Deuteronomy 21

De 21:1-9.

EXPIATION OF

UNCERTAIN

MURDER.

1-6. If one be found slain . . . lying in the field, and it be not

known who hath slain him--The ceremonies here ordained to be observed

on the discovery of a slaughtered corpse show the ideas of sanctity

which the Mosaic law sought to associate with human blood, the horror

which murder inspired, as well as the fears that were felt lest God

should avenge it on the country at large, and the pollution which the

land was supposed to contract from the effusion of innocent, unexpiated

blood. According to Jewish writers, the Sanhedrin, taking charge of

such a case, sent a deputation to examine the neighborhood. They

reported to the nearest town to the spot where the body was found. An

order was then issued by their supreme authority to the elders or

magistrates of that town, to provide the heifer at the civic expense

and go through the appointed ceremonial. The engagement of the public

authorities in the work of expiation, the purchase of the victim

heifer, the conducting it to a "rough valley" which might be at a

considerable distance, and which, as the original implies, was a wady,

a perennial stream, in the waters of which the polluting blood would be

wiped away from the land, and a desert withal, incapable of

cultivation; the washing of the hands, which was an ancient act

symbolical of innocence--the whole of the ceremonial was calculated to

make a deep impression on the Jewish, as well as on the Oriental, mind

generally; to stimulate the activity of the magistrates in the

discharge of their official duties; to lead to the discovery of the

criminal, and the repression of crime.

De 21:10-23.

THE

TREATMENT OF A

CAPTIVE

TAKEN TO

WIFE.

10-14. When thou goest to war . . . and seest among the captives a

beautiful woman . . . that thou wouldest have her to thy

wife--According to the war customs of all ancient nations, a female

captive became the slave of the victor, who had the sole and

unchallengeable control of right to her person. Moses improved this

existing usage by special regulations on the subject. He enacted that,

in the event that her master was captivated by her beauty and

contemplated a marriage with her, a month should be allowed to elapse,

during which her perturbed feelings might be calmed, her mind reconciled

to her altered condition, and she might bewail the loss of her parents,

now to her the same as dead. A month was the usual period of mourning

with the Jews, and the circumstances mentioned here were the signs of

grief--the shaving of the head, the allowing the nails to grow uncut,

the putting off her gorgeous dress in which ladies, on the eve of being

captured, arrayed themselves to be the more attractive to their captors.

The delay was full of humanity and kindness to the female slave, as well

as a prudential measure to try the strength of her master's affections.

If his love should afterwards cool and he become indifferent to her

person, he was not to lord it over her, neither to sell her in the slave

market, nor retain her in a subordinate condition in his house; but she

was to be free to go where her inclinations led her.

15-17. If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated--In

the original and all other translations, the words are rendered "have

had," referring to events that have already taken place; and that the

"had" has, by some mistake, been omitted in our version, seems highly

probable from the other verbs being in the past tense--"hers that was

hated," not "hers that is hated"; evidently intimating that she (the

first wife) was dead at the time referred to. 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

second wife after the decease of the first; and there was an obvious

necessity for legislation in these circumstances; for the first wife,

who was hated, was dead, and the second wife, the favorite, was alive;

and with the feelings of a stepmother, she would urge her husband to

make her own son the heir. This case has no bearing upon polygamy,

which there is no evidence that the Mosaic code legalized.

18-21. If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son--A severe law was

enacted in this case. But the consent of both parents was required as a

prevention of any abuse of it; for it was reasonable to suppose that

they would not both agree to a criminal information against their son

except from absolute necessity, arising from his inveterate and

hopeless wickedness; and, in that view, the law was wise and salutary,

as such a person would be a pest and nuisance to society. The

punishment was that to which blasphemers were doomed

[Le 24:23];

for parents are considered God's representatives and invested with a

portion of his authority over their children.

22, 23. if a man have committed a sin . . . and thou hang him on a

tree--Hanging was not a Hebrew form of execution (gibbeting is meant),

but the body was not to be left to rot or be a prey to ravenous birds;

it was to be buried "that day," either because the stench in a hot

climate would corrupt the air, or the spectacle of an exposed corpse

bring ceremonial defilement on the land.