John Gill Commentary Deuteronomy 22

You shall not see your brother's ox or his sheep go astray ,
&c.] Or "driven away" ^F18 ; frightened and starved away from the herd or from the flock by a wolf or dog; and the ox and sheep are put for every other creature a man has, as camels, asses which last sort is after mentioned;

and a brother means not one in the natural relation of kindred only, for it is supposed, in the next verse, that he might not only be at a distance, but unknown; nor by religion only, or one of the commonwealth or church of the Jews, for what is enjoined is a piece of humanity the law of nature requires and directs to, and is even to be done to enemies, (Exodus 23:4).

and hide yourself from them; make as if he did not see them, and so be entirely negligent of them, and takes no care and shows no concern about them, but let them go on wandering from the herd and flock from where they were driven, and to which they cannot find the way of themselves:

you shall in any case bring them again to your brother :
to his herd or flock, or to his house, and deliver them into his own hands, or to the care of his servants.

FOOTNOTES:

• F18: (Myxdn) "expulsos", Montanus; "impulsos", Munster; "depulsos", Piscator.

And if your brother be not nigh unto you
Does not live in the same neighbourhood, but at some considerable distance; so that he cannot soon and easily be informed of his cattle, or they be sent to him:

or if you know him not ;
the owner of them, what is his name, or where he lives:

then you shall bring it into your house ;
not into his dwelling house, but some out house, barn, or stable:

and it shall be with you ;
remain in his custody, and be taken care of by him; and, as the Targum of Jonathan says, "be fed and nourished by him"; for, according to the Jewish canon ^F19 , whatsoever could work and eat, that should work and eat, and whatsoever did not work and eat was to be sold; for which there was a set time, as the commentators say {t}, for large cattle, as oxen, twelve months; for lesser cattle, as sheep, goats three months, here it is fixed,

until your brother seek after it ;
though in the mean while the finder was to make use of means, whereby the owner might be informed of it; for whatsoever was lost, in which were marks and signs by which inquiries might be made, were to be proclaimed ^F21 ; (and it is asked) how long a man was obliged to proclaim? until it was known to his neighbours; same say (he must proclaim it) at three feasts, and seven days after the last feast, so that he may go home three days, and return three days, and proclaim one day;

if (the owner) tells what is lost, but does not tell the marks or signs, he may not give it him; and a deceiver, though he tells the signs, he may not give it him, as it is said, "until your brother seek after it"; until you inquire of your brother whether he is a deceiver or not:

and elsewhere it is said ^F23 , formerly if a man lost anything, and gave the signs or marks of it, he took it; but after deceivers increased, it was ordered to be said to him, bring witnesses that you are not a deceiver, and take it; and in the same place it is observed, that there was at Jerusalem a stone, called Eben Toim, "the stone of strays", and whoever had lost or found anything repaired thither, and gave the signs and marks of it, and took it:

and you shall restore it to him again ;
he having made it fully to appear to be his, and having defrayed all expenses in advertising and keeping it; but if no owner appear to claim it, or not to satisfaction, the finder was to keep it as his own; but otherwise he was by all means to restore it, or, as in (Deuteronomy 23:1) "in restoring you shall restore them" ^F24 , that is, certainly restore them; and continually wherever it so happens:

the Jewish canon is ^F25 , ``if he restores it, and afterwards it strays away, and he restores it again and it strays away, even though four or five times, he is bound to restore it; as it is said, "in restoring you shall restore them"; Maimonides says ^F26 , that even an hundred times he is bound to restore them.''

FOOTNOTES:

• F19: Misn. Bava Metzia, c. 2. sect. 7.
• F21: Misn. ib. sect. 5, 6, 7.
• F23: T. Bab. Bava Metzia, fol. 28. 2.
• F24: (Mbyvt bvh) "reducendo reduces eos", Pagninus, Montanus.
• F25: Misn. ut supra, (^F19) sect. 9.
• F26: Hilchot Gazelah ve abadah, c. 11. sect. 14.

In like manner shall you do with his ass
As with his ox or sheep when astray, and found, keep it until it is owned, and then restore it; this is expressly mentioned in (Exodus 23:4)

and so shall you do with his raiment ;
if that is lost and found, it must be restored to the owner, he describing it; a garment is particularly mentioned, it is said ^F1 , because in every garment there is a mark or sign by which the owners can inquire about it; for it is made by the hands of men, and does not come from anything common:

and with all lost things of your brother's, which he has lost, and you
have found, shall you do likewise :
this comprehends everything that is lost, that is properly so; it is asked ^F2 ; ''what is a lost thing? if a man finds an ox or a cow feeding in the way, this is not a lost thing; an ass whose instruments are inverted, and a cow running among the vineyards, this is a lost thing:''

you may not hide yourself :
from seeing it and taking care of it, in order to restore it to the right owner; or dissemble a sight of it, and pretend he never saw it, and so entirely neglect it.

In some instances the Jews allow they were not obliged to take any notice or care of it, as, ''if a man find a cow in a cow house (which is not shut), he is not obliged (to take care of it); if in a public place, he is obliged; if it is in a burying ground he may not defile himself for it ^F3 .''

FOOTNOTES:

• F1: Bartenora in Misn. Bava Metzia, c. 2. sect. 5.
• F2: Misn. ib. sect. 9.
• F3: Ib. sect. 10.

You shall not see your brother's ox or his ass fall down by the
way
And lie under his burden, not being able to rise with it of himself, nor with all the assistance about it, without further help:

and hide yourself from them ;
cover your eyes, or turn them another way, and make as if you did not see them in distress:

you shall surely help him to lift them up again ;
that is, help the brother and owner of it, the ox and ass; assist him in getting them up again, and lay on their burden, and fasten them aright, which either were rolled off by the fall, or were obliged to be taken off in order to raise them up; and if this was to be done for an enemy, then much more for a brother, as is required, (See Gill on Exodus 23:5), or "lifting up, you shall lift them up with him" ^F4 ; that is, most certainly do it, and lift with all his strength, and as often as there is occasion; if they fell down again after raised up, help is still to be continued, even, as Maimonides ^F5 says, though it was an hundred times.

FOOTNOTES:

• F4: (Myqt Mqh) "erigendo eriges", Pagninus, Montanus.
• F5: Hilchot Rotzeach, c. 13. sect. 5.

The woman shall not wear that which pertains to a man
It being very unseemly and impudent, and contrary to the modesty of her sex. Or there shall not be upon her any "instrument of a man" ^F6, any utensil of his which he uses in his trade and business; as if she was employed in it, when her business was not to do the work of men, but to take care of her house and family. And so this law may be opposed to the customs of the Egyptians, as is thought, from whom the Israelites had lately come; whose women, as Herodotus ^F7 relates, used to trade and merchandise abroad, while the men kept at home.

And the word also signifies armour ^F8, as Onkelos renders it; and so here forbids women putting on a military habit and going with men to war, as was usual with the eastern women. And so Maimonides ^F9 illustrates it, by putting a mitre or an helmet on her head, and clothing herself with a coat of mail; and in like manner Josephus ^F11 explains it: "take heed, especially in war, that a woman not use the habit of a man, or a man that of a woman." He is not to be found fault with as much as he is by a learned writer ^F12, since he does not restrain it wholly to war, though he thinks it may have a special regard to that. For no doubt the law respects the times of peace as well as war, in neither of which such a practice should obtain. But the Targum of Jonathan very wrongly limits it to the wearing fringed garments and phylacteries, which belonged to men.

neither shall a man put on a woman's garment ;
which would betray effeminacy and softness unbecoming men, and would lead the way to many impurities by giving an opportunity of mixing with women, and so to commit fornication and adultery with them. To prevent this and to preserve chastity, this law seems to have been made; and since in nature a difference of sexes is made, it is proper and necessary that this should be known by difference of dress, or otherwise many evils might follow.

And this precept is agreeable to the law and light of nature. It is observed by a Heathen writer ^F13 that there is a twofold distribution of the law: the one written, the other not written. What we use in civil things is written; what is from nature and use is unwritten, as to walk naked in the market, or to put on a woman's garment. And change of the clothes of sexes was used among the Heathens by way of punishment, as of the soldiers that deserted and of adulteresses ^F14; so abominable was it accounted. Indeed, it may be lawful in some cases, where life is in danger, to escape that, provided chastity is preserved.

for all that do so are an abomination to the Lord your God ;
which is a sufficient reason why such a practice should not be used. Some from this clause have been led to conclude that respect is had to some customs of this kind used in idolatrous worship, which are always abominable to the Lord.

So Maimonides ^F15 observes that in a book of the Zabians, called "Tomtom", it is commanded that a man should wear a woman's coloured garment when he stood before the star of Venus, and likewise that a woman should put on a coat of mail and warlike armour when she stood before the star of Mars. He takes this to be one reason for this law, though besides that he gives another: because hereby concupiscence would be excited and an occasion for whoredom given. That there were some such customs among the Heathens may be confirmed from Macrobius ^F16 and Servius ^F17, as has been observed by Grotius; the former relates that Philochorus affirmed that Venus is the moon, and that men sacrificed to her in women's garments and women in men's; and for this reason, because she was thought to be both male and female. And the latter says there was an image of Venus in Cyprus with a woman's body and garment, and with the sceptre and distinction of a man, to whom the men sacrificed in women's garments and women in men's garments. And, as the above learned commentator observes, there were many colonies of the Phoenicians in Cyprus, from whom this custom might come; and to prevent it obtaining among the Israelites in any degree, who were now coming into their country, it is thought this law was made. For the priests of the Assyrian Venus used women's apparel ^F18, and in the feasts of Bacchus men disguised themselves like women ^F19.

FOOTNOTES:

• F6: (rbg ylk) "instrumentum virile", Pagninus, Junius et Tremellius; "instrumentum viri", Vatablus.
• F7: Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 35.
• F8: "Arma viri", Munster.
• F9: Hilchot Obede Cochabim, c. 12. sect. 10.
• F11: Antiqu. l. 4. c. 8. sect. 43.
• F12: Cunaeus de Repub. Heb. l. 2. c. 22.
• F13: Laert. Vit. Platonis, l. 3. p. 238.
• F14: Cunaeus ut supra. (^F12)
• F15: Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c. 37.
• F16: Saturnal. l. 3. c. 8.
• F17: In Virgil. Aeneid. l. 2.
• F18: Jul. Firmic. de Relig. Prophan. p. 6.
• F19: Lucian.