But if this thing is true, [and] virginity hath not been found with the damsel;
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
then they shall bring out the damsel unto the entrance of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die because she hath wrought infamy in Israel, committing fornication in her father's house; and thou shalt put evil away from thy midst.
This verse ends a trial. A husband's charge against his bride has been proved. They bring her to the door of her father's house, where the sin was done, and the men of her city carry out the sentence. Two things stand out: the verse calls the sin "an outrageous thing in Israel", and its aim is to purge evil from the people.
One writer reads the whole chapter as God shaping the hearts of His people, not just their conduct.
In Deuteronomy 22 we have a group of rules about righteousness, care, love and tenderness — the smallest matters as well as the greatest… Yet anyone can see the great object here. God would form the heart of His people in this relationship, and measure it by His own affections. He would give them thoughts that are not merely righteous but holy, and mixed with tenderness when tenderness is called for.
The first half of this trial deals with a husband who invents the charge. There the law falls on him.
If a man married a woman and then charged her with not being a virgin when he married her, the judges heard the case in the gate, the place of judgment. Her parents could bring clear evidence to the court that she had indeed been a virgin. Then the husband stood as a false accuser, and the court fined him one hundred shekels of silver and gave it to the young woman's father. He also had to keep her as his wife, and he could never divorce her.
The same writer calls this sentence solemn justice, and then marks what grace changes.
On the other hand, if the wife had been guilty of fornication and had hidden this from her husband, they were to stone her to death. This was solemn judgment. But again, this was under law, and the same judgment has no place under grace, though God hates the crime. Grace seeks to restore rather than to condemn.
Some readers wonder why a law like this belongs in the Bible at all. One writer answers by asking what God's commands assume about the people who receive them.
We hear a great deal about the dignity of human nature. Many people find it very hard to admit that they really could commit some of the sins this section forbids… But we can be sure of this. When God tells us not to commit a particular sin, we truly are able to commit it. This is beyond all question. Divine wisdom would never build a dam where there was no current to hold back.
The last line of the verse is not unique to this case. The same call runs on into the New Testament.
All through Scripture we can see one thing. God has always called His people to turn away from evil and to live for His glory, because they are His people. Long ago it was written, "Holiness befits your house, O LORD, forevermore," and we often read, "So you shall purge the evil from your midst." In the New Testament we read, "You shall be holy"; "Be imitators of God, as beloved children"; "Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity." Our relationship to God allows no lower walk.
In Israel the men of the city acted. In the church the assembly acts, and with a different end in view.
In the church we have a case of "putting away" at Corinth. The assembly had to put away from among themselves the wicked person who was there. They cast him out. Later he repented, and then the believers at Corinth were told to forgive him and receive him back into communion (2 Cor. 2:6-11). Putting away an evil person is clearly necessary, because the presence of God, who is holy, demands it… but always with the hope that restoration may follow.
The verse names the sin as whoring in Israel — a wrong against the whole nation, not one home. One writer traces the picture to its root.
The sin of adultery pictures Israel's departure from God. It compares the LORD's exclusive relationship with Israel, out of all the nations of the earth, to a marriage. God has taken up the closest relationships of human life to show us the fullness of His love towards men, and how near His heart delights to bring us to Himself. So the sin that breaks through a love shown like this is all the greater… We shrink from these descriptions. By them God would teach us to hate what is far worse in His sight: the human sin is only a shadow of the greater sin.
- Heart, not just conduct. God is not only writing rules. He is forming His people's hearts to match His own affections — holy thoughts, mixed with tenderness.
- Mirror. God never builds a dam where there is no current. This law names a sin we are truly able to commit.
- Both ways. The same trial that condemns a guilty wife also punishes a lying husband. He pays a fine of a hundred shekels and can never divorce her.
- Purge. The call to put evil away runs from Israel to the church. The reason is the same in both: God is holy, and He lives among His people.
- Restore. Under law the sentence was death; under grace the aim of putting away is repentance and welcome back.
If a man be found lying with a man's wife, they shall both of them die, the man that lay with the woman, and the woman; and thou shalt put away evil from Israel.
This law deals with adultery, and it hands one sentence to two people. It also gives a purpose that reaches past the pair: Israel must put the evil away.
The verse refuses to treat the man as a bystander. Both names appear in the sentence. One commentator calls that plain justice, then measures it against the way people live now:
In the case of a man committing adultery with a woman married to a husband, both the guilty man and the woman were to be put to death (v.22). This is justice. If such a sentence were carried out today, how many people would die! But too many people, taking advantage of God's patient grace, think they can get away with much evil.
The death sentence does not sit alone. Around it stand laws of a much gentler kind:
Deuteronomy 22 encourages kind and even sensitive feeling. It forbids mixing principles together, punishes impurity, and protects the weak and innocent from cruelty.
The same chapter that softens the heart also hardens the penalty.
One writer puts the husband-and-wife bond under every other human tie, and then higher still. God chose it to picture His own bond with His people:
The suspected sin struck at the very foundation of that family relationship, which not only in Israel but outside it too is the foundation of every other relationship between one person and another… The relation of husband and wife is the one that God was pleased to use — as the closest and most intimate of all — to picture His own relation with His covenant people. The Church at present is only engaged to Christ, not yet married; but as to the bond that exists, Scripture treats it as the same in both cases (Deuteronomy 22:23-24).
The verse ends by clearing Israel, not just punishing two people. The reason lies in who was walking among them — and that reached even into the most private corners of life:
But there was one great fact that every member of the assembly of Israel was always to keep in view: God Himself was present among them. This fact was to govern their most private habits and shape all their ways. "The Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you; therefore your camp must be holy, that He may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you" (Deuteronomy 23:14).
The Old Testament never records the sentence actually falling. One reference work draws a hard conclusion from that silence — and it lands on the men:
If a man committed adultery with a married woman, or with a woman engaged to be married, both were to be put to death (Deuteronomy 22:22-24)… But we do not read that any man or woman was ever stoned for adultery. We know from the New Testament that Moses allowed a certain looseness, because their hearts were hard. A man could divorce his wife for any reason, and that was easier than bringing a suspected wife to trial. It may be that the men themselves did not have good consciences.
One writer holds this verse against the way people judged such cases:
The law had also said that not only the woman, but the man too was to be put to death for such sin (Deuteronomy 22:22). Where was the man? In such cases men thought the woman's guilt was greater than the man's, and the Pharisees were happy to forget him!
God does not ask today's governments to copy Israel's penalties. The sin has not shrunk:
God does not ask the governments of other nations to enforce Israel's laws, but these evils are no less wicked wherever they appear. Meanwhile, God is holding back punishment, and today He commands all people everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30). If they do, they will be saved from the punishment they deserve.
- Bond — marriage holds up every other human relationship. God chose it to picture His own tie to His people.
- Breach — adultery breaks that bond. The sentence falls on the man as well as the woman.
- Purge — the aim reaches past the guilty pair to the whole nation. God walked in the middle of the camp, so the camp had to be holy.
- Silence — Scripture never records this sentence falling on anyone. Divorce became the easier path, and men with uneasy consciences took it.
- Delay — God asks no government today to enforce Israel's penalties, yet the sin is no less evil. He is holding back punishment and calling everyone to repent.
If a damsel, a virgin, be betrothed to some one, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her,
Deuteronomy 22 collects rules for everyday life, and here it turns to a woman already engaged who is caught with another man inside a town. Two questions follow: why did an engagement count as much as marriage, and why did the place — city or open country — decide the case?
This ruling sits inside a long list of rules, and one writer explains what all of them are for:
In Deuteronomy 22 we have a group of different rules about righteousness, care, love and tenderness — the smallest matters as well as the greatest... Yet anyone can see the great aim here. God would shape the heart of His people, in this relationship and by this standard, according to His own affections. He would give them thoughts that are not merely righteous but holy, and mixed with tenderness when tenderness is called for.
The verse calls the woman a betrothed virgin, not a wife. But in Israel an engagement was no private promise. It was a legal bond:
Among the Jews betrothal was looked on as being as binding as marriage, and only divorce could end it... It also pictures Jehovah's favour to His ancient people in a future day, when He will 'betroth' them to Himself for ever. Hosea 2:19-20.
The setting decides the case. In a town, neighbours were close enough to hear, so silence counted as consent:
A young woman might be engaged to be married, yet consent to have sexual intercourse with another man. If the man enticed her while they were in a city, she could cry out for help (vs.22-23). If she did not, she shared in the guilt of adultery, and both were to be put to death.
The next case moves the same event to open country, and the verdict reverses:
In the city a woman's cries for help could be heard. In the country a man may have forced a betrothed woman against her will, despite her cries for help (v.25). This was rape. The man must die, and the woman was held innocent (vs.26-27).
The nearby case of a married woman carries the same sentence. The same writer applies it to today:
When a man committed adultery with a married woman, both the guilty man and the woman were to be put to death (v.22). This is justice... But too many people take advantage of God's patient grace and think they can get away with much evil.
Joseph faced this law when Mary, his promised wife, was expecting a child. One writer explains what stopped him:
I think that the public exposure spoken of in Matthew 1:19 was what must have followed if Joseph had acted on Deut. 22. Appearances would have led him there, if God had not stopped this just man by sending Gabriel, and had not enabled him, through the angel's blessed message, to judge righteous judgment.
The same bond gives the picture Scripture uses for the church:
The church is at present only engaged to Christ, not married (2 Cor. 11:2; Rev. 19:7). But as to the bond itself, Scripture treats the two cases as the same (Deut. 22:23-24).
The comparison carries a warning:
The church was engaged to Christ as a pure virgin (2 Cor. 11:2). She should have kept strictly separate from the world that cast out and crucified her Lord. Instead she has been deceived and corrupted.
- Bond. Betrothal was as binding as marriage, and only a divorce could end it. So unfaithfulness here counts as adultery, not a broken plan.
- Place. In a town her cries could be heard, so silence counted as consent. In open country, where no one could hear, the woman is held innocent.
- Heart. God gave rules this detailed to shape His people's hearts after His own affections: holy thoughts, mixed with tenderness.
- History. Joseph faced this law over Mary. God's message through Gabriel kept him from acting on it and exposing her.
- Bride. The same bond holds the church, engaged to Christ and not yet married. The call is faithfulness while she waits, not corruption by the world.
then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, [being] in the city, and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour's wife; and thou shalt put evil away from thy midst.
The case rests on one phrase: the man violated "his neighbor's wife," though she was only engaged. In Israel's courts the pledge had already made her a wife:
In the eyes of Jewish law, the status of betrothal was the same as that of marriage: Deuteronomy 22:23 and following.
The same tie shapes how Scripture speaks of God's own love for His people:
Among the Jews this was seen as being as binding as marriage, and only divorce could dissolve it... The word is also used as a picture of the Lord's favour to His ancient people in a future day, when He will "betroth" them to Himself for ever.
The verse turns on the words "in the city" and "she did not cry for help." A city meant neighbours within earshot:
A young woman might be engaged to be married, yet consent to have sexual intercourse with another man. If the man enticed her, and she was in a city, she could cry out for help. If she did not, then she was implicated in the guilt of adultery, and both were to be put to death.
The next case turns the verdict around. Where no one could hear her cry, the guilt was the man's alone:
In the city a woman's cries for help could be heard. In the country, by contrast, a man may have forced a betrothed woman against her will, despite her cries for help. This was rape, for which the man must die and the woman be held innocent.
The law sentences both alike. Yet one writer notes that Israel's record never shows this sentence carried out, and points to a scene where only the woman stood accused:
If he committed adultery with a married woman, or with one betrothed, both were to be put to death (Deuteronomy 22:22-24)... But we do not read that any man or woman was stoned for adultery... It may be that the men themselves did not have clear consciences, like those who brought the adulterous woman to the Lord in John 8:3.
This severe ruling sits inside a chapter full of small kindnesses. The mixture is deliberate:
Deuteronomy 22 appears to contain rules that guard the people from any lack of kindness and mercy. They also guard them from whatever would offend the feelings of nature, whether tenderness or purity... We find the same about women. They were protected from the dishonour done to them by a brutish, thoughtless husband, while impurity was punished with death.
Another writer reads the chapter the same way — its aim is to shape the inner life, not merely to regulate behaviour:
The great object here is that God would form the heart of His people in this relationship and by this measure, according to His own affections. God would give them not merely upright but holy thoughts, and not only this, but thoughts mingled with tenderness when tenderness was called for.
The verse ends with a command to purge the evil. The reason lies in who was living among them:
Look through the various laws and ordinances of the Old Testament, and you cannot miss the intense spirit of holiness they breathe... God's presence among them was always to be the spring of holiness and separation for His people. So we read, "So you shall purge the evil from your midst"... God's dwelling place must be holy.
The sentence belonged to the law. What changes under grace is not God's view of the sin:
This was solemn judgment, but again, this was under law, and the same judgment cannot be carried out under grace, though the crime is disgusting to God. But grace seeks to restore rather than to condemn.
The bond itself carries forward. Scripture uses this same betrothal to picture where the Church now stands:
The relation of man and wife is the nearest and most intimate of all. It pleased God to use it to set out His own relationship with His covenant people. The Church at present is only engaged to Christ, not married (2 Corinthians 11:2; Revelation 19:7). But as to the bond that exists, Scripture treats it as the same in both cases (Deuteronomy 22:23-24).
- Bond — An engagement bound like a marriage. Only divorce could break it, so unfaithfulness before the wedding counted as adultery.
- Guilt — "In the city" is the hinge. Help was within earshot, so silence counted as consent. In open country, where no one heard her cry, she went free.
- Sentence — Both parties died under this law. Yet Scripture never records it happening, and the accusers in John 8 brought only the woman.
- Purge — Evil had to go because God lived among His people. His dwelling place must be holy.
- Betrothed — The same bond now pictures the Church, engaged to Christ but not yet married. Grace seeks to restore rather than condemn, and the bond still holds.
But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her, then the man only that lay with her shall die;
Deuteronomy 22:25 describes a man who seizes a betrothed woman out in the open country, where no one can come to her aid. The law treats her case apart from the one just before it, and it settles one question: who carries the guilt when a man overpowers a woman?
The place of the crime decided the case. It showed whether anyone could have come to her aid.
In the city, people could hear a woman's cries for help. Out in the country, a man might force a betrothed woman against her will despite her cries (v.25). This was rape. The man must die, and the woman was held innocent (verses 26-27).
Where no one could hear her, the law gives her the benefit of the doubt.
The verse calls her a young woman who is "betrothed," and that one word carries legal weight.
In the eyes of Jewish law, betrothal had the same standing as marriage: Deuteronomy 22:23 and the verses that follow.
So this man has violated a woman already bound to another, and he must die. The law dealt with other cases in other ways.
Adultery between people married to others brought death (Deuteronomy 22:22-24). Misconduct before marriage brought stoning to death (verses 13-21). Rape brought either death or a required marriage (verses 25-29).
This ruling belongs to a chapter that leans one way throughout.
Deuteronomy 22 encourages gracious and even sensitive feeling, forbids the mixing of principles, punishes impurity, and protects the weak and innocent against brutality.
Commentators read these laws as one fabric, meant to shape the heart of the nation.
Everyone can see that the great aim here is that God would form the heart of His people in this relationship, and to this measure, according to His own affections. He would give them thoughts that were not merely righteous but holy — and more than that, thoughts mixed with tenderness where tenderness was called for.
Why does such an ugly scene appear in Scripture at all? One answer is that the law itself tells us something about human nature.
Is it not good to have a faithful mirror held up before our eyes, in which we may see every moral trait and feature perfectly reflected? We may be sure that when God commands us not to commit this or that particular sin, we really are capable of committing it. Divine wisdom would never build a dam where there was no current to hold back. No one needs to tell an angel not to steal; but man has theft in his nature, so the command applies to him. It is the same with every forbidden thing: the prohibition proves the tendency.
So this law says something about every reader, not only about ancient Israel.
The law holds back an evil that it does not cure.
Some things are taken for granted here, and they form the basis of these laws, though the full working of the Spirit of Christ would take them away completely. Divorce is one example, and other things were tolerated in the same way. They existed only because of the hardness of man's heart. But the limits and conditions set by the law of God keep in check the wickedness of a will that hardens itself while it oppresses others.
Behind the law stands a God who saw a crime that no human witness saw.
Nothing escaped His gracious notice; nothing was too small for His tender care. No mother could be more careful of her little child's habits and manners than the Almighty Creator and moral Governor of the universe was of the smallest details in His people's daily life. We see here, in a most striking way, that nothing is too small for our God to notice when His people are concerned.
- Notice. God takes account of what no bystander saw; nothing escapes His care, so a crime in an empty field is still on record.
- Status. Betrothal counted as marriage, so this assault carried death and not a lighter penalty.
- Verdict. Where it happened decided the case: out in the country no one could hear her, so the man dies and she carries no guilt.
- Mirror. The prohibition proves the tendency — God builds no dam where there is no current.
- Restraint. These limits check a hardened will that oppresses others. They hold evil back; the Spirit of Christ deals with the heart itself.
and unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death; for as when a man riseth against his neighbour, and murdereth him, so is this matter;
Deuteronomy 22 gives case after case about marriage and sexual sin. This verse gives the verdict in one of them: the woman attacked out in the open country is to suffer nothing. The law both clears her and weighs the crime against her by the standard of murder.
One writer reads the whole chapter as a guard — on kindness, on purity, and on women in particular.
Deuteronomy 22 seems to contain rules that guard the people from a lack of kindness and mercy. They guard them too from anything that would offend natural feeling, whether tenderness or purity. In the same way, the law forbade all mixture in ploughing or sowing. We find the same care for women. The law protected them from the dishonour done to them by a brutish, thoughtless husband, and it punished impurity with death.
Two cases sit side by side here. What separates them is the place of the attack, and whether anyone could have heard her.
In the city a woman's cries for help could be heard. Out in the country a man may have forced a betrothed woman against her will, despite her cries for help (v.25). This was rape. For it the man must die, and the woman is held innocent (vs. 26-27).
The verse measures this crime by another: "a man attacking and murdering his neighbor." One writer looks at the Hebrew here and in similar verses. He finds it is not the ordinary verb for killing.
The expression here and elsewhere — in Genesis 37:21, Deuteronomy 19:6, 11, Deuteronomy 22:26 and Jeremiah 40:14 — is always "smiting the soul." The verb is not the true word for killing.
These rulings run from the smallest matters to the greatest. One writer says God's aim in them was to shape the inner life of His people.
In Deuteronomy 22 we have a group of different rules dealing with questions of righteousness, care, love and tenderness — the smallest matters as well as the greatest… Everyone can see the great object here. God would form the heart of His people in this relationship and by this measure, according to His own affections. He would give them not bare righteous thoughts but holy ones, and thoughts mingled with tenderness when tenderness was called for.
These were rules for a people at a particular stage. J. N. Darby marks what they did and did not achieve.
Some things are taken for granted here, and they form the basis of these rules. The full working of the Spirit of Christ would remove them — divorce, for instance, and other things tolerated because of the hardness of man's heart. But the law of God sets limits and conditions, and these keep in check the wickedness of a will that hardens itself while it oppresses others.
One writer takes the ban itself as evidence about the human heart.
We hear a great deal about the dignity of human nature. A great many find it very hard to admit that they are capable of committing some of the sins forbidden in the section before us… But we may be sure of this: when God commands us not to commit a particular sin, we are capable of committing it. This is beyond all question. Divine wisdom would never build a dam if there were no current to be resisted. There would be no need to tell an angel not to steal. But man has theft in his nature, and so the command applies to him. It is the same with every other forbidden thing: the ban proves the tendency.
The same writer turns that from theory into daily dependence.
We all need to remember this. If God were to withdraw His sustaining grace for one moment, there is no depth of evil we could not fall into… May we always keep this in mind, so that we may walk humbly and watchfully, leaning on the arm that alone can hold us up and keep us.
- Crime. Out in the country no one could hear the woman cry for help. What happened there was rape, and the law names it so.
- Verdict. The man must die. The woman goes free, and the guilt sits where it belongs.
- Measure. God weighs it as murder: a man attacking his neighbor. The Hebrew reads "smiting the soul," not the ordinary word for killing.
- Motive. God's rulings here, small and great, shape His people's hearts by His own affections. Righteousness comes mingled with tenderness, and the law curbs the oppressor's will.
- Mirror. God never builds a dam where there is no current. The law that clears her also shows what the human heart can do. It sends us to lean on the grace that holds us up.
for he found her in the field, the betrothed damsel cried, and there was no one to save her.
This verse closes a case in Israel's law. A man attacked a woman promised in marriage out in open country, where her cry for help could reach no one. The verse decides who is guilty when no one was there to hear. It also raises a question: why does God's law deal with a crime like this at all?
The location decides everything here. In a town, someone would have heard her cries. Out in open country no one could, and that difference decides the ruling.
In the city, people could hear a woman's cries for help. Out in the country, a man may have forced a betrothed woman against her will, despite her cries for help (v.25). This was rape. The man must die, and the woman is held innocent (vs.26-27).
The woman in this case had no one to rescue her. William Kelly sums up what the whole chapter around her case is doing.
Deuteronomy 22 fosters gracious and even delicate feeling, forbids mixture of principle, punishes impurity, and protects the weak innocents against brutality.
A judge could settle a case like this by rule alone. Kelly sees the chapter aiming deeper than right rulings, at what the people feel.
In Deuteronomy 22 we have a group of different rules about righteousness, care, love and tenderness — the smallest matters as well as the greatest. All can understand that the great object here is that God would form the heart of His people in this relationship and by this measure, according to His own affections. God would give them not merely righteous thoughts but holy ones. And not only that: thoughts mixed with tenderness when tenderness was needed.
Rules like this one do not remake the human heart. Darby notes that these laws work inside a setting that is far from perfect. They still do real good: they fence in cruelty.
Here, it is true, everything is imperfect. Some things are taken for granted here, and they form the basis of these ordinances. The full working of the Spirit of Christ would remove them completely — divorce, for instance, and other things people put up with. They owe their existence to the hardness of man's heart. But the limits and conditions set by the law of God keep in check the wickedness of that will which hardens itself while it oppresses others.
Some readers wonder why the Bible deals with crimes this ugly. Mackintosh answers that the law itself shows us what we are.
The passages we would least expect to find in the Bible teach us, in their own way, what we are made of morally, and the moral depths we are capable of sinking into. Is it not good to have a faithful mirror held up in front of our eyes, one that reflects every moral trait and feature perfectly? But we may rest assured that when God commands us not to commit this or that particular sin, we are truly capable of committing it. This is beyond all question. Divine wisdom would never build a dam where there is no current to hold back. There would be no need to tell an angel not to steal; but man has theft in his nature, and so the command applies to him. And exactly the same holds for every other forbidden thing: the prohibition proves the tendency — proves it beyond all question.
The verse ends with no one there to save her. Mackintosh draws another lesson from this part of Deuteronomy. God's care reached into every corner of His people's lives, even the private ones.
It teaches us something all its own: the wonderful way God provided for everything connected with His people. Nothing escaped His gracious notice; nothing was too trivial for His tender care… By day and by night, waking and sleeping, at home and abroad, He looked after them. He attended to their clothing, their food, and their manners and ways towards one another. He attended to how they were to build their houses and how they were to plough and sow their ground. He attended even to how they were to conduct themselves in the deepest privacy of their personal life. He provided for it all in a way that fills us with wonder, love and praise.
- Cry — The attack happened in open country. No call for help could reach anyone there, and that fact alone decides the case.
- Verdict — The law treats the crime as rape: the man must die, and the woman is innocent.
- Shield — The chapter protects weak innocents against brutality. Its limits hold back a will that hardens itself while it oppresses others.
- Mirror — A law exists because the sin it forbids is possible. Divine wisdom never builds a dam where no current runs.
- Presence — No one was near enough to save her, but nothing was too trivial for God's tender care. It reached the deepest privacy of His people's lives. His aim was to form hearts that are not merely righteous but tender.
If a man find a damsel, a virgin, who is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found,
A man and a young woman who is not engaged are found together, and one law settles both their futures. Why is such a rule in the Bible at all, and what does its penalty say about how God values a woman?
This law sits in a chapter that runs from a bird's nest up to matters of life and death. One writer describes what the whole set was for.
In Deuteronomy 22 we have a group of different rules about righteousness, care, love and tenderness. They cover the smallest matters as well as the greatest... The great purpose here is that God would form the heart of His people in this relationship. He would set their measure by His own affections. He would give them thoughts that are not merely righteous but holy, mixed with tenderness when it was called for.
The same writer sums up the whole chapter in one line.
Deuteronomy 22 encourages gracious and even sensitive feeling. It forbids the mixing of principles. It punishes impurity, and it protects the weak and innocent against brutality.
The penalty falls on the man. It costs him money and his freedom for life.
Suppose a man and woman who were not married or engaged were guilty of having sexual intercourse. The man then had to pay fifty shekels of silver to the woman's father and keep her as his wife. He was never allowed to divorce her (vv. 28-29). In all of these things God shows the seriousness of having sexual relationships. He intended this only within the marriage bond. Those who break this today can expect unpleasant consequences, and the displeasure of the Lord.
Commentators differ on whether this verse describes seduction or force. The verse itself says the man seizes her. One writer groups verses 25-29 together as laws about force, with the penalty changing by case:
Rape brought either death or compulsory marriage, vv. 25-29.
A matching law in Exodus deals with the same case. One writer explains why the man was bound to marry her.
The law here puts the guilt mainly on the man — though it does not free the woman from her share. But a man cannot sin lightly and then act as if he had not sinned, especially in the way mentioned here. So he took on the obligation of giving her a marriage settlement and taking her as his wife. The principle is stated by Paul: "Do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, 'The two will become one flesh.'" (1 Corinthians 6:16.)
Many readers wonder why such verses are in the Bible at all. One writer answers that the ban itself tells us what we are.
The passages we would least expect to find in Scripture teach us, in their own way, what moral material we are made of. They show the depths we are capable of sinking into... when God commands us not to commit this or that particular sin, we truly are capable of committing it... Divine wisdom would never build a dam if there were no current to be resisted.
The same writer draws a second lesson from how small the details are that God covers here.
No mother watches the habits and manners of her little child more carefully than the Almighty Creator and moral Governor of the universe watched the smallest details of the daily life of His people... We are amazed to find the Most High God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, condescending to make a law about a bird's nest.
These rules restrain evil; they do not cure the heart that produces it. One writer says the law here works with conditions God allowed, not conditions He approved.
Some things are taken for granted here, and these ordinances rest on them. The full working of the Spirit of Christ would take those things away completely. Divorce is one example. Such things were endured, and they existed only because of the hardness of man's heart. But the law of God sets limits and conditions. These keep in check the wickedness of a will that hardens itself while it oppresses others.
- Current — A law exists because the sin exists; the dam proves the river. These verses are a mirror of the human heart, not a curiosity of ancient culture.
- Dam — The law does not cure that current, it restrains it. Its limits check a hardened will that oppresses others.
- Cost — The penalty falls on the man: silver to her father, marriage, and no right of divorce for life. Here sin cannot be paid off and left behind.
- Care — The God who makes a law about a bird's nest makes a law about a woman's future. Nothing about His people is too small for His notice.
- Beyond — The law could only endure some things. The full working of the Spirit of Christ takes them away.
then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty [shekels] of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he hath humbled her; he may not put her away all his days.
This law deals with a man who violates a young woman who is not engaged. Readers today often stumble here: does such a rule protect the woman or punish her, and why is it in the Bible at all?
One writer states plainly what the law required.
Suppose a man and woman who were not married and not engaged were guilty of having sexual intercourse. The man had to pay fifty shekels of silver to the woman's father and keep her as his wife. The law forbade him ever to divorce her (verses 28-29). In all of these things God shows how serious sexual relationships are. He intended them only within the marriage bond. Those who violate this today can expect unpleasant consequences, and the displeasure of the Lord.
Why did the man owe her marriage, and not just money? One writer points to the bond the act itself makes.
Here the guilt falls mainly on the man, though the woman does not escape her share. But a man cannot sin lightly and then act as if he had not sinned, especially in the way mentioned here. So he took on the obligation of endowing her to be his wife. Paul lays down the principle: "Do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, 'The two will become one flesh'" (1 Corinthians 6:16). Our blessed Lord taught the same thing, and for the same reason. "Whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery" (Matthew 19:9).
The chapter's wider pattern shows which way its laws lean.
Deuteronomy 22 appears to contain rules that guard the people against unkindness and lack of mercy. They also guard against anything that would offend the natural feelings of tenderness or purity... We find the same for women. The law protected them from the dishonour a brutish, inconsiderate husband would do them, and it punished impurity with death.
God's aim in these rules went further than fair dealing.
In Deuteronomy 22 the great object is that God would form the heart of His people in this relationship and by the measure of His own affections. God would give them holy thoughts, not merely upright ones. And those thoughts would be mingled with tenderness when the moment called for it.
Why does Scripture spell out a sin like this at all? The command itself tells us something about ourselves.
When God tells us not to commit some particular sin, we can be sure we are capable of committing it. This is beyond all question. Divine wisdom would never build a dam if there were no current to resist. There would be no need to tell an angel not to steal; but man has theft in his nature, and so the command applies to him. It is just the same with everything else God forbids. The prohibition proves the tendency — proves it beyond all question.
This law was not God's last word on marriage. It held an evil in check without removing it.
Here, it is true, everything is imperfect. Some things are taken for granted here, and they form the basis of these rules. The full working of the Spirit of Christ would remove them entirely — divorce, for instance, and other things that people put up with because man's heart was hard. But the limits and conditions set by the law of God keep in check the wickedness of a will that hardens itself while it oppresses others.
One writer says where the law failed most, and what finally set it right.
As we know from our Lord's words, the law failed most of all in the law of marriage. Man's hard heart ruled out the full restraint of absolute righteousness until grace should come. The surrounding nations practised polygamy and divorce. These could only be modified in part, by curbing the will and preventing sheer lawlessness. It fell to Christianity to restore woman to her original place in creation, at the side of man.
- Dam — The rule exists because the current exists. The prohibition proves the very tendency it was built to hold back.
- Debt — A man could not sin and walk away as if nothing had happened. The act itself bound him to endow her as his wife.
- Defence — The chapter's laws lean toward the weaker party. They shielded women from the dishonour a brutish man would do them.
- Delicacy — God aimed past bare fairness. He was shaping His people's hearts to His own affections: righteous thoughts mingled with tenderness.
- Deficiency — The law curbed evil without curing it. Only grace restored marriage to its place at creation.