Day 57. Deuteronomy 20-23

The Book of Deuteronomy is very literal about this--when Israel goes into battle her armies are accompanied in person by the LORD, the Divine Champion. He goes before them to fight against their enemies and give them the victory (Deuteronomy 20:4). Therefore, obedience, purity, and unswerving bravery are expected of those who go to war with the LORD at the front of their army. They are to go with a complete single-mindedness (20:5ff). Those who have reservations or regrets should turn back and go home.
And while they are in camp the troops are to be mindful the presence of the Divine Champion among them and maintain ritual purity (23:10-14), providing for ways to dispose of their waste "so that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you (verse 14).
Furthermore, all captives and all the spoil plundered from the enemy belonged by rights to the Divine Champion who alone gave victory. He could dispose of it according to his wishes or order it to be to be destroyed. In chapter 20, verses 16-18 the Divine Champion commands than when any of the inhabitants of Canaan are captured in battle, they must be annihilated so that that will not teach the people of Israel to do all the abhorrent thing that they do for their gods. The mixing of any kind is forbidden on principle (see 22:9-11).
Yet in spite of the ruthlessness of these commands, almost in the same breath God tells the people that in their conquest of the land they are not to destroy fruit trees or make ruthless war upon the natural world (20:19-20). This concern for plants and animals is a theme in the Law of Moses. Notice the concern shown that the bird and her nestlings not be destroyed together in Chapter 22:6-8. It serves to remind us the Divine Champion is also the God who loves and protects his creation, and his Law is a mixture of strange mercy and fierce justice.
Although some of its laws seem rigid to us, the Book of Deuteronomy does actually make some allowance for individual rights and feelings. The treatment of female captives in chapter 21, verses 10-14 allows a woman captured in war a month's time to mourn for her dead before she becomes the wife of her captor. Then she becomes his responsibility. In the Bible a sexual relationship creates a bond which cannot be lightly cast aside. If the husband of the captured wife is not satisfied with her, such a woman captive cannot be turned into a slave and sold. Since she has been dishonored, she should have her freedom as compensation (verse 14). But her wishes in the matter are not consulted.
And this is the rule in such cases. If a man wrongs a woman by making false accusations about her, when it is discovered that he has slandered her he is not allowed to divorce her ( 22:13-19). The woman' desires are not considered, but she is protected from destitution and shame.
Marriage in the Bible is not governed by our romantic ideas; it is a property transaction between men. The woman's security is considered in these cases, but not her happiness. Even in the case of rape, the perpetrator is fined and forced to marry the victim. And furthermore he is not "permitted to divorce her as long as he lives" (22:29). The right of free choice is certainly not being extended to women here. But by prohibiting a man from divorcing a woman he has seriously wronged, he is at least being forced to provide for her support and insure that she will not fall into destitution. She is given a place in society and the rights that belong to that place.
Again, the treatment of a disobedient son seems cruel by modern standards (21:18-21), but it is worth reminding ourselves that this is a society based upon authority. The absolute authority of God flows down through rulers to fathers and mothers, who have life and death power over their children. The authority of the family is the foundation of order in the community, and what is best for the community always comes before individual rights and personal feelings. This is a world in which our sentimentality would be utterly out of place.
And yet in this unsentimental world there is room for mercy. Loaning money to another Israelite is encouraged as a act of kindness to someone who has fallen on hard times. But charging interest to another member of the community is strictly forbidden (23:17). So the Father of All protects the poor from usury and exploitation.
Again, it is forbidden by the Law to steal the crops belonging of others, but in Deuteronomy chapter 23, verse 25 the poor are given leave to satisfy their hunger by plucking the ears of wheat and threshing them in their hands. (This is what the disciples of Jesus were doing in Matthew 12:1-2 when the Pharisees rebuked them.)
Before we leave the reading for today, note the law regarding the body of anyone hanged on a tree (21:22-23). It comes up rather unexpectedly, but it is important for later Christian thinking. One who is hanged on the tree—possibly as a pagan sacrifice--was under the special curse of God. Leaving a hanged body exposed was source of impurity to the entire community unless it was taken down and buried on the same day (verse 23). This is the reason why in the Gospels the followers of Jesus are at such pains to get his body buried before sunset.
St. Paul in Galatians 3:13-14 is referring to this text when he makes the point that the Jesus Christ who was crucified "on the tree" became cursed by the Law for sake of us all, saving us from our sentence of death the Law demands and bringing us to new life through the resurrection.