Stranger Things in the Law | Sunday, September 25, 2022

One of the great challenges when studying the Bible is remembering that every time you open it, the text before you is always between 2,000 and 4,000 years old. Therefore, judging what you are reading by 21st-century eyes or Western American mores, standards, and values is not just unwise; it is basically foolish. That said, it is hard for us to read these passages without shaking our heads and asking, "What on earth is going on in this thing? What is this all about?"

That certainly was the thought I had as I was preparing to teach through Deuteronomy chapter 1 and reading through this text recently. After I read through it, which is kind of a mishmash of all kinds of different things, I decided to quickly record a YouTube video. Maybe you saw it on our YouTube channel, where I asked people who are part of the church or who subscribe to our channel to read through Deuteronomy chapter 21 and then email or text me their thoughts and questions on this passage.

I received a number of responses, and it was exactly what I anticipated. People were asking questions like, "What on earth is going on here? Why would people be guilty of shedding innocent blood if they were not involved in the act of killing the person? Why would God allow His people to force a beautiful captive prisoner of war woman to marry one of His people? That seems like the height of absurdity. Why would God allow for this? Why does God allow for multiple marriages, with two wives, one who is loved and one who is unloved? Or if your son is stubborn and rebellious, can he really be put to death?"

These are some of the things we see in this passage, which provides a quick overview of some of the strange elements we find in Deuteronomy chapter 21. So, that's the passage we will be looking at today. There are certainly some head-scratchers in this text, and we will see more as we delve deeper.

In the chapters that follow, there are many passages labeled as miscellaneous laws in some Bibles. God is informing His people how they are to govern themselves in the Promised Land. As we try to make sense of the content in these chapters, I want to suggest that the miscellaneous instructions given here likely relate to issues that Moses had to address during Israel's wilderness wanderings. These instructions reflect the customs that the children of Israel had picked up during their 400 years of sojourning as slaves in Egypt.

One of the key lessons from passages like Deuteronomy chapter 21 and those that follow is that it is often easier to get the Israelite out of Egypt than it is to get Egypt out of the Israelite. The customs, laws, statutes, and guidelines we encounter in these passages may seem strange to us, especially when viewed through the Western lens of America in 2022. However, the issues addressed in these chapters directly affected the daily lives of the people that Moses was leading 3,400 years ago.

While these customs may appear odd to us, they reveal that God has something to say about the peculiar challenges we face in our daily lives. This is a comfort to me because the issues you encounter on a week-to-week basis—whether on a college campus, a high school campus, a construction site, in a corporate office building, in your neighborhood, or within your family—are not the same as those faced even four decades ago, 500 years ago, or 1,000 years ago. Knowing that God dealt directly with the challenges faced by the children of Israel 3,400 years ago reassures me that He will provide us with principles and guidance to navigate the modern issues we encounter, which they could never have imagined.

When we read about Israel having to deal with a murder and the murderer not being found, we need to recognize that God was providing a different way for His people, the children of Israel, to handle a situation than they had encountered previously. The way things were done in the other nations around them or in Egypt was not the way God wanted them to live.

When we look at how they were to deal with female prisoners of war, there was one way that such situations were handled 3,400 years ago among the Canaanite peoples, but God had a different expectation for His people. Oftentimes, it is easier to get the Israelite out of Egypt than it is to get the Egypt out of the Israelite. The temptation for the people of Israel was to continue doing things the way they had always been done around them or how things were being done by the neighboring nations.

We need to recognize that God is calling them to be different. He wants to transform His people and make them truly His people, walking in His ways. While direct application from these passages is nearly impossible—because you are probably not going to find a bride among prisoners of war, and your inheritance is likely not going to be divided among children of multiple wives, one of whom you love more than the other—there are some principles that we can glean from this passage.

One key principle, and I apologize that this is kind of a long one, is that God's people are to be governed by God's ways and not by the ways and customs of their old life or of the people around them. The way your neighbor does things, or the way your coworker or partner does things, will be different from how you are to do things because you are one of God's people.

Now, why is this important? As I have already said, it is easier for God to get the children of Israel out of Egypt or to have redeemed them out of Egypt under Moses than it would be for God to get...

All the ways, traditions, customs, and mindsets of the Egyptians were taken out of the children of Israel. In fact, as we go through the remainder of the Old Testament after Deuteronomy, which is kind of our general plan for what we're going to be doing here at Cross Connection Church over the next several months and years, we will see that they often fall back to their old ways. That's exactly what happens with us. It is true for us as well. We have a way that we used to live, and God calls us to live differently.

It takes one kind of salvation for God to save me from the punishment of sin. That was dealt with by Jesus on the cross. It is another aspect of God's salvation for Him to deliver and sanctify me from the power of sin in my life. I don't even fully know when exactly I experienced that justification experience of salvation where I trusted in Jesus Christ. I was a young child; I know that much, but I don't know the exact day, month, or year. Maybe you remember the specific day when you raised your hand or went forward at some sort of crusade or church and accepted Christ. At that moment, you were saved from the punishment of sin. Jesus dealt with the punishment for your sin on the cross. That's what we call substitutionary atonement. He was the substitute who dealt with the punishment for your sin.

After you are saved and become a child of God, God wants to transform your conduct and sanctify you completely. That takes an entirely different kind of work by His Spirit and by His Word in our lives. That's what He wants to do.

With all of that as a preface, and it's kind of a big introduction to a really strange passage of Scripture, look with me, if you would, at just the opening verses of Deuteronomy chapter 21, beginning at verse 1. We read this: "If you find a dead guy lying in a field in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him..." So there's a murder, but we don't know who the murderer is.

Then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance from the slain man, the dead guy, to the surrounding cities or settlements or villages. It shall be that the elders of the city nearest to the slain man will take a heifer, a young cow, which has not been worked and which has not pulled a yoke. This is a young calf that has never really plowed the fields or done anything. The elders of that city shall bring the young cow, the heifer, down to a valley with flowing...

Water, which has neither been plowed nor sown, shall be used, and they shall break the cow's neck there in the valley. Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for the Lord your God has chosen them to minister to Him and to bless in the name of the Lord. By their word, every controversy and every assault shall be settled.

All the elders of that city nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the dead heifer, the cow whose neck was broken in the valley. They shall answer and say, "Our hands have not shed this blood." They are making a vow and an oath. "Nor have our eyes seen it. We have not witnessed it." Moses says in verse 8, "Provide atonement, O Lord, for your people Israel whom you have redeemed, and do not lay innocent blood to the charge of your people Israel." Atonement shall be provided on their behalf for the blood of this slain person who died. You shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord.

As I said, this is strange. What on earth is going on here in this passage? What is this all about? Well, Moses here gives direction for how to deal with a situation if there is a murderer but the murderer is not found. How do you deal with an unsolved murder?

I think it is safe to bet that there was a customary way of dealing with such situations in the ancient Near East, the customs or the traditions of Egypt, from which the children of Israel had come out 40 years prior to this, or the customs and traditions of the people of the land of Canaan, or the people of the Ammonites and the Moabites. There were different ways that people would deal with these things.

In fact, based on some of the things found in the Old Testament, it looked something like this: the old way of doing things in the ancient Near East was that if an individual was found slain, murdered in a field, and the murderer could not be found, you would find the city or the village or the settlement nearest to the slain individual. Then you would go and kill every single person in that city because a wicked thing had taken place, and you wanted to deal with that problem.

Instead of there being a court case or an investigation, you would simply say, "Hey, there's a slain guy over here in this field, and there's a settlement just over that hill. That's pretty close. We're just going to go and kill every single male in that city for this murder that has taken place."

Now, you may think, "Come on, they didn't really do that." But actually, if you read some passages in the Old Testament, you find that this is exactly what would take place. In Genesis chapter 34, you find this crazy story about the men of a Canaanite city.

They were all killed for the rape of Jacob's daughter, Dinah. If you read in the Book of Judges, eventually we will get there, in Judges chapters 19 and 20, you will see the same form of justice brought upon a city called Gibeah for a very similar crime. In Joshua 22, two and a half tribes of the twelve tribes of Israel were almost completely annihilated by the nation of Israel because of supposed idolatry. There wasn't even an investigation; they just got themselves ready for war. The other tribes came to kill the two and a half tribes completely because they supposed they might be involved in idolatry. Corporate guilt and corporate justice without a trial were pretty standard fare in the ancient Near East.

However, in this passage, God says that is not how you are going to do things as My people when you come into the land. The problem is, as I've said, it is easier to get Israel out of Egypt than it is to get Egypt out of Israel. So how were things to be different in Israel? If there was a murder and the murderer was not found, Moses says, here’s what’s going to happen. The elders of the nation of Israel and the judges, whom we have talked about previously, were to go and find the nearest settlement or city, but not for retaliation or retribution. The elders of the city were to go and find the elders of the nearest city to the person who had died.

Then, the elders of that nearest city, where the person was slain, were to take a calf that had not yet been used in the fields. They were to bring that down to a valley with flowing water that had not been utilized for plowing and planting. There, they were to break the neck of that cow.

Now, again, what on earth is this all about? What’s the whole point of this? As strange as this may seem to us, and it does seem totally strange when viewed through the lens of American eyes in 2022, there are many things going on in this passage. A human life had been taken, and if the murderer was not known, the murderer's life could not be taken. The normal way was that if they knew who the murderer was, then it was capital punishment. The murderer would be put to death because murder was a capital crime then, as it sometimes is today. But if the murderer was not known, innocent life had been shed—the life of the person who was slain. An atonement needed to be made in the form of, in this passage, a calf, a young cow.

But it's kind of an interesting atonement that's taking place here. The calf was a young cow that had never pulled a yoke. This is costly. There was great potential value in a calf like this—a young, healthy cow that had never pulled a yoke. It has a bit of a life ahead of it. So, there's a cost to this.

Not only is there a cost in this cow that's going to be slain, but we also read about a valley that has a flowing source of water. This is a perfect place, a perfect piece of land for plowing and planting. It has great potential value as well. Just like this animal that is going to be killed has great potential value, the valley floor with flowing water is a rich piece of property for plowing and planting.

However, once the dead animal is slain in that place, that piece of ground would be unclean—not forever, but for a period of time. The elders who are taking care of this whole atonement from the nearest settlement or city would also become unclean for a time as a result of not just the murder, but now the act of atoning for that by taking the life of this animal in this field.

All of this, we're told by Moses, was to put away the guilt of innocent blood among the people, and it was doing what was right before the Lord. This passage serves as a sobering reminder of the weightiness and value of life. There was a life of an individual or an innocent human being that had been taken. Someone had murdered them, but we don't know who the murderer is. We need to recognize that this life had value; this life had dignity.

How are we going to do that? We're going to take the life of an animal that also has some value. It could produce some money or some return to the owners in that city. This portion of land also has value; it could return some sort of benefit to them. But we are recognizing the value of this life that was taken. It's not a small matter that life was taken.

All of this is to be a sobering reminder of the weightiness and value of life. It was also, as I said, a reform. From the traditional or customary retribution, the justice of the day—where there would have likely been bloodshed and punishment—there is now a recompense and a forbearance. For God's people, atonement and mercy were to be valued above retribution.

And that's an awesome thing. I just want you to think about that for a moment. For God's people, it was atonement and mercy that were to be exalted and valued above just instant retribution and punishment.

Now, that's not to say that there would not be justice. Where there was a crime and a clear criminal, justice was to be served under the law. However, in the case of a crime such as murder, if the murderer was not known or found, then atonement was still necessary. It was important to recognize that something bad had taken place, and those who were nearest to it needed to acknowledge that there needed to be a payment. There needed to be an atonement. There was a cost to this, but there was also mercy involved. There was a way to deal with this without just destroying every single man that lived in the nearest settlement.

We find this same principle carried over into the New Testament. A lot of times, when we're reading Old Testament passages, we need to look at the spirit of the law, not just the letter of the law, and find the underlying principle. In the New Testament, we see this principle reiterated in the book of James. In James chapter 2, we read that ultimately mercy triumphs over judgment. For me and for you, that's really good news.

Our God is holy and just, and He will judge sin. Yet, when He introduced Himself by name to Moses in Exodus chapter 34, what is the first word that He chose to use? Exodus 34 verse 6 says, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful." Among all of the innumerable attributes of God that He could have chosen as His first identifying word, He doesn't say, "The Lord, the Lord God, holy." He doesn't say, "The Lord, the Lord God, just," although those things are true. God is just, and God is holy. But He chose to say, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful."

For God's people, He wanted them to also lead with mercy. In the previous way, if there was a murder and you didn't know who the murderer was, you would look for the nearest city and wipe them out. That seems like justice, potentially. That seems like retribution, for sure. But God says, "No, when you do this, it's going to be different. For My people, there's going to be mercy and atonement."

Now, again, as I said, this is a strange passage. We're going to see more of this.

Deuteronomy 21 contains various miscellaneous rulings that may seem strange to us today. However, these rulings addressed specific issues that the people faced during their wilderness wanderings or their time in Egypt. Now, God is instructing them to be different.

Let’s look at another peculiar ruling found in Deuteronomy chapter 21, verse 10. It states, "When you go out to war against your enemies and the Lord your God delivers your enemies into your hand, and you take them captive," you may encounter a beautiful woman among the captives whom you desire to take as your wife. In this case, you shall bring her home to your house. She must shave her head, trim her nails, and put off the clothes of her captivity. She is to remain in your house and mourn for her father and mother for a full month. After this period of mourning, you may go into her to be her husband, which is when the consummation of the marriage occurs. There is a delay here, and she then shall be your wife.

Furthermore, verse 14 states that if you have no delight in her, you must set her free. However, you certainly shall not sell her for money, nor shall you treat her brutally because you have humbled her. As I mentioned, these rulings in Deuteronomy chapter 21 are indeed strange. This particular ruling is often categorized under the heading of "war brides," which, aside from being a catchy name for an all-female band, seems absolutely bizarre to our modern sensibilities.

In 2022, this appears completely insane. Imagine going into battle against your enemies and emerging victorious. To the victor go the spoils, which include the prisoners you have taken. If you see a very beautiful woman among the captives and desire her as your wife, ancient Israel allowed for this possibility. When we reach the book of Joshua, we will encounter a similar situation at Jericho, which will provide an interesting narrative in that passage. In ancient Israel, it was indeed permissible to take that captive beautiful woman and make her your wife.

Your wife. However, there is a ruling from Moses as to how this is going to take place. First, you have to bring her into your home. Next, you have to shave her head and trim her nails. Third, she is going to put off the clothes of her old life from that old city, wherever she was, and she is going to put on clothes of mourning to mourn her father and her mother, whether they are still alive or dead, for a full month. She is going to go through a ritual mourning. After that, you can marry her and consummate the marriage.

Now, by this point, if you haven't thought, "What the heck?" you are probably not paying attention. But if you are thinking that, then I want to remind you that you are thinking like an American in 2022 and not like an Israelite in 1400 BC. There was one final thing that Moses said in verse 14: "It shall be that if you have no delight in her, then you shall set her free, but you certainly shall not sell her for money, nor treat her brutally because you have humbled her."

At the end of the month, if you say, "Well, I don't really want to marry her," then she is not your property. This woman you have taken captive after you have been victorious over the city where she lived as an enemy is not your property. You cannot sell her. You must set her free. You cannot treat her brutally because you have humbled and humiliated her by cutting off her hair, trimming her nails, and causing her to go through mourning. You have humiliated her, and now you need to set her free.

I am fairly certain that you probably are not seeing it quite yet because, as I said, you are thinking like an American in 2022. However, this strange passage teaches us something very important: for God's people, even a woman shamed and taken captive had dignity and value.

At this point, you may be thinking, "How is that even possible in this passage? I don't see how that teaches this." Let me explain how it does. How do you think women who were taken as prisoners of war were typically dealt with in the world of the ancient Near East 3,400 years ago? You don't even need to look at the world of the ancient Near East in 1400 BC to answer that question. What sort of atrocities await a woman when an invading army comes into their region or their home today? Do you think she is going to experience some merciful time of mourning and waiting?

Do you think that there's going to be a time giving her an opportunity to mourn her old life or the passing of her family? Or do you think that she's just going to be ravished, brutalized, and left for dead? Now do you see it? I think you probably do. This may not seem like a merciful thing here. It may not seem that a woman is given dignity and value in this passage, but you're seeing it through 2022 eyes. You need to see it through eyes from 3,400 years ago. A woman in that situation was not going to be dealt with kindly.

Here, Moses says that for my people, it's going to be different. For God's people, even a woman who is shamed and taken captive had dignity and value. If you desire to marry her, then you're going to give her the time for mourning and all of those things. If you decide you don't want to, you're going to release her, and she's going to be a free woman. You're not going to sell her; she is not your property.

Like I said, there are strange things here in Deuteronomy chapter 21. Look at the next one in verse 15. If a man has two wives, one loved and the other unloved, and they both have borne him children, both the loved and the unloved, and if the firstborn son is of her who is unloved, then it shall be on the day that he gives his possessions to his sons as an inheritance that he must not bestow firstborn status on the son of the loved wife in preference to the son of the unloved, the true firstborn. He shall acknowledge the son of the unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the beginning of his strength. The right of the firstborn is his.

Now, before we look at the specifics of what is going on here in this strange passage of scripture, let me begin by saying that the Bible's reporting of events is not the endorsement of those events. What do I mean by that? If the Bible reports that people in Old Testament times, including some of the patriarchs of Israel, had multiple wives, it is reporting that there was polygyny. It's not endorsing the practice. It's not saying that it's okay; it's just saying that this is the way things were in ancient times, and it still exists today.

When we think about marriage as God designed it, multiple or plural marriage was not the way that God intended. Jesus teaches us that in the New Testament. He said, "He who made them from the beginning made them both male and female," and said, "For this reason, a man, singular, shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, singular, and the two shall become one flesh." The teaching of the scriptures is that marriage is intended to be one man and one woman.

Life is joined together as one. However, the practice of sinful humanity has been polygynous since the fall in Genesis chapter three. This is somewhat of a sideline issue, as Pastor Mark and I have received questions on our podcast about plural marriage and whether it is acceptable, given that we see it in the Bible. It is important to note that the Bible reports these events; it does not endorse them as acceptable. God's design for marriage is one man and one woman joined together for life.

Now, back to the specifics of this strange passage: What if a man has two wives, and he prefers one over the other? What happens if the less loved wife has a son, the firstborn, before the more loved wife? How do you handle the right of the firstborn?

For us, the right of the firstborn may seem like a strange concept, especially in our Western culture in 2022, where inheritance is often passed equally to children, regardless of gender. However, in ancient Israel and throughout much of the ancient Near East, inheritance was typically given as a double portion to the firstborn son. The firstborn son would receive the primary inheritance and govern the affairs of the larger family after the father's death. Thus, the firstborn status is a significant matter in the Old Testament.

In this passage, God states that if a man has two wives, one loved and the other unloved, and the unloved wife has the firstborn son, the firstborn status must be granted to the unloved firstborn son. This may sound strange to us, but if you read the book of Genesis, you will find that the very first children of the children of Israel faced this exact situation.

For the rest of the story, you can read in Genesis about Jacob, whose name was ultimately changed to Israel. Jacob had two wives, Leah and Rachel, along with two concubines. Leah was the unloved wife, while Rachel was the loved wife. However, Leah bore Jacob a firstborn son. This scenario was indeed a part of Israel's history, and they had to deal with the implications of such a situation.

So, how do you handle the right of the firstborn if the firstborn son is from the less loved wife? Moses' instruction in this passage is clear: the firstborn of the unloved wife is the firstborn and is the one who takes the firstborn status.

And if you ask, "What on earth does this have to do with me in 2022?" that's a great question. Here’s my best answer for it: for God's people, God's laws were not subjectively flexible based on the whims, desires, or preferences of His people. This is so important because I think that sometimes we wrestle with this as well. We think that we can kind of fudge a little bit because we're God's people. Sometimes we hold standards for other people that we don't hold for ourselves. That's called Phariseeism. We see that in the New Testament, in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

There is a real problem with this. For God's people, God's laws are not to be subjectively flexible based on your whims, desires, or preferences. Some might think, "Well, I'm a child of God, so I can kind of fudge on these things, and it's okay because I'm one of God's chosen people." It doesn't work that way. You do not get to choose whether or not you follow His ways based on how you feel about it.

Now, let's look at another really strange passage. In Deuteronomy chapter 21, beginning at verse 18, we read: "If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have chastened him, will not heed them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders of their city at the city gate, which is where judgment would take place. They shall say to the elders of his city, 'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard.' Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall put away the evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear."

As I've said before, 21st-century eyes reading this passage really struggle to make sense of it. What is going on here? One person I sent that video to, asking people to read through Deuteronomy chapter 21 and respond back, said that this passage seems to contradict the teachings of Christ concerning the prodigal son. That’s a reasonable observation and question about this passage.

The idea that you, as a father or a mother, would take your stubborn, rebellious, and disobedient son—after trying to discipline him, and finding that he is not listening—to the elders of your city to be put to death for the transgression of the fifth commandment, which says to honor your father and your mother, seems ridiculous. At least, it seems unfathomable to us.

However, the point of application for this passage is not a literal adherence to capital punishment for disobedient children. Rather, it is, I think, a very simple and profound truth.

For God's people, His laws apply equally to all, even for those that we might like to give a pass. This is a difficult concept for us. However, the principle continues in the New Testament as well, where we are told in a number of places these kinds of words. Romans chapter 2, verse 11 states, "There is no partiality with God." Galatians chapter 2, verse 6 says, "God shows personal favoritism to no man." Colossians chapter 3, verse 25 reiterates, "There is no partiality with God." God shows no favoritism.

The problem is that a lot of times we tend to do so. As I mentioned, this Phariseeism leads us to look at other people and apply standards to them that we will not apply to ourselves or to those closest to us, such as our loved ones and our children. Here, God says, "Listen, that's not how it's going to be for you." You love your kids because they are your kids, but the law applies to them equally. If they are breaking the law, then they need to be dealt with. There are many important lessons here for God's people.

Another strange passage can be found in Deuteronomy chapter 21, verse 22. It states, "If a man has committed a sin deserving of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day so that you do not defile the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. For he who is hanged is accursed of God."

There is a lot that could be said about this verse, as it has a connection to Christ and His crucifixion, but the fullness of that teaching will probably need to wait for another day. The Apostle Paul, in Galatians, cites this exact verse from Deuteronomy chapter 21 when he talks about Christ, saying, "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.'" This is directly taken from Deuteronomy chapter 21.

Aside from the glorious connection to Christ, who became a curse for us, what does this strange passage of Scripture say to us today? It seems that the act of hanging on a tree in Deuteronomy chapter 21 was not the form of execution. Hanging people on a tree was not a method of execution in history until long after the time of Moses. Instead, this act was apparently done after execution as a further embarrassment or shame brought upon the offender and his family. So, here’s the picture.

Let's say there's a capital crime, and you're going to put this person to death. The typical way of putting someone to death in ancient times was to stone them. We already saw that with the rebellious child. However, as a further embarrassment or shame upon that offender, that criminal would be hanged naked. They would be hung in a tree or something similar, and it would be an embarrassment to that individual and their family.

There are a number of examples of this in the Old Testament. Specifically, the one that comes to mind is after the death of King Saul. The Philistines hung Saul's naked body on the walls of Bet-Shean. You can read about it in 1 Samuel chapter 31. But Moses says that this is not how it is to be with God's people. The Philistines did that to King Saul, but God says you are not to be like the Philistines. For God's people, the judgments of the law are not for humiliation but for purification.

We do not use the judgments of the law, the judgments of God, as a way of exposing and embarrassing hypocrites or shaming sinners. However, that is kind of the way that Pharisees work, isn't it? We use the law to point the finger at other people and to show just how hypocritical, foolish, or shameful they are. But that's not how God wants His law to be used. For sure, there are some who use the law of God in that way, but that's not the way it's to be for you.

The Apostle Paul would say in the New Testament book of Timothy that we know the law is good if one uses it lawfully. The judgments of God are given to direct us to God and to prepare us for His sanctification. They are given to help make God's people more like the God whom they are called by. They are not given for humiliation, but for purification.

So Moses makes it very clear here: you are not to use the law and all of these statutes of putting someone to death just to humiliate them and their family. Instead, these things are to cleanse you and the people of the land and to cleanse the land. For us, this is a really important lesson to learn. Although there are some strange things in Deuteronomy chapter 21, these miscellaneous laws in this passage are really important. The lessons we are taught from these passages are significant.

God wants to change us. He was redeeming Israel from Egypt, but now He needs to remove the mindset of Egypt from the children of Israel so that they would walk in His ways. Here He says these are the ways that you, as My people, are to walk in My ways. God help us to learn the lessons of these stranger things in the law, because though...

We may not apply these things literally in our lives today, but the principles that underlie them are important for us to learn from. So, God, I pray that you would help us. Help us to learn from the principles of what we find here, the spirit of the law over the letter of the law, so that we would walk in a way that is honoring and glorifying to you.

It is very clear that when we become your followers, we become your children as we put our trust in you. You have redeemed and saved us from the curse of the law because Jesus became a curse for us. Lord, you took our sin upon yourself on the cross and clothed us in your righteousness.

We are justified, but you want to sanctify us. You want to remove all of the mindsets, ways, customs, and traditions of this world from our lives, and I pray, God, that you would do that in us. Continue to transform us more and more into the likeness of your children. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen.