Deuteronomy 22:24

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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Deuteronomy 22:24-27. She cried not — And therefore is justly presumed to have consented to it. As when a man riseth against his neighbour, even so is this matter — Not an act of choice, but of force and constraint. The damsel cried — Which is in that case to be presumed; charity obliging us to believe the best, till the contrary be manifest.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

22:13-30 These and the like regulations might be needful then, and yet it is not necessary that we should curiously examine respecting them. The laws relate to the seventh commandment, laying a restraint upon fleshly lusts which war against the soul.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The fine was to be paid to the father, because the slander was against him principally as the head of the wife's family. If the damsel were an orphan the fine reverted to herself. The fact that the penalties attached to bearing false witness against a wife are fixed and comparatively light indicates the low estimation and position of the woman at that time.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

13-30. If a man take a wife, &c.—The regulations that follow might be imperatively needful in the then situation of the Israelites; and yet, it is not necessary that we should curiously and impertinently inquire into them. So far was it from being unworthy of God to leave such things upon record, that the enactments must heighten our admiration of His wisdom and goodness in the management of a people so perverse and so given to irregular passions. Nor is it a better argument that the Scriptures were not written by inspiration of God to object that this passage, and others of a like nature, tend to corrupt the imagination and will be abused by evil-disposed readers, than it is to say that the sun was not created by God, because its light may be abused by wicked men as an assistant in committing crimes which they have meditated [Horne].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Because she cried not; and therefore is justly presumed to have consented to it.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of the city,.... Where the fact was committed; the Targum of Jonathan is,"to the gate of the court of judicature, which is in that city:"

and ye shall stone them with stones, that they die; a man that lay with a married woman, he and she were to be strangled; but this sort of adulterers and adulteresses were to be stoned, and it is thought that of this sort was the woman spoken of in John 8:3,

the damsel because she cried not, being in the city, and the man because he hath humbled his neighbour's wife; as she was by espousal, by contract, by promise, and so was guilty of adultery, which was punishable with death:

so thou shall put away evil from among you; see Deuteronomy 22:21.

Geneva Study Bible

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 neighbor's wife: so thou shalt put away evil from among you.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

24. bring them both out unto the gate of that city, etc.] see on Deuteronomy 13:10 (11), Deuteronomy 17:5.

because, etc.] This construction is found in D only here and Deuteronomy 23:5. Humbled, Deuteronomy 22:29 and Deuteronomy 21:14.

Deuteronomy 22:24

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In connection with the seduction of a virgin (נער, puella, a marriageable girl; בּתוּלה, virgo immaculata, a virgin), two, or really three, cases are distinguished; viz., (1) whether she was betrothed (Deuteronomy 22:23-27), or not betrothed (Deuteronomy 22:28, Deuteronomy 22:29); (2) if she were betrothed, whether it was (a) in the town (Deuteronomy 22:23, Deuteronomy 22:24) or (b) in the open field (Deuteronomy 22:25-27) that she had been violated by a man.

Deuteronomy 22:23-24

If a betrothed virgin had allowed a man to have intercourse with her (i.e., one who was not her bridegroom), they were both of them, the man and the girl, to be led out to the gate of the town, and stoned that they might die: the girl, because she had not cried in the city, i.e., had not called for help, and consequently was to be regarded as consenting to the deed; the man, because he had humbled his neighbour's wife. The betrothed woman was placed in this respect upon a par with a married woman, and in fact is expressly called a wife in Deuteronomy 22:24. Betrothal was the first step towards marriage, even if it was not a solemn act attested by witnesses. Written agreements of marriage were not introduced till a later period (Tobit 7:14; Tr. Ketuboth i.2).