Deuteronomy 1 2 3a 3b 4 5 6 7a 7b 8 9 10 11a 11b 12 13 14 15 16a 16b 17 18 19 20 21a 21b 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29a 29b 30 31 32 33 34
כִּי יִהְיֶה רִיב בֵּין אֲנָשִׁים וְנִגְּשׁוּ אֶל הַמִּשְׁפָּט וּשְׁפָטוּם וְהִצְדִּיקוּ אֶת הַצַּדִּיק וְהִרְשִׁיעוּ אֶת הָרָשָׁע
BN (BibleNet translation): If there should be a controversy between men, and they bring the matter for judgment, and the judges judge them, by justifying the righteous, and condemning the wicked...
25:2 VE HAYAH IM BIN HAKOT HA RASHA VE HIPILO HA SHOPHET VE HIKAHU LEPHANAV KEDEY RISHATO BE MISPAR
וְהָיָה אִם בִּן הַכּוֹת הָרָשָׁע וְהִפִּילוֹ הַשֹּׁפֵט וְהִכָּהוּ לְפָנָיו כְּדֵי רִשְׁעָתוֹ בְּמִסְפָּר
BN: Then it shall be, if the wicked man deserves to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten in front of him, according to the extent of his wickedness, by number.
HAKOT: Whereas the verb for the olives that were beaten in the last chapter (verse 20) was CHAVAT (חבט).
25:3 ARBA'IM YAKENU LO YOSIYPH PEN YOSIYPH LEHAKOTO AL ELEH MAKAH RABAH VE NIKLAH ACHIYCHA LE EYNEYCHA
אַרְבָּעִים יַכֶּנּוּ לֹא יֹסִיף פֶּן יֹסִיף לְהַכֹּתוֹ עַל אֵלֶּה מַכָּה רַבָּה וְנִקְלָה אָחִיךָ לְעֵינֶיךָ
BN: Forty lashes he may give him; he shall not exceed this number, lest, if he should exceed it, and beat him with more than this number of lashes, then your kinsman should be dishonoured before your eyes.
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25:4 LO TACHSOM SHOR BE DIYSHO
לֹא תַחְסֹם שׁוֹר בְּדִישׁוֹ
BN: You shall not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the corn.
Why not? Is it because the smell of the ripe corn must be thoroughly tantalising, and to muzzle would therefore be an act of cruelty, suppressing the olefactory appetite? And if so, what happens if the ox stops treading, and starts chomping?
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25:5 KI YESHVU ACHIYM YACHDAV U MET ACHAD ME HEM U VEN EYN LO LO TIHEYEH ESHET HA MET HACHUTSAH LE IYSH ZAR YEVAMAH YAVO ALEYHA U LEKACHAH LO LE ISHAH VE YIBMAH
KJ: If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her.
BN: If brothers live together, and one of them dies, and has no child, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside the family to one who is not of his kin; her husband's brother shall go in to her, and take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her.
This is the law known as the Yibum, the Levirate, the Law of Onan, and it is the given reason behind the parable of Yehudah and Tamar in Genesis 38.
How are we to understand "dwell together"? Same Bedou encampment, same farm, same tent or house, same village, same town, same country?
And it might seem, from the way this verse is phrased, that this is all about the woman's biological needs and aspirations, so that she can have the opportunity to become the full ISHAH, a woman whose barrenness has been removed by the fertility goddess, and honoured with the opportunity to bear a child... sorry, a son, girls don't count. But alas, as per the following verses, it isn't about that at all, precisely because girls don't count.
25:6 VE HAYAH HA BECHOR ASHER TELED YAKUM AL SHEM ECHAV HA MET VE LO YIMACHEH SHEMO MI YISRA-EL
וְהָיָה הַבְּכוֹר אֲשֶׁר תֵּלֵד יָקוּם עַל שֵׁם אָחִיו הַמֵּת וְלֹא יִמָּחֶה שְׁמוֹ מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל
KJ: And it shall be, that the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel.
BN: And it shall be, that the first-born that she bears shall succeed in the name of his brother that is dead, so that his name is not blotted out of Yisra-El.
HA BECHOR: Meaning the first boy to be born; as I said above, girls don't count.
SHEM ACHIV: No, it's all about the boys. But what we are not told is: which of the two names will be his late father's? Will he be Er ben Onan, his father's name given to him as his first-name, so that it can be perpetuated, and then the name of his biological father as his patronymic? Or will it be - and this is the meaning of the word - his patronymic, so that he will have whatever first-name they fancy, and then BEN ER? So, to return to our exemplar, Er is the one who died; if Onan had fathered a child on Tamar, as was expected by this law, would the boy (assuming there was one) have been named Er ben Onan, to honour his late elder brother, but also to affirm the actual biological paternity; or, say, Av-Ram ben Er - and if it would have been the latter, perhaps we can understand why Onan decided to perform coitus interruptus, taking advantage of the Levir to get a night with his lovely sister-in-law, but not wanting to create a child that he would be obliged to raise, but who would not bear his name (and if he did, no wonder the deity struck him down!)
25:7 VE IM LO YACHPOTS HA IYSH LAKACHAT ET YEVIMTO VE ALTAH YEVIMTO HA SHE'ARAH EL HA ZEKEYNIM VE AMARTA ME'EN YEVAMI LECHAKIM LE ACHIV SHEM BE YYISRA-EL, LO AVAH YABMI
KJ: And if the man like not to take his brother's wife, then let his brother's wife go up to the gate unto the elders, and say, My husband's brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel, he will not perform the duty of my husband's brother.
BN: But if the man does not desire not to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall go up to the gate, to the elders, and say: "My husband's brother refuses to raise up for his brother a name in Yisra-El; he will not perform the duty of a husband's brother with me."
YACHPOTS: "Does not desire", or "refuses"? The root is CHAPHETS, and strangely it has two very different meanings, or it may be that one is an Aramaic word and the other from an earlier Kena'ani source, and they happen to look and sound the same. The Aramaic, and still today in Arabic, means "to bend", and can be found at Job 40:17, where the great land-monster Behemot is dscribed, bending his tail so that it stands solidly upright. But for that to be the verb here, it would need to be in the negative, with the man "not bending", as in being adamant in his refusal. And then, just a few words later, we have ME'EN, which definitely means "refuses", so in fact we have both "does not desire" and "refuses".
25:6 VE HAYAH HA BECHOR ASHER TELED YAKUM AL SHEM ECHAV HA MET VE LO YIMACHEH SHEMO MI YISRA-EL
וְהָיָה הַבְּכוֹר אֲשֶׁר תֵּלֵד יָקוּם עַל שֵׁם אָחִיו הַמֵּת וְלֹא יִמָּחֶה שְׁמוֹ מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל
BN: And it shall be, that the first-born that she bears shall succeed in the name of his brother that is dead, so that his name is not blotted out of Yisra-El.
HA BECHOR: Meaning the first boy to be born; as I said above, girls don't count.
SHEM ACHIV: No, it's all about the boys. But what we are not told is: which of the two names will be his late father's? Will he be Er ben Onan, his father's name given to him as his first-name, so that it can be perpetuated, and then the name of his biological father as his patronymic? Or will it be - and this is the meaning of the word - his patronymic, so that he will have whatever first-name they fancy, and then BEN ER? So, to return to our exemplar, Er is the one who died; if Onan had fathered a child on Tamar, as was expected by this law, would the boy (assuming there was one) have been named Er ben Onan, to honour his late elder brother, but also to affirm the actual biological paternity; or, say, Av-Ram ben Er - and if it would have been the latter, perhaps we can understand why Onan decided to perform coitus interruptus, taking advantage of the Levir to get a night with his lovely sister-in-law, but not wanting to create a child that he would be obliged to raise, but who would not bear his name (and if he did, no wonder the deity struck him down!)
25:7 VE IM LO YACHPOTS HA IYSH LAKACHAT ET YEVIMTO VE ALTAH YEVIMTO HA SHE'ARAH EL HA ZEKEYNIM VE AMARTA ME'EN YEVAMI LECHAKIM LE ACHIV SHEM BE YYISRA-EL, LO AVAH YABMI
וְאִם לֹא יַחְפֹּץ הָאִישׁ לָקַחַת אֶת יְבִמְתּוֹ וְעָלְתָה יְבִמְתּוֹ הַשַּׁעְרָה אֶל הַזְּקֵנִים וְאָמְרָה מֵאֵן יְבָמִי לְהָקִים לְאָחִיו שֵׁם בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל לֹא אָבָה יַבְּמִי
BN: But if the man does not desire not to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall go up to the gate, to the elders, and say: "My husband's brother refuses to raise up for his brother a name in Yisra-El; he will not perform the duty of a husband's brother with me."
YACHPOTS: "Does not desire", or "refuses"? The root is CHAPHETS, and strangely it has two very different meanings, or it may be that one is an Aramaic word and the other from an earlier Kena'ani source, and they happen to look and sound the same. The Aramaic, and still today in Arabic, means "to bend", and can be found at Job 40:17, where the great land-monster Behemot is dscribed, bending his tail so that it stands solidly upright. But for that to be the verb here, it would need to be in the negative, with the man "not bending", as in being adamant in his refusal. And then, just a few words later, we have ME'EN, which definitely means "refuses", so in fact we have both "does not desire" and "refuses".
So we can turn to the more common usage, which is "desire", and can be found, just to give a very few examples, at Genesis 34:19, 1 Samuel 15:22, Psalm 40:9...
Was this law put in place before or after Onan rejected Tamar?
ACHIV: or Achav? Or even Echav, which is more common.
This latter is precisely what happened with Rut (Ruth) and Bo'az - see Ruth 3:9 to 4:11).
Was this law put in place before or after Onan rejected Tamar?
ACHIV: or Achav? Or even Echav, which is more common.
This latter is precisely what happened with Rut (Ruth) and Bo'az - see Ruth 3:9 to 4:11).
Note also that the Yehudit here does not say "brother's wife", which would be ISHATO SHEL ECHAV, but specifically sobriquets her as YEVIMTO.
25:8 YEKARU LO ZIKNEY IYRO VE DIBRU ELAV VE AMAD VE AMAR LO CHAPHATSTI LEKACHTAH
KJ: Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak unto him: and if he stand to it, and say, I like not to take her;
BN: Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak to him; and if he stands, and says: I do not wish to take her...
25:9 VE NIGSHAH YEVIMTO ELAV LE EYNEY HA ZEKEYNIM VE CHALTSAH NA'ALO ME AL RAGLO VE YARKAH BE PHANAV VE ANTAH VE AMRAH KACHAH YE'ASEH LA IYSH ASHER LO YIVNEH ET BEIT ACHIV
KJ: Then shall his brother's wife come unto him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother's house.
BN: Then his brother's wife shall approach him in the presence of the elders, and take his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face; and she shall answer and say: "Thus shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother's house."
After which he have to assume that the man is even less likely to want her about his house, having been humiliated by her in public.
YIVNEH: And note that the word BEN, meaning "son", comes from the same root.
25:8 YEKARU LO ZIKNEY IYRO VE DIBRU ELAV VE AMAD VE AMAR LO CHAPHATSTI LEKACHTAH
וְקָרְאוּ לוֹ זִקְנֵי עִירוֹ וְדִבְּרוּ אֵלָיו וְעָמַד וְאָמַר לֹא חָפַצְתִּי לְקַחְתָּהּ
KJ: Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak unto him: and if he stand to it, and say, I like not to take her;
BN: Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak to him; and if he stands, and says: I do not wish to take her...
25:9 VE NIGSHAH YEVIMTO ELAV LE EYNEY HA ZEKEYNIM VE CHALTSAH NA'ALO ME AL RAGLO VE YARKAH BE PHANAV VE ANTAH VE AMRAH KACHAH YE'ASEH LA IYSH ASHER LO YIVNEH ET BEIT ACHIV
וְנִגְּשָׁה יְבִמְתּוֹ אֵלָיו לְעֵינֵי הַזְּקֵנִים וְחָלְצָה נַעֲלוֹ מֵעַל רַגְלוֹ וְיָרְקָה בְּפָנָיו וְעָנְתָה וְאָמְרָה כָּכָה יֵעָשֶׂה לָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר לֹא יִבְנֶה אֶת בֵּית אָחִיו
BN: Then his brother's wife shall approach him in the presence of the elders, and take his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face; and she shall answer and say: "Thus shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother's house."
After which he have to assume that the man is even less likely to want her about his house, having been humiliated by her in public.
YIVNEH: And note that the word BEN, meaning "son", comes from the same root.
ACHIV: as above; and again in verse 11.
Ruth 4:7/8 gives us the shoe, but not the spitting. Presumably that was one Mosaic ruling that was never enforced. That chapter is nonetheless the best place to go to witness the full ceremony of the Levir; and note, at verse 1, that the man who is supposed to perform the Levir is known as the Go'el, the "redeemer" - yet another usage of that word.
As to "why the shoe?" - no one really knows, but it is well-explored here.
Ruth 4:7/8 gives us the shoe, but not the spitting. Presumably that was one Mosaic ruling that was never enforced. That chapter is nonetheless the best place to go to witness the full ceremony of the Levir; and note, at verse 1, that the man who is supposed to perform the Levir is known as the Go'el, the "redeemer" - yet another usage of that word.
As to "why the shoe?" - no one really knows, but it is well-explored here.
25:10 VE NIKRA SHEMO BE YISRA-EL BEIT CHALUTS HA NA'AL
וְנִקְרָא שְׁמוֹ בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל בֵּית חֲלוּץ הַנָּעַל
KJ: And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed.
BN: And it shall be said of him in Yisra-El: "This the family of one whose shoe has been removed".
I rather suspect that this was another of Mosheh's less brilliant instructions that people decided not to enforce. Or is it possible that we are misunderstanding it? The NA'AL is definitely a shoe, but CHALUTS has more than one meaning, including, when used in the multiple plural, the loins, and as we have seen earlier (Genesis 24:2), the signing of a contract or the making of a vow was done in Biblical times by placing the hand precisely there. Which makes CHALUTS HA NA'AL slightly more ambivalent than it seemed at first. My translation is in fact Rashi's, borrowed - click here; and I have done so to pretext a link which is in his commentary, to Lev 106b, which suggests that it is not a general nickname that is being created, but a formal pronouncement by those at the gate who are witnessing the legal ceremony.
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25:11 KI YINATSU ANASHIM YACHDAV IYSH VE ACHIV VE KARVAH ESHET HA ECHAD LEHATSIL ET IYSHAH MI YAD MAKEYHU VE SHALCHAH YADAH VE HECHEZIYKAH BI MEVUSHAV
כִּי יִנָּצוּ אֲנָשִׁים יַחְדָּו אִישׁ וְאָחִיו וְקָרְבָה אֵשֶׁת הָאֶחָד לְהַצִּיל אֶת אִישָׁהּ מִיַּד מַכֵּהוּ וְשָׁלְחָה יָדָהּ וְהֶחֱזִיקָה בִּמְבֻשָׁיו
KJ: When men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draweth near for to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and putteth forth her hand, and taketh him by the secrets:
BN: When two men get into a fight with each other, and the wife of one of them gets involved, trying to protect her husband from the hand of the other who is hitting him, and puts out her hand, and grabs him by his private parts...
I think this is a rather better translation than most I have seen!
IYSHAH: With a Yud here, but without in previous verses.
25:12 VE KATSOTAH ET KAPAH LO TACHOS EYNECHA
וְקַצֹּתָה אֶת כַּפָּהּ לֹא תָחוֹס עֵינֶךָ
BN: Then you shall cut off her hand, your eye shall have no pity.
LO TACHOS EYNECHA: Interesting phrase that. Normally we think of the heart as the locus of pity, but this about the reaction to witnessing the execution, the impact of the visual. And we think that Freud and Jung invented psychology!
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25:13 LO YIHEYEH LECHA BE CHIS'CHA EVEN VA EVEN GEDOLAH U KETANAH
לֹא יִהְיֶה לְךָ בְּכִיסְךָ אֶבֶן וָאָבֶן גְּדוֹלָה וּקְטַנָּה
KJ: Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small.
BN: You shall not have in your bag diverse weights, a large one and a small one.
Responsible Capitalism, circa 1300 BCE! See Leviticus 19:35/36, where this came up before, but phrased as a positive, where this is phrased as an anti-negative.
25:14 LO YIHEYEH LECHA BE VEITECHA EYPHAH VE EYPHAH GEDOLAH U KETANAH
לֹא יִהְיֶה לְךָ בְּבֵיתְךָ אֵיפָה וְאֵיפָה גְּדוֹלָה וּקְטַנָּה
BN: You shall not have in your house diverse measures, a large one and a small one.
Why in the house as well, when it makes no odds if you cheat yourself over the amount of flour you put in a cheesecake? Presumably because you might cheat your neighbour who asked to borrow a cup of flour. Or maybe you run your business out of your house - and don't forget that BAYIT (house) is used to mean a religious shrine, a commercial institution (e.g The House of Fraser), a trades guild... I think the answer is more universal: you should not have dodgy measuring tools, anywhere, ever. Honesty goes with charity among the definitions of Tsedakah - righteousness. The next verse will confirm this reading.
25:15 EVEN SHELEMAH VA TSEDEK YIHEYEH LACH EYPHAH SHELEMAH VA TSEDEK YIHEYEH LACH LEMA'AN YA'ARIYCHU YAMEYCHA AL HA ADAMAH ASHER YHVH ELOHEYCHA NOTEN LACH
אֶבֶן שְׁלֵמָה וָצֶדֶק יִהְיֶה לָּךְ אֵיפָה שְׁלֵמָה וָצֶדֶק יִהְיֶה לָּךְ לְמַעַן יַאֲרִיכוּ יָמֶיךָ עַל הָאֲדָמָה אֲשֶׁר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לָךְ
BN: A perfect and accurate weight you shall have; a perfect and accurate measure you shall have; that your days may be long upon the land which YHVH your god is giving you.
25:16 KI TO'AVAT YHVH ELOHEYCHA KOL OSEH ELEH KOL OSEH AVEL
כִּי תוֹעֲבַת יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ כָּל עֹשֵׂה אֵלֶּה כֹּל עֹשֵׂה עָוֶל
BN: For everyone who does such things, indeed everyone who acts unrighteously, is an abomination to YHVH your god.
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25:17 ZACHOR ET ASHER ASAH LECHA AMALEK BA DERECH BE TSET'CHEM MI MITSRAYIM
זָכוֹר אֵת אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה לְךָ עֲמָלֵק בַּדֶּרֶךְ בְּצֵאתְכֶם מִמִּצְרָיִם
KJ: Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt;
BN: Remember what Amalek did to you along the road as you came out of Mitsrayim.
Yes, and remember what you did to Midyan a little further along that road (Numbers 22, but it goes on for several chapters), which was even worse, though not quite as bad as what I have instructed you to do to anyone you conquer in the future... which will include Midyan, in Judges 6 and 7, and Amalek again (see below)... how is it possible to have a set of divine laws which incorporate hypocrisy to such a barbaric level?
The original story of Amalek is in Exodus 17:8-16, but also see Sha'ul (Saul) and Agag in 1 Samuel 15 for the follow-up to verse 19, below.
25:18 ASHER KARCHA BA DERECH VA YEZANEV BECHA KOL HA NECHESHALIM ACHAREYCHA VE ATAH AYEPH VE YAGEYA VE LO YAR'E ELOHIM
אֲשֶׁר קָרְךָ בַּדֶּרֶךְ וַיְזַנֵּב בְּךָ כָּל הַנֶּחֱשָׁלִים אַחֲרֶיךָ וְאַתָּה עָיֵף וְיָגֵעַ וְלֹא יָרֵא אֱלֹהִים
BN: How he met you on the road, and smote those at the very back, all those who were feeble at the rear of the camp, when you were faint and weary; and he had no fear of Elohim.
25:19 VE HAYAH BE HANIYACH YHVH ELOHEYCHA LECHA MI KOL OYEVEYCHA MI SAVIV BA ARETS ASHER YHVH ELOHEYCHA NOTEN LECHA NACHALAH LE RISHTAH TIMCHEH ET ZECHER AMALEK MI TACHAT HA SHAMAYIM LO TISHKACH
BN: Therefore it shall be, when YHVH your god has given you rest from all the enemies round about you, in the land which YHVH your god is giving you as an inheritance to possess it, that you shall blot out the very memory of Amalek from under the heavens; you shall not forget.
The error of Prague, if I may it call it that. By writing this in the Sepher Torah, which is to be read and studied for all time, the name Amalek becomes immortalised, and the intended act of blotting out is self-defeated. See my story "The Conflagration" in "The Captive Bride". Prague is where Hitler intended to erect a permanent memorial to the vanished Jewish race. You shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek - by never forgetting them!
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