Deuteronomy 25:9 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Deuteronomy 25:9
Then shall his brother’s wife come unto him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother’s house.
a sister-in-law · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
come
וְנִגְּשָׁ֨הve.ni.ge.Shah
H5066
to be or come (causatively · conjunction + verb, niphal sequential perfect, 3rd person feminine singular
presence
לְעֵינֵ֣יle.'ei.Nei
H5869
an eye (literally or figuratively) · preposition + noun, common feminine dual construct
elders
הַזְּקֵנִים֒ha.ze.ke.Nim
H2205
old · definite article + adjective, masculine plural absolute
loose
וְחָלְצָ֤הve.chal.Tzah
H2502
to pull off · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person feminine singular
shoe
נַעֲלוֹ֙na.'a.Lo
H5275
properly · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
foot
רַגְל֔וֹrag.Lo
H7272
a foot (as used in walking) · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
spit
וְיָרְקָ֖הve.ya.re.Kah
H3417
to spit · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person feminine singular
face
בְּפָנָ֑יוbe.fa.Nav
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
answer
וְעָֽנְתָה֙ve.'a.ne.Tah
H6030
properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person feminine singular
say
וְאָ֣מְרָ֔הve.'A.me.Rah
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person feminine singular
done
יֵעָשֶׂ֣הye.'a.Seh
H6213
to do or make · verb, niphal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
man
לָאִ֔ישׁla.'Ish
H376
a man as an individual or a male person · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
up
יִבְנֶ֖הyiv.Neh
H1129
to build (literally and figuratively) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
brother’s
אָחִֽיו'a.Chiv
H251
a brother (used in the widest sense of literal relation… · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
house
בֵּ֥יתbeit
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · noun, common masculine singular construct
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Numbers 12:14 And the LORD said unto Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? let her be shut out from the cam…
Ruth 4:7-8 Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm all things; a man plucked off…
Genesis 38:8-10 And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother’s wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother.
Ruth 4:10-11 Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that…
Job 30:10 They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.
Isaiah 20:2 At the same time spake the LORD by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from…
Isaiah 50:6 I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.
Matthew 26:67 Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with the palms of their hands,
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 25:5-12
Here is, I. The law settled concerning the marrying of the brother's widow. It appears from the story of Judah's family that this had been an ancient usage (Gen 38:8), for the keeping up of distinct families. The case put is a case that often happens, of a man's dying without issue, it may be in the prime of his time, soon after his marriage, and while his brethren were yet so young as to be unmarried. Now in this case, 1. The widow was not to marry again into any other family, unless all the relations of her husband did refuse her, that the estate she was endowed with might not be alienated. 2. The husband's brother, or next of kin, must marry her, partly out of respect to her, who, having…
the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother . . . shall take her to him to wife--This usage existed before the age of Moses (Gen 38:8). But the Mosaic law rendered the custom obligatory (Mat 22:25) on younger brothers, or the nearest kinsman, to marry the widow (Rut 4:4), by associating the natural desire of perpetuating a brother's name with the preservation of property in the Hebrew families and tribes. If the younger brother declined to comply with the law, the widow brought her claim before the authorities of the place at a public assembly (the gate of the city); and he having declared his refusal, she was ordered to loose the thong of his shoe--a…
Then shall his brother's wife come unto him in the presence of the elders,.... The time and place being appointed the evening before by three Rabbins, and two witnesses, as Leo of Modena says (p); of which she was apprized, and ordered to come tasting:
and loose his shoe from off his foot; his right foot, which was thus done;"they bring him a leather shoe, which has a heel, but not sewed with linen (linen thread), and he puts it on the right foot, and binds the latchet on his foot, and stands, he and she, in the court; he fixes his foot on the ground, and she sits and stretches out her hand in the court, and looses the latchet of his shoe from off his foot, and pulls off his shoe, and casts…
The Church Fathers
The role of holy women was different in the times of the prophets. Obedience, not concupiscence, impelled women to marry for the propagation of the people of God, among whom the forerunners of Christ were sent in advance. For this people, by the things that happened to them as a type, whether they recognized these types or not, were indeed prophetic of Christ, from whom Christ was to take flesh. Hence, in order that this race might be multiplied, the man who did not raise up seed in Israel was held accursed by sentence of the law. That is why holy women were animated by the pious desire of offspring rather than by desire. We may rightly believe that they would not have sought the marriage union if children could have been obtained in any other way.
But that the injury of spittings is taken as the extreme injury, is manifest also in the law, in which it is written that the wife of a deceased man, if the brother of her husband will not take her, going to him who refused to take her to himself as wife, in the presence of the elders shall unshoe "one of his sandals from his feet and shall spit in his face and shall say: so shall it be done to the man who has not built up the house of his brother". Therefore Christ did not turn away his face "from the confusion of spittings", that his countenance might be more glorified than the countenance of Moses was glorified, with so great and such glory that (by comparison with this glorification) the glorification of that countenance is done away, just as in the sight of the sun the light of a lamp is done away, and just as the knowledge which is in part is done away "when that which is perfect has come".
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Levirate Law — From Latin levir, “a husband’s brother,” the name of an ancient custom ordained by Moses, by which, when an Israelite died without issue, his surviving brother was required to marry the widow, so as…
Brother · .Law concerning Levirate marriage of — .Law concerning Levirate marriage of
Inheritance · Provisions for inheritance un — Provisions for inheritance un
Marriage · 38:8,11; — 38:8,11;
Shoe · Loosened as a sign of refusal to observe the levirate marriage — Loosened as a sign of refusal to observe the levirate marriage
Shoes · Customs connected with: A man who refused to marry a deceased brother’s wife disgraced by pulling off his shoes — Customs connected with: A man who refused to marry a deceased brother’s wife disgraced by pulling off his shoes
Spitting · In the face, as an indignity — In the face, as an indignity
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Deuteronomy 25:5-10
5. If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her.
5. Quum habitaverint fratres pariter, et mortuus fuerit unus ex ipsis, nec fuerit ei filius, non abnubet uxor mortui viro extraneo: cognatus ejus ingredietur ad eam, et capiet eam sibi in uxorem, et affinitatem contrahet cum ea.
6. And it shall be, that the first-born which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel.
6. Atque ita primogenitus quem…
On Levirate Marriages. - Deu 25:5, Deu 25:6. If brothers lived together, and one of them died childless, the wife of the deceased was not to be married outside (i.e., away from the family) to a strange man (one not belonging to her kindred); her brother-in-law was to come to her and take her for his wife, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her. יבּם, denom. from יבם, a brother-in-law, husband's brother, lit., to act the brother-in-law, i.e., perform the duty of a brother-in-law, which consisted in his marrying his deceased brother's widow, and begetting a son of children with her, the first-born of whom was "to stand upon the name of his deceased brother," i.e., be placed in the fam…
pull his sandal from his foot: Using footwear, which touched the ground, the brother-in-law showed that he relinquished any claim to his dead brother’s estate (Ruth 4:7). • spit in his face: This is an almost universal gesture of utter contempt (see Num 12:14).
Rashi on Deuteronomy 25:9
וירקה בפניו THEN SHE SHALL SPIT BEFORE HIS FACE — on the ground (not in his face) (Yevamot 106b).
אשר לא יבנה [SO SHALL IT BE DONE UNTO THAT MAN] THAT WILL NOT BUILD UP [HIS BROTHER’S HOUSE] — from here the Rabbis derived the law that one who has once given his deceased brothers wife חליצה shall not afterwards marry her, for it does not state “[Thus shall it be done to the man] who hath not built up his brother’s house”, but אשר לא יבנה: “[Thus shall be done to the man] that he shall never build up” — because he has not built up, he shall never after build it up (Yevamot 10b; cf. Sifrei Devarim 291:8).
