Brethren; strictly so called, as is evident from Deuteronomy 25:7 Genesis 38:8 Ruth 1:13 Matthew 22:24,25. Dwell together; either,
1. Strictly, in the same house or family; which is not probable, because the married brother may be presumed to have left his father's house, and set up a family of his own. Or,
2. More largely, in the same town or city, or, at least, country. This is added for a relief of their consciences, that if the next brother had removed his habitation into remote parts, or were carried thither into captivity, which God foresaw would be their case, then the wife of the dead had her liberty to marry to the next kinsman that lived in the same place with her. One of them; either,
1. The first and eldest of them, as it was practised, Genesis 38:6, &c., and expounded, Matthew 22:25; one being oft put for the first, as Genesis 1:5, Genesis 2:11 Haggai 1:1 Mark 16:2. And the chief care was about the first-born, who were invested with singular privileges, and were types of Christ. Or,
2. Any of them, for the words are general, and so the practice may seem to have been, Rth 3; and the reason of the law may seem to be in a great measure the same, which was to keep up the distinction, as of tribes and families, that so the Messias might be discovered by the family from which he was appointed to proceed, so also of inheritances, which were divided among all the brethren, the first-born having only a double portion. Have no child, Heb. no son. But son is oft put for any child, male or female, both in Scripture and other authors; and therefore the Hebrew no son is rendered no child here, as it is in effect, Matthew 22:24 Mark 12:19 Luke 20:28. And indeed this caution was not necessary when there was a daughter, whose child might be adopted into the name and family of its grandfather. Unto a stranger, i.e. to one of another family, as that word is oft used. Her husband's brother shall go in unto her, except he was married himself, as may appear by other scriptures, and by the reason of the thing, and, as some add, from the phrase of dwelling together, to wit, in their father's family.