ESV Chronological Plan, Day 67 | Deuteronomy 19-21

LOOK | WHAT DOES IT SAY?

Read Deuteronomy 19:1-21:23

THINK | WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

Today's readings are from the specific stipulations in Moses' second speech (Deuteronomy 19-21). Supposedly this section (Deuteronomy 12-26) loosely follows the outline of the Ten Commandments, but there is disagreement and I haven't been able to look further. For a free and easily accessible, modern, online commentary from a trustworthy and reputable resource, The Gospel Coalition Commentaries are once again a good resource--specifically this commentary written by J. Gary Millar.

Divine Law Grounded in Human Reality. Throughout the following laws, we see that this is not an idealistic law which imagines an ideal society: people are complicated, and this law anticipates the messiness of life. Here are a few realities that Moses' law, given by God, had to consider:

(1) At this time there were no large-capacity prisons--which even today present their own sets of problems. Notice that there is never a jail term prescribed for anything in these laws. And if there were a prison, it would not be the place of punishment--it would have been a holding place to keep the accused while those in charge were inquiring into the situation and determing what would actually be the punishment. Pretty much the only way of dealing with a situation was through [A] death; [B] exile; [C] maiming; [D] forced restitution--confiscating belongings and reallocating them; or [E] managing the scope of the situation. So as you read the laws in this section and are having a personal, gut-level discomfort with what you are reading, that is a natural reaction to having to consider the messiness of life and how it is dealt with under these kinds of conditions. Lawyers and cops have a high turnover rate for a reason. 

(2) Civil law can't govern the heart. Bad people will always corrupt good law, and people will convince themselves that another person is a terrible person just so that they can feel justified in harming them. That's why cities of refuge are provided in Deuteronomy 19, to separate an angry vengeful person away from the unintentional killer. It's why Deuteronomy 21 has a law governing marrying female captives, and provides some protection for them in the event that some hard-hearted soldier uses this as a legal excuse to use and discard the enemy ("you shall let her go where she wants. But you shall not sell her for money, nor shall you treat her as a slave, since you have humiliated her," Deut. 21:14). 

(3) The character of the populace needs to be protected. This is not so much of a value for modern people, but in the ancient world this would have been the top concern. What makes society work is a social contract where everyone agrees on a shared set of values and commits to upholding them. These values do not get re-negotiated and do not shift around, they are not up for debate, and there are no movements to try to change them. Without this, in the ancient world, the alternative is rioting and chaos and actual fighting and battles in the streets, as some other group within the society fights with the others to achieve supremacy. (We got away from this, the French philosopher Michael Foucault says, by creating a new societal system of total surveillance and mass incarceration--he wasn't convinced that this was an improvement.) In this context, the example of the rebellious son in Deuteronomy 21:18-21 isn't just a terrible situation; it's a threat to the character of the entire society in which the people of God live. In a society without mass taxation and a large-scale adequate police force outfitted with all the things that enable officers to get to a place quickly, with backup, and be well-prepared for whatever they encounter when they arrive, the local leadership fell under the categories of elders of the city or town or village, and governing heads of households, who governed those within their houses. A rebellious, drunk, gluttonous, stubborn, outspoken, and wilful son needs to be dealt with because he's bucking the entire system of how the society functions and creating a likelihood for others to do the same. In a place like that, this is a crisis. Can't throw him in prison. Can't maim him, as that would just make him even less able to be a contributing member of society. Can't confiscate his belongings, he hasn't worked to earn any. You could exile him, but he'll either die in the wilderness or end up in another nation where he will be a black mark on the reputation of what Israelites are like. So what's left?

Uncharacteristic mercy in the ancient world. All of that said, these laws are uncharacteristically merciful for the ancient world. The provision of cities of refuge in Deuteronomy 19, the laws governing -uniquely in the entire world at the time!- the scope of warfare in the ancient world in Deuteronomy 20, and the protection for the first-born children of unloved wives in Deuteronomy 21, all demonstrate a unique amount of care for the manslaughterer, the members of an enemy nation, and the son of the unloved married woman, which just was not present elsewhere in the ancient world. This reveals God's character--the law is more kind than the standard laws of the ancient world, because God himself cares for those who are not cared for.

RESPOND | WHAT IS OUR PART?

How can we respond in our worship, attitude, and actions? In our worship, I think we can look at these laws and see both God's wisdom and his care. Law is an ugly thing because it deals with ugly realities (yet it holds everything together); and yet God's law consistently points the one who studies it to value the foreigner, the slave, the enemy combatant, the manslaughterer, the falsely accused, and the unloved. This is a law which, the more that you study it, would place in you the conviction that we are to value those whom God values. It demonstrates both wisdom and kindness, and I think that right there leads us into worship. In our attitudes, I think we're supposed to value what God values. Can you look at the person who is working a menial job for low pay (the slave), or the guy who doesn't speak your language with proficiency (the foreigner), or the person working for a cause that you oppose (the enemy combatant), or the person who is being named in the media for terrible things but who everyone around him says didn't do it (possibly falsely accused), or the person whose marriage is struggling (the unloved), or the guy just out of jail through accidentally killing someone through reckless endangerment and negligence (the manslaughterer), and see them as just as valuable, as a person, as you are--worthy of care and consideration? If not, then the laws of Deuteronomy might have some things to teach you about grace. In our actions, maybe we could make a list of people that we find that we struggle to love, and we just pick a couple of people of that list to (a) pray for, (b) show some practical kindness to, and (c) learn something from--with this comes the realization that you are not better than them, and they could even show you a thing or two.

PRAY | HOW DOES THIS BRING US CLOSER TO GOD?

Here is a suggested prayer prompt: "God, help me to trust in you, because you are wise and kind. I don't see everything that you see. So as I walk with you, grant me a sense of calm and humility. And give me greater discernment to see things well, as well as compassion for others, so that I can reflect in some small way those aspects of who you are."