Deuteronomy 25:3

Verse 3. Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed] According to God's institution a criminal may receive forty stripes; not one more! But is the institution from above or not, that for any offence sentences a man to receive three hundred, yea, a thousand stripes? What horrible brutality is this! and what a reproach to human nature, and to the nation in which such shocking barbarities are exercised and tolerated! Most of the inhabitants of Great Britain have heard of Lord Macartney's embassy to the emperor of China, and they have also heard of its complete failure; but they have not heard the cause. It appears to have been partly occasioned by the following circumstance: A soldier had been convicted of some petty traffic with one of the natives, and he was sentenced by a court-martial to receive sixty lashes! Hear my author: -

"The soldiers were drawn up in form in the outer court of the place where we resided; and the poor culprit, being fastened to one of the pillars of the great portico, received his punishment without mitigation. The abhorrence excited in the breasts of the Chinese at this cruel conduct, as it appeared to them, was demonstrably proved by their words and looks. They expressed their astonishment that a people professing the mildest, the most benevolent religion on earth, as they wished to have it believed, could be guilty of such flagrant inattention to its merciful dictates. One of the principal Mandarins, who knew a little English, expressed the general sentiment, Englishmen too much cruel, too much bad." - Accurate account of Lord Macartney's Embassy to China, by an attendant on the embassy, l2mo., 1797, p. 88.

The following is Mr. Ainsworth's note on this verse: "This number forty the Scripture uses sundry times in cases of humiliation, affliction, and punishment. As Moses twice humbled himself in fasting and prayer forty days and forty nights, De 9:9; De 9:18. Elijah fasted forty days, 1Kg 19:8; and our Saviour, Mt 4:2. Forty years Israel was afflicted in the wilderness for their sins, Nu 14:33-34. And forty years Egypt was desolate for treacherous dealing with Israel, Eze 29:11-13. Forty days every woman was in purification for her uncleanness for a man-child that she bare, and twice forty days for a woman-child, Le 12:4-5. Forty days and forty nights it rained at Noah's flood, Ge 7:12. Forty days did Ezekiel bear the iniquity of the house of Judah, Eze 4:6. Jonah preached, Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown, Jon 3:4. Forty years' space the Canaanites had to repent after Israel came out of Egypt, and wandered so many years in the wilderness, Nu 14:33. And thrice forty years the old world had Noah preaching unto them repentance, Ge 6:3. It was forty days ere Christ ascended into heaven after his resurrection, Ac 1:3; Ac 1:9. And forty years' space he gave unto the Jews, from the time that they killed him, before he destroyed their city and temple by the Romans.

"By the Hebrews this law is expounded thus: How many stripes do they beat (an offender) with? With forty, lacking one: as it is written, (De 25:2; De 25:3,) by number forty, that is, the number which is next to forty, Talmud Bab, in Maccoth, chap. iii. This their understanding is very ancient, for so they practised in the apostles' days; as Paul testified: Of the Jews five times received I forty (stripes) save one; 2Co 11:24. But the reason which they give is not solid; as when they say, If it had been written FORTY IN NUMBER, I would say it were full forty; but being written IN NUMBER FORTY, it means the number which reckons forty next after it, that is, thirty-nine. By this exposition they confound the verses and take away the distinction. I rather think this custom was taken up by reason of the manner of their beating forespoken of, which was with a scourge that had three cords, so that every stroke was counted for three stripes, and then they could not give even forty, but either thirty-nine or forty-two, which was above the number set of God. And hereof they write thus: When they judge (or condemn) a sinner to so many (stripes) as he can bear, they judge not but by strokes that are fit to be trebled [that is, to give three stripes to one stroke, by reason of the three cords.] If they judge that he can bear twenty, they do not say he shall be beaten with one and twenty, to the end that they may treble the stripes, but they give him eighteen. - Maimon in Sanhedrin, chap. xvii., sec. 2. Thus he that was able to bear twenty stripes, had but eighteen: the executioner smote him but six times, for if he had smitten him the seventh they were counted one and twenty stripes, which was above the number adjudged: so he that was adjudged to forty was smitten thirteen times, which being counted one for three, make thirty-nine. And so R. Bechaios, writing hereof, says, The strokes are trebled; that is, every one is three, and three times thirteen are nine and thirty."

Thy brother be vile, or be contemptible. - By this God teaches us to hate and despise the sin, not the sinner, who is by this chastisement to be amended; as the power which the Lord hath given is to edification, not to destruction, 2Co 13:10.

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

Deu 25:3 Forty stripes he may give him, [and] not exceed: lest, [if] he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee.

Ver. 3. Should seem vile unto thee.] There is an honour due to all men, {1Pe 2:17} and though we must hate the sin, yet not the sinner.

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.

Deu 25:3. Forty stripes he may give him — The law of Moses very wisely limited the number of stripes, lest severe judges should order delinquents to be lashed to death, as was often done among the Romans, than which, perhaps, a more cruel kind of death can hardly be devised. And it seems not to have been superstition, but prudent caution, in the Jews, when they would not exceed thirty-nine stripes, lest, through mistake or forgetfulness, they should go beyond the bounds which they were commanded to keep. Thy brother should seem vile — Lest the judges, by exceeding the bounds of humanity, and that compassion which was due to a brother, a partaker of human nature in common with themselves, and one of the same nation and community, civil and religious, should be accustomed to think despicably of their poor brethren, and set their lives at naught. Or lest he should be made contemptible to his brethren, either by this cruel usage of him, as if he were a brute beast; or by some deformity or infirmity of body, which excessive beating might produce.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

25:3 At a flogging, the maximum number of strikes allowed was forty lashes. Fewer could be applied depending on the case (25:2). As people created in the image of God, even wrongdoers were entitled to mercy and respect. In later Judaism, thirty-nine lashes were given (see 2 Cor 11:24 and note).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The Jews of superstition afterward took one away, 2 Cor. 11:24.

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

3. Forty stripes] By later law the number was fixed at ‘forty less one’ (Mishna,’ Makkoth,’ Deu_3:10 ff., cp. 2Co_11:24, Josephus, IV. Antt. viii. 21, 23) they were now inflicted with a lash. Ḫammurabi decrees in one case ‘sixty blows of an ox-hide scourge’ (§ 202).

thy brother should seem vile unto thee] Rather, be dishonoured (Deu_27:16), publicly (lit. to thine eyes). To give him the due punishment of his crime (Deu_25:2) was not to take away his honour as a brother, i.e. Israelite; but to flog him indiscriminately was to treat him like an animal.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed,.... And that this number might not be exceeded, it is ordered by the Jewish canons that only thirty nine should be given; for it is asked (b),"with how many stripes do they beat him? with forty, save one, as it is said, in number "forty" that is, in the number which is next to forty;''this they make out by joining the last word of Deu 25:2 with the first of this; and that this was an ancient sense of the law, and custom upon it, appears by the execution of it on the Apostle Paul; who was not indulged, but suffered the extremity of it as it was then understood; see Gill on Co2 11:24; moreover, that they might not exceed this number, they used to make a scourge of three lashes, so that every strike they fetched with it was reckoned for three stripes, and thirteen of them made thirty nine; wherefore if they added another stroke, it would have exceeded the number of stripes by two:

lest if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes; they might diminish them, if a man was weak, and not able to bear them; but they might not exceed them, if a man was as strong as Samson, as Maimonides (c) says:

then thy brother should seem vile unto thee; as if he was a beast, and not a man, and much less a brother. The Targum of Jonathan is,"lest he be in danger, and thy brother be vile;''lest he be in danger of his life, and become vile, as a dead carcass; so the apostle calls dead bodies "vile bodies", Phi 3:21; or in danger of being maimed, and becoming lame or deformed, and so be contemptible: and this punishment of beating with the Jews was not reckoned, according to their writers, reproachful, and as fixing a brand of infamy upon a person; but they were still reckoned brethren, and restored to their former dignities, whatsoever they possessed; so Maimonides (d) says,"whoever commits a crime, and is beaten, he returns to his dignity, as it is said, "lest thy brother be vile in thine eyes"; when he is beaten, lo, he is thy brother; an high priest, that commits a crime, is beaten by three (i.e. a bench of three judges, by their order), as the rest of all the people, and he returns to his grandeur; but the head of the session (or court of judicature), that commits a crime, they beat him, but he does not return to his principality, nor even return to be as one of the rest of the sanhedrim; for they ascend in holiness, but do not descend.''And yet Josephus represents it as a most infamous and scandalous punishment, as one would think indeed it should be; his words are (e), speaking of the laws concerning travellers being allowed to gather grapes, and pluck ears of corn as they passed;"he that does contrary to these laws receives forty stripes, save one, with a public scourge; a free man undergoes this most filthy (or disgraceful) punishment, because for the sake of gain he reproaches his dignity.''

(b) Misn. Maccot, c. 3. sect. 10. Vid. Buxtorf. Synagog. Jud. c. 25. p. 522, 523. (c) Hilchot Sanhedrin, c. 17. sect. 1. (d) Ibid. sect. 7, 8, 9. (e) Antiqu. l. 4. c. 8. sect. 21.

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

The Jews to keep within the letter of the law fixed 39 stripes as the maximum (compare the marginal reference.). Forty signifies the full measure of judgment (compare Gen 7:12; Num 14:33-34); but the son of Israel was not to be lashed like a slave at the mercy of another. The judge was always to be present to see that the Law in this particular was not overpassed.

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

Eyes. Hebrew, "depart covered with confusion (or more vile) before thy eyes." Hence the Jews do not consider this chastisement as ignominious. (Calmet)

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).

Not exceed: it seems not superstition, but prudent caution, when the Jews would not exceed thirty-nine stripes, 2Co 11:24, lest through mistake or forgetfulness or eagerness they should go beyond their bounds, which they were commanded to keep, but they were not obliged to go to the utmost extent of them. Thy brother, who, though faulty and chastised, yet still is thy brother by nation, and probably by religion too.

Should seem vile unto thee, i.e. should be made contemptible to his brethren, either by this cruel usage of him, as if he were a slave or brute beast; or by the deformity or infirmity of body which excessive beating might produce.

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

3. Forty stripes he may give — The rabbins fixed the number at forty save one, for fear of the letter of the law being transgressed. According to some authorities, as the scourge was made of three thongs, and each stroke was reckoned as three, in practice only thirteen blows were actually given.

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

Forty stripes - It seems not superstition, but prudent caution, when the Jews would not exceed thirty-nine stripes, lest through mistake or forgetfulness they should go beyond their bounds, which they were commanded to keep. Should seem vile - Should be made contemptible to his brethren, either by this cruel usage of him, as if he were a brute beast: or by the deformity or infirmity of body which excessive beating might produce.

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

General Information:

Moses continues speaking to the people of Israel.

The judge may give him forty blows

"The judge may say that they should beat the guilty person 40 times" (See: Numbers)

but he may not exceed that number

"but the judge may not order them to beat him more than 40 times"

for if he should exceed that number and beat him with many more blows

"because if the judge orders them to beat him many more than 40 times"

then your fellow Israelite would be humiliated before your eyes

This may be stated in active form. AT: "then the judge would humiliate your fellow Israelite in front of all of the people of Israel" (See: Active or Passive)

humiliated before your eyes

Here the people are represented by their "eyes" to emphasize what they see. AT: "humiliated, and you would all see it" (See: Synecdoche)

translationWords

judge, judges

Israel

humiliate

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

לא יסיף HE SHALL NOT EXCEED — From here is derived the prohibition referring to one who strikes his fellow man (Sanhedrin 86b; cf. Ketubot 33a).

ונקלה אחיך WHEN THY BROTHER SHOULD SEEM VILE [UNTO THEE] — All the time it has been calling him “wicked” (vv. 1 and 2), but as soon as he has received the lashes it calls him “thy brother”! (Sifrei Devarim 286:14).

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.