Deuteronomy 25:8

8 and the elders of his city have called for him, and spoken unto him, and he hath stood and said, I have no desire to take her;

Deuteronomy 25:8 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 25:8

Then the elders of his city shall call him
Require him to come, before them, and declare his resolution, and the reasons for it; recite this law to him, and explain the nature of it, and exhort him to comply with it, or show reason why he does not, at least to have his final resolution upon it:

and speak unto him;
talk with him upon this subject, and give him their best advice; and what that was Maimonides ^F15 more particularly informs us; if it is good and advisable to marry, they advise him to marry; but if it is better advice to pluck off the shoe, they give it; as when she is young and he is old, or she is old and he young, they advise him to allow the shoe to be plucked off:

and [if] he stand [to it]: and say, I like not to take her;
if, after all the conversation, debate, and counsel between them, he is resolute, and abides by his first determination, that he will not marry her, then the following method was to be taken.

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 Yebum Vechalitzab, c. 4. sect. 1.

Deuteronomy 25:8 In-Context

6 and it hath been, the first-born which she beareth doth rise for the name of his dead brother, and his name is not wiped away out of Israel.

7 `And if the man doth not delight to take his brother's wife, then hath his brother's wife gone up to the gate, unto the elders, and said, My husband's brother is refusing to raise up to his brother a name in Israel; he hath not been willing to perform the duty of my husband's brother;

8 and the elders of his city have called for him, and spoken unto him, and he hath stood and said, I have no desire to take her;

9 `Then hath his brother's wife drawn nigh unto him, before the eyes of the elders, and drawn his shoe from off his foot, and spat in his face, and answered and said, Thus it is done to the man who doth not build up the house of his brother;

10 and his name hath been called in Israel -- The house of him whose shoe is drawn off.