Deuteronomy 21:10

Having just talked about going to war, the following is an instruction about one of the things that traditionally in the history of the human race was one of the spoils of war: taking some of the captured women for wives. What this passage is really talking about is divorce, should the situation arise that the husband no longer wants such a woman to be his wife. In the modern world a lot has been done to make women have the same rights as men, but in the ancient world this often was not the case. And we see that the Bible was ahead of its time even in the days of the Old Testament. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 21:10-14, “When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the LORD thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive,[11] And seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife;[12] Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails;[13] And she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife.[14] And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not make merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her.” The point that I want to make about this passage is its reference to divorce, even though it does not mention “divorce” by name. First it says in verse 13, “she shall be thy wife.” And then it says in verse 14, “And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will.” That is divorce. The Bible allows divorce in this passage simply on the basis, “if thou have no delight in her.” We would call that being incompatible or having irreconcilable differences. The Bible does allow divorce for other reasons than the one given by Jesus. For example, talking about husbands and wives, the Bible says in First Corinthians 7:15, “But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace.” What bondage is talked about here: the marriage bond. Jesus said in Matthew 5:32, “But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.” Some people interpret this verse as meaning that adultery is the only valid reason for divorce. But because of other things said in the Bible about divorce, it is better to interpret Matthew 5:32 as meaning that divorce is one of the valid reasons for divorce. The emphasis of the passage in Matthew is that divorce should not be taken lightly. God’s perfect will is that a couple would meet after much prayer, get married because they both love the Lord and love each other, and then stay married and stay in love for the rest of their lives. In such a case their marriage ends at death. There is the key to understand why God permits divorce. All marriages end: some by death and some by divorce. But they all end. God designed marriage to be temporary. Jesus said in Matthew 22:30, “For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.”

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 21:15-17, “If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated:[16] Then it shall be, when he maketh his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, which is indeed the firstborn:[17] But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.” The clear pattern of the Bible is that God meant for marriage to be of one man and one woman. We see that when we go to the book of Beginnings, the book of Genesis. God brought one woman to Adam, not two. But as we see from this passage in Deuteronomy, the Lord permitted the Israelites in the time of the Old Testament to do this, but the Lord did require certain consideration. We see in this passage of scripture one of the reasons not to have more than one wife. A man can only give his true affections to one woman. That is what is being shown in these verses. It just assumes that if a man has two wives, he will love one and hate the other. It would be better if a man had one wife, and then such a situation could never happen. But in the Old Testament if it did happen, the children of both women were to be treated properly according to the customs of the day. The customs of the day were to give the firstborn a unique inheritance.

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 21:18-21, “If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them:[19] Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place;[20] And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.[21] And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.” This is a passage of scripture about the correction of children. In what way does this passage apply to Christians in the age in which we live: the age of the New Testament? It does not apply at all. That is obvious. This is the ultimate corporal punishment: the death penalty for any child that is disobedient. It does show how important obedience is to God. God wants everyone to be obedient to the authorities under which we have all been placed, including being obedient to His authority. Jesus was obedient to the Father. Jesus said about His own life in John 8:29, “And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.” God told children in the Ten Commandments to obey the parents. He said, “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.”

The passage in Deuteronomy 21:18-21 can be used to present an important principle for Christians in the age in which we live. The principle is this: be careful about the harsh punishments of the Old Testament. Many, if not all, of the punishments of the law need to stay in the Old Testament. They are not meant for our age. They are not meant for Christians. Be careful about saying that the Bible tells parents to use corporal punishment. Yes, the Old Testament has some harsh corporal punishments for children, but they should not be used by Christians. Should Christian parents use the death penalty in correcting their own children: of course not. Should Christians take Deuteronomy 21:18-21 and apply it to the punishment of their own children: of course not. Remember this: if Christians should not apply Deuteronomy 21:18-21 to their own children, then Christians should not take other corporal punishment from the Old Testament and apply it to their children either. The emphasis in the New Testament is for parents to teach their children. It says in Ephesians 6:4, “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 21:22-23, “And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree:[23] His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.” The key phrase in these verses is from verse 23, “he that is hanged is accursed of God.” Because we have the New Testament, we know precisely what this verse is referring to: Jesus and His crucifixion. In many ways the New Testament is a commentary on the Old Testament. The New Testament explains the Old Testament. You cannot understand the Old Testament unless you have read and studied the New Testament. If someone became a new Christian, and they wanted to learn the Bible, we would tell them to read and learn the New Testament first. There are very many quotations of the Old Testament in the New Testament. As you understand how those Old Testament verses are used in each New Testament context, you come to understand both the New Testament and the Old Testament. Some people make a mistake because they study the Old Testament as if the New Testament was never written. They say something like this, “I want to understand the Old Testament the way that people understood it who lived in the days of the Old Testament.” That would be a mistake. This is what we should do: understand the Old Testament from the standpoint of what the New Testament teaches.

The New Testament quotes from this verse in Deuteronomy and explains its spiritual and prophetic meaning in Galatians 3:13, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:” There are many curses to beware of in the Old Testament, but there are no curses in the New Testament on people except this curse mentioned in Deuteronomy 21:23 and then explained in Galatians 3:13. Because Christ became the curse, there is no curse at all for whoever believes in Jesus. You might deserve a curse, but God will never give you one if you trust in Jesus to be your Savior. That is because Jesus became the curse. Jesus became sin for us. This tells us one of the important things that was taking place upon the cross of Calvary. O what an accomplishment by Jesus upon the cross of Calvary when He took upon Himself the sins of the world. Not only did He take our sins upon Him, He became sin when He hung on the cross: what Deuteronomy called the “tree” because the cross was made from a tree. The holy Son of God became sin for us. He defeated the devil. He defeated the curse. He won the battle. How fortunate we are to live in the age of grace and to know Jesus as Savior. Thank you, Lord, for becoming the “curse” for us.

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 22:1-4, “Thou shalt not see the brother's ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother.[2] And if thy brother be not nigh unto thee, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it unto thine own house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it to him again.[3] In like manner shalt thou do with his ass; and so shalt thou do with his raiment; and with all lost thing of thy brother's, which he hath lost, and thou hast found, shalt thou do likewise: thou mayest not hide thyself.[4] Thou shalt not see thy brother's ass or his ox fall down by the way, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again.” These verses are all about what Jesus called the second greatest commandment: “love thy neighbor as thyself.” It basically comes down to this: if there is something you can do for your neighbor and his property, then do it. Here is the situation where you do not keep something that you have found when you know who it belongs to. Take whatever you have found to its rightful owner. If you know who the owner is, and you do not return the item to them, that is the same as stealing; and it certainly is not showing love for your neighbor. It is exactly what Jesus said. Jesus quoted from the book of Deuteronomy, and Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart. And then Jesus said that the second greatest commandment is similar to the first: to love our neighbor. How can you say that you love God, if you do not love all the people that God created? How can you say that you love your neighbor, if you do not do the little things that look after your neighbor’s interest?

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