Deuteronomy 21

1 "If someone slain is found in the land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you to take possession of it [and] [is] lying in the field, [and] it is not known who {killed him},

2 then your elders and your judges shall go out and shall measure [the distance] to the cities that [are] around the slain one.

3 {And then} the nearest city to the slain one, the elders of that city shall take a heifer of the herd that has not been worked with [in the field], that has not pulled a yoke,

4 and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a {wadi that flows with water all year} and [that] has not been plowed and has not been sown; [then] {there they shall break the neck of the heifer in the wadi}.

5 Then the priests, the descendants of Levi, shall come near, for Yahweh your God has chosen them to bless in the name of Yahweh, and every legal dispute and every [case of] assault will be {subject to their ruling}.

6 And all of the elders of that city nearest to the slain person shall wash their hands over the heifer [with] the broken neck in the wadi.

7 And they shall declare, and they shall say, 'Our hands did not shed this blood, and our eyes did not see [what was done].

8 Forgive your people, Israel, whom you redeemed, Yahweh, and [do] not {allow} the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel, and let them be forgiven [with regard to] blood.'

9 And [so] you shall purge the innocent blood from your midst, because you must do the right thing in the eyes of Yahweh.

10 "When you go out for battle against your enemies, and Yahweh your God gives them into your hand, and you lead the captives away,

11 and you see among the captives a woman beautiful in appearance, and you become attached to her and you want to take her as [a] wife,

12 then you shall bring her into your household, and she shall shave her head, and she shall trim her nails.

13 And she shall remove the clothing of her captivity from her, and she shall remain in your house, and she shall mourn her father and her mother {a full month}, and after this {you may have sex with her}, and you may marry her, and she may {become your wife}.

14 And then if you do not take delight in her, then you shall let her go {to do whatever she wants}, but you shall not treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored her.

15 "If a man has two wives, [and] the one [is] loved and the [other] one [is] disliked and the one loved and the one that is disliked have borne for him sons, if it happens [that] the firstborn son {belongs to the one that is disliked},

16 [nevertheless] {it will be the case that} on the day of bestowing his inheritance upon his sons, he will not be allowed to treat as [the] firstborn son the son of the beloved [wife] {in preference to} the son of the disliked [wife], [who is] the firstborn [son].

17 But he shall acknowledge the firstborn son of the disliked [wife] {by giving} him a double portion of {all that he has}, for he [is] the firstfruit of his vigor; to him [is] the legal claim of the birthright.

18 "{If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son} [who] {does not listen to} the voice of his father and to the voice of his mother, and they discipline him, and he does not obey them,

19 then his father and his mother shall take hold of him, and they shall bring him out to the elders of his city and to the gate of his {town},

20 and they shall say to the elders of his city, 'This our son [is] stubborn and rebellious; {he does not obey us}, [and] he is a glutton and a drunkard.'

21 Then all the men of his city shall stone him with stones and let him die; and so you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all of Israel will hear, and they will fear.

22 "And {if a man commits a sin punishable by death}, and [so] he is put to death and you hang him on a tree,

23 his dead body shall not hang on the tree, but certainly you shall bury him on that day, for cursed by God [is] one that is [being] hung; so you shall not defile your land that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you [as an] inheritance."

Deuteronomy 21 Commentary

Chapter 21

The expiation of uncertain murder. (1-9) Respecting a captive taken to wife. (10-14) The first-born not to be disinherited for private affection. (15-17) A stubborn son to be stoned. (18-21) Malefactors not to be left hanging all night. (22,23)

Verses 1-9 If a murderer could not be found out, great solemnity is provided for putting away the guilt from the land, as an expression of dread and detesting of that sin. The providence of God has often wonderfully brought to light these hidden works of darkness, and the sin of the guilty has often strangely found them out. The dread of murder should be deeply impressed upon every heart, and all should join in detecting and punishing those who are guilty. The elders were to profess that they had not been any way aiding or abetting the sin. The priests were to pray to God for the country and nation, that God would be merciful. We must empty that measure by our prayers, which others are filling by their sins. All would be taught by this solemnity, to use the utmost care and diligence to prevent, discover, and punish murder. We may all learn from hence to take heed of partaking in other men's sins. And we have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, if we do not reprove them.

Verses 10-14 By this law a soldier was allowed to marry his captive, if he pleased. This might take place upon some occasions; but the law does not show any approval of it. It also intimates how binding the laws of justice and honour are in marriage; which is a sacred engagement.

Verses 15-17 This law restrains men from disinheriting their eldest sons without just cause. The principle in this case as to children, is still binding to parents; they must give children their right without partiality.

Verses 18-21 Observe how the criminal is here described. He is a stubborn and rebellious son. No child was to fare the worse for weakness of capacity, slowness, or dulness, but for wilfulness and obstinacy. Nothing draws men into all manner of wickedness, and hardens them in it more certainly and fatally, than drunkenness. When men take to drinking, they forget the law of honouring parents. His own father and mother must complain of him to the elders of the city. Children who forget their duty, must thank themselves, and not blame their parents, if they are regarded with less and less affection. He must be publicly stoned to death by the men of his city. Disobedience to a parent's authority must be very evil, when such a punishment was ordered; nor is it less provoking to God now, though it escapes punishment in this world. But when young people early become slaves to sensual appetites, the heart soon grows hard, and the conscience callous; and we can expect nothing but rebellion and destruction.

Verses 22-23 By the law of Moses, the touch of a dead body was defiling, therefore dead bodies must not be left hanging, as that would defile the land. There is one reason here which has reference to Christ; "He that is hanged is accursed of God;" that is, it is the highest degree of disgrace and reproach. Those who see a man thus hanging between heaven and earth, will conclude him abandoned of both, and unworthy of either. Moses, by the Spirit, uses this phrase of being accursed of God, when he means no more than being treated most disgracefully, that it might afterward be applied to the death of Christ, and might show that in it he underwent the curse of the law for us; which proves his love, and encourages to faith in him.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "struck/smote him"
• [b]. Literally "And it will happen"
• [c]. Literally "an ever-flowing wadi"
• [d]. Literally "they shall break there [the neck] with respect to the heifer in the ever-flowing wadi"; the Hebrew verb carries the meaning "to break the neck of"
• [e]. Or "sons"
• [f]. Literally "on their mouth"
• [g]. A valley that is dry most of the year, but contains a stream during the rainy season
• [h]. Literally "place/put"
• [i]. Hebrew "his captive" but singular pronoun refers to the many captives taken with plural sense
• [j]. Hebrew "captive"
• [k]. Literally "a month of days"
• [l]. Literally "you may go into her"
• [m]. Literally "become for you as wife"
• [n]. Literally "according to her desire/soul"
• [o]. Or "humbled"
• [p]. Literally "is to the wife who is hated"
• [q]. Literally "it will happen"
• [r]. Literally "over the faces of"
• [s]. Literally "to give"
• [t]. Literally "all that is found for him"
• [u]. Or "the beginning of his strength"
• [v]. Or "the just claim of the firstborn"
• [w]. Literally "If shall be for a man, a son stubborn and rebellious"
• [x]. Literally "[and] there is no listening/obedience"
• [y]. Or "listen to"
• [z]. Literally "place"
• [aa]. Literally "there is no listening to our voice"
• [ab]. Literally "when shall be against a man a sin of judgment of death"
• [ac]. Or "ground"

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 21

This chapter treats of the beheading of the heifer, for the expiation of unknown murder, and the rules to be observed in it, De 21:1-9 of a beautiful captive woman an Israelite is desirous of having for his wife, and what methods he must take to accomplish it, De 21:10-14, of giving the double portion to the firstborn, which he must not be deprived of in favour of the son of a beloved wife, De 21:15-17 and of the stubborn and rebellious son, who remaining so must be put to death, De 21:18-21 and of burying a person hanged on a tree the same day he is executed, De 21:22,23.