Today started out pretty intense and disturbing. It covered breaking a heifer’s neck, shaving your new wife’s head, back to sister wife rules, and if your son was a stubborn, rebellious little shit he would be stoned to death! Wow, talk about attention grabbers. Let me explain.
If a man was killed in the land God had given to Israel, and no one knew who killed him, then the elders and judges were sent out to examine the situation. They had to measure the distance to the surrounding cities, and which ever one was closest, well it was there problem.
They had to take a heifer that had never been worked before, down to a valley with running water, which was neither plowed nor sown, and break it’s neck. What the hell!
Then the priests, the sons of Levi, would come forward and by their word every dispute and assault would be settled before the Lord. Then all the elders of the nearest city where the person was slain, would wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, and they would testify.
“‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it shed. Accept atonement, O Lord, for your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and do not set the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel, so that their blood guilt be atoned for.’ So you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord.”
-Deuteronomy 21:7-9
Then it went on to discuss marrying female captives, which is where the head shaving comes in. When they went to war with their enemies, and they took captives, if they saw a beautiful woman they wanted to make their wife, there were certain rules that needed to be followed.
Once she was brought into his house and chosen to be his wife, she was to shave her head, trim her nails, and put aside the clothes she was wearing when she was captured. This was symbolic of leaving her former life, or perhaps of mourning or of humiliation.
After she had lived in the house and mourned her father and mother for a full month, then he could go to her and take her as his wife. However, if the man was not pleased with her, then he was to let her go wherever she wished. She couldn’t be sold or treated as a slave, since she had been dishonored.
It went on to talk about the inheritance rights of the firstborn, and brings us back to a sister wives situation. If a man had two wives, and he loved one but not the other, and both gave him sons; but the firstborn was the son of the wife he didn’t love, when he willed his property to his sons, he could not favor the son of the woman he actually loved.
He must acknowledge the son of his unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double share of all he had. That son was the first sign of his father’s strength, and the right of the firstborn belonged to him.
This brings up previous questions I had concerning multiple wives, which I still don’t get. Disturbingly though, why would you marry someone you did not love? And as a result, have to deal with this situation.
As mentioned above, it discussed what to do with your son that was being rebellious and stubborn. Basically, if a son did not listen to his parents, even when they disciplined him, they could take him to the elders of the city they lived in. They would say to them, “This is our son. He is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.”
Then all the men of the city would stone him to death with stones. This was to purge the evil from their midst, and all Israel would hear and fear. What! I guess that’s one way to deal with a discipline problem.
Before it went on to discuss even more various laws, it mentioned how a man hanged on a tree was cursed. If a man committed a crime, punishable by death and he was put to death by hanging; his body could not remain there over night, but had to be buried that same day. “For a hanged man is cursed by God.” They could not defile the land that the Lord had given them as their inheritance.
Various Laws:
- If you see your brother’s ox or sheep straying, do not ignore it, but take it back to him. If he doesn’t live close or you don’t know where he is, you are to take it home with you and keep it until he comes looking for it. Then, give it back to him. Do the same if you find your brother’s donkey or cloak or anything he loses. Do not ignore it.
- A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this.
- If you come across a bird’s nest beside the road, either in a tree or on the ground, and the mother is sitting on the young or on the eggs, do not take the mother with the young. You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go, so that it may go well with you and you may have a long life.
- When you build a new house, make a parapet around your roof so that you may not bring the guilt of bloodshed on your house if someone falls from the roof.
- Do not plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard; if you do, not only the crops you plant but also the fruit of the vineyard will be defiled.
- Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.
- Do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together.
- Make tassels on the four corners of the cloak you wear.
Laws concerning sexual immorality and marriage violations:
- If a man takes a wife and after lying with her, dislikes her and slanders her and gives her a bad name, saying she was not a virgin; then the girl’s father and mother would have to bring proof that she was a virgin, (a blood-stained cloth or garment), to the town elders. If she was proven to be a virgin, then the man was fined 100 shekels of silver and had to give them to the girl’s father. She would continue to be his wife, and he could never divorce her. However, if no proof of her virginity was found, she was brought to the door of her father’s house and the men of the town would stone her to death. This was a disgraceful thing, being promiscuous while still in her father’s house.
- If a man is found to be sleeping with another man’s wife, both of them must die.
- If a man happens to meet a virgin in town, who was pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, both were taken to the gate of that town and stoned to death. The girl because she was in a town and did not scream for help, and the man because he violated another man’s wife.
- But if out in the country a man happens to meet a girl pledged to be married and rapes her, only the man shall die. Do nothing to the girl; she has committed no sin deserving death, for she was in the country and even though she screamed there was no one around to rescue her.
- If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, he shall pay her father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the girl, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives. Seriously though, who was this punishing? What woman would want to marry her rapist!
- A man is not to marry his father’s wife; he must not dishonor his father’s bed.
Those excluded from the assembly:
- No one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting.
- No one born of a forbidden marriage, nor any of his descendants, even down to the tenth generation.
- No Ammonite or Moabite or any of his descendants, even down to the tenth generation. Do not seek a treaty of friendship with them for as long as you live.
- Do not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. Do not abhor an Egyptian, because you lived as an alien in his country. The third generation of children born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord.
Lastly, it discussed uncleanness in the camp and sanitary rules, and a few more miscellaneous laws. This part was sort of interesting in the sense of getting an idea of how things were then. Obviously they had no running water, sewer, electricity, etc., but it actually went as far as to explain how they used the bathroom!
