Verse 1. - Go astray; wandering at large. The Hebrew verb means primarily to seduce, draw aside, or entice (cf. Deuteronomy 13:6); and in the passive conveys the idea of wandering through being drawn away by some enticement. Hide thyself from them; i.e. withdraw thyself from them, avoid noticing them or having to do with them. In any case; certainly, without fail.

Verse 4. - An animal that had fallen was also to be lifted up, and the owner was to be assisted to do this. In Exodus, it is specially declared that both these services are to be rendered, even though the parties are at enmity with each other, and the one is the object of hatred to the other.

Verse 5. - The divinely instituted distinction between the sexes was to be sacredly observed, and, in order to this, the dress and ether things appropriate to the one were not to be used by the other. That which pertaineth unto a man; literally, the apparatus (כְּלִי) of a man, including, not dress merely, but implements, tools, weapons, and utensils. This is an ethical regulation in the interests of morality. There is no reference, as some have supposed, to the wearing of masks for the purpose of disguise, or to the practice of the priests at heathen festivals of wearing masks of their gods. Whatever tends to obliterate the distinction between the sexes tends to licentiousness; and that the one sex should assume the dress of the other has always been regarded as unnatural and indecent (comp. Seneca, 'Epist.,' 122, "Nonne videntur contra naturam vivere qui commutant cum feminis vestem;" and Juvenal, 'Sat.,' 6:252 -

"Quem praestare potest muller galeata pudorem
Quae fugit a sexu?") Such a change of vesture is here declared to be an abomination to the Lord, because of its tendency to immorality.

Verses 6, 7. - (Cf. Leviticus 22:28; Exodus 23:19.) These precepts are designed to foster humane feeling towards the lower animals, and not less to preserve regard to that affectionate relation between parents and their young which God has established as a law in the animal world. That thou mayest prolong thy days (cf. Deuteronomy 5:16; Exodus 20:12).

Verse 8. - Still less was human life to be exposed to danger through neglect of proper precautions. The houses in Palestine, as in other parts of the East, had flat roofs, and, as these were much frequented by the inhabitants for various purposes (cf. Joshua 2:6; 2 Samuel 11:2; 2 Samuel 18:24; Nehemiah 8:16; Matthew 10:27; Acts 10:9), it was necessary that a battlement or balustrade should surround the roof, in order to prevent persons falling over. Hence the direction here given.

Verses 9-11. - (Cf. Leviticus 19:19.) God has made distinctions in nature, and these are not to be confounded by the mixing of things distinct. The ox and the ass were chiefly used in husbandry; but, as they were of different size and strength, it was not only fitting that they should not be yoked to the same plough, but it might be cruel so to yoke them.

Verse 11. - A garment of diverse sorts; sha'atnez, a kind of cloth in which threads of linen and threads of woollen were interwoven. The meaning of the word is uncertain. The LXX. render by κίβδηλος, "spurious, bad;" Aquila, by ἀντιδιακείμενον, "variously disposed, diverse." No Semitic etymology can be found for the word, and as the Hebrews derived the textile art from Egypt, the home of that art, the word is probably of Egyptian origin.

Verse 12. - (Cf. Numbers 15:38.) Fringes; properly, tassels. The tunic of the Hebrews appears to have been divided at the bottom in front, and back, so that four corners or wings (כַּנְפות) were made, to each of which a tassel was appended (Greek, κράσπεδον, Matthew 9:20; Matthew 23:5, etc.).

Verses 13-29. - The laws in this section have the design of fostering purity and fidelity in the relation of the sexes, and also of protecting the female against the malice of sated lust and the violence of brutal lust. (For the case supposed in ver. 13, cf. 2 Samuel 13:15. On the whole section see Michaelis, 'Laws of Moses,' pt. 2. § 92; Niebuhr, 'Description de l'Arabie,' Deuteronomy 8; Burckhardt, 'Bedwins,' p. 214.)

Verses 22-29. - Four cases are here distinguished.

1. That of a married woman who has been unfaithful; in this case both the woman and her paramour are, when detected, to be put to death (ver. 22).

2. That of a virgin betrothed who is assailed in a town, where she might have cried for protection, but did not; in this case also both were to be punished with death as adulterers (vers. 23, 24).

3. That of a virgin betrothed who has been forcibly violated in the field, where, if she cried for help, her cry was in vain; in this case only the man should be liable to be put to death, whilst the woman was to be held innocent (vers. 25-27).

4. That of a virgin not betrothed with whom a man has had carnal intercourse; in this case the man should be required to pay a fine of fifty shekels of silver to the damsel's father, and to take her to be his wife, from whom he could not be separated during life (vers. 28, 29).

Verse 30. - To these is appended a general prohibition of incestuous connections, the first provision in the earlier law being cited as a sort of index to the whole (Leviticus 18:7, etc.).