Deuteronomychapter 25
19 verses · BSBDeuteronomy book hub →
Key verse
If there is a dispute between men, they are to go to court to be judged, so that the innocent may be acquitted and the guilty condemned.
It stands in Forty stripes and no more, verses 1 to 3.
The chapter
Chapter summary
Various laws; levirate marriage; Amalek. Forty stripes by number, not more. Lest the brother be degraded. The ox not muzzled that treadeth out the corn (Paul in 1 Cor 9:9 reads this pastorally). The brother who dies without a son. His widow marries his brother, and the firstborn succeeds in the dead brother's name; the brother's refusal met by the plucking off of his shoe. A just weight and a just measure (‘all that do unrighteously, are an abomination’. The chapter closes: ‘remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt’) blot out the remembrance of Amalek.
Context
Law · Moses · Deuteronomy overview
The world behind this chapter
Deuteronomy 25The history
The chapter is Moses speaking in the fortieth year, closing the detailed statutes of the second address. 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 settings in view are a court, a threshing floor and a market in the land ahead. The occasion is the last group of statutes before the covenant is put to the people, ending with a standing charge about Amalek. A first hearer knew what a threshing floor was, a flat hard circle on a ridge where the wind blew, with grain separated by driving animals or a weighted sledge over it. Muzzling the ox at verse 4 meant the animal worked all day in food it could not touch. A first hearer knew what handing over a sandal meant, since it was a recognised way of transferring a property right, and the same gesture stands in Ruth 4:7-8. A first hearer also knew the market fraud at verses 13 and 14. A merchant carried stone weights in a pouch, and a bag with two sets held a heavy weight to buy with and a light one to sell by.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
What it meant to them
The chapter reads as a list of the places where a person can be quietly robbed, in court, at work, in a widow's household and at the scales. The covenant follows the abuse into each one, and the cap on the strokes is given a reason, that the man being beaten is still a brother. The levirate statute kept a dead man's name and land inside his family, and the refusal of the duty was answered with public shame rather than compulsion. The closing charge names what Amalek did, striking the stragglers at the back of the column when Israel was worn out, and it gives the reason that he did not fear God.
Sources cited
- Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
- The Mishnah , translated by Herbert Danby
- This site's published exposition of Deuteronomy 25, in the store's exposition_notes
Where the chapter sits
Deuteronomy 25 falls in Second sermon, the law restated (chapters 5–26). The Decalogue repeated; the Shema; laws for the land, for worship, for kingship, for war, for the poor. The covenant's central exposition.
Before it: First sermon, retrospective, chapters 1–4. After it: Third sermon, blessings and curses, chapters 27–30.
The whole shape of Deuteronomy→The structure of this chapter
Threads running through this chapter
- The war with AmalekPattern, vv. 17 to 19
Places1
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. Forty stripes and no morevv. 1-3
The court's whole work is put in one clause, justify the righteous and condemn the wicked, and Proverbs 17:15 calls the reverse of it an abomination. The beating is carried out in front of the judge and the count is capped, and the reason given for the cap is that thy brother should not seem vile unto thee, so the man under the rod is still named a brother. Later Jewish practice fixed the number at thirty-nine to stay inside the forty, which is the count Paul gives at 2 Corinthians 11:24 when he says that five times he received forty stripes save one.
Deuteronomy 25:1
“Render it: (1) If there be a controversy between men, and they come to judgment, and the judges judge them, and justify the righteous and condemn the wicked (compare the marginal reference. and Exo 23:7; Pro 17:15); (2) then it shall be, etc. Deu 25:2 Scourging is named as a penalty in Lev 19:20. The beating here spoken of would be on the back with a rod or stick (compare Pro 10:13; Pro 19:29; Pro 26:3).”
Deuteronomy 25:2
“The judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face - This precept is literally followed in China; the culprit receives in the presence of the magistrate the punishment which the law directs to be inflicted. Thus then justice is done, for the magistrate sees that the letter of the law is duly fulfilled, and that the officers do not transgress it, either by indulgence on the one hand, or severity on the other. The culprit receives nothing more nor less than what justice requires.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Deuteronomy 25:2
“And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten,.... There were four kinds of death criminals were put to by the Jews, stoning, strangling, burning, and slaying with the sword; and such crimes not as severe as these were punished with beating or scourging; and who they were that were worthy to be beaten is at large set forth in the Misnic treatise called Maccoth (x), or "stripes", which are too many to be transcribed.”
Deuteronomy 25:3
“The Jews to keep within the letter of the law fixed 39 stripes as the maximum (compare the marginal reference.). Forty signifies the full measure of judgment (compare Gen 7:12; Num 14:33-34); but the son of Israel was not to be lashed like a slave at the mercy of another. The judge was always to be present to see that the Law in this particular was not overpassed.”
B. The unmuzzled ox and the loosed sandal
1. (v. 4)
Deuteronomy 25:4
“Thou shall not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn. As oxen are used in ploughing, so likewise in treading or beating out the corn; of the manner of which; see Gill on 1Co 9:9; now while it was thus employed, it might not be restrained by any means from eating the corn as it had an opportunity, either by a muzzle put over its mouth, or other ways. The Gentiles had several ways of restraining their cattle from eating, while they thus made use of them, to which this law is opposed.”
1 more voice on this verse
Deuteronomy 25:4
“Thou shalt not muzzle the ox, etc. - In Judea, as well as in Egypt, Greece, and Italy, they make use of beeves to tread out the corn; and Dr. Shaw tells us that the people of Barbary continue to tread out their corn after the custom of the East.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Deuteronomy 25:4
- Quoted in1 Corinthians 9:9“For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned?”
'Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn' ('it is written in the law of Moses')
- Quoted in1 Timothy 5:18For the Scripture says, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,” and, “The worker is worthy of his wages.”
'Thou shalt not muzzle the ox' ('the scripture saith')
The ox treads the grain loose by walking over it, and a muzzle would keep the animal from eating what it walks on. Paul quotes this line twice. At 1 Corinthians 9:9 he asks whether God takes care for oxen and argues from the animal's mouth to a preacher's support, and at 1 Timothy 5:18 he sets it beside the labourer is worthy of his reward and calls both of them scripture. The shortest verse in the chapter is the one the New Testament takes up most.
2. (vv. 5-10)
Deuteronomy 25:5
“But the Mosaic law rendered the custom obligatory (Mt 22:25) on younger brothers, or the nearest kinsman, to marry the widow (Ru 4:4), by associating the natural desire of perpetuating a brother's name with the preservation of property in the Hebrew families and tribes.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
3 more voices on this verse
Deuteronomy 25:5
“One - Any of them, for the words are general, and the reason of the law was to keep up the distinction of tribes and families, that so the Messiah might be discovered by the family from which he was appointed to proceed; and also of inheritances, which were divided among all the brethren, the first-born having only a double portion.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Deuteronomy 25:5
“The law of levirate marriage. The law on this subject is not unique to the Jews, but is found (see Gen 38:8) in all essential respects the same among various Oriental nations, ancient and modern. The rules in these verses, like those upon divorce, do but incorporate existing immemorial usages, and introduce various wise and politic limitations and mitigations of them.”
Deuteronomy 25:5
“The Sadducees put a case to our Saviour upon this law, with a design to perplex the doctrine of the resurrection by it ( Matt. xxii. 24 , &c.), perhaps insinuating that there was no need of maintaining the immortality of the soul and a future state, since the law had so well provided for the perpetuating of men's names and families in the world.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Deuteronomy 25:5
- Quoted inLuke 20:28“Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man is to marry his brother’s widow and raise up offspring for him.
levirate law (Sadducees, 'Moses wrote')
- Quoted inMark 12:19“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man is to marry his brother’s widow and raise up offspring for him.
levirate law (Sadducees, 'Moses wrote unto us')
- Quoted inMatthew 22:24“Teacher,” they said, “Moses declared that if a man dies without having children, his brother is to marry the widow and raise up offspring for him.
levirate law cited by the Sadducees ('Moses said')
Deuteronomy 25:6
“And it shall be that the firstborn that she beareth,....”
Deuteronomy 25:7
“And the man like not to take his brother's wife,.... The provision here made by this law, when this was the case, is such as did not take place before it became a law; for then Onan would have taken the advantage of it, and refused marrying his brother's wife, which it is plain was not agreeable to him, Gen 38:9; as many do now on one account or another.”
Deuteronomy 25:8
“In the case of Ruth we find this law executed ( Ruth iv. 7 ), but because, upon the refusal of the next kinsman, there was another ready to perform the duty of a husband's brother, it was that other that plucked off the shoe, and not the widow--Boaz, and not Ruth.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Deuteronomy 25:9
“And loose his shoe - It is difficult to find the reason of these ceremonies of degradation. Perhaps the shoe was the emblem of power; and by stripping it off, deprivation of that power and authority was represented. Spitting in the face was a mark of the utmost ignominy; but the Jews, who are legitimate judges in this case, say that the spitting was not in his face, but before his face on the ground.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Deuteronomy 25:10
“And his name shall be called in Israel,....”
The statute exists so that a dead man's name be not put out of Israel, and Genesis 38 shows the duty already assumed in Judah's house before there was a law for it. A brother who refuses is not compelled but shamed, since the widow looses his shoe before the elders and spits, and his house carries the name of the shoe loosed from then on. Ruth 4:7-8 is the ceremony being performed, though there the shoe passes between the nearer kinsman and Boaz rather than from the widow's own hand. The Sadducees build their resurrection puzzle out of this law at Matthew 22:24, taking seven brothers and one wife in turn.
C. Shameful hands and honest weightsvv. 11-16
The hand cut off at verse 12 is the one mutilation the law of Moses prescribes on its own account, beside the like for like of Leviticus 24:19-20, and the formula thine eye shall not pity is the one this book keeps for cases it will not let a judge soften, at 13:8 and 19:13 and 19:21. The weights follow, a stone and a stone in the Hebrew, a heavy one to buy with and a light one to sell by. Leviticus 19:35-36 had already required just balances, and the prophets keep coming back to them at Amos 8:5 and Micah 6:10-11. The promise attached to honest scales is length of days in the land, which is the promise attached to honouring father and mother at Exodus 20:12.
Deuteronomy 25:11
“When men strive together, one with another,....”
1 more voice on this verse
Deuteronomy 25:11
“The punishment was that her hand should be cut off; and the magistrates must not pretend to be more merciful than God: Thy eye shall not pity her. Perhaps our Saviour alludes to this law when he commands us to cut off the right hand that offends us, or is an occasion of sin to us.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Deuteronomy 25:12
“This is the only mutilation prescribed by the Law of Moses, unless we except the retaliation prescribed as a punishment for the infliction on another of bodily injuries Lev 24:19-20. The act in question was probably not rare in the times and countries for which the Law of Moses was designed. It is of course to be understood that the act was willful, and that the prescribed punishment would be inflicted according to the sentence of the judges.”
Deuteronomy 25:13
“Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights,.... Or, "a stone and a stone" (y); it being usual, in those times and countries, to have their weights of stone, as it was formerly with us here; we still say, that such a commodity is worth so much per stone, a stone being of such a weight; now these were not to be different: a great and a small; great weights, to buy with them, and small weights, to sell with them, as the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases it. (y) אבן ואבן "lapis et lapis", Montanus, Vatablus, Piscator.”
2 more voices on this verse
Deuteronomy 25:13
“Thou shalt not have . . . divers weights--Weights were anciently made of stone and are frequently used still by Eastern shopkeepers and traders, who take them out of the bag and put them in the balance. The man who is not cheated by the trader and his bag of divers weights must be blessed with more acuteness than most of his fellows [ROBERTS].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Deuteronomy 25:13
“Honesty in trade, as a duty to our neighbor, is emphatically enforced once more (compare Lev 19:35-36). It is noteworthy that John the Baptist puts the like duties in the forefront of his preaching (compare Luk 3:12 ff); and that “the prophets” (compare Eze 45:10-12; Amo 8:5; Mic 6:10-11) and “the Psalms” Pro 16:11; Pro 20:10, Pro 20:23, not less than “the Law,” especially insist on them. Deu 25:13 Divers weights - i. e. stones of unequal weights, the lighter to sell with, the heavier to buy with.”
Deuteronomy 25:14
“Divers measures - Literally, an ephah and an ephah; one large, to buy thy neighbor’s wares, another small, to sell thy own by. So there were knaves in all ages, and among all nations. See the notes on Exo 16:16, and Lev 19:35 (note).”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Deuteronomy 25:15
“But thou shall have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shall thou have,....”
1 more voice on this verse
Deuteronomy 25:15
“That which is the rule of justice must itself be just; if that be otherwise, it is a constant cheat. This had been taken care of before, Lev. xix. This law is enforced with two very good reasons:-- 1.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Deuteronomy 25:16
“For all that do such things,.... Keep, different weights and measures, and make use of them to defraud their neighbours in buying and selling: and all that do unrighteously; what is not just and right between man and man, in any other instance whatever: are an abomination unto the Lord thy God; both they and their actions; he is a righteous God, and loves righteousness, and hates injustice of every kind.”
1 more voice on this verse
Deuteronomy 25:16
“Not only unrighteousness itself, but all that do unrighteously, are an abomination to the Lord. And miserable is that man who is abhorred by his Maker.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
D. Blot out the memory of Amalekvv. 17-19
The charge rests on what Amalek did by the way, striking the stragglers who were faint and weary at the back, and the text adds that he feared not God. Exodus 17:14 had told Moses to write it in a book for a memorial, which is the first command in Scripture to write anything down, and the memorial is discharged here. Remembering and blotting out are commanded in one breath, so Israel keeps the record of a people whose remembrance it is to end. Saul is sent to carry it out at 1 Samuel 15 and spares Agag, and Esther 3:1 brings in Haman the Agagite generations later.
Deuteronomy 25:17
“Out of Egypt - Which circumstance greatly aggravates their sin, that they should do thus to a people, who had been long exercised with sore afflictions, to whom pity was due by the laws of nature and humanity, and for whose rescue God had in so glorious a manner appeared, which they could not be ignorant of.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Deuteronomy 25:18
“Smote the hindmost of thee - See the note on Exo 17:8. It is supposed that this command had its final accomplishment in the death of Haman and his ten sons, Esther iii., vii., ix., as from this time the memory and name of Amalek was blotted out from under heaven, for through every period of their history it might be truly said, They feared not God.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Deuteronomy 25:19
“It was nearly 400 years after this that Saul was ordered to put this sentence in execution ( 1 Sam. xv. ), and was rejected of God because he did not do it effectually, but spared some of that devoted nation, in contempt, not only of the particular orders he received from Samuel, but of this general command here given by Moses, which he could not be ignorant of.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
This page carries no textual note on Deuteronomy 25. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
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 context
John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
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, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
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