Deuteronomy 21

Expiation of a Crime

1 "If a slain person is found lying in the open country in the land which the LORD your God gives you to possess, and it is not known who has struck him,

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

3 "It shall be that the city which is nearest to the slain man, that is, the elders of that city, shall take a heifer of the herd, which has not been worked and which has not pulled in a yoke;

4 and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which has not been plowed or sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley.

5 "Then ¹the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for the LORD your God has chosen them to serve Him and to bless in the name of the LORD; and every dispute and every assault shall be settled * by them.

6 "All the elders of that city which is nearest to the slain man shall ²wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley;

7 and they shall answer and say, 'Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it.

8 'Forgive Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, O LORD, and do not place the guilt of ³innocent blood in the midst of Your people Israel.' And the bloodguiltiness shall be forgiven them.

9 "⁴So you shall remove the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the eyes of the LORD.

Domestic Relations

10 "When you go out to battle against your enemies, and ⁵the LORD your God delivers them into your hands and you take them away captive,

11 and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and have a desire for her and would take her as a wife for yourself,

12 then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall ⁶shave her head and trim her nails.

13 "She shall also remove the clothes of her captivity and shall remain in your house, and ⁷mourn her father and mother a full month; and after that you may go in to her and be her husband and she shall be your wife.

14 "It shall be, if you are not pleased with her, then you shall let her go wherever she wishes; but you shall certainly not sell her for money, you shall not mistreat her, because * you have ⁸humbled her.

15 "If a man has two wives, the one loved and ⁹the other unloved, and both the loved and the unloved have borne him sons, if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved,

16 then it shall be in the day he wills what he has to his sons, he cannot * make the son of the loved the firstborn before * the son of the unloved, who is the firstborn.

17 "But he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the unloved, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the ¹⁰beginning of his strength; ¹¹to him belongs the right of the firstborn.

18 "If any man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will ¹²not obey * his father or his mother, and when they chastise him, he will not even listen to them,

19 then his father and mother shall seize him, and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gateway of his hometown.

20 "They shall say to the elders of his city, 'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey * us, he is a glutton and a drunkard.'

21 "¹³Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death; so ¹⁴you shall remove the evil from your midst, and ¹⁵all Israel will hear of it and fear.

22 "If a man has committed a sin ¹⁶worthy of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree,

23 ¹⁷his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (for ¹⁸he who is hanged is accursed of God ), so that you ¹⁹do not defile your land which the LORD your God gives 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.

Cross References

• 1. Deuteronomy 17:9-11; Deuteronomy 19:17; 1 Chronicles 23:13
• 2. Matthew 27:24
• 3. Numbers 35:33, 34; Jonah 1:14
• 4. Deuteronomy 19:13
• 5. Joshua 21:44
• 6. Leviticus 14:8, 9; Numbers 6:9
• 7. Psalms 45:10
• 8. Genesis 34:2
• 9. Genesis 29:33
• 10. Genesis 49:3
• 11. Genesis 25:31
• 12. Exodus 20:12; Leviticus 19:3; Proverbs 1:8; Ephesians 6:1-3
• 13. Leviticus 20:2, 27; Leviticus 24:14-23; Numbers 15:25, 36
• 14. Deuteronomy 19:19
• 15. Deuteronomy 13:11
• 16. Deuteronomy 22:26; Matthew 26:66; Mark 14:64; Acts 23:29
• 17. Joshua 8:29; Joshua 10:26, 27; John 19:31
• 18. Galatians 3:13
• 19. Leviticus 18:25; Numbers 35:34

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "possess it"
• [b]. Lit "stroke"
• [c]. Lit "shall be according to their mouth"
• [d]. Lit "who are"
• [e]. Lit "Cover over, atone for"
• [f]. Lit "covered over, atoned for"
• [g]. Lit "do"
• [h]. Lit "remove from her"
• [i]. Lit "according to her soul"
• [j]. Or "enslave"
• [k]. Lit "hated"
• [l]. Lit "hated"
• [m]. Lit "hated"
• [n]. Lit "makes to inherit"
• [o]. Lit "hated"
• [p]. Lit "hated"
• [q]. Lit "is found with him"
• [r]. Lit "and to the gate of his place"
• [s]. Lit "the curse of God"

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.