V. 1. ff. If you see your brother's ox or sheep going astray, you must not withdraw from them 2c.
Up to this point, Moses has taught love almost only insofar as it belongs to the fourth and fifth commandments, namely, obedience to parents and the avoidance of death by which the person of one's neighbor is damaged. Now he goes on to the rest, so that he teaches to show love to the neighbor in regard to external goods, and treats in general the sixth and seventh commandment, in which adultery and theft are forbidden, but chastity and goodwill are commanded, which belong to love and are fruits of faith, Gal. 5, 22. But in this chapter he gives various laws on how to prove goodwill and chastity.
First, he commands that an object lost by a neighbor, whether it be an ox that goes astray or a garment or any other thing that is lost, be taken, preserved and restored, and not neglected as something foreign, but cared for as if it were our own. Sol
If anyone sees his brother's donkey fall, he should help him up as if it were his own. You see that this commandment teaches the same thing that Paul says in Phil. 2:4: "Look at one another's things." This is quite proper to love, 1 Cor. 13:5: "Love seeketh not its own," except that the gospel, in explaining the law more fully, teaches that this is to be done even to enemies, while Moses forbade the rude people of the law to hate their enemies.
Secondly. [V. 5: "A woman shall not bear a man's weapons, nor shall a man put on women's apparel." Here it is not forbidden that, in order to avoid danger, or as a joke at play, or to deceive enemies, a woman should not bear a man's arms, or that a man should wear a woman's garment, but that this should not be done in earnest and in ordinary life and usage, so that due honor and dignity may be preserved in both sexes, since it is shameful for a man to wear a woman's garment, and not decent for a woman to bear a man's arms.
But he seems to punish by this law some people in whom this way may have taken place, as the writers generally write of the Egyptians, that the women do man's work, but the men do woman's work, the women do business and feed the men, the men take care of the house, and many such things in an inverted and opposite manner than is the custom among other peoples, so that this law must be understood as a general one, namely, that a woman attends to female tasks, a man to man's business, and in general each, content with his fate, plies his trade and needs his gifts, Rom. 12:7, 8, that the cobbler should stick to his last, and that the common man should not be the ruler of the council, but that the variety and diversity of persons should exist for a good government. If this is reversed, it shall be as shameful as if, according to a reversed order of things, a woman wore a man's weapons and a man wore women's clothes. God wants His people to keep away from the customs of these peoples, since He has an abomination against them.
Third. If a nest is found on the way, the young may be taken, but the mother sitting on it should be let fly. What does this law teach but that they should also learn gentleness and goodwill through benevolent treatment of animals? Otherwise it would have to be regarded as a foolish law, since it not only gives a commandment about such an insignificant matter, but also promises well-being and long life to those who keep it, saying [v. 7]: "That it may go well with thee, and that thou mayest live long" 2c. This, too, can be drawn on it by a general and, as it were, proverbial figurative figure of speech (figura), that one should beware of all excessive exploitation (usum) of one's neighbor, as we say in German: A willing horse should not be driven too hard. So we should use our friends and neighbors in such a way that we leave something for them, so that we can also use them at another time and on another occasion. Let this be a saying to the Hebrews: When one has taken the young, let the mother fly, so that there may be
they are well off. Otherwise, when they have completely sucked their friends dry, they must finally be in a bad way, so that this law is, as it were, contrary to the first one given, against those who like to have others show them kindness and love, but do not show any themselves, as if this were the will of the Lord, that those who always give abundantly should never cease [to give], but those who receive should never become full [to take], and that through the work of the latter the idleness of the latter should be nourished [2 Cor. 8, 13.], which is something quite unreasonable in social (sociali) life.
Fourth. When a house is built, a wall is to be made on the roof all around, lest someone fall down and bring a blood debt on the house. He speaks according to the custom of the people, who built the houses in such a way that the roofs were flat above, like the streets, which are paved with stones. Therefore we also read in the Gospel [Luc. 5, 19.] that they broke off the roof and let the gout-broken man down through the tiles, and Christ says that the Gospel should be preached on the roofs [Matth. 10, 27.]. For there people came together, played and ate, just as with us in the hallways. This can also be a proverbial and general law, that in public society one builds in such a way and behaves in intercourse in such a way that one does not cause danger, harm or damage to the other, but rather provides him with protection and benefit, so that you do not seek your benefit through another's misfortune, as it is said that selfishness destroys cities and empires. 1)
Fifth. The vineyard shall not be sown with divers seeds, neither shall it be plowed with an ox and an ass at the same time, neither shall any man use a garment of wool and linen mingled together. This law may have a reason of respectability in mind in the letter, but I believe that this is also a proverbial and general doctrine, by which the Jews are taught that they are to be of one mind, simple, honest, without sectarianism and the creation (studiis) of factions. For
1) Oak Walch, St. Louis Edition, Vol. VIII, Appendix L., Sprüchwörter s. v. Neidhart.
a house divided against itself becomes desolate, as the Gospel [Luc. 11, 17.] says, and through unity small goods become great, through discord the greatest goods fall apart, says Sallust. Therefore, some people say that civitas [city] has its name, as it were, from civium unitas [unity of the citizens.
But he adds the reason why some seeds are forbidden, namely, "that you do not sanctify in your abundance such different seeds besides the income of the vineyard". He calls "abundance" [the yield] of the harder fruits, as he calls "tears" [the yield of the juicier (liquidiorum) fruits, Ex. 22, 2) 29: "Your abundance and tears you shall not forgive" to offer. 3) So God, who loves simplicity (simplicitatem) and sincerity, does not want firstfruits and tithes of mixed seed to be sacrificed to Him. He also wants his citizens to be simple and sincere, of the same mind, and to keep their customs, so that they do not work with an ox and an ass, nor use a garment made of mixed material, and everything becomes unequal.
Sixth, he commands that they make lappets 4) on the four fiddles of the cloak. This is commanded to be worn by the Jews as a special sign by which they are to be distinguished from other peoples as a watchword and a sign of recognition. 5) Not that the Lawgiver had this in mind alone, but that it was to be a symbol of confession, by which they were to confess that they were the people of God, and from this arose the cause of their being hated and suffering persecution, so that through this saying (proverbio) of the Law God would train His citizens to patience, and they, exercised by the adversaries, would become the stronger, more united and more unanimous.
1) Here in the Erlangen edition the punctuation is wrong. The punctum before ssmvn is to be deleted and after viuess a dot is to be put.
2) In the issues: Lxoä. 23.
3) Compare Luther's marginal gloss on this passage. Walch, St. Louis edition, VIII, 1682.
4) lunioulos in ünrbriis cords plucked into fringes.
5) We have adopted with the Wittenberg "tisoornsutur instead of <Ii86sruuutur in the Jena and in the Erlangen.
This is said about benevolence and love toward one's neighbor in bodily things by virtue of the seventh commandment, "Thou shalt not steal." Now he will deal with chastity by virtue of the sixth commandment. In this chapter Moses is not concerned with the order of the commandments, just as in the previous chapter he spoke of the death stroke rather than of the disobedience of the children, because in common life things do not happen and do not occur in order, which otherwise can be written in order; Moses indicates this by neglecting this order of the commandments.
Seventh, he gives a commandment of a woman who has not been found a virgin by her husband, and has been brought into an evil cry by him, either with truth or out of hatred 2c. It is uncertain what kind of a way (rite) this was, in order to inquire or prove publicly the virginity. For I see that almost everyone agrees that one can know privately at the first intercourse whether she is weakened or not, because the first intercourse is unpleasant and troublesome, since the hymen is injured, and a sign of it remains on the garment through the blood of the injured hymen, although Augustine also makes this uncertain, who says that this very hymen is sometimes injured by the women (matronis), or also by the girls themselves, by examining it with the finger. But let us admit that it is certain; how can it be proved publicly? Will the man say that the habit was neither unpleasant nor severe? If the woman denies it? Or shall she show the blood which remained on the garment? Who would tolerate that these shameful things (pudenda) are shown in public court? Rather, I want to say that I do not know this custom. I would agree with those who say that the father and the mother of the girl, when they give away the daughter, first inquire about her virginity through respectable women, who afterwards can be witnesses in court that she was a virgin, and that this is what Moses says here, that the father spreads out the garment, saying, "Behold, here is the virginity of my daughter.
ter," that is, through these women I show that she was a virgin, that is, as a sign I spread out the garment, the spreading of which is to mean that the matter is clear and proven, as it was the custom of this people to shake out the garment when they threatened, as Nehemiah did, Cap. 5,1 ) 13., and to tear the garment when they were angry, so also to spread out the garment when they wanted to express that a matter was clear, distinct and bright; although this custom of having a bride examined by women before the wedding is also disgraceful. But since we do not have anything else, let us allow it in the meantime.
This law also serves for general application against slanderers and spreaders of evil rumors. You see how severely this misdeed is punished here; First, he is chastised, namely with forty strokes less one, then he is fined a hundred shekels of silver, which are to be given to the girl's father, finally he is also forced to keep her himself, whom he hated so much and himself infamously, forever as punishment, while the one who had simply defiled a girl should only give fifty shekels to the girl's father and keep her, as he will say afterwards.
Furthermore, the woman who is not a virgin they stone. By this evidence it is seen that this law speaks of a bride committing fornication, which is a right adultery. For a girl who commits bad fornication is given in marriage to her abuser, as I have said. Or if it is not understood by a bride, the girl's fornication is punished so severely because she has fornicated secretly and willingly, and has deceived her future husband and dishonored her father's house. But by the girl who is to be given to her abuser is understood one who has been violently defiled. And this is the more probable to me.
Eighth, he sets a threefold kind of adultery. First, if a man sleeps with another woman, they shall both die. Second, if a man sleeps with another man's bride, but in the city, they shall both die.
1) In the issues: "7."
die. By town here is meant any place where the girl could have protected herself by screaming, but did not do so, as if she were in a forest or in the field and knew that people were near who could hear her. For a city is put here only for the sake of example, because in it people are at hand to help. So the one who does not cry out indicates that she has allowed herself to be ravished with her will. Thirdly, if someone sleeps with another's bride, but in the field, only the adulterer shall die. And here the field is also only mentioned as an example, that by it is understood any place where a single girl cannot help herself by crying, as if someone seized her alone in the house or in the porch or in the chamber, as Ammon did his sister Thamar; as if someone forced someone's bride in bed by a drawn sword not to cry out. This one, of course, is not in the field, and yet she is more than alone; she would cry out, but dare not for fear of death; therefore the equity of the law shall interpret it as if she had cried out, as the text says.
The last is the law: Whoever defiles a girl who is not a bride shall give fifty shekels to her father and have her as a wife. In the second book of Moses Cap. 22, 16, he calls these fifty sovereigns a "morning gift" which he shall give to the virgin; here he fixes them at so many sovereigns, which according to our coinage make about twelve florins, for a sovereign is the place of a florin. 2) But he adds there that he shall have her for a wife, [but only] if the father of the girl wants it; if he does not want it, he must nevertheless pay this morning gift. Would that God would use this law as an example also in our country, for the sake of the wretched female sex. 3)
Secret interpretation.
The brother's animal that goes astray, or the lost thing that is to be returned and taken care of as if it were one's own, means that we are to seek that,
2) quartate only" - a local guilder, a quarter guilder.
3) The last sentence is missing in the Wittenberg.
What Christ is, as He Himself also did (whether it be an ass, that is, a slow, unsluggish, and weak in faith or life, or anything else, as there are errors and defects), 1) in word, in exhortation, in walk.
A woman does not bear the weapons of a man, and a man does not wear women's clothes, if faith is not perverted by works, that is, if what is due to faith is not attributed to works, and again, like those who are possessed by the statutes of men, who trust in men as their teachers, who must be served only by the works of love, which they do not do. On the other hand, they serve God, whom they should trust, with works and services of their own choosing, and do not trust in his word. But both are an abomination, for a man is not to be believed, but to be served by works; but God is to be believed, not served by works. Thus a man becomes a woman when he believes a man, and a woman becomes a man when he serves God with works, as is said elsewhere.
The mother bird is set free, and the young are caught on the way, that is, the synagogue is left, which by the law had the apostles and the first believers among them, whom Christ accepted to spread his word among the Gentiles in this life. The house, built with a wall around the roof, is the church of Christ, which he has so fortified by his word that no danger or trouble to the soul can arise from it, but that it can be used safely and confidently in every way.
The vineyard is not sown with various seeds, that is, in the church there is not both the teaching of faith and works, but the pure and simple word of faith. Neither is there plowing with an ox and an ass at the same time, that is, there is not a teacher in the church who teaches both faith and works, but a sincere and faithful servant in the truth. In the same way, we do not use a garment that is
1) These brackets are set by us.
We must live in such a way that faith is our life, not the hypocrisy of works, because the conscience cannot grasp this at the same time, that you base yourself on faith and works, although the work by heart is necessary for the ass and for the outward man.
The various seeds, the ass and the linen, are to be separated into their own fields, and they are not to be mixed together, that is, they are to be taught, believed and lived in such a way that faith alone governs the conscience without works, and works oppress the flesh without faith, so that the spirit and freedom may be inwardly in the heart, but the law and the yoke of works inwardly in the body, that the flesh may not have freedom but bondage, but the spirit freedom, not bondage, nor on either side either bondage or freedom.
The small tabs on the four fronts of the cloak signify the confession of faith in the outward walk through the whole world, which is to be spread in the four regions of the world. The Christians are to be recognized by this sign and be a foolishness to the Gentiles and an annoyance to the Jews.
An adulteress always means a soul that becomes unfaithful to Christ (fornicantem) by leaving the word and trusting in works. Therefore, by the word of the Spirit, both she and her husband, that is, the teacher of error, are killed. Furthermore, some are defiled here with their will, and do not cry out, although they are in the city. These are the ones who, having grown weary of the word, turn to fables and get masters of their own free will, since their ears are itching to hear something new; they do not ask the believers who are there for advice, so that they may be delivered. Others are those who alone are ravished in the field against their will. Rather, these are not adulteresses. Among them are those who are inwardly in sincere faith, but are forced to hear outwardly godless teachers and live among wicked people, like Lot in Sodom, and godly people among godless tyrants.
But the virgin who is not trusted,
is the synagogue or any other community (congregatio) without the Word, which nevertheless has a beautiful appearance and spirituality (religiosa) in its own righteousness. Their virginity takes (violat) Christ by his word and keeps her as a wife, if the father wills it, that is, if she leaves her paternal statutes and is abandoned. But if she does not leave them, he gives her a morning gift, that is, temporal benefits for that righteousness and hearing of the Word. For one must assume a twofold virgin, if the secret interpretation is to hold, a virgin of faith and grace, and a virgin of law and works. Both are chaste and holy in their worship (religione). The defilement of the latter is pleasing to Christ, that of the former is an adultery and a mortal sin.
Thus, the husband who mistreats the wife is
The same Christ who accuses the virginity of the synagogue, which shines through works (religiosam), through the gospel, that it is not pure in faith. But the parents, who strongly resist him, mean the battle by which the righteousness of the works is defended with the testimony of the Scriptures and the spread out garment. And Christ is chastised with strokes, that is, with blasphemies, and is atoned for; at last he is forced to keep them, because in his kingdom there must be seemingly beautiful hypocrites whom he must feed, and their [the hypocrites'] teachers under his name, who do not want to be overcome. But if she is convicted that she is not a virgin in faith (non esse virgo fidei), she will be killed, that is, killed by the word of God, so that she may live in the spirit, having lost the glory of legal virginity.