Deuteronomy 22:30

“A man shall not take his father’s wife, etc.] Not marry her, whether his own mother, or a stepmother; or even, as Aben Ezra thinks, anyone that was deflowered by his father. Jarchi interprets it of his father’s brother’s wife, which he was obliged to marry by virtue of the law in (<052505>Deuteronomy 25:5) nor discover his father’s skirt; or lie with her his father had thrown his skirt over, or married; and which being the first, is mentioned here as a sample to all the rest forbidden (<031807>Leviticus 18:7) or, as Bishop Patrick expresses it, is a “short memorandum”, to make them careful to observe all the other laws respecting incestuous marriages and copulations there delivered.”

“Take - To wife. So this respects the state, and the next branch speaks of the act only. Next: Deuteronomy Chapter 23”

“22:30 The phrase his father’s former wife does not refer to a man’s own mother because incest was a more serious crime (see Lev 18:7-8, 29).”

“a man shall: This is to be understood as referring to the case of a stepmother. A man in his old age may have married a young woman, and on his dying, his son by another, or a former wife, may desire to espouse her; which is here forbidden. Deu 27:20; Lev 18:8, Lev 20:11; Co1 5:1, Co1 5:13 discover: Rut 3:9; Eze 16:8 Next: Deuteronomy Chapter 23”

“(or Deu 23:1) This verse, in which the prohibition of incest is renewed by a repetition of the first provision in the earlier law ( Lev 18:7-8), is no doubt much better adapted to form the close of the laws of chastity and marriage, than the introduction to the laws which follow concerning the right of citizenship in the congregation of the Lord. Next: Deuteronomy Chapter 23”