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Coats - Deuteronomy 24

The first 5 verses of chapter 24 pertain to divorce. TB said that while there is no law allowing for divorce in the Torah, it’s mentioned so frequently that it’s clear that it was common enough in Hebrew society. First is says that if a man is displeased with his wife, he can give her a ‘bill of divorcement” and let her leave and marry another man. I have mixed feelings on this, especially considering that I am divorced myself. Back then, I’m sure that it was devastating to have your husband divorce you, just like it is today. But there was probably the added difficulty of shame and limited options of remarriage, but then again maybe not, I really don’t know. But on the other hand, if a man is tired of his wife and doesn’t want her anymore, it seems more likely that he’ll abuse her if he can’t divorce her, so in that case it’s best that she be allowed to leave and marry someone else. I don’t know it’s complicated, but I know for sure that having your husband throw you away is devastati...
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Citizenry - Deuteronomy 23

The first several verses of chapter 23 have to do with the “congregation of the Lord” which according to the IM and TB, has to do with who can participate in which levels of government. There was extensive lecture and a big section in the IM that goes through who exactly is allowed to do what and participate in which levels of government, but I’m not going to go through all that because frankly I don’t understand it all and don’t really care that much. There are a few points that I think are worth pointing out though. First is that there didn’t seem to be any prohibition on who could become a believer and accepted as an Israelite by belief and there were even levels of participation depending on how involved the person who wasn’t born an Israelite wants to be. For instance, if a man wants to be a believer but doesn’t want to get circumcised, then there was a level to which that man could participate, etc. The second point that I think is important to bring up is that Ruth was a Moabi...
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Women - Deuteronomy 22:13-30

Now we get into relationship issues and what I think is important to remember is that at this time in the ancient world, as far as I know, women were considered property of their husbands and fathers and had limited rights and considerations legally, so when we get into the laws given here, even though they are abhorrent to us now, they were pretty progressively pro-woman for the time. First, if a man marries a woman “and hate her” one of the options he had was to go to the council and accuse her of not being a virgin when they got married. It seems to me that this happened probably pretty soon after the wedding so not like 15 years into the marriage, but I’m not sure about that. So the man who decides he doesn’t like the wife that he chose accuses her of not being a virgin on their wedding night. The wife’s father will counter saying that he gave this man his daughter to marry and now he doesn’t like her and is making up lies about her. They way that this dispute gets solved is the sa...
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Misc Commands - Deuteronomy 22: 1-12

Chapter 22 covers a lot of different topics, the first 4 verses have to do with finding your “brother’s” animal outside of where they are meant to be kept. The word “brother” here is probably meant as “kinsman” which would make sense because Israel was usually grouped together by tribes and clans. If the animal was to be found outside of the pen or enclosure, the person who found it couldn’t pretend they didn’t see it, they were obligated to take the animal back to the person it belonged to and if they didn’t know, they were supposed to keep the animal and take care of it until the owner came around looking for it. I would imagine that after a certain amount of time, that animal could just be counted as theirs but that’s not expressly written. Finally, if an animal is injured or hurt, whoever finds it is supposed to help it. There was a significant discussion about the next topic in both the IM and by TB but it only is one verse, verse 5 which says, “the woman shall not wear that whi...
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Lots of Death - Deuteronomy 21

Chapter 21 is separated into two parts, and TB has hour long lectures on each, which are interesting. Verses 1-9 have to do with what to do if someone is found in the land who is dead that has been murdered but no one knows who did it. One reason why I don’t think I could ever commit murder is because I’m confident that I would be caught immediately, which is a deterrent, because there’s no way that I could do something like that in a way where I was not immediately caught. All this is to say that this topic took me by surprise because it never occurred to me that people could just dump a body and body and not get caught. If someone is murdered and no one knows who did it, then wherever that person’s body was dumped, the closest place that is “neither eared nor sown” is where the priests should take a heifer, break it’s neck and then behead it, and pray over it “so shalt thou put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when thou shalt do that which is right tin the sight of th...
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Warfare 2 - Deuteronomy 20

When Israel is going to go to battle, first they are commanded not to be afraid because “the Lord thy God is with thee… For the Lord your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for your against your enemies, to save you.” Then priest will come out and pray over the people. The order on these instructions might be a little confused, because I would imagine that the priest would pray over the army right before they attack, but here Moses is giving the options for people to leave the army is they meet a specific criteria. The first out option is if a man had recently built a house but had not dedicated it yet. TB notes that there is no other reference or command for the people to dedicate their houses, so this is an odd one to note. But the thought process might be that if a house has been built but not yet inhabited and that man dies in war, then that house could go to another family and out of his family’s control. Another out option is if a man planted a vineyard “and hath not yet e...
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Warfare 1 - Deuteronomy 20

It’s really interesting to reflect on the perspective of a Hebrew soldier facing the task of invading a land of people to expel them. TB says that the census of 600,000+ eligible men of fighting age was literal and some of the other articles that I’ve read say that as well, while some say that it was figurative. But the general consensus is that regardless of the actual number, the armies of those living in Canaan outnumbered those in Israel, so they were at an inherent disadvantage from the beginning. TB says, “On the one hand the Lord acknowledges that Israel WILL be going up against armed forces which are both larger than Israel’s AND which have technological superiority (chariots). However verse 1 tells Israel to recall whap happened in Egypt. Israel not only had no weapons, but it had no army. Israel had no ability to free or protect itself from Egypt; God simply brought a superior power to its knees in supernatural ways. Therefore since God is with Israel, and it is God’s holy wa...
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