Hardly a day goes by today without there being a report of a murder. God had made it clear as to the law and that diligent inquiry was to be made to find the culprit(s). Here we have His instructions on the procedure regarding unsolved murders (v1-9).
If any dead body was found in the promised land and the murderer was unknown (v1). Evidently it was to be clear that the person had been unlawfully killed and not just died. The blood of murder was a defilement of the land, and some means of cleansing was required (see Numbers 35). The elders and the judges were to go and measure the distance from the body to the surrounding cities and the elders of the nearest one were to bring a heifer as a sacrifice. They were responsible for the cleansing of the place (v2-6). The priests, sons of Levi, were to receive the heifer and the elders of that city were to wash their hands over the heifer. It is clear from the words here, that there had been a thorough inquiry to find the guilty person, without success.
Their word was indicative of the fact that they had made thorough inquiry, and they were to say, “Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes seen it. 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.” God promised to accept and make atonement and put away the guilt (7-9).
God showed that He and they, must take very seriously the shedding of innocent blood, and where possible, the guilty person should be dealt with and put to death after proper inquiry from the required witnesses (see chapter 19).
God deals with the whole family, and in v10-14, he instructed them about taking a wife from the conquered nations. In war, when God had delivered them and they had taken captives, and a man saw a beautiful woman. If he desired her to be his wife, he was to bring her to his home, and she was to shave her head and trim her nails this was a sign of purification and humility. She was to remove the clothes of her captivity and remain in the house and mourn her father and mother for a month. These were signs that she had put her past life behind her and, as a child with a new start, she was showing her change of allegiance and leaving her family.
After this the man could take her as his wife. If, however, he had no delight in her, he must set her free and not sell her for money, nor treat her brutally, because he had humbled her. They were not to have sexual relations before he had taken her to be his wife, but if he no longer wanted to take her as his wife, he must set her free. God was protecting the captive woman’s rights.
Even from Old Testament history, some of the men had more than one wife, and, as inevitably happened, trouble ensued. It was never God’s intention for this, but where it occurred, God made important provision regarding the inheritance to be passed to the first son. The firstborn son was to receive twice as much as the others. In the case of a man having two wives, one he loved and the other he didn’t, where they had sons, no distinction was to be shown to the son of the loved wife and the son of the unloved wife (v15-17).
An example of this predicament was Jacob, who served his uncle Laban seven years for Rachel. He was tricked by his uncle into marrying Leah and served another seven years for Rachel. Rachel, he loved but Leah, he didn’t, even though they both had children by him (Genesis 29).
Whenever a man had more than one wife, trouble ensued.
We then come to serious behaviour problems amongst the children (v18-21). If one has a stubborn and rebellious son, who is disobedient to parents when they have chastised him. His parents were to take him to the gate of the city before the elders. They were to tell the elders that their son is stubborn, rebellious, disobedient and is a glutton and a drunkard. The last two allegations indicate that he is not a young child, and they have done their best in bringing him up and chastising him. They had a responsibility to chastise him which would include some form of punishment because the purpose of bringing him before the elders was a last resort and not something which would be done every time he offended.
Bringing him before the elders was serious stuff because this led to him being stoned to death. No-one was allowed to cause such serious injury unless the elders were certain that the allegation was true. There was no question of allowing parents to ill-treat or abuse their children, as sadly, often occurs today. The elders were in a position to see that parents did not go to such lengths themselves, but it was a judicial process.
It is apparent that the problem son was also causing a great problem to the community as this was to ‘put away the evil from among you’.
It said that this was a deterrent as many Jews said that it was never carried out. I’m sure that many parents have despaired over their children, but this was scary. It seems to be a very severe punishment, but it displays the importance God gives to being a parent. Parents stand in the place of God and are entrusted with authority over their children. It is an awesome responsibility and one which must not be taken on lightly. God indicates that families are vitally important, they are foundational to the church and society in general. Sadly, so often, people have children without thinking about their responsibilities.
In Matthew 18:1-6 – His disciples asked Him (Jesus) who was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and He called a little child and set him in the middle of them and said, ‘surely I say that unless you are converted and become as little children, you cannot enter the kingdom.’ He went on to say that whoever humble themselves as a little child is the greatest in the kingdom, and whoever receives a little child in His name, receives Him, “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.”
It is arguable that Jesus wasn’t referring to children in the context we are thinking, but children as converts i.e. being born again, becoming the children of God. We often hear people say that we are all God’s children. That is not so. We are all God’s creation, but we only become His children when we are born again. Even if Jesus’ words were not about young children, there is no doubt that He cares for children, and they are precious to Him.
The Bible says that children should obey their parents in The Lord because it is right in the sight of God (Ephesians 6:1-3) (Deuteronomy 5:16) and is well pleasing to The Lord (Colossians 3:20). Do we need any better reasons than those? I think not. Paul does not only talk about the responsibility of children towards their parents but stresses the responsibility of parents towards their children.
The Bible has much to say about children being a gift from God and a heritage (see Psalm 127 etc.)
These verses move on to the person who commits a sin deserving a sentence of death, and he is put to death by hanging him on a tree, they were not to leave him hanging there overnight but bury him that same day. This was so that the land was not defiled for he who is hanged is accursed of the LORD (v22,23). The body would be taken down at sundown because it was considered unclean.
There is mention of this at the crucifixion of Jesus and the religious leaders seeking to have Him removed from the cross so that He wouldn’t be left hanging overnight. Paul applied this to The Lord’s death (Galatians 3:13) ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’. Jesus Christ became the curse for us, so that we are no longer under the curse and condemnation. Jesus died in our place and took the curse for us if we are ‘in Christ’.
