SEV Biblia, Chapter 22:8
Cuando edificares casa nueva, harás pretil a tu terrado, para que no pongas sangre en tu casa, si de él cayere alguno.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 22:8
Verse 8. A battlement for thy roof] Houses in the East are in general built with flat roofs, and on them men walk to enjoy the fresh air, converse together, sleep, &c.; it was therefore necessary to have a sort of battlement or balustrade to prevent persons from falling off. If a man neglected to make a sufficient defense against such accidents, and the death of another was occasioned by it, the owner of the house must be considered in the light of a murderer.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 8. When thou buildest a new house , etc.] Which is to be understood of a house to dwell in, not of a granary, barn, or stable, or such like, and every house that is not four cubits square, as Maimonides observes f350 : then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof ; in the Talmud it is asked, what is the meaning of, or why is it said, “thy roof?” to except synagogues and schools; the gloss upon which is, synagogues, etc. do not belong to any single person, and besides are no dwelling place. A battlement, as Jarrift describes it, was a fence round the roof; or, as more fully described by Kimchi f352 , it was an edifice made for a roof round about it, ten hands high, or more, that a person might not fall from it; so Ben Melech from him. The reason of this law was, because the roofs of houses in those countries were flat, on which they used to walk for diversion and recreation, or retire for devotion, meditation, prayer, and social conversation; such they were in the times of the Canaanites, ( Joshua 2:6) and in the times of Saul and David, ( 1 Samuel 9:25 2 Samuel 11:2 16:21) and in the times of the New Testament; (see Gill on “ Matthew 10:27”), (see Gill on “ Matthew 24:17”), (see Gill on “ Mark 2:4”), (see Gill on “ Acts 10:9”), and so in later times, and to this day. Rauwolff f353 , traveller in those parts, relates, that at Tripoli in Phoenicia, “they have low houses, ill built, and flat at the top, as they are generally in the east; for they cover their houses with a flat roof or floor, so that you may walk about as far as the houses go, and the neighbours walk over the tops of their houses to visit one another; and sometimes in the summer they sleep on the top of them.” Now to prevent falling from thence, and mischief thereby, such a battlement as before described was ordered: that thou bring not blood upon thy house ; be not the occasion of blood being shed, or contract guilt of blood through negligence of such a provision the law directs to, the guilt of manslaughter, or of shedding innocent blood in thy house, as the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem; hence the Talmudists extend this to other things, and by this law also they suppose men are bound to guard against all dangers in any other way; as if a man had a well or pit of water in his courtyard, he ought either to put a cover over it, or to make a fence round it as high as this battlement f355 : if any man fall from thence ; that is, if a man walking on the roof of an house should make a slip or a false step, and stumble and reel, and so be falling, and fall from thence; which might have been prevented, even his falling from thence or to the ground, if such a battlement had been made.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 5-12 - God's providence extends itself to the smallest affairs, and his precepts do so, that even in them we may be in the fear of the Lord, a we are under his eye and care. Yet the tendency of these laws, whic seem little, is such, that being found among the things of God's law they are to be accounted great things. If we would prove ourselves to be God's people, we must have respect to his will and to his glory, an not to the vain fashions of the world. Even in putting on our garments as in eating or in drinking, all must be done with a serious regard to preserve our own and others' purity in heart and actions. Our ey should be single, our heart simple, and our behaviour all of a piece.
Original Hebrew
כי 3588 תבנה 1129 בית 1004 חדשׁ 2319 ועשׂית 6213 מעקה 4624 לגגך 1406 ולא 3808 תשׂים 7760 דמים 1818 בביתך 1004 כי 3588 יפל 5307 הנפל 5307 ממנו׃ 4480
