May 8, 2021
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Reading along with us in Deuteronomy? Here’s today’s reading:
Deuteronomy 21 (NIV)
Atonement for an Unsolved Murder
1 If someone is found slain, lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who the killer was, 2 your elders and judges shall go out and measure the distance from the body to the neighboring towns.........Continue Reading
This is an interesting chapter in that it seems to jump around to many different issues starting with unsolved murders and how that leaves the land defiled and must be addressed. Then to marrying someone captured in battle. I assume the shaving of her head, trimming nails and getting rid of her clothes is signifying a complete break from her previous people and starting new. I love that God’s law provides her protection if it doesn’t work out that she won’t just be cast aside or made a slave.
The rebellious son! Stoned to death! Wow while there has been times where my sons have pushed me to some points I am sure this is an extreme situation and referring to an adult child of course!
Then the chapter comes back full circle to not leaving the dead out to defile the land.
Deuteronomy 21
This is a confusing chapter for me.
• Deut 21:10 must refer to cities far away (Deut 20:10-15) and not cities of the conquest since all were to be destroyed (Deut 20:17).
• While 21:10-14 provides some level of protection for captive women who are then taken in marriage, I am confused about allowing ‘separation’ “because you no longer delight in her”.
• Also, verses 15-17 seem to provide allowances for polygamy. One of the commentaries I checked said that “This law presupposes the practice of polygamy but does not condone it.” Another commentary states that the reference to two wives is dealing with one wife who has died and then the man takes a second wife. “Moses, therefore, does not here legislate upon the case of a man who has two wives at the same time, but on that of a man who has married twice in succession …”.
• The section on dealing with a rebellious son is confusing as well. I suppose this is an adult son since he is noted to be a ‘glutton and a drunkard’. But the law seems too harsh to me. His gluttony gives an impression that the son is not contributing to the family’s livelihood. Still, the punishment seems excessively harsh. The only protection against abuse of this law is that both parents must consent to the harsh action.
The only thing that comes to mind as I read this is the words of Jesus when he was asked about Moses permitting divorce. Jesus replies that the commandment for divorce was given because of the hardness of our heart – but it was not so from the beginning. Deuteronomy often reminds us that these people, yes even this new generation, are stubborn (Deuteronomy 9:6).
When I read the final verses of this chapter, I can only think of Christ who hung on a tree – of course not by a rope, but still, this seems to anticipate Christ bearing the curse of God on our behalf when he is crucified (Gal. 3:13).
Deuteronomy 21
It is interesting to consider all the laws that need to be put in place to address the various circumstances that could come up in a society. And some of them here are hard to understand as we are completely divorced from the circumstances involved and very little connects to our lives today. But to see that God cares about such things and puts things in place to address them is what is most important. All death needed to be addressed in Israel but especially when life was taken by someone else. If the person responsible for taking the life couldn’t be found, then the fact that the person was killed still needed to addressed and guilt had to be removed.
As much as the next two sections deal with odd circumstances, the protection and the provision for the otherwise vulnerable is what jumps out at me. It causes someone who might take someone through battle to think twice about what they should do. The woman could not just be cast aside as nothing as would be common in other nations. God honors her feelings about leaving her home, puts things in place to reenforce the separation from it and gives her a month to mourn. If the man decides not to keep her as a wife (presumably very soon after getting to know her), he must let her do what she wants, including returning home. But he is still on the hook to make provision for her rather than earning something for her. And the next section could certainly be read in the two ways mentioned by Dan above…two wives at the same time or in succession. Polygamy certainly happened although it was never approved. This protects a son from not being discarded just because his mother is and projecting those emotions in that way would be very tempting. He would still have the rights and the responsibility of the first born.
And the killing of the rebellious son shows first that God cares about authority and how central the authority of a father and mother would be. And it just provides an option for control when a situation goes out of control. I wouldn’t imagine that people would be able or want to do this for normal parent stuff. But if the son is harming himself and the family through his actions and all other options are exhausted to bring him under control, this gives a way to express control, that could help change the son so it would not have to be resorted to.
And one can’t help think of Jesus in the last portion. His shame was even greater that He hung on a tree, paying our debt so we could be redeemed!
Deut 26
Addressing various unusual situations.
I assume that if a man took a woman captive and couldn’t “have” her for a whole month, then probably he would have decided by then if he really wanted to keep her. One would hope.
I think the rebellious son is an adult son, but I suspect that children were disciplined much more strictly then, children grew up and were more responsible then, as well. It would be interesting to know how old, in general, that people were when they moved out of their homes, got married, etc.
18If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, 19his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. 20They shall say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” 21Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.
Praise God that we are not still under the law!