1.
Thou shalt not see the brother's ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother.
2.
And if thy brother be not nigh unto thee, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it unto thine own house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it to him again.
3.
In like manner shalt thou do with his ass; and so shalt thou do with his raiment; and with all lost thing of thy brother's, which he hath lost, and thou hast found, shalt thou do likewise: thou mayest not hide thyself.
4.
Thou shalt not see thy brother's ass or his ox fall down by the way, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again.
5.
The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God.
(5) The woman shall not wear . . .—One of the things of which we may well say with St. Paul, “Doth not nature itself teach you?”
6.
If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young:
(6) If a bird’s nest.—On this precept there is a remarkable comment in the Talmud (Kiddushin, p. 39, b). “Rabbi Akiba says, You will not find a single duty prescribed in the Law with a promise of reward attached to it, which has not also the resurrection of the dead hanging thereby. In the command to honour thy father and mother, it is written (Deuteronomy 5) ‘that thy days may be prolonged and that it may go well with thee.’ In the liberty of the nest it is written (here), ‘that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days.’ Suppose a man’s father says to him, Climb up the tower and bring me the young birds. He ascends the tower, lets the dam go, and takes the young. But on his way back, he falls and is killed. Where is the ‘going well ‘in his case, and where is the prolonging of his days? Aye, but that it may go well with thee in the world where all goes well, and that thy days may be prolonged in that world where all is abiding.”
7.
But thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, and take the young to thee; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days.
8.
When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any man fall from thence.
(8) When thou buildest a new house.—Obviously the Law refers to houses with flat roofs, upon which it was customary to walk (1 Samuel 9:25-26; 2 Samuel 11:2).
9.
Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard, be defiled.
(9) Defiled—or sanctified. Different crops become “common” at different times. The year’s corn was freed by the wave-sheaf and wave-loaves. The trees not for five years. The rule about the ox and the ass may rest partly on the ground of humanity, the step and the pull of the two creatures being so very unlike. St. Paul gives a spiritual sense to the precept in 2 Corinthians 6:14. “Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.” The ox was a clean animal and fit for sacrifice. The ass was unclean, and must be redeemed with a lamb. The clean and unclean must not till the holy land of Jehovah together.
All these precepts are part of the laws of holiness in Leviticus—rules of behaviour arising from the fact that Israel is the special people of a holy God.
10.
Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together.
11.
Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woollen and linen together.
(11) A garment . . . of woollen and linen together.—In Ezekiel 44:17-18, the priests are altogether forbidden the use of woollen garments during their ministry. “The fine linen is the righteousness of saints” (Revelation 19:8), literally, their requirements. That is what they need. But it is said of the priests in Ezekiel, “They shall not gird themselves with anything that causeth sweat: That which cometh out of the man defileth him.” Again, in God’s dwelling-place, the interior or mishkân, the tabernacle where He abode, was of fine linen. The outer tent and coverings were of hair and skin and wool. The tabernacle where He dwells, and the earthly house of the tabernacle, must be kept distinct, while His tabernacle “remaineth among us in the midst of our uncleanness.” (See Leviticus 16:16).
12.
Thou shalt make thee fringes upon the four quarters of thy vesture, wherewith thou coverest thyself.
(12) Thou shalt make thee fringes.—See Numbers 16:32-41 for the origin of this requirement. We may call this fringe (or κράςπεδον, Greek) on the four sides of the square shawl or mantle, a mourning for the one man who was executed for sabbath breaking in the wilderness, as well as a reminder to Israel to do all the commandments and be holy unto their God. Of this κράςπεδον, when worn by our Lord on earth, the sick laid hold and were healed. His obedience and His suffering for the transgressions of God’s people are perfect and without flaw.
The principle of these precepts is evident. Even the dress of God’s people must be distinctive. And whether they eat or drink, or whatsoever they do, they must do all to the glory of God. These laws have a symbolical and a sanitary side; being made for the physical well-being as well as for the spiritual teaching of God’s people.
13.
If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her,
14.
And give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid:
15.
Then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate:
16.
And the damsel's father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her;
17.
And, lo, he hath given occasions of speech against her, saying, I found not thy daughter a maid; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city.
18.
And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him;
19.
And they shall amerce him in an hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days.
20.
But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel:
21.
Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father's house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you.
22.
If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel.
23.
If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her;
24.
Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall 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: so thou shalt put away evil from among you.
25.
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:
26.
But 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 slayeth him, even so is this matter:
27.
For he found her in the field, and the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her.
28.
If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found;
29.
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.
30.
A man shall not take his father's wife, nor discover his father's skirt.