n common mode of seeking ROOOBB to R family, and to be put to death along with pC"Taon in hie own house or apartment him (cf. Esth. ix. 18, 14, Herod., iii. 118, nmonc: the Ambe, 1md is regarded A.s the 119; Ammian. Me.reel!., xxiii. 6; Ourtiu&, 011ly respectful mode. There would be thus Yi. 11, 20; Claudi1m, 'In Eutrop.,' ii, 478; n miti.c:ntion of the se-rnrity of the euction, Cicoro, 'Epiet. ad Brut.,' 12, Hi). Suoh the tendency of which wmild be to preserve ee,•erity of retribution is hero prohibited in gond feeling between the parties. If the the penal code of the Isre.elitos. Though <lc,btnr wns needy, and being such eould gfre Goel, in the exercise of his absolute sove- in pledge only some 11ecessar)· nrticle, such reignty, might visit the sins of the parent as his upper garment in which he slept at upon the children (Exod. u:. 6), eCLrthly night. the pledge was to be rcturne<l ere judges wero not. to nssume this power. Only nightfall, that the mA.n might sleep in his the transgressor himself was to bear tho nwn raiment, e.nd have a l!'rateful feeling pennlty of his sin (cf. 2 Kini.,'8 xiv. 6). t n,~ards his creditor. In many parts of the Vers.17, 18.-The law ago.inst pe1·verting East, ,l'ith the Arabs notably, it is customary the right uf strangers, widows, and orphCLnB is for the poor to sleep in their outer garment. here repeated from Exod. xxii. 20, 21 ; xxiii. " During the day the poor while e.t work 9, with the addition tho.t the raiment of the can o.nd do dispenFe with this outside widow wo.s not to be to.ken in pledge, To ralrncnt, but e.t night it is greatly needed, enforce this, the people o.re reminded that el'en in summer. This fw·nishes a good they themselves e.s a nation had been in the reason why this sort of pledge should be condition of stro.ngers and bond.men in restored hefore night" (Thomson, 'Land Egypt (ef: Lev. xi.x. 83, 84). e.nd the Book,' i. 192, 500). The earlier Vere. 19-22.-(Cf. Lev. xix. 9, 10: xxiii. legislation (Exod. nii. 25, 26) is evidently 23.) Not only was no injustice to be done assumed here e.s well Jn1own by the people. to the poor, but, out of the o.bundance of It shall be righteollSlleBB unto thee (see on those in better estate, wei:e they to be helped. eh. 'l'i. 25). Ver. 21.-Thou she.It not glean it after- Vers. 14, 15.-The wage of the labourer ward; literally, Thou eltalt riot glean ajte1· was to be punctually po.id, whether he were thee, i.e. after thou hast reaped and ge.thered o.n Israelite or e. foreigner (cf. Lev. xix. 13; for thyself. It is still the custom among the h w there is repeated here, with a specie.I the .A.ro.bs for tho poor to be allowed to gather reference to the distress which the with- the berries that mo.y be left on the olive holding of the hire from a poor man even trees after they ho.ve been beaten and the for a day might occasion). main produce ce.n-ied off by the owner. All Ver. 16.-Among heathen ne.tions it was the injunctions in this section are adapted common for e. whole family to be involved to preserve relations of brotherliness and in the penalty incurred by the head of the love among the people of tile Lord.
HOMILETICS.
V ers. 1-5.-Pei·missive legislation. No treatment of this passage can be appropriate which does not set it in the light thrown upon it by Matt. xix. 1-12. The heading we have given to this outline indicates a point on which special stress should be laid whenever an expositor has occasion to refer to it. In the course of time, me.n had come to regard this passage in the light of a C011imand. Hence the wording of the question in Matt. rix. 7. But our Lord informs us that it was simply permissive. Divorce, uncler the circumstances here named, was tolerated a while by Moses owing to "the hardness of men's hearts,'' but that the original Divine arrangement contemplated the indis- solubility of marriage. The entire principle of the Mosaic Law was that of educating the people out of a Eemi-degraded state into something higher. Its method of doi_ng this was by giving the people the best legislation they could bear; tolerating some 111 for a while rather than forcing on the people revolutionary method~. The more gentle au_d gracious, though the slower process, was to sow the seed of higher good, and to Jet 1t have time to grow. The following Divine teaching on marriage may well be brought forward with this passage as a basis. I. That the marriage bond is holy in the eye of God, and ought ever to be recognized as very sacred by wan. ll. That by God's own declared appointment this most sacred of all nature's ties is i[lclissc,luble. IlL That however, owing 1? the degeneracy of national habit and thought, civil Oll, XXIV, 1-22.] 'l'HE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY.
legislation may suffor the legal cessrition of the marriage bond, yet it can in no case be severed, eave by death, without heinous sin on one eide or on both. IV. '!'hat the claims of married life are euch that, wilh them, not even the exi"encies 0 of military service are unduly to interfere (ver. 5). V. 'l'h11.t the highest and purest enjoyments of wedded life come to perfection only whon it is entered on and spent in the Lord Jesus Christ. The law was but a 1ra18a-yr.ry&1 •l1 Xp1C1Tb11 (see 1 Cor, vii. 39).