Deuteronomy 25

1 When men have a legal dispute, let them go to court; the judges will decide between them, declaring one innocent and the other guilty.

2 If the guilty one deserves punishment, the judge will have him prostrate himself before him and lashed as many times as his crime deserves,

3 but not more than forty. If you hit him more than forty times, you will degrade him to something less than human.

4 Don't muzzle an ox while it is threshing.

5 When brothers are living together and one of them dies without having had a son, the widow of the dead brother shall not marry a stranger from outside the family; her husband's brother is to come to her and marry her and do the brother-in-law's duty by her.

6 The first son that she bears shall be named after her dead husband so his name won't die out in Israel.

7 But if the brother doesn't want to marry his sister-in-law, she is to go to the leaders at the city gate and say, "My brother-in-law refuses to keep his brother's name alive in Israel; he won't agree to do the brother-in-law's duty by me."

8 Then the leaders will call for the brother and confront him. If he stands there defiant and says, "I don't want her,"

9 his sister-in-law is to pull his sandal off his foot, spit in his face, and say, "This is what happens to the man who refuses to build up the family of his brother

10 - his name in Israel will be Family-No-Sandal."

11 When two men are in a fight and the wife of the one man, trying to rescue her husband, grabs the genitals of the man hitting him,

12 you are to cut off her hand. Show no pity.

13 Don't carry around with you two weights, one heavy and the other light,

14 and don't keep two measures at hand, one large and the other small.

15 Use only one weight, a true and honest weight, and one measure, a true and honest measure, so that you will live a long time on the land that God, your God, is giving you.

16 Dishonest weights and measures are an abomination to God, your God - all this corruption in business deals!

17 Don't forget what Amalek did to you on the road after you left Egypt,

18 how he attacked you when you were tired, barely able to put one foot in front of another, mercilessly cut off your stragglers, and had no regard for God.

19 When God, your God, gives you rest from all the enemies that surround you in the inheritance-land God, your God, is giving you to possess, you are to wipe the name of Amalek from off the Earth. Don't forget!

Deuteronomy 25 Commentary

Chapter 25

Extent of punishment. (1-3) The ox that treadeth the corn. (4) Marriage of a brother's wife. (5-12) Of unjust weights. (13-16) War against Amalek. (17-19)

Verses 1-3 Every punishment should be with solemnity, that those who see it may be filled with dread, and be warned not to offend in like manner. And though the criminals must be shamed as well as put to pain, for their warning and disgrace, yet care should be taken that they do not appear totally vile. Happy those who are chastened of the Lord to humble them, that they should not be condemned with the world to destruction.

Verse 4 This is a charge to husbandmen. It teaches us to make much of the animals that serve us. But we must learn, not only to be just, but kind to all who are employed for the good of our ( 1 Corinthians. 9:9 )

Verses 5-12 The custom here regulated seems to have been in the Jewish law in order to keep inheritances distinct; now it is unlawful.

Verses 13-16 Dishonest gain always brings a curse on men's property, families, and souls. Happy those who judge themselves, repent of and forsake their sins, and put away evil things, that they may not be condemned of the Lord.

Verses 17-19 Let every persecutor and injurer of God's people take warning from the case of the Amalekites. The longer it is before judgement comes, the more dreadful will it be at last. Amalek may remind us of the foes of our souls. May we be enabled to slay all our lusts, all the corruptions both within and without, all the powers of darkness and of the world, which oppose our way to the blessed Saviour.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 25

Several laws are contained in this chapter, as concerning beating such whose crimes required it, De 25:1-3; of not muzzling the ox in treading out the corn, De 25:4; of marrying a deceased brother's wife, when there was no issue, and of the disgrace of such that refused it, De 25:5-10; of the punishment of an immodest woman, De 25:11,12; and against bad weights and measures, De 25:13-16; and for the utter destruction of Amalek, De 25:17-19.