Deuteronomy 21:18—22:12 (NKJV)
18 “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have chastened him, will not heed them, 19 then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his city. 20 And they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ 21 Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones; so you shall put away the evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear.
22 “If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God.
22:1 “You shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep going astray, and hide yourself from them; you shall certainly bring them back to your brother. 2 And if your brother is not near you, or if you do not know him, then you shall bring it to your own house, and it shall remain with you until your brother seeks it; then you shall restore it to him. 3 You shall do the same with his donkey, and so shall you do with his garment; with any lost thing of your brother’s, which he has lost and you have found, you shall do likewise; you must not hide yourself.
4 “You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his ox fall down along the road, and hide yourself from them; you shall surely help him lift them up again. 5 “A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment, for all who do so are an abomination to the Lord your God. 6 “If a bird’s nest happens to be before you along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, with the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young; 7 you shall surely let the mother go, and take the young for yourself, that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days.
8 “When you build a new house, then you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring guilt of bloodshed on your household if anyone falls from it. 9 “You shall not sow your vineyard with different kinds of seed, lest the yield of the seed which you have sown and the fruit of your vineyard be defiled. 10 “You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together. 11 “You shall not wear a garment of different sorts, such as wool and linen mixed together. 12 “You shall make tassels on the four corners of the clothing with which you cover yourself.
The laws in today’s reading taught Israel how they were to live out certain of the Ten Commandments. That parents are to stone their impenitent children shows the severity of God’s judgment on all who break His commandments. That Israelites could take a bird’s eggs out of her nest, but not the mother, was not only a sustainability issue, reminded Israelites to honor their parents. If someone found another’s property he was to return it to the owner—or protect it until the unknown brother looked for it. Since Israelite homes had flat roofs, each roof was to have a parapet—a low protective wall around the roof’s perimeter—to protect others from falling off the roof.
There are several laws forbidding the mixture of things that do not belong together. Men and women are forbidden to wear the garments of the other sex. Different seed is not to be sown in a vineyard, which would mix the fruit of the vineyard with the fruit of the field. Two different animals are not to be used to plow, nor are two different materials to be combined in a garment. The prohibition against confusing men’s and women’s clothing is an abomination because it confuses the sexes which God created for marriage according to the Sixth Commandment. The rest of these laws remind us that truth is not to be mixed with error in the church, as this violates the Second Commandment by misusing God’s name for false teaching. The command to make tassels for the corners of their garments remind Israel to “walk worthy of the calling with which they were called” (Eph 4:1).
Amid these laws is one that reminds us of the salvation which Christ earned for us. The corpse of anyone hanged on a tree must not remain hanged overnight, “for he who is hanged is accursed of God” (23). Christ became the curse for the sake of all those under the curse of God’s judgment, so that all who trust that His death earns the forgiveness of sins are freed from God’s curse. Being called to such a blessing and receiving it by faith, let us “walk worthy of the calling with which they were called.” Let us pray: We give You thanks, O Christ, for becoming the curse to remove sin’s curse from us. Enable us to walk worthy of Your call and live in love for our neighbor. Amen.