Deuteronomy 23

Deuteronomy 23:3

Augustine of Hippo: The Ammonite and the Moabitess will not enter the assembly of the Lord; they will not enter the assembly of the Lord even to the tenth generation or ever. The problem lies in how Ruth entered, who was a Moabite (Cf Rt 1,22), from whom the Lord even proceeds by natural means (Cf Matthew 1,5). Perhaps it is necessary to understand that mystically prophesied that it would enter, in saying the text: until the tenth generation. Because the generations are counted from Abraham, when Lot also lived, who fathered the Moabites and the Ammonites of their own daughters (Cf Genesis 19,37.38), and it is discovered that, counting Abraham himself, there are ten generations until Solomon, who fathered Boaz, husband second of Ruth. The generations are these: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Phares, Esrom, Aram, Amminadab, Nahshon, Salmon. Salmon fathered Boaz (Cf 1Cro 1.2), who married Ruth, who was a widow. That is why it is seen that after the tenth generation he left offspring in the Lord’s assembly, giving Boaz children. But we can still ask with reason why it is added: never. Is it because after the prophecy was fulfilled with this tenth generation did not any other person of the Ammonites and Moabites enter the assembly of the Hebrew people? Or were these words rather said: not until the tenth generation, to mean, through a certain universality of the number ten, that they would never enter, in such a way that the author came to say this same, adding the following words: not ever? And if this is true, then it seems that Ruth was admitted against this prohibition. Or was it forbidden to admit the Ammonites and not the Ammonites, that is, men and not women? This solution would be understood above all because, when the Israelites defeated those people, they were ordered to kill all the males and not the women, except those who had had sexual relations with the men, (Cf Numbers 31,17.18) since these women had dragged the people to fornication. But they wanted to spare the lives of the virgins, not imputing to them the guilt for which those people deserved defeat. And these people are also remembered here, as if they were wondering why the Lord would not have wanted to admit the Moabites and the Ammonites into the assembly of the Lord. To explain it, it is added: Because they did not come to meet you with bread and water when you were on the way out of Egypt, and because they brought Balaam, the son of Beor, of Mesopotamia, to curse you (Deuteronomy 23,4). These guilt, even then, when that town was defeated, they were imputed to the women, whom they preferred to keep alive. — QUESTIONS ON DEUTERONOMY, Q. 35 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Deuteronomy 23:7

Clement of Alexandria: At any rate [Scripture] says openly, “You shall not loathe Egyptians, since you lived as strangers in Egypt.” By Egyptian it means “Gentile,” in fact anyone from anywhere in the world. It is further forbidden to think of enemies as enemies, even if they are presently besieging your walls in the effort to capture your city, until you have sent them an envoy to invite them to peace. — The Stromata Book 2

Deuteronomy 23:15

Augustine of Hippo: You will not surrender to your master the slave who has joined you, fleeing from his master. It is not that his master has united him, that is, entrusted to him -because he would say he would rather have placed him-, but that he has come together, coming from his master, that is, united with him after have moved away from him. The law does not prohibit, therefore, receive fugitives. It forbids rather to return them. It could be thought that way, if we did not understand that all this is said to the nation and the people, and not to a particular man. That is why it has been forbidden to return a man who fled from his master, that is, from his king, from another nation, and who seeks refuge in the nation to which he refers. Thus the foreigner Amman, king of Gat, kept David, when he took refuge in his territory, fleeing from the presence of his master, King Saul. The Scripture explains it clearly when it says about the one who seeks refuge: He will live among you, wherever he pleases. — QUESTIONS ON DEUTERONOMY, Q. 36 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Deuteronomy 23:17

Augustine of Hippo: There will be no prostitute among the daughters of Israel and there will be no man prostituted among the children of Israel. This is the text in which it is expressly prohibited to fornicate, not only men, but women, even with their own spouses, demonstrating that it is a sin to mix with people other than the spouses themselves, since it is prohibited to have prostitutes and approach those whose sexuality is publicly sold. In the Decalogue it seems that this was not explicitly prohibited under the name of moechia, because under this name only adultery is usually understood. Therefore, I have already stated in that passage what I thought about this topic. — QUESTIONS ON DEUTERONOMY, Q. 37 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Deuteronomy 23:18

Augustine of Hippo: You shall not offer a harlot’s reward or a change of dog in the house of the Lord your God in relation to any vow, because both are abominable to the Lord your God. This must be understood in the sense that it is an abomination to the Lord your God not one of these things, but both. In relation to the dog, it is forbidden to make the change of the firstborn, which he orders to be made with the other impure animals, such as horses and donkeys and other similar ones, which serve as a help to man, and in Latin receive the name of iumenta ( jumentos), because it is derived from iuvando (help). In relation to the dog, he has not allowed it. It is necessary to investigate if it has not allowed it with respect to the pig and why, and if it has not been allowed regarding these animals why in this passage only the dog has been excepted. The reason for mentioning the reward of the prostitute seems to be because before it was forbidden that there were prostitutes among the children of Israel and it was forbidden for anyone of them to approach one of them (Cf Deuteronomy 23,17). And so that no one would think that this sin could be expiated by offering in the temple something of the obtained for that sin, it had to be said that it was an abomination to the Lord. 39 (Deuteronomy 24.7). That thief will die-he who has stolen a man-and you will drive the wicked from among you. The Scripture repeats this many times when it commands to kill the wicked. The Apostle used an expression like this, saying: Why do I have to judge the outsiders? Is it not to those within who you judge? Cast out the wicked one among you. Greek has ton put, a term that also appears here. But this word is usually translated as “malignant” rather than “bad.” And the text does not say: to put, that is, the bad; but ton put, that is, the evil one. From this it follows that he wanted to refer to the one who does something for which he is worthy of excommunication. In effect, the excommunication now makes in the Church what then did the death penalty. In spite of everything, that saying of the Apostle could also be understood in another way, that is, in the sense that each one will receive the order to cast out of himself the evil or the evil one. This sense would be more acceptable, if the evil or evil, and not the evil one, was found in Greek. Now, it is more credible that this has been said of man than vice. Although it could also be understood very well in the sense that man should remove the bad man from himself, according to that text which says: You undress the old man. And to explain who it is, he adds: He who stole, who no longer steals (Ef 4,22.28). — QUESTIONS ON DEUTERONOMY, Q. 38 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Deuteronomy 23:19

Ambrose of Milan: [Scripture] orders money to be returned without usury. It is a mark of kindly feeling to help one who has nothing. It is a sign of a hard nature to extort more than one has given. If one has need of your assistance because he has not enough of his own wherewith to repay a debt, is it not a wicked thing to demand under the guise of kindly feeling a larger sum from him who has not the means to pay off a lesser amount? — On the Duties of the Clergy 3.3.20

Deuteronomy 23:21

Ambrose of Milan: A wish is a request for blessings from God with a promise to fulfill a duty. And so, when you obtain what you have asked for, it is ungrateful to delay the promise. — On Cain and Abel

Deuteronomy 23:24

Augustine of Hippo: Let all the servants of God grant [the monks] permission to enter their fields whenever they wish and to depart when well fed and satisfied. This is according to the law given to the people of Israel that no one should arrest a thief in his fields unless he wished to take something away with him. Rather, the owner of the field should permit him who had touched nothing but what he had eaten to depart free and unpunished. — On the Work of Monks 23.28