Old Testament Commentary - Deuteronomy 25

by Don R. Hender

Scriptural Text [& Editorial]	Commentary & Explanation	Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
CHAPTER 25 Judges prescribe punishment for wicked—Marriage law provides for brother's widow—Just weights and measures required—Israel commanded to blot out Amalekites from under heaven.	Judges are to presribe punishment for wicked—God's Marriage Law not only provides for widows in Israel but also for the continuation of the legal and rightful seed of the dead who would otherwise no longer have posterity in Israel—Powers of procreation protected—Amalekites ripened in wickedness to be blotted out under heaven.
1 IF there be a ^acontroversy between men, and they come unto ^bjudgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall ^cjustify the righteous, and condemn the wicked. 2 And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be ^abeaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his fault, by a certain ^bnumber. 3 ^aForty stripes he may give him, and not exceed: lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem ^bvile unto thee.		1^a TG Disputations ^b Ezek. 44:24 ^c TG Justification 2^a Luke 12:48 ^b IE of stripes (see next verse) 3^a 2 Cor. 11:24 ^b OR degraded
4 ¶ Thou shalt not ^amuzzle the ox^a when he treadeth out the ^bcorn.	4^a Thou shalt not muzzle the ox The care of the Lord is kindness to all of God's creatures. Crulty to animals is not tolerated by God and men who mistreat them are not pleasing unto God. Animals have been place under man's dominion, but like the dominion which man is to use in exercising the priesthood, it is done with love, persuasion, and with no acts of compulsion.	4^a 1 Cor. 9:9; 1 Tim. 5:18 ^b IE grain
God's Law of the Firstborn Son Significant to the ancestory of Jesus Christ is this Law of Moses, which is the Law of God, concerning the legal and rightful descendantcy and heirship within the House of Israel. Christ was the Firstborn Son of God the Father of the spirit children of God. Ephraim is the Firstborn of God (Jeremiah 31:9) in Israel and Obed was the Firstborn of Ruth by Boaz as Boaz performed the part of the 'brother' who would raise up seed to the dead, who was Mahlon the Ephrathite, the first husband of Ruth.
5 ¶ If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the ^awife of the dead shall not marry ^bwithout unto a stranger: her ^chusband's ^dbrother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an ^ehusband's brother unto her. 6 And it shall be, that the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the ^aname of his brother which is dead^a, that his ^bname be not ^cput out of Israel. Brethren Dwell Together Dwelling together does not just mean living in the same house, for which brothers grown still dwell in their father's house? The intent is to apply to those who dwell within the same community region where such community has the responsibilty to such widows and to such fellow 'brethren' of their community, to so provide for the widow and if necessary to provide the house of the dead 'brother' surrogate vicarious seed, that his name may not be lost in Israel. In the case of the house of Elimelech and Mahlon, it not only was the purpose of Boaz to raise up seed to the house of Mahlon and therefore to Elimelech and Naomi, but to insure that the heirship blessings of that house might remain in Israel. And those great heirship blessings in Israel where those of the house of Ephriam, the Firstborn of Israel which came down through the heirship line of Ephraim through Nun and his son Joshua (Jehoshua ~ Jehovah in Whom Is Salvation) to Elimelech and Mahlon who do appear to be the heirship line of the blessings of Ephraim, which are the blessings of Joseph, Jacob, Isaac and Abraham which included the right to ancestry to the Messiah, even the Messiah ben Joseph or Messiah ben Ephraim, the one true Messiah of Israel. (See Messiah ben David ~ Messiah ben Joseph)	6^a that the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead Boaz married Ruth, the wife of Mahlon the Ephrathite, in order to raise up seed to the dead according to this Law of God (Ruth 4:10). Why the Jewish compiled Bible sets forth the linage of Boaz as that of Obed, the firstborn son of Ruth who was to be raised up to the dead instead of the legal and rightful descent according to the Law of God can be speculated. By the time of the compilation of the Bible by the Jews after the Babylonian captivity, Israel, that is Ephraim had been lost in the eyes of the Jews who refused to even recognize the remaining mixed remnant of the tribe of Ephraim which was in the land of Samria. Further, Judah and the Jews, had always envied the right of the firstborn which had been bestowed upon Joseph and then upon Ephraim by the hand of Jacob. Thus for whatever reason, the record of the Jews has failed to recognize the Law of God, the Law of Moses, as to Obed's rightful linage being Mahlon and Elimelech, Ephrathites. And the Jews have preferred to give the surrogate blood linage of Obed to be that of the house of David than to give the rightful and legal heirship linage that the seed of Mahlon and Elimelech not be blotted out of the House of Israel. It seems only appropriate that it should now be restored to the rightful linage to which it belongs.	5^a TG Widows ^b OR outside the family ^c Ruth 1:11; Ruth 3:12 ^d Ruth 4:5; Matt. 22:24 (23-33); Mark 12:19; Luke 20:28 (27-38); Gen. 29:15 ^e TG Marriage, Fatherhood 6^a Ruth 4:6; TG Name ^b Ruth 4:10 ^c HEB blotted Brothers In Israel God's and the Hebrew concept of the term 'brothers' is not limited to those who are immediately related because of their descent from the same father and/or mother. The Jewish Old Testament refers to Jacob and his uncle Laban, his mother's brother as being 'brothers'. This seems to be the same kinship relations shared by Boaz and the house hold of Mahlon and Elimelech. Boaz was of the tribe of Judah and Mahlon and Elimelech were Ephrathites, meaning they where of the tribe of Ephraim. Their kinship was that of a maternal marriage which made them 'brothers' of 'kinsmen' of defering tribes of Israel as was Jesus Christ and Mary of the house of David with John the Baptist and Elisabeth of the house of Levi.
7 And if the man like not to take his brother's wife, then let his brother's wife go up to the gate unto the elders, and say, My husband's brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel, he will not perform the duty of my husband's brother^a. 8 Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak unto him: and if he ^astand to it, and say, I like not to take her; 9 Then shall his brother's wife come unto him in the presence of the elders, and loose his ^ashoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother's house. 10 And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed.	7^a perform the duty of my husband's brother Now in the case of the family of Elimelech the term 'brother' did include all near kinsmen as even Laban did call and refer to his nephew Jacob as his brother in the scriptures. And while it was likely that Peloni Almoni, the nearer kinsman was of the same tribe of Israel [Ephraim], that need not be the case of the maternally related Boaz, who was of the tribe of Judah though still an uncle relation and 'brother' under the law of the near kinsman's duty to perform unto Ruth to the end of raising up seed to the dead Mahlon and the house of Elimelech (See Ruth 4:5 & 10).	8^a OR persists 9^a Ruth 4:7 (6-8) Peloni Almoni Today given the attribute of 'John Doe', the name 'Peloni Almoni', translated as 'such a one' in the King James Bible, is that name given to that kinsman of Elimelech and Mahlon who was more closely related to them than was their cousin Boaz. That Peloni Almoni might have also been an Ephrathite, meaning Ephraimite, like unto Elimelech and Mahlon is a distinct possibility. That Peloni Almoni was more concerned with the physical than the spiritual, as was the fate of Esau, is appearant in that he was willingness to purchase the properties of Elimelech, Mahlon and Chilion for himself. But when he further understood that he was acting as a 'redeeming kinsman' by also marrying Ruth and thus to raise up seed to the dead, and that thus the 'family's properties' would revert to the firstborn son of Ruth rather than to remain his own, Pelonie Almoni recanted his right and his responsibility in Israel. He states that such sacrifice of his own personal wealth to be consumed in purchasing land for the 'seed of the house of the dead' would have the effect of 'maring' his own inheritance. Certainly Peloni Almoni was more concerned with worldly possessions, for he had refused himself the honor of becoming the 'bloodline' ancestor to the Messiah, though surrogate it may have been. Thus rather than having a great and honorable possition in Israel, he who is identified as Peloni Almoni 'shall be called in Israel, 'The house of him that hath his shoe loosed.'
11 ¶ When men strive together one with another^a, and the wife of the one draweth near for to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and putteth forth her hand, and ^ataketh him by the secrets: 12 Then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall not pity her.	11^a men strive together one with another In the course of human events, men have often resorted to fight it out one with another. The Israelite perspective was that if two men were fighting it out between them, that the woman was not to interfer in a particular manner. It would seem that she could intervene in other ways for which there was no law but if she proceeded to do so in a particular manner which could result in the man's losing his ability to produce children, she would then receive a severe penalty.	11^a Gen. 1:28 Multiply and Fill the Earth The greater commandment, that which men and women of the world today do openly ignore, it to multiply and fill the earth. It is a commandment which speaks of family, of patriarchal and matriarcal responsibilities and the absolute truth of the need for gender and the maintaining of the duties which gender does command by the word of God. If a man's ability to produce posterity was being endangered by the hand of a women, even in such circumstance as described here, the penalty was severe—the loss of that woman's hand. Such was the respect in Israel for that which pertains to the powers of procreation.
13 ¶ Thou shalt not have in thy bag ^adivers ^bweights, a great and a small. 14 Thou shalt not have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small. 15 But thou shalt have a ^aperfect and just weight, a perfect and just ^bmeasure shalt thou have: that thy days may be ^clengthened in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 16 For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the LORD thy God.		13^a OR two kinds of (also v. 14) ^b Lev. 19:36 15^a HEB full, whole ^b Lev. 19:36; Ezek. 45:10; Amos 8:5 ^c Deut. 4:40 Dealing Honestly
17 ¶ Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt; 18 How he met thee by the way, and ^asmote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not God. 19 Therefore it shall be, when the LORD thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt ^ablot out the remembrance of ^bAmalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget it.		18^a HEB attacked your rear 19^a Alma 5:57 ^b Ex. 17:14 (8-16)