Bible Commentary

Deuteronomy 23:14

Deuteronomy 23:14

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public Domain

The camp was to be kept holy, because God went forth with their armies, and in his presence there must be nothing that defileth or is unclean. That he see no unclean thing in thee; literally, nakedness, shamefulness of a thing, i.e. anything that one would be ashamed of.

A slave that had escaped from his master was not to be given up, but allowed to dwell in the land, in whatever part he might choose. The reference is to a foreign slave who had fled from the harsh treatment of his master to seek refuge in Israel, as is evident from the expression, בְאַחַד שְׁעָרֵיךְ, "in one of thy gates," i.e. in any part of thy land. Onkelos, עֲבִד עַמְמִין, "a slave of the Gentiles." His master; the word used is the plural adonim, masters. The use of this for a human master or lord is peculiar to the Pentateuch (cf. , ; ; ; , , , etc.). In this use of the term there is no reference to severity of rule, as if this were a plural intensive.

Amongst idolatrous nations prostitution was in certain cases regarded as an act of religious service (cf. Herod, 1:199), and both mules and females prostituted themselves especially in the worship of Astarte. All such abominations were to be unknown in Israel (cf. ). Whore; kedeshah ( קְדֵשָׁה), a female who prostituted herself in the worship of an idol. The price of a dog; not money obtained from the sale of a dog, but the gains of the kadesh, or male prostitute, here called a dog, as the type of all uncleanness (cf. ).

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