Deuteronomio 24:5

5 Quando un uomo si sarà sposato di fresco, non andrà alla guerra, e non gli sarà imposto alcun incarico; sarà libero per un anno di starsene a casa, e farà lieta la moglie che ha sposata.

Deuteronomio 24:5 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 24:5

When a man hath taken a new wife
A wife he has lately married, new to him, though a widow, as Jarchi observes; but the Targum of Jonathan says a virgin; however this is opposed to his old wife, and divorced; for this, as Jarchi and Ben Melech say, excepts the return of a divorced wife, who cannot be said to be a new one:

he shall not go out to war;
this is to be understood of a man that had not only betrothed, but married a wife; a man that had betrothed a wife, and not married her, who went out to war, might return if he would, ( Deuteronomy 20:7 ) ; but one that had married a wife was not to go out to war:

neither shall be charged with any business;
as betrothed ones were; they, though they had a liberty of returning, yet they were to provide food and drink for the army, and to prepare or mend the highways, as Jarchi observes; but these were not obliged to such things, nor even to keep watch on the walls of the city, or to pay taxes, as Maimonides F2 writes:

[but] he shall be free at home one year;
not only from all tributes and taxes, and everything relative to the affairs of war, but from public offices and employments, which might occasion absence from home. Jarchi remarks, that his house or home comprehends his vineyard; and so he thinks that this respects his house and his vineyard, that if he had built a house and dedicated it, or planted a vineyard and made it common, yet was not to remove from his house because of the necessities of war:

and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken;
or rejoice with his wife which he hath taken, and solace themselves with love; and thereby not only endear himself to her, but settle his affections on her, and be so confirmed in conjugal love, that hereafter no jealousies may arise, or any cause of divorce, which this law seems to be made to guard against. So it is said F3, that Alexander after the battle of Granicus sent home to Macedonia his newly married soldiers, to winter with their wives, and return at spring; which his master Aristotle had taught him, and as he was taught by a Jew.


FOOTNOTES:

F2 Hilchot Melachim, c. 7. sect. 10, 11.
F3 Arrian. Expedit Alex. l. 1.

Deuteronomio 24:5 In-Context

3 e quest’altro marito la prende in odio, scrive per lei un libello di ripudio, glielo consegna in mano e la manda via di casa sua, o se quest’altro marito che l’avea presa per moglie viene a morire,
4 il primo marito che l’avea mandata via non potrà riprenderla per moglie dopo ch’ella è stata contaminata; poiché sarebbe un’abominazione agli occhi dell’Eterno; e tu non macchierai di peccato il paese che l’Eterno, il tuo Dio, ti dà come eredità.
5 Quando un uomo si sarà sposato di fresco, non andrà alla guerra, e non gli sarà imposto alcun incarico; sarà libero per un anno di starsene a casa, e farà lieta la moglie che ha sposata.
6 Nessuno prenderà in pegno sia le due macine, sia la macina superiore, perché sarebbe come prendere in pegno la vita.
7 Quando si troverà un uomo che abbia rubato qualcuno dei suoi fratelli di tra i figliuoli d’Israele, ne abbia fatto un suo schiavo e l’abbia venduto, quel ladro sarà messo a morte; così torrai via il male di mezzo a te.
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