19:1-21 They must set aside three cities as "cities of refuge" so anyone who unintentionally kills a person can flee to that city and not be put to death by a family member of the deceased. If the Lord enlarges their territory then they must set aside three more cities for this purpose. But a man who intentionally kills another and runs to a city of refuge will not be allowed to stay there but will be taken back and handed over to the avenger of blood to be executed for murder. They must show him no pity.
The people are forbidden to move their neighbor's boundary stone. The land of Canaan was given to the various tribes as the Lord saw fit and no one is allowed to change those boundaries. When someone has broken the law there must be more than one witness to convict him. "A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses." Malicious witnesses (lying witnesses) must be given the same penalty they were seeking for the one they were falsely accusing. Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth.
20:1-20 This chapter deals with commands for wartime. The priest will come before the soldiers and encourage them not to be afraid because the Lord goes with them to fight their enemies. The officers will dismiss any man who has built a house and not dedicated it, planted a vineyard and not enjoyed any of the grapes yet, become engaged to a woman but not married her yet, and anyone who is fainthearted about going into battle. The leaders must offer peace to a city before they attack it. If the inhabitants accept the treaty then they will be made to work for the Israelites. If they refuse, then Israel's army will lay siege to that city and kill all the men. The women, children and livestock will become plunder. This policy only applies to nations that are outside of the Promised Land. They must not make peace with the people living in Canaan. Instead they must "not leave alive anything that breathes." All the people and livestock must be completely destroyed so the Israelites will not fall into idolatry by worshiping pagan gods. When they lay siege to a city they must not cut down the fruit trees.
21:1-23 If a dead body is found in a field and no one knows who killed him then the elders and judges of the nearby towns must measure the distance between the towns and the body. The leaders of the town nearest the body must break the neck of a heifer in a valley that has a stream. They must wash their hands over the heifer's body and state that they did not kill the man and do not know who killed him. In this way they will atone for the bloodshed and the people will not be guilty of the blood of an innocent man.
In wartime, if an Israelite man sees a beautiful woman among the captives he may take her as his wife. Her head must be shaved, her nails trimmed, and she must set aside the clothes she was wearing when captured. After she has mourned her mother and father for a month then she can become his wife. But if he's not pleased with her he must let her go free because he has dishonored her.
If a man has two wives and he loves one more than the other and they both bear sons, then the man must give the rights of the firstborn to the actual firstborn son, not to the son of the wife he loves. The parents of a son who is rebellious, stubborn, "a profligate and a drunkard" may bring him to the elders at the gate and the men of the town shall stone him to death. In another matter, if a man is put to death and his body is hung on a tree, they must bury him that same day "because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God's curse."
22:1-30 They must return their brother's wandering livestock and help rescue a donkey or ox that has fallen down. Women must not wear men's clothing and men must not wear women's clothing. If they find a bird's nest they may take the young but must leave the mother bird with the nest. A new house must be built with a parapet around the roof to prevent anyone from falling. They must not mix different kinds of seeds, plow with different kinds of animals yoked together, or weave wool and linen together. They are to make tassels on the four corners of their cloak.
If a man marries a woman and slanders her by saying she was not a virgin then the woman's parents must bring proof of her virginity to the elders at the gate. If the man lied he will be fined 100 shekels of silver. The woman will continue to be his wife, he may never divorce her. But if the woman was not a virgin then she will be stoned to death at the door of her father's house. If a man is found sleeping with another man's wife then both the man and the married woman will be put to death. If a man sleeps with a virgin who is pledged to be married, and this happens in a town, then they will both be put to death because the woman did not scream for help and the man violated another man's wife. But if the same thing happens out in the country then only the man will be put to death. The woman is presumed to have screamed but there was no one to help her because she was out in the country. If a man rapes a virgin who is not betrothed then he will pay her father 50 shekels of silver and he must marry her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives. No man may marry his father's wife.
23:1-25 "The assembly" probably refers to the gathering of Israelites at their annual festivals. No one who has been emasculated may enter the assembly. No one who is illegitimate (including his descendants), or a descendant of the Ammonites or Moabites may enter the assembly "even down to the 10th generation." However the Edomites (who are their brothers because they are descendants of Esau) and the third generation of Egyptians may enter the assembly. When they go to war against their enemies the soldiers must keep away from anything that would make them ceremonially unclean. They must also keep the camp sanitary because the Lord moves about in their camp to protect them.
If a slave takes refuge with them they must not hand him over to his master. No Israelite is to become a shrine prostitute, nor are they allowed to pay their vows to the Lord with the earnings of a prostitute. They may not charge interest to a fellow Israelite but they may charge interest to a foreigner. They are not obligated to make any vows to the Lord but the vows they do make must be paid promptly. They may enter their neighbor's vineyard and eat his grapes but must not put any of the grapes in a basket. Similarly they may pick kernels of grain from a neighbor's field but not harvest it with a sickle.
24:1-22 A man who divorces his wife may not marry her again after she has married another man and been divorced or widowed by him. This would bring sin upon the land the Lord is giving them. A man who is recently married may not be sent to war or have any other duty placed on him for one full year. Regarding pledges, they may not take a millstone as security for a debt because that would be taking a man's livelihood. A kidnapper must be put to death. A person with a leprous disease must do exactly what the priests tell him to do. When they make a loan to their neighbor they may not go into his house to get his pledge. The man is to bring the pledge out to the lender. In class we talked about how this maintains the neighbor's dignity and shields other members of his family. A poor man may only be able to offer his cloak as security. The man making the loan must return the cloak by sunset so the poor man can sleep in it. This is a righteous act in God's sight. They must not take advantage of the men they hire but pay their wages before sunset each day. The workers are counting on it. It would be a sin to withhold their wages, even for a day.
Fathers will not be put to death for their children and children will not be put to death for their fathers. "Each is to die for his own sin." The alien and fatherless must be given justice and no one should take a widow's cloak as a pledge. The reason for these commands is that the Lord looked upon the Israelites with compassion when they were slaves in Egypt. Now they must show similar compassion to the alien, the fatherless and the widow. Moses goes much further and commands them at harvest-time to leave some of the sheaves of grain in their fields, leave some of the olives on their trees and leave some grapes on their vines so the alien, fatherless and widow can have food to eat.
25:1-10 When men have a legal dispute they are to go to court and the judges will rule on the case. If the penalty is flogging then the judges will be present when it is carried out. No one is to be flogged more than 40 lashes because that would be degrading. An ox must not be muzzled when it is treading out the grain. The working ox deserves to eat.
A man must marry his brother's widow if these two conditions are met: 1) the brothers were living together and 2) the deceased brother had no sons to carry on his name. The first son the woman bears will carry on the name of the deceased brother. But if the man does not want to marry his brother's widow she can go to the elders at the gate and say, "My husband's brother refuses to carry on his brother's name in Israel." The elders will talk to him but if he still refuses to marry her then the widow "shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals, spit in his face and say, 'This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother's family line.' That man shall be known in Israel as The Family of the Unsandaled."
Much more next time.
-- Sandy Blank
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