Deuteronomy 21
Overview
21:1 The expiation of an uncertain murder;
21:10 The usage of a captive taken to wife;
21:15 The first-born is not to be disinherited upon private affection;
21:18 A rebellious son is to be stoned to death;
21:22 The malefactor must not hang all night on a tree. Verse 1 Psalm 5:6, 9:12; Proverbs 28:17; Isaiah 26:21; Acts 28:4 Reciprocal Genesis 9:5 - and at; Exodus 21:29 - his owner also; Numbers 35:33 - it defileth; 2 Samuel 3:28 - guiltless; 14:9 - and the king; 21:9 - before the Lord; 1 Kings 21:8 - the elders Verse 2 Deuteronomy 16:18, 16:19; Romans 13:3, 13:4 Reciprocal Deuteronomy 21:19 - and bring Verse 3 an Numbers 19:2; Jeremiah 31:18; Matthew 11:28-30; Philippians 2:8 Reciprocal Leviticus 4:15 - the elders Verse 4 a rough valleyAs the word nachal signifies both a torrent, and the valley or glen through which it flows, nachal aithan may be rendered a rapid torrent. Many torrents in Judea are dry during a great part of the year; when not only their banks but their beds may be ploughed, and yield a crop. Hence there is no impropriety in specifying that such a place should be one that "is neither cared nor sown;" while the circumstance that the elders were to wash their hands over the heifer, whose head had been struck off into the stream, confirms this interpretation. The spot of ground where this sacrifice was made must be uncultivated, because it was considered as a sacrifice for the atonement of murder, and, consequently, would pollute the land.shall strike 1 Peter 2:21-24, 3:18 Reciprocal Genesis 45:6 - earing; Exodus 34:21 - earing; Isaiah 30:24 - ear the ground Verse 5 for them Deuteronomy 10:8, 18:5; Numbers 6:22-27; 1 Chronicles 23:13 by their word Deuteronomy 17:8-12; Malachi 2:7 wordHeb. mouthReciprocal Leviticus 9:22 - his hand; Numbers 3:16 - word; 6:23 - General; Deuteronomy 19:17 - General; 2 Chronicles 19:8 - the judgment; Ezekiel 42:13 - approach Verse 6 wash their handsWashing the hands was anciently a symbolical action, denoting that the person was innocent of the crime in question. Job 9:30; Psalm 19:12, 26:6, 51:2, 51:7, 51:14, 73:13; Jeremiah 2:22; Matthew 27:24, 27:25; Habakkuk 3:1 Reciprocal 1 Timothy 1:9 - manslayers Verse 7 Numbers 5:19-28; 2 Samuel 16:8; Job 21:21-23, 21:31-34; Psalm 7:3, 7:4 Reciprocal Matthew 5:21 - and; 23:35 - upon; 27:24 - and washed Verse 8 lay not Numbers 35:33; 2 Samuel 3:28; 2 Kings 24:4; Psalm 19:12; Jeremiah 26:15; Ezekiel 23:3, 23:24, 23:25; Jonah 1:14; Matthew 23:35; 1 Thessalonians 2:15, 2:16 unto thy peopleHeb. in the midstReciprocal Deuteronomy 9:26 - which thou hast brought forth; 19:10 - General; 1 Kings 2:31 - that thou; 2 Kings 21:16 - Manasseh; Psalm 67:1 - God Verse 9 shalt thou Deuteronomy 19:12, 19:13 when thou shalt 13:18; 2 Kings 10:30, 10:31 Reciprocal 1 Kings 2:31 - that thou; 2 Kings 21:16 - Manasseh; Psalm 106:38 - shed Verse 10 thou goest Deuteronomy 20:10-16 Reciprocal Numbers 31:18 - keep alive for yourselves Verse 11 desire Genesis 6:2, 12:14, 12:15, 29:18-20, 34:3, 34:8; Judges 14:2, 14:3; Proverbs 6:25, 31:10, 31:30 that Numbers 31:18 Reciprocal Exodus 21:8 - who hath; Isaiah 2:6 - and they; Daniel 11:37 - the desire Verse 12 and she shallThis was in token of renouncing her religion, and becoming a proselyte to that of the Jews. This is still a custom in the East: when a Christian turns Mohammedan, his head is shaved, and he is carried through the city, crying, la eelah eela allah wemochammed resoolu 7 llahee, "There is no God but the God, and Mohammed is the prophet of God." 1 Corinthians 11:6; Ephesians 4:22 pare her nailsor, suffer to grow, Heb. make, or dress, Wea?sethah eth tzipparneyha, "and she shall make her nails;" i.e., probably neither paring nor letting them grow, but dressing or beautifying them as the Eastern women still do by tinging them with the leaves of an odoriferous plant called alhenna, which Hasselquist (p. 246) informs us, "grows in India and in upper and lower Egypt, flowering from May to August. The leaves are pulverized and made into a paste with water: they bind this paste on the nails of their hands and feet, and keep it on all night. This gives them a deep yellow, which is greatly admired by Eastern nations. The colour lasts for three or four weeks before there is occasion to renew it. The custom is so ancient in Egypt, that I have seen the nails of mummies dyed in this manner.Reciprocal 2 Samuel 19:24 - dressed his feet; 1 Corinthians 11:5 - shaven Verse 13 and bewail Psalm 45:10, 45:11; Luke 14:26, 14:27 Reciprocal Genesis 50:3 - threescore; 2 Samuel 21:10 - from the; Hosea 3:3 - Thou shalt abide Verse 14 thou shalt Exodus 21:7-11 because thou Deuteronomy 22:19, 22:24, 22:29; Genesis 34:2; Judges 19:24 Reciprocal Esther 2:14 - delighted Verse 15 two wives Genesis 29:18, 29:20, 29:30, 29:31, 29:33; 1 Samuel 1:4, 1:5 Reciprocal Deuteronomy 24:1 - hath taken; 2 Chronicles 11:22 - made Abijah; 21:3 - gave them; Malachi 1:3 - hated; Luke 14:26 - hate; Romans 9:13 - hated Verse 16 1 Chronicles 5:2, 26:10; 2 Chronicles 11:19-22, 21:3; Romans 8:29; Philippians 4:8; Habakkuk 3:1, 3:1 Reciprocal Proverbs 19:14 - the inheritance; Malachi 1:3 - hated; Luke 15:12 - give Verse 17 by giving Genesis 25:5, 25:6, 25:32, 25:34; 1 Chronicles 5:1, 5:2 that he hathHeb. that is found with himthe beginning Genesis 49:3; Psalm 105:36 the right Genesis 25:31-34 Reciprocal 48:22 - given; Joshua 17:1 - the firstborn; 2 Kings 2:9 - a double portion; Isaiah 61:7 - your shame; Luke 15:12 - give; Habakkuk 3:1 - the firstborn Verse 18 have a stubborn Proverbs 28:24, 30:11, 30:17; Isaiah 1:2 obey the voice Deuteronomy 27:16; Exodus 20:12, 21:15, 21:17; Leviticus 19:3, 21:9; Proverbs 15:5, 20:20; Ezekiel 22:7 when they Deuteronomy 8:5; 2 Samuel 7:14; Proverbs 13:24, 19:18, 22:15, 23:13, 23:14, 29:17; Habakkuk 3:1-12:11 will not Isaiah 1:5; Jeremiah 5:3, 31:18; Ezekiel 24:13; Amos 4:11, 4:12 Reciprocal 2 Samuel 18:5 - Deal gently; Proverbs 1:8 - hear; 6:20 - General; 15:32 - heareth; 19:26 - wasteth; 23:22 - Hearken; Matthew 15:4 - He; Romans 1:30 - disobedient; Ephesians 6:1 - obey; Colossians 3:20 - obey Verse 19 and bring Deuteronomy 21:2, 16:18, 25:7; Zechariah 13:3 Reciprocal Genesis 22:17 - thy seed; 24:60 - thy seed; Deuteronomy 25:6 - that his name; Ruth 4:1 - to the gate; Job 29:7 - General; Proverbs 31:23 - in the; Jeremiah 38:7 - the king Verse 20 he will not Proverbs 29:17 he is a glutton 19:26, 20:1, 23:19-21, 23:29-35 Reciprocal Deuteronomy 19:19 - so shalt; Proverbs 15:32 - heareth; 23:21 - the drunkard; 30:11 - that curseth; Galatians 5:21 - drunkenness; Ephesians 5:18 - be not; 2 Peter 2:10 - despise Verse 21 all the men Deuteronomy 13:10, 13:11, 17:5; Leviticus 24:16 so shalt thou Deuteronomy 13:5, 13:11, 19:19, 19:20, 22:21, 22:24 all Israel 13:11 Reciprocal Leviticus 20:2 - the people; 24:14 - let all the; Joshua 7:25 - all Israel; Judges 20:13 - put away; 1 Kings 21:13 - they carried him; Esther 1:20 - throughout; Job 34:26 - in; Proverbs 19:25 - Smite; 21:11 - the scorner; 24:32 - I looked; 30:11 - that curseth; Ezekiel 31:14 - the end; Acts 5:5 - great; 1 Corinthians 5:13 - Therefore; 1 Timothy 5:20 - that others; 2 Peter 2:10 - despise; Revelation 2:23 - and all Verse 22 Joshua 8:29, 10:26
So in Numbers 25:4, we read, "And the Lord said unto Moses, Take all the heads (chief men) of the people, and hang them up before the Lord against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel." Among the Romans, in after ages, they hanged, or rather fastened to the tree ALIVE; and such was the cruel death of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Deuteronomy 19:6, 22:26; 1 Samuel 26:16; Matthew 26:66; Acts 23:29, 25:11, 25:25, 26:31 worthy of deathHeb. of the judgment of death, The Hebrews understand this not of putting to death by hanging, but of hanging a man up after he was stoned to death; which was done more ignominiously of some heinous malefactors. We have the examples of Rechab and Baanah, who, for murdering Ish-bosheth, were slain by David's commandment, their hand and feet cut off, and then hanged up. 2 Samuel 4:12 thou hang 21:6, 21:9; Luke 23:33; John 19:31-38 Reciprocal Genesis 40:19 - hang thee; Judges 19:29 - with her bones; Esther 2:23 - hanged; John 12:32 - if; Romans 6:21 - for the; 1 Peter 2:24 - the tree Verse 23 he that is hanged is accursed of GodHeb. the curse of God, That is, it is the highest degree of reproach that can attach to a man, and proclaims him under the curse of God as much as any external punishment can. They that see him thus hanging between heaven and earth, will conclude him abandoned of both, and unworthy of either. Bp. Patrick observes, that this passage is applied to the death of Christ; not only because he bare our sins and was exposed to shame, as these malefactors were that were accursed of God, but because he was in the evening taken down from the cursed tree and buried - and that by the particular care of the Jews, with an eye to this law, John 19:31
in token, that now the guilt being removed, the law was satisfied, as it was when the malefactors had hanged till sun-set: it demanded no more. Then he, and those that are his, ceased to be a curse. And as the land of Israel was pure and clean when the body was buried, so the church is washed and cleansed by the complete satisfaction which Christ thus made. Deuteronomy 7:26; Numbers 25:4; Joshua 7:12; 2 Samuel 21:6; Romans 9:3; Galatians 3:13; 1 Corinthians 16:22; 2 Corinthians 5:21 thy land Leviticus 18:25; Numbers 35:33, 35:34 Reciprocal Genesis 40:19 - hang thee; Joshua 8:29 - the king; 10:26 - hanged; 10:27 - they took; Judges 19:29 - with her bones; 2 Samuel 4:12 - hanged; 18:9 - taken up; 2 Kings 10:8 - until the morning; Esther 2:23 - hanged; 9:13 - let Haman's ten sons be hanged; Jeremiah 2:7 - ye defiled; Ezekiel 39:12 - cleanse; Mark 15:24 - crucified; Luke 23:33 - they crucified; John 12:32 - if; 18:32 - what; Acts 5:6 - General; 1 Corinthians 12:3 - accursed; Philippians 2:8 - the death; 1 Peter 2:24 - the tree