Vers. 1-3.-Humanity to be respected in judicwl ir,fiictions.. This passage is an interesting illustration of the restraints which the Law of Moses puts on the Hebrews, as to the semi-barbarous customs of other nations. It is well known that punishment by bastinado was common among the ancient Egyptians. It would be not unnaturally adopted by the Hebrews. There are here three matters to be noticed. 1. Here is a principle to be recognized (ver. 1). 2. The punishment (1) is to be inflicted in the presence or the judge, and (2) is not to e:x:ceed forty stripes. 3. The reason given is very im- pressive, "lest thy brother should seem vile unto thee," i.e. lest he should be so excessively punished as to be afterwards uufit for service, and lest he should be the common butt of any one who chose to dishonour him. Human 11ature is to be respected, even in ca1Tying out legal sentences on crime. Trapp says, "The Turks, when cruelly la.shed, are compelled to return to the judge that commanded it, to kiss his hand, to give him thanks, and to pay the officer that whipped them!" I. The sight of a human being coming under the sentence of criminal b.w is matter for in tense sadness. II. The puuishruent to be inflicted on him should be such in matter and degree as to assert right principle, but not such as needlessly to dishonour him. For- lll. Humanity, in spite of crime, has dignity about it still. Sin and the sinner are not inseparable. God can kill one and save the other I IV. With a view to a criminal's salvation, whatever of honour remains in his nature should be carefully guarded and tenderly appealed to. , Ver. 4.-Labourers to live by their labour. The use of this verse by the apostle has brought it out of an obscurity to w4ich it might have been relegated. It is quoted by Paul in 1 Cor. ix. 10, and is there applied by him as an illustration in the ancient Law of Moses of the same principle which our Lord affirmed when he app<>inted that "they that preach the gospel should live of the gospel" (see Matt. x. 9, 10). We can scarcely go so far as John Calvin in reference to Paul's allusion to it. He says that Paul here says, God dues not care for oxen! Surely his meaning is simply that it was not merely from his care for oxen that God commanded Moses to pen such a precept, but that there was a common care of God for all bis creatures, and that if be cared thus for the less, it was very certain he would care even more for the greater. Labour, moreover, is to be like all native growths-it is to have "its seed within itself." .All who employ labourcrB arc t-0 see that their workmen are sufficiently well paid to enable them to live by their la.buur. Any one .desiring to develop this truth in relation to spiritual ell, XXV, 1-19,] THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY.
!oil would nntu~nlly mthcr tnko the N cw Tcstnmcnt texts refcrre<l to above. Ker-p- ing, therefore, srn1ply to the earthly sphere, we remnrk: I. No precept in this book which is connected with duty or character is too trivial to be" worthy of Gorl." 2. An npparently small command may wrap up in it a great principle. 3. True benevolence will be kind nnd thoughtful to the humblest labo11rer even in minutedefail. 4. God rloes not allow nny one selfishly to monopolize the fruits of another's labour without giving the toiler adequate compensntion for his toil. 5. The Great Defender of the rights of the working classes is-God I 6. It is a divinely appointed ordinance for ever that the power of toil is to be a means of self-support; that labour shall bring wealth to the labourer. Here is a blow struck at slavery. Vers. 6-10.-Family honour to be maintained. This law supposes a state of society and a kind of public opinion which does not now exist, and in detail it is there- fore obsolete. But the principle it involves is clear, viz. that in married life the honour of the family on both sides is an object of mutual interest and concern, not only during the events of life, but also in case of arrangements at and after death. Vers. 11, 12.-.An offending hand. This may be compared with Matt. v. 30. I. Any member of the body may become an instrument of sin. 2. Where there is in any case special danger_ there should a special watch be kept. 3. Favourite, yet sinful lusts must be crucified, whatever the cost may be. Vers. 13-16.-Righteousness in trade imperative. This paragraph requires no preparatory elucidation. The topic for a Homily which it gives is one of the most important in the range of human ethics. It furnishes six lines of thought. 1. In the providence cf God men are thrown together for the purposes of trade. 2. Opportunity is thus furnished for the exercise of right principles of mutual justice and equity. 3, There is often given an opportunity also of taking advantage of others by unequal weights and measures. 4. God requires of us absolute justice to others, always and everywhere. 5. No false ma~ms of men, such as "business is business," can ever exonerate us from obligations to justice. 6. Our duty to man in this respect is enforced by a double argument. (1) The neglect of it is an abomination to God (ver. 16). (2) The observance of it will tend to long life, prosperity, and peace (ver. 15).
Vers.11-19.-Kindness to enemies is not to degenerate into sympathy with or indiffer- ence to ungodliness. God is kind. God is terrible. When he riseth up against sin to punish it openly, who-who can stand? The repeated injunctions in this book, of kind- ness to enemies, the prohibitions against private revenge, etc., should effectually guard any against attributing to Moses any incitement of the people to revengeful retaliation. He utters a prophecy, as a prophet. In Exod. xvii. 16, the LXX. read, lv xeipl ,cpvcpa.i~, ,c,.,.,ll.,, "by an unseen hand the Lord will war against Amalek." In Numb. xxiv. 20, Balaam foretells Amalck's doom. In 1 Sam. xv., the executiou of judgment on .dmalek is recorded; and thus is the meaning of our present paragraph explained. Note: 1. It is a very dangerous thing for a nation to harass or injure the people of God. 2. Such a nation may seem to prosper a while, but judgment is "laid up in store." 3. The retri- bution will come sooner or later in God's wonder-working providence. "Their feet shall slide in due time." 4. Whatever sympathy we may rightly feel for individual sufferers, the fact that God will ultimately avenge his people's wrongs may fill us with grateful joy.