Deuteronomy 23:2

Deu 23:2 A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD.

Ver. 2. A bastard shall not enter.] Lest the reproach of his birth render him contemptible, or less courageous; {a} lest some son of Belial set upon him, as Saul did upon his son Jonathan, and say, "Thou son of the perverse rebellious woman." So of the base and beastly woman, "Do not I know that thou hast done this to the confusion of thy mother’s nakedness?" {1Sa 20:30} The mutinous Janizaries called their Emperor Bajizet II, drunkard, beast, rascal, bastard, bengi, that is, bachelor, or scholar; and told him, moreover, that they would teach him to use his great place and calling with more sobriety and discretion. {b} The English slighted and scorned their William the Conqueror, because a bastard; in spite also to whom, and disgrace to his mother Arlet, they called all whores harlots. The Jews at this day, amongst other opprobrious words, wherewith they spitefully load us, call all Christians Mamzer Gel, that is, heathen bastards. Our Saviour, upon better grounds, called them long since, a bastardly brood. {Mat 12:39} And their own prophet Isaiah did the same thing long before, {Isa 57:3-4} and that, for their profane scoffing at the truth and the professors thereof. Yet who so forward as they, to say, "We are not born of fornication," no bastards? {Joh 8:41}

{a} Utpote qui nati sunt ex prostibulo, plane incerto patre, sed certissima infamia.

{b} Turk. Hist.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

This was to cause them to live chastely, that their posterity might not be rejected.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 2. A bastard shall not enter] ממזר mamzer, which is here rendered bastard, should be understood as implying the offspring of an illegitimate or incestuous mixture.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(2) A bastard shall not enter.—Such a person would not, even now, be circumcised by the Jews, or permitted to marry an Israelitish woman, or be buried with his people; therefore he was excluded from the covenant. It is manifest how efficacious would be the enforcement of this law also in preserving the purity of family life.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord,.... That is born of whoredom, as the Targum of Jonathan; and for the sake of avoiding whoredom and deterring from it was this law made, according to Maimonides (h), that adulterers might see, as he observes, that they affect their whole family with an irreparable stain, should they commit such an infamous action; though the Jews commonly interpret it of one that is born of any of those incestuous copulations forbidden in Lev 18:1 which they gather from this following upon, and being near unto one of those incests mentioned in the last verse of the preceding chapter (i); and it is a rule with them (k), that persons born of such copulations were reckoned bastards; now such an one, according to Jarchi, might not marry an Israelitish woman, or rather might not be admitted into the assembly of elders, or bear any public office. Jephthah may seem to be an objection to this, who was the son of an harlot, Jdg 11:1 which might be owing to the badness of the times, the laws of God being neglected, or to the providence of God so ordering it, who is not bound by his own laws, though men are; nor was he the son of a common harlot, nor of an incestuous person, but of his father's concubine; besides some think such only are intended who were born of strangers and not Israelites:

even unto his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the Lord; which seems as if he might at the eleventh; but it is generally interpreted never, as is gathered from the following verse, and from the tenth number being an absolute and perfect one; yet according to the Jewish writers there were ways and means by which their posterity became legitimate; so they say, bastards may be purified (or legitimated), how? if one marries a servant maid, the child is a servant, who if he becomes free, (his) son is a free man (l).

(h) Targum Jon. in loc. Misn. Yebamot, c. 8. sect. 2, 4, 5, 6. Maimon. Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c. 49. (i) Bartenora in Misn. Kiddushin, c. 3. sect. 12. (k) Misn. Kiddushin, c. 3. sect. 12. & Misn. Yebamot, c. 4. sect. 13. Jarchi & Aben Ezra in loc. (l) Misn. Kiddushin, c. 3. sect. 13.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

A bastard - Probably, a child born of incest or adultery.

Even to his tenth generation - i. e. (see the next verse and Neh 13:1), forever. Ten is the number of perfection and completeness.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Mamzer, &c. The author of the Vulgate adds the explication of mamzer, which only occurs again, Zacharias ix. 6. It may in both places denote a stranger, or one of a different religion from the Jews, as Jephte was the son of a prostitute, (Judges xi. 1,) and yet became a judge of Israel. But strangers, as long as they professed a false religion, could not be entitled to the privilege of Jewish citizens; and even after they had relinquished their false worship, they were bound to wait ten whole generations, or a long time, before they could fill the posts of honour and command. (Calmet) --- This, however, seems to be contrary to the disposition made in favour of the Idumeans and Egyptians, who were admitted in the third generation. A mamzer may, therefore, be (Haydock) a bastard of a different nation from the Jews, (Menochius) which was not the case of Jephte. (Haydock) --- The Rabbins specify three sorts of mamzers: 1. those born of parents who, by the law, are forbidden to marry, being to near akin; 2. those who are the fruit of adultery, or some criminal commerce, which is punished with death; and 3. those whose birth subjects the parents to be cut off or retrenched from the people. (Selden, Jur. v. 16.) --- the Septuagint, &c., exclude the children "of a harlot," which is the sense of mamzer in the canon law. The Christian Church rejects such from holy orders, and the Athenians would not suffer bastards to offer sacrifice in the city, but only in the cynosarge, dedicated to Hercules, whose birth any doubts might be entertained. (Calmet) --- It is observable, that such often imitate the wicked conduct of their parents; in which case, they are unfit for the magistracy; and though they may lead a very exemplary life, the law is intended to discourage such practices in parents, which may entail dishonour and loss upon their children; that, if they be not sufficiently restrained by their own personal disgrace, they may at least by the love for their innocent offspring. (Haydock) --- Tenth. In the 11th generation, when the stain was obliterated, the descendant might become a magistrate. (Menochius) --- Some understand that they were excluded for ever, as when the judges of the Areopagus ordered a man to appear again before them in 100 years’ time, they meant that his cause was entirely rejected. (Vatable; Casaub. in Atheneus vi.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

A bastard; so the word is commonly rendered, and so it notes a person base-born, or born in fornication or adultery, or by incestuous or any prohibited mixtures of man and woman.

Object.

1. This law seems harsh, and too severe for the innocent bastard.

Answ. 1. It was only an exclusion from government, which was a tolerable burden.

2. It was a necessary caution to prevent and brand the sin of uncleanness, to which the Jews were more than ordinarily prone.

Object. 2. Pharez and Jephthah were both bastards, yet advanced to great honour and authority.

Answ. God gives laws to us, and not to himself; and, therefore he might, when he saw fit, confer what favour or power he pleased upon any such person, as he did to these. But some add, that the Hebrew word mamzer signifies not every bastard, but a bastard born of any strange woman, as the word may seem to intimate, and as such persons generally seem to have been, because of that special provision, that there should be no whore of the daughters of Israel, as it is here below, Deu 23:17.

To his tenth generation; or, his tenth generation, as it is in the Hebrew, and so in the following verses.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

2. A bastard shall not enter — The Hebrew word which our translators have rendered bastard is of doubtful meaning. It occurs in only one other passage, Zec_9:6. The rabbins understand it to mean one born of incest or adultery.

Even to his tenth generation — This is equivalent to forever.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A bastard; one born of a harlot; so the Hebrew word (rzmm), which occurs only here and in Zec_9:6, is said to mean; LXX, ejk po Vulgate, de scorto natus; the Talmud and the rabbins represent the word as denoting one begotten in adultery or incest (Maimon., "Issure Biah.," c. 15. 2, 7, 9); so also the Syriac bar game, "son of adultery.

To his tenth generation; i.e. forever, ten being the number of indefiniteness (Gen_31:7; Num_14:22; Job_19:3; Psa_3:6, etc.)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The congregation - Taking the word as in the former verse.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

פצוע דכא means, one whose stones have been bruised (פצוע) or crushed (דכא) (Sifrei Devarim 247:1).

וכרות שפכה means, one whose membrum has a cut in it, so that it no longer forcibly ejects a continuous flow of sperm but it pours it forth slowly, and he thus cannot beget children (Sifrei Devarim 247:2; Yevamot 75b).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.