Deuteronomy 21:1-23
1 If one be found slain in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it, lying in the field, and it be not known who hath slain him:
2 Then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain:
3 And it shall be, that the city which is next unto the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take an heifer, which hath not been wrought with, and which hath not drawn in the yoke;
4 And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough valley, which is neither eared nor sown, and shall strike off the heifer's neck there in the valley:
5 And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them the LORD thy God hath chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of the LORD; and by their worda shall every controversy and every stroke be tried:
6 And all the elders of that city, that are next unto the slain man, shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley:
7 And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.
8 Be merciful, O LORD, unto thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto thy people of Israel's charge. And the blood shall be forgiven them.
9 So shalt thou put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the LORD.
10 When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the LORD thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive,
11 And seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife;
12 Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house; and she shall shave her head, and pareb her nails;
13 And she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife.
14 And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not make merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her.
15 If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated:
16 Then it shall be, when he maketh his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, which is indeed the firstborn:
17 But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.
18 If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them:
19 Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place;
20 And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.
21 And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.
22 And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree:
23 His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursedc of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
Now in the 21st chapter.
If you find a dead body out in the field and you don't know the circumstances of the death; here's a man; he's dead in the field. Then they are to measure from that dead body to the closest cities and you are to bring the elders of the city out. They are to sacrifice a bullock and they are to each one swear that they don't know how this person died. And thus, the cities would be cleared from this person who had been slain and whose body left there in the field. And so it was sort of an inquest kind of a thing for the dead, in order that there might be sort of the innocency, from the declaration of the innocency from the guilt.
Now if you go to war against your enemies,... and you happen to see a beautiful women among the captives, and you want her for your wife: You may take her for your wife, but first of all she has to shave her head, and to pare her nails; and then [for 30 days] she is to put off her robes of captivity, and after 30 days you may take her as your wife. But when you've taken her for your wife, then you find out you don't like her, then you can't sell her (Deuteronomy 21:10-14),
Now in those days, of course, they had slaves and they sold people, and the captives were usually sold as slaves. But the fact you have taken her for your wife, you can put her away. You don't have to stay with her, but you can't sell her as a slave.
you can't make merchandise or money off her, now a man has two wives, and he loves one, and hates the other; if the one he hates has his first born son: [and the one he loves has the second born son. You can't reverse the inheritance.] you can't give the second son who was from the wife you loved the first inheritance (Deuteronomy 21:14-16).
You can't reverse the inheritances on these sons. It doesn't matter if you didn't care for her so much, you got to give the first born son the first inheritance.
Now of course, in those days, stubborn and rebellious kids got into real trouble.
[Because] if you had a child who is stubborn and rebellious,... you spank him [you've done every thing you can to correct him], and he doesn't behave:... Then you bring him before the elders (Deuteronomy 21:18; Deuteronomy 21:20),
And say I have a stubborn and rebellious kid here and I've done everything I can to correct him. He is incorrigible. I can't handle him, then they would stone him to death.
So you would say,
My son is stubborn, he is rebellious, he will not obey; he is a glutton, he's a drunkard (Deuteronomy 21:20).
So the penalty was being stoned.
Now the man is committed a sin worthy of death, and he needs to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged on a tree is accursed of God;) that the land be not defiled, which the Lord God gives you for an inheritance (Deuteronomy 21:22-23).
Now this of course becomes interesting to us. Any man who was hung on a tree was cursed of God. Paul tells us that Christ became a curse for us because it is written, "cursed is he who hangs on a tree" (Galatians 3:13). Paul was referring to this particular verse here in Deuteronomy.
But showing that Christ became the curse for us in that He took our sins upon Himself when He was hung there upon the tree, He took the curse of God. He bore the curse of God against sin.
When Adam sinned, Adam brought the curse of God upon man, upon woman, and upon the earth itself. God said to Adam that he would be cursed, that the earth would no longer just bring forth for him but actually with the sweat of his brow, would he earn his bread. The earth would actually bring forth thorns, and briars, and thistles. Harvesting your crops is not gonna be easy, your going to have to do it now by the sweat of your brow. Up until then the earth had been just producing, you could go out and get just whatever you want, just enjoy it. Now the curse brought the thorns, the briars, the thistles, and it brought the hard labor for a man to eke out a living from the ground.
To the woman, the curse in childbearing, the labor pains and all: To the ground the curse in bringing forth the thorns and the thistles. And thus there was sort of a three fold curse: upon man, upon woman, and upon the earth itself and of course the forth upon the serpent. It shall go in the dust of the earth on its belly and so forth.
Now Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us, for it is written cursed is everyone who hangs upon a tree. So you see the law actually cursed me. Man if I was living under this thing I would be stoned to death. The law condemned me to die. But Christ has redeemed me from the curse of the law, because He became a curse for me. He bore the curse for me, because it is written accursed is everyone that hangs upon a tree. By Him being crucified there He bore God's curse.
Actually it is interesting that when the Roman soldiers made a crown for Him, what kind of a crown did they make? A crown of thorns. And where did the thorns come from? They came from the curse. So the crown that He bore upon His brow was really a sign of the curse of God against the earth because of sin. Really the crown of thorns was a very fitting crown because He came to bear God's curse against your sin, then hanged upon the tree, redeeming you from the curse of the law.
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