Deuteronomy 21

Deuteronomy 21

There have already been a few discussions on how to deal with murder and what the punishments should be for intentional and unintentional murder. Deuteronomy 21 brings forth a new situation. If anyone was found out in the open dead, then the city closest by was to make atonement for that person to avenge for their death. We have to remember that in this day there was no such thing as C.S.I., and there was no way of determining who might have killed this man, or if he was killed at all. Therefore, other provisions were made to honor the person who was dead. Obviously there was an appreciation for human life embedded in this law. Even in their death, these people were to be honored and not just tossed to the side. If they took this much effort to honor someone who had died, how much more of an effort should we make to treat our brothers and sisters in this life with honor?

Generally, God commanded the Israelites to stay away from the other nations, forbidding intermarrying. But these laws are generally seen when a single person or a small group enter into another nation. The next portion of Deuteronomy 21 presents a different situation. What about when just one of those women from the other nation enters into your household? After conquering a city, the Israelites were allowed to bring a woman in, but they were to wait for a period of time before they made her their wife. Furthermore, it was forbidden to treat her wrongfully or make her a slave. She would be a stranger in their land, and they were commanded to at the very least treat her with respect. Remember that God’s mission is to bring all nations to Himself so that they can all worship Him. By treating this woman wrongly, what message would that send her, and would she ever consider worshipping the God of Israel? In the same way, we must think carefully about how we treat those among us who may be different in a number of ways. Ultimately, we should be seeking to bring others to Christ, for His glory, so we must think carefully about how we treat those around us.

The next section also continues this theme of treating people honorably or with respect. The example given here is a man giving his firstborn what he deserves, no matter the situation. Even if his firstborn is from a wife that he no longer loves, he is not allowed to treat his son wrongly. A promise is a promise, and it does not matter what the situation, we should always uphold our end of the bargain. Again, we must be the example of Christ in the world, and if we are known for breaking promises or being dishonest, then what message does that send to others?

As the chapter comes to a close we find a rather disturbing passage on discipline. First off, you will be thankful that discipline is not practiced this way any longer. However, this does show the importance of being obedient to those who have authority over us, like our parents. God obviously thought that obedience to our parents was important, because in this set of commands, He permitted the stoning of a rebellious child who had no interest in obeying his parents. The point here was to show the importance of obedience and show that there was no room for evil acts in Israel.

Finally, the chapter ends with a very prophetic set of verses. The passage itself talks about how it was an abomination to leave a man to die on a tree (such as through hanging). There was no law against this sort of punishment, but once the man was dead, he was not to be left on the tree. Instead, he was to be buried immediately. Thousands of years later, Israel’s Messiah would die in this manner. Although it would not be a hanging, Jesus died nailed to a tree. According to the law of Israel, this is a curse, and it shows how much Jesus endured on the cross. He took all our sin and shame and punishment on Himself! We should always be thankful for what Jesus endured to bring us salvation, and we should never cease from praising Him!

Matt