Deuteronomy 23

The major emphasis in these chapters is on how the law of the Lord governed relationships in the nation of Israel. The material is so varied that perhaps the best way to study what Moses said is to arrange it in general categories.

Protecting the family (21:15–21; 24:1–5; 25:5–10) The foundation for human society is the family, a gift from God for which no successful substitute has been found. Sociologist Margaret Mead said, “No matter how many communes anybody invents, the family keeps creeping back.” It was God who established the home and in so doing remedied the only thing that was “not good” in His creation, that the man was alone (Gen. 1:26–31; 2:18–25). The people of Israel were commanded to honor father and mother (Ex. 20:12), and since four generations might live together as an extended family, that honor covered a lot of territory.

The firstborn son (21:15–17). The original divine pattern for marriage was one man and one woman devoted to each other for one lifetime, and the two exceptions—polygamy and divorce—were permitted in Israel because of the “hardness of men’s hearts” (Matt. 19:3–9). The first polygamist was Lamech, a rebel against God (Gen. 4:19), and the men in Scripture who followed his example brought heartache and trouble into their homes. Jacob discovered that having multiple wives meant competition and friction in the home and brought a great deal of grief into the family (Gen. 29:30; 31:1ff.). God overruled the selfishness in the home and accomplished His purposes in building the nation, but some of the family members paid a price.

At Passover, God spared the firstborn Jewish males who were sheltered by the blood of the lamb. In honor of this gracious miracle, He commanded that all the firstborn of Israel, man and beast, should be dedicated to Him (Ex. 13:1–16). Israel was God’s firstborn son (4:22–23), and Israel’s firstborn also belonged to Him. It was also ordained that the firstborn son in the family would inherit a double portion of the estate. If there were two sons, the elder son received two-thirds and the younger son one-third. Nothing could change this law, not even the husband’s love for his favorite wife.

In salvation history, it should be noted that God occasionally bypassed the firstborn son and chose the second born. Abraham’s firstborn son was Ishmael, but God chose Isaac,and Esau was Isaac’s firstborn, but God chose Jacob (Rom. 9:6–13). Jacob gave the special blessing to Ephraim, Joseph’s second son, and not to Manasseh, the firstborn (Gen. 48). God doesn’t accept our first birth, which is of the flesh, but offers us a second birth, a spiritual birth, that makes us His firstborn children (John 3:1–18; Heb. 12:23).

The rebellious son (vv. 18–21). This boy was the original “prodigal son” (Luke 15:11–32), except that he didn’t leave home to disobey the fifth commandment, dishonor his parents, and disgrace his community. Day after day, he resisted the pleas, warnings, and chastenings of his parents as he refused to work, reveled with the drunkards, and contributed nothing to the home or the community. This kind of sin was so heinous that it was included in the curses read in the land of Canaan (Deut. 27:16; see Ex. 21:17).

This was more than a family concern, for it involved the peace and reputation of the community. The solidarity of the people of Israel was an important element in their civil, social, and religious life, for the sin of a single person, family, city, or tribe could affect the whole nation (see Deut. 13; Josh. 7:1–15). This is also true of the church, for as members of one spiritual body (1 Cor. 12), we belong to each other and we affect each other (1 Cor. 5). The parents of the rebellious son were to take him to the local council at the gate, bear witness of his rebellion and obstinacy, and let the council decide. If the boy refused to change his ways, then the only verdict was death by stoning, with all the men of the community participating. Why? In order to “put away evil” and to warn other profligates of what might happen to them. The phrase “put away evil” is found nine times in Deuteronomy (see 13: and references), and the phrase “hear and fear” four times (13:11; 17:13; 19:20; 21:21). The Lord and Moses believed that the public punishment of offenders could be a detriment to others sinning. Furthermore, the future of that family was at stake if this son were allowed to continue in his sins.

This “law of the prodigal” helps us understand one aspect of our Lord’s parable, the fact that the father ran to meet his son (Luke 15:20). In the East, it isn’t customary for older men to run. Of course, the father’s love for his son compelled him to hasten to meet him, but there was something else involved. The news of this boy’s wicked life in the far country had certainly drifted back to his hometown, and the law-abiding citizens knew that he had disgraced their city. Seeing the boy approach, the elders at the gate might have been tempted to refuse to let him in, or in their anger, they might have picked up stones to stone him! But with the father holding the boy in his arms, kissing him, and welcoming him, the elders could do nothing. Had anybody thrown stones, they would have hit the father. This speaks to us of Calvary where God took our punishment for us that He might be able to welcome us home.

Divorce (24:1–4). It’s bad enough when a family has a rebellious son to disturb the home, but it’s even worse when the husband and wife don’t get along and the marriage breaks up. The original Edenic law of marriage said nothing about divorce (Gen. 2:18–25). Marriage is fundamentally a physical union (“one flesh”), so only a physical reason can dissolve it, and there are two such reasons: the death of one spouse (Rom. 7:1–3; 1 Cor. 7:39) and adultery (Deut. 22:22; Lev. 20:10). The adulterous man and woman were killed, leaving the innocent spouses free to remarry. The law of Moses did not allow divorce for adultery because the guilty spouse was stoned to death for his or her sin.

Since the “uncleanness” (“something indecent,” niv) couldn’t be adultery, what was it that it permitted a man to divorce his wife? In our Lord’s day, the rabbinical school of Hillel took a very broad view and interpreted “uncleanness” to mean “anything that displeased the husband.” But the school of Rabbi Shammai took the narrow view that “uncleanness” meant some kind of sexual sin. (See Matt. 5:31–32; 19:1–9; Mark 10:1–12.) Jesus didn’t define “uncleanness” but made it clear that the Mosaic law of divorce was a concession and not a command. God permitted it because of the hardness of the human heart. However, it appears that Jesus did permit divorce if one of the spouses committed adultery. The assumption is that the innocent spouse was free to remarry; otherwise, why get a divorce?

When our Lord permitted divorce because of adultery, He was equating divorce with death. The church doesn’t have the right to kill people for committing adultery or any other sin, but they can accept divorce as the equivalent of death, thus leaving the innocent partner free to remarry. Jesus affirmed the priority of the original Edenic law of marriage, but He also granted this concession. Of course, it’s better that the guilty party confess the sin, repent, and be restored and forgiven, but this doesn’t always happen. Sin is the great destroyer, and where the privileges are the highest, as in marriage, the pain of that sin is the greatest.

The “bill of divorcement” was an official document that protected the women from slander and abuse and also gave her the privilege of a second marriage. The time that was required to secure this document would give the husband opportunity to think the matter through and possibly reconsider. He would lose what was left of the marriage price or dowry, and that might be costly. Too many separations and divorces are the result of built-up emotions, festering wounds, and thoughtless words that could have been avoided if the spouses had been honest with each other, talked things over, and sought the Lord’s help earlier in the problem.

Should her second marriage end in divorce, the woman was forbidden to return to her former husband because she had been “defiled” (Deut. 24:4). Perhaps this means that the consummation of the second marriage was considered adultery, because only death or adultery could dissolve the marriage. (Adultery is called “defilement” in Lev. 18: and Num. 5:13–14.) For her to return to the first husband would cheapen her and make her nothing but a piece of property that could be bought and sold at will.

Deferment (v. 5). This law has been considered in 20:7. Any able-bodied man could take the new husband’s place in the army but nobody could take his place at home. His wife would suffer from the pain of separation from her beloved and, if he died in battle, the sorrow of bereavement. This law shows the high value God puts on human love and the responsibilities of marriage.

Levirate marriage (vv. 5–10). The word “levirate” comes from the Latin and means “a husband’s brother,” i.e., a brother-in-law. It was this law that the Sadducees used when they tried to trip up Jesus (Matt. 22:23–33). Basically, this law required a deceased man’s brother to marry the widow and have children by her so that the name of the deceased wouldn’t perish from Israel. However, there were some special conditions to observe. First, the married brother and single brother had to live together; second, the married couple had to be childless; and, third, the single brother had to be willing to marry the widow and have children by her.

The first requirement—“living together”—didn’t demand a common house but only that the brothers lived near each other (Gen. 13:6). The wife, therefore, wasn’t a stranger to her brother-in-law. As to the second requirement, if the couple were not childless, there would be no need for the second marriage. In fact, it was against the law for a brother-in-law to marry his sister-in-law if they had children (Lev. 18:16). The third requirement was the critical one: would the brother-in-law be willing to marry his brother’s widow? The unnamed relative in the book of Ruth refused to marry Ruth because it would have jeopardized his own inheritance (Ruth 4:1–6).

If the man refused to marry her, the woman took her case to the elders at the gate and they would try to reason with the man. No doubt they would point out that childless widows needed protection and that his late brother needed an heir to maintain the family name and property. If he still refused, then the widow could publicly humiliate him by spitting in (or before) his face (Num. 12:14) and removing his sandal. To put your foot down on land or cast your shoe on it meant to claim it for yourself (Gen. 13:17; Josh. 10:24; Ps. 60:8; 108:9), while to take off your shoe meant to relinquish any claim to the property. If the brother married later and had a family, that family would be known as “the house of the barefooted one.” Only the poor, mourners, and prisoners of war went barefoot (Isa. 20:2–4; Mic. 1:8; Luke 15:22), but to get your shoes back was to be reinstated in society (2 Chron. 28:15; Luke 15:22). By refusing to honor his dead brother, the man brought dishonor on himself and his family.

Here we categorize several miscellaneous laws that were important to the life of the nation and that illustrate spiritual truths that are important to us today.

Entering the assembly (23:1–8; 25:17–19). It was a privilege to be a member of the Jewish nation and share in the blessings of God’s covenant. The word “congregation” (“assembly,” niv) may refer to the worshipping assembly and not the nation as a whole. Gentiles could live within the confines of Israel’s territory but that didn’t give them the right to share in the feasts and other religious events. Gentiles who submitted to circumcision and confessed Jehovah as the true and living God could become proselytes (Ex. 12:43–51), but some of them were excluded for various reasons. The Lord has the right to determine who shall enter His holy nation.

For one thing, any emasculated male (eunuch) was rejected (Deut. 23:1). Priests who had similar defects were prohibited from serving at the altar, although they could eat of the holy food (Lev. 21:16–23), and Israel was a kingdom of priests (Ex. 19:5–6). Therefore, the men entering the nation had to be free from these defects. It’s possible that some of the Gentile men had received this surgery as part of their devotion to a heathen God, while Jewish circumcision spoke of belonging to the true God of Israel. The prophet Isaiah looked forward to the day when eunuchs would be welcomed into the kingdom and be blessed of God (Isa. 56:3–5). We can rejoice today that physical blemishes and limitations are not a barrier to faith in Jesus Christ and participation in the blessing of the new covenant (Acts 8:26–39).

Illegitimate children (Deut. 23:2) were also excluded, although we’re not sure what this term meant in ancient Israel. The rabbis interpreted it to mean a child “born of a forbidden marriage,” as the NIV translates it, but what is “a forbidden marriage”? It could include incestuous marriages or marriages involving rejected nations (Ammonites, Moabites). Why the innocent child should be punished for the sins of the parents (24:16) is difficult to understand. The phrase “unto the tenth generation” means “forever” (v. 3).

The Ammonites and Moabites (23:3–6) were descended from Lot (Gen. 19:30–38), the nephew of Abraham, but they didn’t show kindness to their Jewish relatives. The Ammonites wouldn’t sell them food and water, and Balak, a king of Moab, hired Baalam to curse Israel (Deut. 2:9–23; Num. 22—24). Because both nations were related to Israel, the Lord wouldn’t permit the Jews to attack them. Their punishment was exclusion from Israel’s national blessings forever. However, Ruth the Moabitess married Boaz and entered the nation of Israel and became the greatgrandmother of King David (Ruth 4:17–22) and therefore an ancestress of Jesus Christ (Matt. 1:3–6). She had put her faith in Jehovah (Ruth 1:16–17), and the Lord accepted her.

The Edomites and the Egyptians (Deut. 23:7–8) could enter the nation in the third generation because the Edomites descended from Jacob’s brother Esau (Gen. 25:24–26), and the Egyptians received Jacob and his family into their land and cared for them (Gen. 46—47). In spite of later Egyptian hostility, God transformed the family of Jacob into a great nation while they sojourned in Egypt.

The Amalekites (Deut. 25:17–19) were rejected by the Lord and Israel was not to forget their evil deeds. They attacked Israel after the nation had come out of Egypt (Ex. 17:8–13), starting with the weary and feeble Jews bringing up the rear of the march. Joshua defeated them and God declared perpetual war on them. King Saul lost his crown because he failed to exterminate them (1 Sam. 15), and he was slain on the battlefield by an Amalekite (2 Sam. 1:1–16). It wasn’t until the time of Hezekiah that the Amalekites finally disappeared from the scene (1 Chron. 4:41–43).

Sanctifying the army camp (vv. 9–14). This section applied to Israel’s soldiers when they were encamped away from home. The basic principle was that they treat the camp as they would their land at home, for the Lord was with them even on the battlefield, walking in their midst. The idol-worshipping nations believed that they left their gods behind when they went to another country, but Israel’s God was always with them, for He is the God of all the earth. If a soldier had become unclean at home, he would have to leave the community, wash, and return the next day, and that same rule applied in the camp. The men were also to have a place outside the camp for disposing of their excrement. This would not only keep them from being defiled, but it would also promote hygiene.

No matter where we go, God goes with us, and we must not think that we can disobey Him and get away with it. God’s admonition is, “[K]eep away from everything impure” (v. 9 niv). Whether we’re on vacation or away from home on business, the Lord watches us and desires us to be as careful where we’re unknown as we are where we’re known. Moses was on holy ground in Midian (Ex. 3:5) as was Joshua standing near Jericho (Josh. 5:13–15).

Sharing with the poor and needy (vv. 15–16, 19–20; 24:6, 10–15, 19–22; 25:4). This collection of laws relates to opportunities that the Jews would have to show kindness and generosity to both humans and animals. Contrary to the laws of other nations, the law of Israel allowed the Jews to harbor fugitive slaves and protect them. These slaves would not be Jewish, because the Jews were not allowed to enslave their brothers. Jewish servants were either released in the Sabbath year or would agree to serve willingly for life (15:12–18). Also, Jewish masters were not allowed to abuse their servants so that they would want to flee. These fugitives would be from the surrounding nations, and assisting them would give the Jews opportunity to tell them about the God of Israel.

Jews were not permitted to charge interest when they loaned money or produce to their brothers, but they could charge foreigners (23:19–20; see Ex. 22:25–27 and Lev. 25:35–37). The blessing God would send the lender would far surpass the interest he would make on the loan. This is another example of the principle expressed in Matthew 6:33.

If a lender needed collateral for a loan, he wasn’t permitted to take the borrower’s millstones (Deut. 24:6), because the man needed them in order to feed himself and his family. The lender was not to demean the borrower by going into his house to secure a pledge (vv. 10–15), and if that pledge was the man’s cloak, the borrower had to return it by sunset (Ex. 22:25–27). Business transactions between Jewish brethren were to be humane and compassionate, to help the needy brother and not to enrich the lender.

The farmer was to leave some “gleanings” for the poor during the time of harvest (Deut. 24:19–22; see Lev. 19:9–10). This would give the aliens, orphans, and widows opportunity to gather food in a dignified way and not be forced to beg. As with the lender, so with the generous farmer: God would bless him in his work and reward him for his kindness to the poor (Ps. 41:1; Prov. 14:21, 31; 29:7). “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).

This generosity should also extend to one’s animals (Deut. 25:4). To muzzle the ox that is threshing the grain is to frustrate him and make his work unnecessarily painful. Once again, the Lord shows compassion for animals and urges us to show pity to those under our care. “A righteous man regards the life of his animal, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel” (Prov. 12: nkjv). Paul used this verse to teach that those who labor in the gospel should be supported by God’s people (2 Cor. 9:1–14; 1 Tim. 5:17–18).

Fulfilling religious vows (vv. 17–18, 21–23). The subject of vows is discussed also in Leviticus 27 and Numbers 30. A Jew could make a vow to give the Lord something, or do something for Him, in return for a special blessing. The vow could also involve abstaining from something in order to please the Lord. Vows were purely voluntary (Deut. 23:22), and they had to be declared openly and fulfilled obediently (v. 23). Whatever was promised had to be brought to the sanctuary and given to the Lord (Eccl. 5:4–6). To make the promise and not keep it would be taking the Lord’s name in vain (Ex. 20:7; Prov. 20:25).

However, no vow could be paid to the Lord with money earned by committing sin (Deut. 23:17–18). “Playing the harlot” is a euphemism for idolatry (Ex. 34:15–16) because the pagan shrines did offer worshippers female and male prostitutes (“dogs”). No Jewish man or woman was ever to become a shrine prostitute, and no vow could be paid to the Lord with the hire of a prostitute. We don’t do evil that good may come from it (Rom. 3:8). All money is defiled in a sense—Paul and Peter both called it “filthy lucre” (1 Tim. 3:3, 8; Titus 1:7, 11; 1 Peter 5:2)—but some money is especially filthy because of its origin.

Seeing that justice is done (24:7, 16–18; 25:1–3, 11–16). Kidnapping was prohibited (24:7) and was a capital crime (Ex. 21:16). To kidnap people and sell them is to treat them like merchandise and not like persons created in the image of God. The Jews were not to enslave one another or sell one another to be enslaved by the Gentiles. The Lord had delivered His people from Egypt so they could be free, and kidnapping was the reverse of God’s purpose.

When an offender was found guilty and sentenced to be beaten, he was not to be humiliated but punished justly (Deut. 25:1–3). To beat him too little would be to minimize the offense, but to beat him too much would be to treat him in an inhuman manner and “degrade him” (niv). The limit was forty stripes, but the Jews later made it thirty-nine (2 Cor. 11:24) so as not to accidentally go over the legal number. Whether it’s a judge sentencing a criminal or a father chastening his child, the punishment must fit the offense and not demean the offender. As the United States “Bill of Rights” says, “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments afflicted” (Amendment VIII).

Two men fighting (Deut. 25:11–12) is an invitation for more trouble; better they should seek help and settle their dispute in a more constructive way. It’s understandable that the wife would want her husband to win, but her method of assistance was shameful, unfair, and grossly offensive. In describing this scenario, Moses prohibited all indecent methods of combat by either men or women. The penalty would certainly restrain anybody from doing such a thing.

Honest weights and measures (vv. 13–16) were essential to the public good (Lev. 19:35–37). The prophets denounced dishonest weights and measures because their use made the poor poorer and the rich richer (Amos 8:5; Mic. 6:10–11; see also Prov. 11:1; 16:11; 20:10, 23). Once again, Moses reminded the people that their future security and blessing in the land depended on their obedience to God’s law. When they cheated others, they only cheated themselves.

“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people” (Prov. 13: nkjv).