Read Deuteronomy
20-22 & Mark
14:26-50
To discover:
As you read consider how each law actually protected people.
To ponder:
At first read these laws are hard. But we have seen God’s
goodness, justice and mercy already displayed throughout his law. So we can be
confident of these same things when these laws are considered in their original
context. To properly deal with them, this is a longer post!
When Israel
go to war they are to be reminded they need not fear as God fights for them.
Their faith in this is to be displayed by allowing the army to be diminished
through permitting any not wholly committed to return home. And mercy is seen
in offering peace to Canaanite cities outside the land God is giving. Those
accepting this peace would then serve Israel;
whereas those refusing would have all their men killed, and women, children and
everything else taken. Although difficult to contemplate, this means God’s
judgement is actually tempered, saving these cities from the utter destruction of
those in the area Israel
would actually inhabit. Although all sin deserves death (Rom 3v23), God takes
no delight in it (Ezek 18v23). The only reason the closer cities are to be
totally destroyed is so Israel are not led by them into idolatry and sin, bringing
God’s judgement upon themselves.
Various
laws follow: Upholding the principle of “a life for a life,” an unsolved
killing requires the elders from the nearest town to take an unworked heifer
through untouched (so clean) land to a stream. Before Levites, they are then to
wash their hands and break its neck, declaring their innocence and asking the
LORD to accept the heifer as atonement. This reminds us God’s justice must
always be satisfied, just as it is most supremely in Christ (Rom 3v25-26).
Where the
men of an enemy city outside Israel’s
inheritance are killed, the women and children would be left without any to
care for them. Whereas Israelites are not normally allowed to marry Canaanites,
in this instance they are permitted to. The woman is to shave, cut her nails
and put aside her clothes, probably to show she is leaving her old life behind
and beginning a new one within God’s covenant people. And she must be respected.
Rather than being raped or enslaved, she is to be given a month for mourning
before marriage. And if her husband is displeased with her, she cannot be sold,
but must be allowed to go “wherever she pleases.” The word “dishonoured” means
“had your way with.” The sense is that the man’s taking of the woman is the
reason she can’t be traded, because it gives her the status of an Israelite.
Paul’s teaching that unbelieving spouses are “sanctified” by marriage to
Christians doesn’t mean they are saved, but may reflect a similar principle (1
Cor 7v14). They benefit from being amongst God’s people and are set-apart by
God for his purposes within that family.
In
polygamous marriages, favouritism with the inheritance is not to be shown to a
specific son (21v15-17). And because God’s promise depended on the passing on
of his commands to children, the obedience of each generation, and the headship
of men, persistently rebellious sons are to be stoned to death - if the elders
agree. The particular reason is to “purge” the evil from Israel
and also deter others from the same through fear. One expects it therefore to
be rarely applied. In being called “a profligate and drunkard” this law seems
to refer to older sons.
Those put
to death were hung on a tree to show they were under God’s “curse” (judgement),
and probably also to deter others. Just as uncleanness marked the sort of
imperfections stemming from the curse of Genesis 3, the cursed body must be
taken down at night so the land is not made unclean by its presence. Jesus was
effectively hung on a tree to demonstrate that he was bearing God’s curse. Yet
through that made us wholly clean (Gal 3v13, 1 Pet 2v24).
Laws follow
affirming responsibility for one’s neighbours property (22v1-4), the importance
of maintaining gender differences in appearance, care even for the smallest
animals, health and safety in building and the importance of tassels as
reminders to keep the law (Num 15v37-41). The reasons for the distinctions in
22v9-11 are uncertain. They may be a rejection of Egyptian agricultural
practice, working clean and unclean animals together, and wearing the sort of
clothes worn by prostitutes. Or they may simply affirm that with God especially
present, the distinctions of creation must be maintained as a testimony to his
holy perfection and order.
The law on
proving virginity seems degrading but was to protect new wives from being
rejected by husbands who simply “dislike” them. However, if virginity when
married is not proved, the penalty is death for the immorality, but perhaps for
deceiving the husband too. Being stoned at the “door of her father’s house” showed
he was implicated, maybe in his parenting, or in not speaking when there was no
proof of his daughter’s virginity on her wedding night.
The penalty
for sleeping with a betrothed virgin is the same as for adultery, as she is
already treated as “another man’s wife.” Both must therefore be put to death if
this occurred in a town, as the woman’s failure to scream (presumably during or
immediately following the act) is taken as consent. This shows how serious
Mary’s pregnancy would have been regarded. If it occurred in the country
however, only the man should die as the girl could not shout for help. If she
is not betrothed, the rape is not adulterous and so the man must pay what was
probably the bride price, and marry and not divorce the girl. This would be a
deterrent, but also protected the girl and any child that might result. The
chapter ends with a reminder a man cannot marry his stepmother.
Praying it home:
Thank God for his concern to protect the needy and ensure
justice. Pray that these things would be increasingly reflected in our culture.
Thinking further:
None today.
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