out for her on purpose, which goes past what the statute asks.
Deuteronomy 24:19
“When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field--The grain, pulled up by the roots or cut down with a sickle, was laid in loose sheaves; the fruit of the olive was obtained by striking the branches with long poles; and the grape clusters, severed by a hook, were gathered in the hands of the vintager. Here is a beneficent provision for the poor.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
Deuteronomy 24:19
"Say not, 'What should the poor do with grapes and olives? It is enough for them to have bread and water;' for, since they have the same senses that the rich have, why should not they have so me little share of the delights of sense?" Boaz ordered handfuls of corn to be left on purpose for Ruth, and God blessed him. All that is left is not lost.
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Deuteronomy 24:19
“When thou cuttest down thine harvest - This is an addition to the law, Lev 19:9; Lev 23:22. The corners of the field, the gleanings, and the forgotten sheaf, were all the property of the poor. This the Hebrews extended to any part of the fruit or produce of a field, which had been forgotten in the time of general ingathering, as appears from the concluding verses of this chapter.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Olives were knocked from the tree with long poles, as Jamieson, Fausset and Brown describe, and the owner beats the branches once. Whatever stays on the boughs belongs to the poor. Henry answers the owner who calls the whole crop his own, that a little left behind leaves no man poorer at the year's end.
Deuteronomy 24:20
“When thou beatest thine olive tree,.... With sticks and staves, to get off the olives when ripe: thou shall not go over the boughs again; to beat off some few that may remain; they were not nicely to examine the boughs over again, whether there were any left or not: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow; who might come into their oliveyards after the trees had been beaten, and gather what were left.”
Verses 19 to 21 leave the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow a share of the field, the olive trees and the vineyard. Henry answers the man who thinks bread enough for the poor: they have the same senses as the rich. The grapes are theirs too.
Verse 18 set this memory under justice in the courts, and verse 22 sets it under the harvest. The owner never learns who gathers what he leaves, and Henry counsels him to trust God's providence to send it to the needy. The gleaner still works for it.
Deuteronomy 24:22
“And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt,.... When they would have been glad to have enjoyed the like favours, as small as they might seem to be, even to glean in their fields, vineyards, and oliveyards: therefore I command thee to do this thing; to suffer the poor to take the forgotten sheaf, and to come into their oliveyards and vineyards, and gather what olives and grapes remained after the first beating of the one, and the ingathering of the other.”
How this psalm is built
The form: Law restated inside a spoken address, standing in the stipulations of a covenant treaty, as Kline classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| Remember, three times in one chapter | The word falls at verses 9, 18 and 22, which is three of the fourteen places it stands in this book. Twice it recalls Egypt and once it recalls Miriam, so the command to act is grounded in something the hearer is told to keep in mind.This site's published exposition of Deuteronomy 24:5-9, the store's exposition_notes row on Deuteronomy 24:5-9, which counts the fourteen and the three. | Deuteronomy 24:9, Deuteronomy 24:18, Deuteronomy 24:22 |
| You were a slave in Egypt, closing two paragraphs | Verse 18 gives the ground for the statutes on the stranger, the fatherless and the widow, and verse 22 repeats it to close the gleaning laws. The same clause therefore opens and shuts the last section of the chapter.Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch, on Deuteronomy 24:16-18. | Deuteronomy 24:18, Deuteronomy 24:22 |
| Three statutes for people at the edge | Verses 10 to 15 run a pledge taken at the door, a garment returned by sundown, and wages paid on the day. Each one turns on a poor man's position rather than on the size of the debt, and the wage rule says the labourer sets his heart on his pay.Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, on Deuteronomy 24:10. | Deuteronomy 24:10, Deuteronomy 24:13, Deuteronomy 24:15 |
| A man's life taken to pledge | Verse 6 forbids taking a hand mill in pledge on the ground that the creditor takes a man's life to pledge, and verse 7 makes stealing a man capital where stealing goods was not. The chapter prices a life twice in two verses, once in a millstone and once in a kidnapping.Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch, on Deuteronomy 24:5-9. | Deuteronomy 24:6, Deuteronomy 24:7 |
The New Testament's use
10 more paragraphs on the patterns
The Pharisees quote verses 1 to 4 at Matthew 19:7 as though Moses had commanded the writing of a certificate of divorce. Jesus answers that Moses permitted it for the hardness of their hearts, and that from the beginning it was not so. The schools of Shammai and Hillel divided over how much the phrase some uncleanness covers, which is why the question at Matthew 19:3 is put in the form of every cause.
James 5:4 has the wages of the labourers kept back by fraud crying into the ears of the Lord of hosts, which is verse 15 read as an indictment.
Jeremiah 3:1 reasons from the law of verses 1 to 4 about Israel and her lovers, so a prophet argues from the statute before the Gospels take it up.
The debated point: what a court may do and what God does
Verse 16 governs what a court may do, forbidding fathers to be put to death for children or children for fathers. Exodus 20:5 speaks of God visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and Ezekiel 18 takes up the difference at length. The two statements are held apart here rather than merged, since one is a rule of evidence and sentence and the other is a statement about God's dealing.
The rule stands on record as having been kept. 2 Kings 14:6 quotes this verse by name when Amaziah executes his father's murderers and spares their children.
The statute in operation
Ruth 2 is the gleaning law working. Ruth is both a stranger and a widow, two of the three named at verses 19 to 21. Boaz at Ruth 2:16 orders handfuls let fall on purpose, which is past what the statute asks.
The group the book keeps returning to
The stranger, the fatherless and the widow stand together here as they do through the book. This site's dossier carries the group in its theology entry on a law that makes a nation wise, anchored at 4:6 and 10:18. The same entry names the rule of personal responsibility at verse 16.
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Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Meredith G. Kline, Treaty of the Great King: The Covenant Structure of Deuteronomy, 1963; Moshe Weinfeld, Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomic School, 1972 and This site's published dossier on Deuteronomy, src/components/book/dossier-content/deuteronomy.ts, the entry on the Code of Hammurabi.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.