John Calvin Commentary Deuteronomy 25:1

"If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, and [the judges] judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked;" — Deuteronomy 25:1 (ASV)

Since moderation and humanity are commanded here, this serves as a supplement to the Sixth Commandment. The main point is that if anyone is judicially condemned to be beaten with stripes, the punishment should not be excessive. The question, however, concerns a punishment that lawyers call a moderate correction,⁴³ and which should be such that the body, though torn by the whip, is not maimed or disfigured.

Therefore, since God has shown such mercy to the guilty as to restrain even just severity, how much more would He want innocent blood to be respected. And since He prohibits the judge from using excessive harshness, He will tolerate even less the violence of a private individual, if he employs it against his brother. But it was necessary for zeal to be restrained in this way, because judges, otherwise not unjust, are often as severe against lesser offenses (delicta) as against crimes.

An equal measure of punishment is not indeed prescribed, as if all were to be beaten equally; it is only prohibited for the judges to order more than forty stripes in total to be inflicted for an offense. Thus, the culprits were beaten deliberately, and not indiscriminately, as when it was not necessary to count the stripes. Besides, they were not injured so severely as to be deprived of the use of any of their limbs in the future.

With the same intent, God would have the judges themselves be present, so that by their authority they might prevent any excess. The reason is added: lest your brother should seem contemptible to you, because he had been beaten immoderately. This may be explained in two ways: either, lest his body should be disfigured by the blows, and so he should be made unsightly; or, lest, being forever stained with ignominy and disgrace, he should be discouraged in mind. For we know how grievous and bitter it is to be mocked and insulted.

A third sense,⁴⁴ which some prefer, is too far-fetched: namely, lest he should die like some vile and contemptible beast. For God only intends for the wretched man to be improved by his punishment, and not for him to become hardened by his infamy.

Since the Jews were always ostentatious in their zeal for trivial matters, they invented a childish precaution so that they might more strictly observe this law. They were scrupulous not to proceed to the fortieth stripe but, by deducting one, sought an empty reputation for clemency, as if they were wiser than God Himself and superior to Him in kindness. Into such folly do people fall when they dare, from their own minds, to invent anything contrary to God’s word!

This superstition already prevailed in Paul’s time, as we gather from his words, where he reports that five times he received forty stripes save one (2 Corinthians 11:24).

⁴³ “Ce que les jurisconsultes appellent une reprimande moyenne.” — Fr..

⁴⁴ This exposition is attributed to Vatablus in Poole’s Synopsis.