Deuteronomy 23:3
Ammonite <05984> [Ammonite.]
These nations were subjected for their impiety, wickedness, and enmity to Israel, (ver. 4, 5,) to peculiar disgrace; and on this account were not permitted to hold any office among the Israelites. This did not, however, disqualify them from becoming proselytes; for Ruth, who was a Moabitess, was married to Boaz, and became one of the progenitors of our Lord.
Deuteronomy 23:1
man <06481> [wounded.]
enter <0935> [shall not enter.]
It is evident that his law was not meant to exclude such Israelites either from the common benefits of civil society, or any essential religious advantages; but merely to lay them under a disgraceful distinction. This would tend to discourage parents from thus treating their children; a practice which was exceedingly common in those ages and countries. To this they were induced by the custom which prevailed, of employing such in the houses of the great and the courts of princes; so that they often rose to the highest posts of honour and authority. Some expositors therefore consider the phrase, "shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord," as meaning, that they should be incapable of bearing any office in that government which was placed over the people of God, who must thus enter a protest against this custom, and deliver selfish parents from this temptation.
Deuteronomy 18:1-22
allotment <02506> [shall have.]
eat <0398> [they shall.]
Lord <03068> [the Lord.]
offer sacrifices <02077 02076> [offer a sacrifice.]
best .............. best <07225> [first-fruit.]
shear <01488> [the fleece.]
comes <0935> [come.]
comes ...... will <0935 0185> [and come with.]
place <04725> [unto the place.]
fellow <0251> [as all his brethren.]
same share <02506> [like portions.]
sale .... family's inheritance <01 04465> [that which cometh of the sale of his patrimony. Heb. his sales by the fathers.]
son <01121> [maketh.]
or ......... divination .... reader <07081 07080> [that useth divination.]
The precise import of the terms here used to express these unhallowed practices cannot be clearly ascertained: he that useth divination, {kosaim, kesamim,} seems a general term for the various species after specified; observer of times, {meonain,} one who pretends to foretell by the clouds, planets, etc.; enchanter {menachesh,} a diviner, either by means of serpents, or by inspecting the entrails of beasts, the flight of birds, etc.; a witch, {mecashsheph,} one who used magical fumigations, etc.; a charmer, {chover chaver,} one who uses spells, or a peculiar conjunction of words, or tying knots, etc.; a consulter with familiar spirits, {shoel ov,} a pythoness; a wizard, {yidoni,} a cunning man; necromancer, {doresh el hammaithim} one who seeks enquiries of the dead.
necromancer <01875> [or a necromancer.]
blameless <08549> [Thou shalt.]
blameless <08549> [perfect. or, upright, or, sincere.]
about ... dispossess <03423> [possess. or, inherit. hath not suffered.]
prophet <05030> [a Prophet.]
listen <08085> [like unto me.]
listen <08085> [unto him.]
Horeb <02722> [in Horeb.]
hear <08085> [Let me not hear.]
raise <06965> [raise them.]
put <05414> [like unto.]
put <05414> [will put.]
speak <01696> [he shall.]
prophet .......................... prophet <05030> [the prophet.]
name .............. name <08034> [in the name.]
speaks ............... spoken ........ speak <01696> [speaketh.]
prediction <01697> [if the thing.]
presumed <02087> [presumptuously.]
fear <01481> [shalt not.]
