Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 25:1-4
Here is, I. A direction to the judges in scourging malefactors, Deu 25:1-3. 1. It is here supposed that, if a man be charged with a crime, the accuser and the accused (Actor and Reus) should be brought face to face before the judges, that the controversy may be determined. 2. If a man were accused of a crime, and the proof fell short, so that the charge could not be made out against him by the evidence, then he was to be acquitted: "Thou shalt justify the righteous," that is, "him that appears to the court to be so." If the accusation be proved, then the conviction of the accused is a justification of the accuser, as righteous in the prosecution. 3. If the accused were found guilty, judgment…
Read the whole note in the consoleJohn Gill on Deuteronomy 25:3
Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed,.... And that this number might not be exceeded, it is ordered by the Jewish canons that only thirty nine should be given; for it is asked (b),"with how many stripes do they beat him? with forty, save one, as it is said, in number "forty" that is, in the number which is next to forty;''this they make out by joining the last word of Deuteronomy 25:2 with the first of this; and that this was an ancient sense of the law, and custom upon it, appears by the execution of it on the Apostle Paul; who was not indulged, but suffered the extremity of it as it was then understood; see Gill on 2 Corinthians 11:24; moreover, that they might not exceed this num…
Read the whole note in the consoleJohn Calvin on Deuteronomy 25:1-3
Deuteronomy 25:1-3
1. If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked.
1. Si fuerit lis inter aliquos, et accesserint ad judicium, et judicaverint eos: justificaverintque justum, et impium condemnaverint:
2. And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his fault, by a certain number.
2. Si quidem caedendus fuerit impius, tunc prosternet eum judex, et caedere jubebit illum coram se secundum iniquitatem ejus ad numerum.
3. Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed: les…
