Deuteronomy Chapter 21

At a Glance

  • DEUTERONOMY CHAPTER 21.
  • Deuteronomy 21 deals with a range of social and familial issues, from homicide and the search for truth to marriage, purview over the living, and the treatment of captives.
  • Turning to personal life, verses 10–14 address marriage to captive women: the process of bringing the woman into the home, her adaptation, and eventual marriage after a period of mourning.
  • Historical & Literary Context.
  • This chapter sits within Deuteronomy’s broad legal-reform discourse that aims to shape everyday life after the wilderness wanderings.

DEUTERONOMY CHAPTER 21

Chapter Overview

Deuteronomy 21 deals with a range of social and familial issues, from homicide and the search for truth to marriage, purview over the living, and the treatment of captives. The opening scenario addresses the find of an unknown slain person in the countryside. Elders and judges measure the distance from the city to establish guilt and ritual cleansing (verses 1–9). The process culminates in a public confession by the town’s leaders, who wash their hands and declare innocence, after which the guilt is removed from Israel’s people. This ritual emphasizes communal responsibility for justice and the sanctity of life.

Turning to personal life, verses 10–14 address marriage to captive women: the process of bringing the woman into the home, her adaptation, and eventual marriage after a period of mourning. This provision reflects the complexity of Israel’s conquest and its social integration practices, balancing compassion for captives with regulated pathways to family life under covenant norms. The text sets out rules for punishment of disobedience (as with a rebellious son in verses 20–21). The chapter thus blends communal ritual justice with personal and familial order, showing how individual behavior must align with the covenant community’s standards. In sum, Deuteronomy 21 weaves together ritual purity, social ethics, and the demand for obedience within a covenant framework.

Historical & Literary Context

This chapter sits within Deuteronomy’s broad legal-reform discourse that aims to shape everyday life after the wilderness wanderings. The ritual cleansing of guilt after an unresolved murder reflects ancient practices for maintaining communal purity and preventing bloodguilt. The section on captives speaks to the complexities of settlement in Canaan, where warfare intersected with social integration, family life, and covenant obligations. The text’s legal patterns—case-based, with prescriptive outcomes—are characteristic of Deuteronomic reform, seeking to codify moral economy and communal responsibility in a transitioning society.

Key Themes

- Communal responsibility for justice: leaders’ participation in ritual cleansing demonstrates shared accountability.

- Mediation of violence through ritual and law: the processes for addressing murder and guilt show a regulated approach to violence.

- Regulation of marriage and family life in conquest: the captivity-marriage provisions reveal how outsiders were absorbed into the covenant community.

- Obedience and social cohesion: obedience to these laws kept the community’s life orderly and aligned with God’s purposes.

Modern Application

- Refuge of communal responsibility: modern communities can reflect on collective accountability for justice and fairness in addressing unresolved violence.

- Careful integration of immigrants or captives: the text’s aim to regulate integration of captives can inform discussions on ethics of immigration, marriages, and social assimilation.

- Discipline and family order: the emphasis on structural boundaries and responsibility within families resonates with modern concerns about parenting, discipline, and social harmony.

- Ritual practices and symbol of guilt: the handwashing ritual as a public confession invites reflection on ceremonial and symbolic acts that promote communal healing and accountability.

Cross-References (3–5)

- Exodus 21:1–11 (laws about captivity and treatment of women)

- Leviticus 18–19 (purity and social ethics)

- Joshua 8:30–35 (covenant renewal and community formation)

- Romans 12:17–21 (do not repay evil for evil)

Recommended Personas

- Moses (covenant legislator and judge)

- Jesus (central teaching on love and mercy in complex social situations)

- Ruth or Esther (insights on inclusion and covenant community)

Chapter Text

1

If one be found slain in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it, lying in the field, and it be not known who hath slain him:

2

Then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain:

3

And it shall be, that the city which is next unto the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take an heifer, which hath not been wrought with, and which hath not drawn in the yoke;

4

And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough valley, which is neither eared nor sown, and shall strike off the heifer’s neck there in the valley:

5

And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them the LORD thy God hath chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of the LORD; and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried:

6

And all the elders of that city, that are next unto the slain man, shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley:

7

And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.

8

Be merciful, O LORD, unto thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto thy people of Israel’s charge. And the blood shall be forgiven them.

9

So shalt thou put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the LORD.

10

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.

15

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.

18

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.

22

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.

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