Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.

saying, Teacher, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.

Saying: Master, Moses said: If a man die having no son, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up issue to his brother.

saying, Teacher, Moses said, If any one die, not having children, his brother shall marry his wife and shall raise up seed to his brother.

'Teacher, Moses said, If any one may die not having children, his brother shall marry his wife, and shall raise up seed to his brother.

"Teacher," they said, "Moses enjoined, 'If a man die childless, his brother shall marry his widow, and raise up a family for him.'

Master, Moses said, If a man, at the time of his death, has no children, let his brother take his wife, and get a family for his brother;

saying, 'Teacher, Moses said, 'If a man dies, having no children, his brother is to marry his wife, and raise up offspring for his brother.'

saying: "Teacher, Moses said: If anyone will have died, having no son, his brother shall marry his wife, and he shall raise up offspring to his brother.

"Teacher, Moses said – 'should a man die without children, the man's brother will become the husband of the widow, and raise a family for his brother.'

Master, Moses said. As it was enough to mention the bare fact, why do they make use of this preface? They cunningly employ the name of Moses, for the purpose of proving that they were lawful marriages, which had been contracted not by the will of men, but by the command and appointment of God himself. But that God should contradict Himself is impossible. Their sophistry therefore is this: "If God shall one day collect believers into His kingdom, He will restore whatever He had given to them in the world. What then shall become of the woman, whom God assigned to seven husbands?" Thus all ungodly persons and heretics forge their calumnies, that by means of them they may disfigure the true doctrine of godliness, and put to shame the servants of Christ. Nay, the Papists are restrained by no shame from openly ridiculing God and his word, when they attempt to take us by surprise. And not without reason, therefore, does Paul enjoin a teacher to be furnished with armor for repelling the adversaries of the truth, (Titus 1:9.) With respect to the law, (Deuteronomy 25:5,) by which God commanded the relatives, who were nearest of kin, to succeed the dead in marriage, if the first had died without children, the reason was, that the woman who had married into a particular family should leave offspring in it. But if there had been children by the first marriage, a marriage within the degrees forbidden by the law (Leviticus 18:16) would have been incestuous.

Saying, Master, Moses said - Deuteronomy 25:5-6. This law was given by Moses in order to keep the families and tribes of the Israelites distinct, and to perpetuate them.
Raise up seed unto his brother - That is, the children shall be reckoned in the genealogy of the deceased brother; or, to all civil purposes, shall be considered as his.

Raise up seed unto his brother - This law is mentioned Deuteronomy 25:5. The meaning of the expression is, that the children produced by this marriage should be reckoned in the genealogy of the deceased brother, and enjoy his estates. The word seed should be always translated children or posterity. There is a law precisely similar to this among the Hindoos.

Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no (m) children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.
(m) Daughters are also included by this word "children", but even though they were part of his family and bore his name, the man who had only daughters was in the same position as the man who had no children at all; this is because daughters were not at this time able to carry on the family name. Therefore, by "children" here, we should understand it to be referring to "sons".

Saying, master,.... Rabbi, or doctor, as he was usually called;
Moses said, in Deuteronomy 25:5
if a man die having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother; which, though not expressed in the self same words, yet is the sense of the passage referred to, and was a practice in use before the times of Moses, as appears from the case of Er and Onan; the design of which was, to preserve families, and keep their inheritances distinct and entire. This law only took place, when a man died without children; for if he left any children, there was no need for his brother to marry his wife; yea, as a Jewish writer observes (x), she was forbidden, it was not lawful for him to marry her, and was the case if he had children of either sex, or even grandchildren: for as another of their commentators notes (y), his having no child, regards a son or a daughter, or a son's son, or a daughter's son, or a daughter's daughter; and it was the eldest of the brethren, or he that was next in years to the deceased, that was obliged by this law (z), though not if he had a wife of his own; and accordingly in the following case proposed, each of the brethren married the eldest brother's wife in their turn, according to the course of seniority; and by this law, the first child that was born after such marriage, was reckoned the seed of the deceased, and was heir to his inheritance. The Jews in their Misna, or oral law, have a whole tract on this subject, called Yebamot, which contains various rules and directions, for the right observance of this law.
(x) Aben Ezra in Deut. xxv. 5. (y) Jarchi in ib. Vid. Maimon. Hilch. Yebum, c. 1. sect. 3. (z) Jarchi in Deut. xxv. 5. Misn. Yebamot, c. 2. sect. 8. & 4, 5. Maimon. Hilch. Yebum, c. 2. sect. 6.

Moses said. Deuteronomy 25:5.

Deuteronomy 25:5.