Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 22:22
If a man be found lying with a woman married to a husband, then they shall both of them die, [both] the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel.
22. Of Adultery. Both guilty parties shall die; so H, Lev 20:10. By inference from Deu 22:21 ; Deu 22:24 the death was by stoning; so Eze 16:38-40, Joh 8:5.
So in Arabia to this day; Burton, Pilgr. to Mecca, ii. 19, Musil, Ethn. Ber. 210; among the Arabs of Sinai the man alone is killed, the woman may be divorced and pays the bride-price. (Jennings-Bramley, PEFQ, 1905, 214, 216). By 129 of ammurabi both parties were strangled and cast into the water, but the wife’s husband might save her and the king his servant (?); by 131 a wife accused by her husband but not caught in a guilty act might swear her innocence and return to her house; but by 132 if suspicion was raised against her, though not caught in the act, she should plunge into the sacred river (ordeal by water). Other cases deal with the wife’s resorting to another husband in consequence of her husband’s captivity, 133 135. In Israel, as at the present day in Syria, cases of adultery were often due to the absence of husbands on a journey, Pro 7:19. The whole subject is discussed in several artt. in Hastings’ Dictionary of Religion and Philosophy, Vol. 1.
married to an husband ] Heb. b e ‘ulath-ba‘al, only here, Deu 21:13, and Gen 20:3. But cp. Hos 2:16.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 22. Shall both of them die] Thus we find that in the most ancient of all laws adultery was punished with death in both the parties.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
If a man be found; if he be convicted of this fault, though not taken in the very act.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband,….. This law respects adultery, and is the same with that in
Le 20:10
then they shall both of them die; with the strangling of a napkin, as the Targum of Jonathan, which is the death such persons were put to; and is always meant when death is simply spoken of, and it is not specified what death; [See comments on Le 20:10]:
both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman; they were both to die, and to die the same death:
so shalt thou put away evil from Israel; such that do it, as the above Targum; [See comments on De 22:21].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
If any one lay with a married woman, they were both of them to be put to death as adulterers (cf. Lev 20:10).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Verse 22:
Sexual relations between a man and a married woman, who are not married to each other, is a violation of the Seventh Commandment, Exo 20:14. This was a sin punishable by death.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Deu 22:22
. If a man be found lying with. A Political Supplement, whereby it appears how greatly God abominates adultery, since He denounces capital punishment against it. And assuredly, since marriage is a covenant consecrated by God, its profanation is in no wise tolerable; and conjugal faith should be held too sacred to be violated with impunity, whilst it is an act of horrible perfidiousness to snatch from a man’s bosom the wife who is as his very life, or at any rate half of himself. Wherefore, also, the Prophet ignominiously compares adulterers to neighing horses, (Jer 5:8😉 for where such lasciviousness prevails, men degenerate, as it were, into beasts. Another reason is, however, here referred to; for, if a man had broken faith with his wife by having connection with a harlot, it was not a capital offense; but if any man, though a bachelor, had committed adultery with the wife of another, (he was to die, (68)) because both the husband is grossly injured, and the dishonor descends to the offspring, and all adulterine race is substituted in place of the legitimate one, whilst the inheritance is transferred to strangers, and thus bastards unlawfully possess themselves of the family name. This cause impelled the Gentiles, even before the Law, to punish adultery with severity, as clearly appears from the history of Judah and Tamar. (Gen 38:14.) Nay, by the universal law of the Gentiles, the punishment of death was always awarded to adultery; wherefore it is all the baser and more shameful in Christians not to imitate at least the heathen. Adultery is punished no less severely by the Julian law (69) than by that of God; whilst those who boast themselves of the Christian name are so tender and remiss, that they visit this execrable offense with a very light reproof. And lest they should abrogate God’s law without a pretext, they allege the example of Christ, who dismissed the woman taken in adultery, whereas she ought to have been stoned; just as He withdrew Himself into a mountain that He might not be made a king by the multitude. (Joh 8:11, and 6:15.) For if we consider what the office was which the Father delegated to His only-begotten Son, we shall not be surprised that He was content with the limits of His vocation, and did not discharge the duties of a Judge. But those who have been invested with the sword for the correction of crime, have absurdly imitated His example, and thus their relaxation of the penalty has flowed from gross ignorance.
Although the disloyalty of husband and wife are not punished alike by human tribunals, still, since they are under mutual obligation to each other, God will take vengeance on them both; and hence the declaration of Paul takes effect before the judgment-seat of God, Let not married persons defraud one another; for the wife hath not power of her own body, nor the husband of his. (1Co 7:4.)
(68) Added from Fr.
(69) See Plin., Ep. 6:13.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(2) ADULTERY (Deu. 22:22)
22 If a man be found lying with a woman married to a husband, then they shall both of them die, the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away the evil from Israel.
THOUGHT QUESTIONS 22:22
377.
So much is left to the imagination in the circumstances here described. If a girl, even one who is betrothed finds a boy she likes better than her betrothed, why not marry him?
378.
Did the man of Deu. 22:23 have a personal interest in the damsel?
379.
Compare Joh. 8:5 for a possible example. Who is missing?
380.
Supposing the girl in the field consented to the action, how shall this be handled?
AMPLIFIED TRANSLATION 22:22
22 If a man is found lying with another mans wife, they shall both die, the man who lay with the woman and the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.
COMMENT 22:22
See also Deu. 5:18, Lev. 20:10. Both were to die, as both were guilty. (Compare the case of the woman taken in adulterynote Joh. 8:5. Where was her partner?)
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
The Penalty For Adultery ( Deu 22:22-24 ).
The accusation of the young woman, which was connected with possible adultery, now led on to an overall condemnation of adultery.
Deu 22:22
‘ If a man be found lying with a woman who is married to a husband, then they shall both of them die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So shall you put away the evil from Israel.’
Where a man, and a married woman who was someone else’s wife, were found having intercourse both were to be put to death. By this act they had broken her unity with her husband (Gen 2:24). They had blasted apart a family. This was in order to put away evil in Israel. Their act was seen as a stain on, and a disruption, the whole community. The man was slain as a corrupter, the woman as one who was misusing her God-given responsibility to be a bearer of legitimate children in order to maintain the family and its inheritance.
Old Babylonian and Middle Assyrian law required a similar penalty, although in certain circumstances it could be ameliorated.
Deu 22:23-24
‘ If there be a young woman who is a woman of marriageable age (or virgin) betrothed to a husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her, then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you (ye) shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman, because she did not cry out, being in the city, and the man, because he has humbled his neighbour’s wife. So you shall put away the evil from the midst of you.’
A woman who was betrothed who committed adultery was to be treated in the same way as a wife, but only if it had happened in the city and she had not cried out. Houses were built so close together that the likelihood of her not being heard was very small. Note that there is no suggestion of force having been used in contrast with the next case. The man should be stoned because he had humbled his neighbour’s wife, the woman because she was deemed to have consented.
Note here that ‘the damsel who is a bethulah betrothed to a husband’ is also called ‘his neighbour’s wife’. She was a young woman of marriageable age who was betrothed (contracted to her future husband with the marriage price having been paid). She may or may not have been strictly a virgin. Intercourse within a betrothal was acceptable. But she had betrayed her trust.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Dealing With Sexual Misbehaviour ( Deu 22:22-30 ).
Various aspect of sexual misbehaviour are dealt with in this passage with the most heinous at the beginning and the end.
Analysis using the words of Moses.
a If a man be found lying with a woman who is married to a husband, then they shall both of them die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So shall you put away the evil from Israel (Deu 22:22).
b If there be a young woman who is a woman of marriageable age (or virgin) betrothed to a husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her, then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you (ye) shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman, because she did not cry out, being in the city, and the man, because he has humbled his neighbour’s wife. So you shall put away the evil from the midst of you (Deu 22:23-24).
c But if the man find the young woman who is betrothed in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her; then the man only that lay with her shall die (Deu 22:25).
c But to the young woman you shall do nothing. There is in the young woman no sin worthy of death. For as when a man rises against his neighbour, and murders him, even so is this matter, for he found her in the field, the betrothed young woman cried out, and there was none to save her (Deu 22:26-27).
b If a man find a young woman who is a of marriageable age, who is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they are found, then the man who lay with her shall give to the young woman’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he has humbled her. He may not put her away all his days (Deu 22:28-29).
a A man shall not take his father’s wife, and shall not uncover his father’s skirt (Deu 22:30).
Note that in ‘a’ a man is found lying with a married woman, and in the parallel a man takes his father’s wife, both liable to the death sentence. In ‘b’ the case of a damsel betrothed who lies with a man is dealt with and the remedy stated and in the parallel the case of a damsel not betrothed who lies with a man is dealt with and the remedy stated. In ‘c’ the case of a damsel betrothed who is forced to lie with a man is dealt with, and the man is to be put to death, and in the parallel she is declared innocent and is not to be put to death.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Tenth Commandment
Deu 22:22-30
22If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel. 23If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find [meet] her in the city, and lie with her; 24Then 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 [abased] his neighbours wife: so thou shalt put away 25evil from among you. But [And] if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her [seize hold of her] and lie with her; then the man only that lay with her shall die: 26But unto the damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death: for as when a man riseth [standeth up] against his neighbour, and slayeth him, even so is this matter: 27For he found her in the field, and the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her. 28If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found [surprised, caught]; 29Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsels father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days [all his life long]. 30A man shall not take his fathers wife, nor discover his fathers skirt.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. As the foregoing directions give the occasion for representing the coveting forbidden in the tenth command, as the lust of the flesh, so this is still more practically the case; the desire cannot be more evident. The discourse, however, recapitulates the sixth, eighth, and ninth commands, although it is directed mainly to the seventh. Deu 22:22. (Deu 21:13) married to an husband, ruled of her lord, and intimates quietly that lust is of the nature of theft, violation of the rights of property. As they lie together so they shall both die; for the adultery cries out against the one as well as against the other, Lev 20:10. The betrothed maiden (Deu 22:14) is placed on an equality with the married woman, Deu 22:23 (Gen 29:21; Mat 1:20). In Deu 22:22 as in Deu 22:23, the life, the continuous life of the neighbor in his descendants, was violated. Hence in Deu 22:24 the like punishment also as in Deu 22:22, life for life. She cried not, a closer modification of in the city, where help could be had. Thus the supposition is of fellowship in the lust. (Deu 21:14) a violation at the same time of her true honor, thus a breach of the ninth command. In the case stated in Deu 22:25, the man alone is to be put to death, since Deu 22:26 presents his violence as a murderous attack upon the betrothed. No sin of death,which should be punished with death, (Deu 21:22; 1Jn 5:16). Comp. Deu 19:11; Deu 19:6. The reason is stated still more definitely in Deu 22:27, either the fact, or its supposition, she cried and there was none to save her. The 28th verse is a more precise completion of Exo 22:16-17. The law can only take cognizance of lust in the constructive deed, otherwise it would open the floodgates to the lust of slander (the ninth commandment). Deu 22:29. (Comp. Deu 22:19) the violation of the property of the father, whose right to refuse his daughter is presupposed in the fifth command, and did not need to be further guarded here on the occasion of the second table. The prohibition of lust closes in Deu 22:30, with the most aggravated case, of the injured mother (step-mother) and father. Comp. upon Lev 18:8 (Gen 35:22). Incestuous lust going out from the blood reaches blood. It needs therefore only the prohibition, the specializing of all that is forbidden in this regard occurs elsewhere. Incest is self-injury. The skirt (wing, edge, corner, Deu 22:12) the paternal upper garment [Ges.: Coverlet of the bed, so that to discover the skirt was to defile the bed,A. G.], (Rth 3:9) covering all that belonged to the father, even his widow, bride, as it covered his own nakedness, which was uncovered with that of his wife. Lev 18:6; Eze 16:8. Comp. Deu 27:20.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. If the last commandment is directed against covetous desire, as the root of every sin with respect to the second table of the law; so the same was already asserted, Deu 5:18, in reference to the woman. It is not only practically continued, to bring out lust now in its application to the same reference, but as nature divides the race into the twofoldness of the sexes, presents her as the very closest neighbor, at the same time the most natural form of desire of which men are conscious, Gen 2:20. The law must address itself the more, to this form of lust, since with its spread there occurs also the spreading of sin, the mystery of life becomes the mystery of death, and the law must not only restrain the excesses of the sinful inclination, but as its final goal must be a way-mark, a school-master to Christ, Eph 5:32.
2. The twofoldness of the sexes exhibits nothing more than the necessity on the one side, and the prospect of satisfaction on the other. Marriage is the legal and proper removal of the natural contrasts, so much so that any outrage against this, may be regarded as the transgression of lust against all the commands of the second table. In marriage the neighbor is regarded as with regard to his wife, so with regard to his life, property, honor, indeed generally as the individual with respect to the species.
3. Only as the wife of her husband is she apprehended as a person who supplements, completes another person. Regard for this, chastity, preserves her from being regarded and treated as a thing. With this application of lust therefore as sexual, there is connected the apprehension of the personality, that which is the most spiritual in the one nearest, the closest neighbor.
4. The repeated and prominent allusion to the maiden (Deu 22:27-28), and as she is the betrothed, may personify chastity, as inclination and desire are glorified and taken up into affection and love. As (Keri ) she is the youth, humanity generally in its youthful being. As she appears as the sexual other being. As the betrothed she represents, in the bride, the poetry of the first love. Violence in such a case, still more the perversion and corruption when the bride-like yields consent, as over against the ideality of this relation, must be punished as the most flagrant excess and crime, (Deu 22:24-25). So also the protection and compassion of the law (Deu 22:26 sq.) in regard to the tragic fate of one involved in misfortune, helpless against overcoming violence.
5. The sexual inclination should (28, 29) through that lasting union, to which attention is called, find its purification, be glorified into love, lose its barbarous and bestial character, be elevated to its moral form and idea.
6. When now the treatment in regard to lust closes with the peculiar crying crime of incest (Deu 22:30), the man in this case has fallen entirely into the power of the inclination, of the animal man; indeed more, the sexual lust passion, appears as the very thing in view, etc. 1Co 5:1 sq. Incest is regarded here in its relation to the universal moral consciousness, for the animal, e.g., manifests no limit of blood. So here in Deut. the instance selected is not from the relation of sister; the marriage of the sister was the closest original form of marriage.
7. Since in what follows the discourse passes over to all Israel, the treatment of lust, as the sexual lust, agrees well with the connection. As the life instinct concerns the individual, his life and support, so the sexual instinct the life and existence of the whole.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
As love is the fulfilling of all the commands, so lust is their transgression. Eph 5:3; Col 3:5. Deu 22:22. Lange: The marriage contract is very far from a mere civil one. Schultz: The married woman, through harlotry, is viewed in the Old Testament as an adulteress under all circumstances, the married man only, when the wife of another is concerned, as he is the destroyer of another marriage. Laxity in the law leads necessarily to a laxity in practice. The Christian Church, which has no ban for the adulterer other than that of present laws, becomes a participator in his sin.
Berl. Bib.: The promise and not first the actual dwelling together constitutes the marriage before God. Deu 22:25. Luther: The city and field represent conditions; that, in which some help might be near, this when the cry would be ineffectual because unheard. Deu 22:26. Richter: What a lightning flash against all unchastity is the close of this verse! Deu 22:27. How much helplessness in the world! How many vain cries for help! In this view human statutes, in regard to many a wretched one, should be mildly enforced.Piscator: Uncleanness is a dreadful sin, especially among Christians whose bodies should be temples of the Holy Ghost. Deu 22:29. Richter: They need not leave each other, as is now repeatedly the case. Piscator: He who had brought her to disgrace, should now cheerfully bring her to honor again. Deu 22:30. Calvin: Perhaps he looks to the act of Ham, who, publishing his fathers disgrace, betrays his own godlessness. [Deu 22:23-27. Henry: It is presumed that she consented, if it were done in the city, where help would have come had she criedsilence implies consent; if it were done in the field, it is presumed that she cried out; charity and equity require us to do so. It may be presumed that those willingly yield to temptation who do not use the means to avoid it, etc.A. G.].
Footnotes:
[2][Deu 22:15. . Keri and so in Deu 22:16; Deu 22:21. Sept. . The Keri explains the reading: although, the text is doubtless genuine as the usage in the case is frequent, and a like idiom occurs in other Semitic languages.A. G.].
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
Some of the laws in this book of Leviticus, were before given: Lev 20:10 . The repetition in this place, only serves to intimate their importance. And it is a very solemn consideration, equally important to be regarded under the New Testament as under the Old, that while marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled, whoremongers and adulterers GOD will judge. Heb 13:4 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Deu 22:22 If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, [both] the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel.
Ver. 22. With a woman married. ] Adultery was punished with death; because society and the purity of posterity could not otherwise continue amongst men.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Deu 22:22
22If a man is found lying with a married woman, then both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman; thus you shall purge the evil from Israel.
Deu 22:22 If a man is found lying with a married woman Even if there is suspicion there is recourse (cf. Num 5:11-31).
The phrase a married woman is literally the wife of another man, which is a double use of the term b’l (BDB 127, KB 142, Qal PASSIVE PARTICIPLE and NOMINATIVE MASCULINE SINGULAR NOUN form). This term, normally translated lord or husband, has the same root as Ba’al, the male Canaanite fertility god. The husband was lord over his home. His wife and children were, in a legal sense, property. In actuality sexual violations were seen as a sin against God (cf. Gen 39:9; 2Sa 12:13). It violates the God-given order and stability of society and affects the God-given inheritance of families and clans.
both of them shall die The later rabbis interpreted this to mean the child, too, if the woman was pregnant, because of the idea of corporate sin. Notice the equality of the punishment, which is unusual in the OT.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Lev 20:10, Num 5:22-27, Eze 23:45-47, Joh 8:4, Joh 8:5, Heb 13:4
Reciprocal: Lev 18:20 – General Deu 22:21 – stone her Deu 22:24 – so thou shalt put 2Sa 11:5 – I am with child Job 31:11 – an iniquity Psa 51:16 – desirest Eze 16:38 – as women Eze 18:6 – neither hath defiled Eze 22:11 – committed Mat 5:27 – Thou Luk 2:5 – General Rom 7:3 – So then 1Co 5:13 – Therefore