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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1706)
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</TD></TR></TABLE>
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<HR>
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>D E U T E R O N O M Y</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. XXI.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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In this chapter provision is made,
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I. For the putting away of the guilt of blood from the land, when he
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that shed it had fled from justice,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+21:1-9">ver. 1-9</A>.
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II. For the preserving of the honour of a captive maid,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+21:10-14">ver. 10-14</A>.
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III. For the securing of the right of a first-born son, though he were
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not a favourite,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+21:15-17">ver. 15-17</A>.
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IV. For the restraining and punishing of a rebellious son,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+21:18-21">ver. 18-21</A>.
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V. For the maintaining of the honour of human bodies, which must not be
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hanged in chains, but decently buried, even the bodies of the worst
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malefactors,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+21:22,23">ver. 22, 23</A>.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="De21_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="De21_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="De21_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="De21_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="De21_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="De21_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="De21_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="De21_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="De21_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Undetected Murder.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1451.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 If <I>one</I> be found slain in the land which the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> thy God
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giveth thee to possess it, lying in the field, <I>and</I> it be not
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known who hath slain him:
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2 Then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they
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shall measure unto the cities which <I>are</I> round about him that is
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slain:
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3 And it shall be, <I>that</I> the city <I>which is</I> next unto the
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slain man, even the elders of that city shall take a heifer,
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which hath not been wrought with, <I>and</I> which hath not drawn in
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the yoke;
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4 And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto
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a rough valley, which is neither eared nor sown, and shall strike
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off the heifer's neck there in the valley:
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5 And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them
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the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> thy God hath chosen to minister unto him, and to bless
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in the name of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>; and by their word shall every
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controversy and every stroke be <I>tried:</I>
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6 And all the elders of that city, <I>that are</I> next unto the
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slain <I>man,</I> shall wash their hands over the heifer that is
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beheaded in the valley:
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7 And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this
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blood, neither have our eyes seen <I>it.</I>
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8 Be merciful, O L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, unto thy people Israel, whom thou hast
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redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto thy people of Israel's
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charge. And the blood shall be forgiven them.
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9 So shalt thou put away the <I>guilt of</I> innocent blood from
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among you, when thou shalt do <I>that which is</I> right in the sight
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of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Care had been taken by some preceding laws for the vigorous and
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effectual persecution of a wilful murderer
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+19:11-13"><I>ch.</I> xix. 11</A>,
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&c.), the putting
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of whom to death was the putting away of the guilt of blood from the
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land; but if this could not be done, the murderer not being discovered,
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they must not think that the land was in no danger of contracting any
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pollution because it was not through any neglect of theirs that the
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murderer was unpunished; no, a great solemnity is here provided for the
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putting away of the guilt, as an expression of their dread and
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detestation of that sin.</P>
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<P>
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I. The case supposed is that <I>one is found slain, and it is not known
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who slew him,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+21:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>.
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The providence of God has sometimes wonderfully brought to light these
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hidden works of darkness, and by strange occurrences the sin of the
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guilty has found them out, insomuch that it has become a proverb,
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<I>Murder will out.</I> But it is not always so; now and then the
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devil's promises of secresy and impunity in this world are made good;
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yet it is but for a while: there is a time coming when secret murders
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will be discovered; the <I>earth shall disclose her blood</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+26:21">Isa. xxvi. 21</A>),
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upon the inquisition which justice makes for it; and there is an
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eternity coming when those that escaped punishment from men will lie
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under the righteous judgment of God. And the impunity with which so
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many murders and other wickednesses are committed in this world makes
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it necessary that there should be a day of judgment, to <I>require that
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which is past,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+3:15">Eccl. iii. 15</A>.</P>
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<P>
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II. Directions are given concerning what is to be done in this case.
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Observe,</P>
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<P>
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1. It is taken for granted that a diligent search had been made for the
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murderer, witnesses examined, and circumstances strictly enquired into,
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that if possible they might find out the guilty person; but if, after
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all, they could not trace it out, not fasten the charge upon any, then,
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(1.) The <I>elders of the next city</I> (that had a court of three and
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twenty in it) were to concern themselves about this matter. If it were
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doubtful which city was next, the great sanhedrim were to send
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commissioners to determine that matter by an exact measure,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+21:2,3"><I>v.</I> 2, 3</A>.
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Note, Public persons must be solicitous about the public good; and
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those that are in power and reputation in cities must lay out
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themselves to redress grievances, and reform what is amiss in the
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country and neighbourhood that lie about them. Those that are next to
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them should have the largest share of their good influence, as
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ministers of God for good.
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(2.) The priests and Levites must assist and preside in this solemnity
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+21:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>),
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that they might direct the management of it in all points according to
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the law, and particularly might be the people's mouth to God in the
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prayer that was to be put up on this sad occasion,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+21:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
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God being Israel's King, his ministers must be their magistrates, and
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by their word, as the mouth of the court and learned in the laws, every
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controversy must be tried. It was Israel's privilege that they had such
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guides, overseers, and rulers, and their duty to make use of them upon
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all occasions, especially in sacred things, as this was.
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(3.) They were to bring a heifer down into a rough and unoccupied
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valley, and to kill it there,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+21:3,4"><I>v.</I> 3, 4</A>.
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This was not a sacrifice (for it was not brought to the altar), but a
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solemn protestation that thus they would put the murderer to death if
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they had him in their hands. The heifer must be one that had not drawn
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in the yoke, to signify (say some) that the murderer was a son of
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Belial; it must be brought into a rough valley, to signify the horror
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of the fact, and that the defilement which blood brings upon a land
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turns it into barrenness. And the Jews say that unless, after this, the
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murderer was found out, this valley where the heifer was killed was
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never to be tilled nor sown.
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(4.) The elders were to <I>wash their hands in water</I> over the
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heifer that was killed, and to profess, not only that they had not shed
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this innocent blood themselves, but that they knew not who had
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+21:6,7"><I>v.</I> 6, 7</A>),
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nor had knowingly concealed the murderer, helped him to make his
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escape, or been any way aiding or abetting. To this custom David
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alludes,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+26:6">Ps. xxvi. 6</A>,
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<I>I will wash my hands in innocency;</I> but if Pilate had any eye to
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it
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:24">Matt. xxvii. 24</A>)
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he wretchedly misapplied it when he condemned Christ, knowing him to be
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innocent, and yet acquitted himself from the guilt of innocent blood.
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<I>Protestatio non valet contra factum--Protestations are of no avail
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when contradicted by fact.</I>
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(5.) The priests were to pray to God for the country and nation, that
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God would be merciful to them, and not bring upon them the judgments
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which the connivance at the sin of murder would deserve. It might be
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presumed that the murderer was either one of their city or was now
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harboured in their city; and therefore they must pray that they might
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not fare the worse for his being among them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Nu+16:22">Num. xvi. 22</A>.
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<I>Be merciful, O Lord, to thy people Israel,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+21:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
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Note, When we hear of the wickedness of the wicked we have need to cry
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earnestly to God for mercy for our land, which groans and trembles
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under it. We must empty the measure by our prayers which others are
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filling by their sins. Now,</P>
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<P>
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2. This solemnity was appointed,
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(1.) That it might give occasion to common and public discourse
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concerning the murder, which perhaps might some way or other occasion
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the discovery of it.
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(2.) That it might possess people with a dread of the guilt of blood,
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which defiles not only the conscience of him that sheds it (this should
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engage us all to pray with David, <I>Deliver me from
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blood--guiltiness</I>), but the land in which it is shed; it cries to
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the magistrate for justice on the criminal, and, if that cry be not
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heard, it cries to heaven for judgment on the land. If there must be so
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much care employed to save the land from guilt when the murderer was
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not known, it was certainly impossible to secure it from guilt if the
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murderer was known and yet protected. All would be taught, by this
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solemnity, to use their utmost care and diligence to prevent, discover,
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and punish murder. Even the heathen mariners dreaded the guilt of
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blood,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jon+1:14">Jon. i. 14</A>.
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(3.) That we might all learn to take heed of partaking in other men's
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sins, and making ourselves accessory to them <I>ex post facto--after
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the fact,</I> by countenancing the sin or sinner, and not witnessing
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against it in our places. We have <I>fellowship with the unfruitful
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works of darkness</I> if we do not reprove them rather, and bear our
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testimony against them. The repentance of the church of Corinth for the
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sin of one of their members produced such a carefulness, such a
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clearing of themselves, such a holy indignation, fear, and revenge
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+7:11">2 Cor. vii. 11</A>),
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as were signified by the solemnity here appointed.</P>
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<A NAME="De21_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="De21_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="De21_12"> </A>
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<A NAME="De21_13"> </A>
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<A NAME="De21_14"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Case of Captive Women.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1451.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>10 When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the
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L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast
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taken them captive,
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11 And seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a
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desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife;
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12 Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house; and she shall
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shave her head, and pare her nails;
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13 And she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her,
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and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her
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mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her,
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and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife.
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14 And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou
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shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at
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all for money, thou shalt not make merchandise of her, because
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thou hast humbled her.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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By this law a soldier is allowed to marry his captive if he pleased.
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For the hardness of their hearts Moses gave them this permission, lest,
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if they had not had liberty given them to marry such, they should have
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taken liberty to defile themselves with them, and by such wickedness
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the camp would have been troubled. The man is supposed to have a wife
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already, and to take this wife for a secondary wife, as the Jews called
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them. This indulgence of men's inordinate desires, in which their
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hearts walked after their eyes, is by no means agreeable to the law of
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Christ, which therefore in this respect, among others, far exceeds in
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glory the law of Moses. The gospel permits not him that has one wife to
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take another, for <I>from the beginning it was not so.</I> The gospel
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forbids looking upon a woman, though a beautiful one, to lust after
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her, and commands the mortifying and denying of all irregular desires,
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though it be as uneasy as the cutting off of a right hand; so much does
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our holy religion, more than that of the Jews, advance the honour and
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support the dominion of the soul over the body, the spirit over the
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flesh, consonant to the glorious discovery it makes of life and
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immortality, and the better hope.</P>
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<P>
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But, though military men were allowed this liberty, yet care is here
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taken that they should not abuse it, that is,</P>
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<P>
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I. That they should not abuse themselves by doing it too hastily,
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though the captive was ever so desirable: "<I>If thou wouldest have her
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to thy wife</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+21:10,11"><I>v.</I> 10, 11</A>),
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it is true thou needest not ask her parents' consent, for she is thy
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captive, and is at thy disposal. But,
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1. Thou shalt have no familiar intercourse till thou hast married her."
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This allowance was designed to gratify, not a filthy brutish lust, in
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the heat and fury of its rebellion against reason and virtue, but an
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honourable and generous affection to a comely and amiable person,
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though in distress; therefore he may make her his wife if he will, but
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he must not <I>deal with her as with a harlot.</I>
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2. "Thou shalt not marry her of a sudden, but keep her a full month in
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thy house,"
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+21:12,13"><I>v.</I> 12, 13</A>.
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This he must do either,
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(1.) That he may try to take his affection off from her; for he must
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know that, though in marrying her he does not do ill (so the law then
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stood), yet in letting her alone he does much better. Let her therefore
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shave her head, that he might not be enamoured with her locks, and
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<I>let her nails grow</I> (so the margin reads it), to spoil the beauty
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of her hand. <I>Quisquid amas cupias non placuisse nimis--We should
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moderate our affection for those things which we are tempted to love
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inordinately.</I> Or rather,
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(2.) This was done in token of her renouncing idolatry, and becoming a
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proselyte to the Jewish religion. The shaving of her head, the paring
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of her nails, and the changing of her apparel, signified her putting
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off her former conversation, which was corrupt in her ignorance, that
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|
she might become a new creature. She must remain in his house to be
|
|
taught the good knowledge of the Lord and the worship of him: and the
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Jews say that if she refused, and continued obstinate in idolatry, he
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|
must not marry her. Note, The professors of religion must not be
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|
unequally yoked with unbelievers,
|
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+6:14">2 Cor. vi. 14</A>.</P>
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<P>
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II. That they should not abuse the poor captive.
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1. She must have time to <I>bewail her father and mother,</I> from whom
|
|
she was separated, and without whose consent and blessing she is now
|
|
likely to be married, and perhaps to a common soldier of Israel, though
|
|
in her country ever so nobly born and bred. To force a marriage till
|
|
these sorrows were digested, and in some measure got over, and she was
|
|
better reconciled to the land of her captivity by being better
|
|
acquainted with it, would be very unkind. She must not bewail her
|
|
idols, but be glad to part with them; to her near and dear relations
|
|
only her affection must be thus indulged.
|
|
|
|
2. If, upon second thoughts, he that had brought her to his house with
|
|
a purpose to marry her changed his mind and would not marry her, he
|
|
might not make merchandise of her, as of his other prisoners, but must
|
|
give her liberty to return, if she pleased, to her own country, because
|
|
he had humbled her and afflicted her, by raising expectations and then
|
|
disappointing them
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+21:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>);
|
|
|
|
having made a fool of her, he might not make a prey of her. This
|
|
intimates how binding the laws of justice and honour are, particularly
|
|
in the pretensions of love, the courting of affections, and the
|
|
promises of marriage, which are to be looked upon as solemn things,
|
|
that have something sacred in them, and therefore are not to be jested
|
|
with.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="De21_15"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="De21_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="De21_17"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Right of the Firstborn.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1451.</TD></TR>
|
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
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</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>15 If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and
|
|
they have born him children, <I>both</I> the beloved and the hated;
|
|
and <I>if</I> the firstborn son be hers that was hated:
|
|
16 Then it shall be, when he maketh his sons to inherit <I>that</I>
|
|
which he hath, <I>that</I> he may not make the son of the beloved
|
|
firstborn before the son of the hated, <I>which is indeed</I> the
|
|
firstborn:
|
|
17 But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated <I>for</I> the
|
|
firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath:
|
|
for he <I>is</I> the beginning of his strength; the right of the
|
|
firstborn <I>is</I> his.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
This law restrains men from disinheriting their eldest sons out of mere
|
|
caprice, and without just provocation.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. The case here put
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+21:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>)
|
|
|
|
is very instructive.
|
|
|
|
1. It shows the great mischief of having more wives than one, which the
|
|
law of Moses did not restrain, probably in hopes that men's own
|
|
experience of the great inconvenience of it in families would at last
|
|
put an end to it and make them a law to themselves. Observe the
|
|
supposition here: If a man have two wives, it is a thousand to one but
|
|
one of them is beloved and the other hated (that is, manifestly loved
|
|
less) as Leah was by Jacob, and the effect of this cannot but be
|
|
strifes and jealousies, envy, confusion, and every evil work, which
|
|
could not but create a constant uneasiness and vexation to the husband,
|
|
and involve him both in sin and trouble. Those do much better consult
|
|
their own ease and satisfaction who adhere to God's law than those who
|
|
indulge their own lusts.
|
|
|
|
2. It shows how Providence commonly sides with the weakest, and
|
|
<I>gives more abundant honour to that part which lacked;</I> for the
|
|
first-born son is here supposed to be <I>hers that was hated;</I> it
|
|
was so in Jacob's family: because <I>the Lord saw that Leah was
|
|
hated,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+29:31">Gen. xxix. 31</A>.
|
|
|
|
The great householder wisely gives to each his dividend of comfort; if
|
|
one had the honour to be the beloved wife, it often proved that the
|
|
other had the honour to be the mother of the first-born.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. The law in this case is still binding on parents; they must give
|
|
their children their right without partiality. In the case supposed,
|
|
the eldest son, though the son of the less-beloved wife, must have his
|
|
birthright privilege, which was a double portion of the father's
|
|
estate, because he was the beginning of his strength that is, in him
|
|
his family began to be strengthened and his quiver began to be filled
|
|
with the <I>arrows of a mighty man</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+127:4">Ps. cxxvii. 4</A>),
|
|
|
|
and therefore the right of the first-born is his,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+21:16,17"><I>v.</I> 16, 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
Jacob had indeed deprived Reuben of his birthright, and given it to
|
|
Joseph, but it was because Reuben had forfeited the birthright by his
|
|
incest, not because he was the <I>son of the hated;</I> now, lest that
|
|
which Jacob did justly should be drawn into a precedent for others to
|
|
do the same thing unjustly, it is here provided that when the father
|
|
makes his will, or otherwise settled his estate, the child shall not
|
|
fare the worse for the mother's unhappiness in having less of her
|
|
husband's love, for that was not the child's fault. Note,
|
|
|
|
(1.) Parents ought to make no other difference in dispensing their
|
|
affections among their children than what they see plainly God makes in
|
|
dispensing his grace among them.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Since it is the providence of God that makes heirs, the disposal
|
|
of providence in that matter must be acquiesced in and not opposed. No
|
|
son should be abandoned by his father till he manifestly appear to be
|
|
abandoned of God, which is hard to say of any while there is life.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="De21_18"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="De21_19"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="De21_20"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="De21_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="De21_22"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="De21_23"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec4"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Punishment of a Rebellious Son; Burial of Malefactors.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1451.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>18 If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not
|
|
obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and
|
|
<I>that,</I> when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them:
|
|
19 Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and
|
|
bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of
|
|
his place;
|
|
20 And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son
|
|
<I>is</I> stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; <I>he is</I>
|
|
a glutton, and a drunkard.
|
|
21 And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones,
|
|
that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all
|
|
Israel shall hear, and fear.
|
|
22 And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be
|
|
to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree:
|
|
23 His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou
|
|
shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged <I>is</I>
|
|
accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>
|
|
thy God giveth thee <I>for</I> an inheritance.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Here is,
|
|
|
|
I. A law for the punishing of a rebellious son. Having in the former
|
|
law provided that parents should not deprive their children of their
|
|
right, it was fit that it should next be provided that children
|
|
withdraw not the honour and duty which are owing to their parents, for
|
|
there is no partiality in the divine law. Observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. How the criminal is here described. He is a <I>stubborn and
|
|
rebellious son,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+21:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
No child was to fare the worse for the weakness of his capacity, the
|
|
slowness or dulness of his understanding, but for his wilfulness and
|
|
obstinacy. If he carry himself proudly and insolently towards his
|
|
parents, contemn their authority, slight their reproofs and
|
|
admonitions, disobey the express commands they give him for his own
|
|
good, hate to be reformed by the correction they give him, shame their
|
|
family, grieve their hearts, waste their substance, and threaten to
|
|
ruin their estate by riotous living--this is a <I>stubborn and
|
|
rebellious son.</I> He is particularly supposed
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+21:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>)
|
|
|
|
to be a <I>glutton or a drunkard.</I> This intimates either,
|
|
|
|
(1.) That these were sins which his parents did in a particular manner
|
|
warn him against, and therefore that in these instances there was a
|
|
plain evidence that he did not obey their voice. Lemuel had this charge
|
|
from his mother,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+31:4">Prov. xxxi. 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
Note, In the education of children, great care should be taken to
|
|
suppress all inclinations to drunkenness, and to keep them out of the
|
|
way of temptations to it; in order hereunto they should be possessed
|
|
betimes with a dread and detestation of that beastly sin, and taught
|
|
betimes to deny themselves. Or,
|
|
|
|
(2.) That his being a <I>glutton and a drunkard</I> was the cause of
|
|
his insolence and obstinacy towards his parents. Note, There is nothing
|
|
that draws men into all manner of wickedness, and hardens them in it,
|
|
more certainly and fatally than drunkenness does. When men take to
|
|
drink they forget the law, they forget all law
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+31:5">Prov. xxxi. 5</A>),
|
|
|
|
even that fundamental law of honouring parents.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. How this criminal is to be proceeded against. His own father and
|
|
mother are to be his prosecutors,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+21:19,20"><I>v.</I> 19, 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
They might not put him to death themselves, but they must complain of
|
|
him to the elders of the city, and the complaint must needs be made
|
|
with a sad heart: <I>This our son is stubborn and rebellious.</I> Note,
|
|
Those that give up themselves to vice and wickedness, and will not be
|
|
reclaimed, forfeit their interest in the natural affections of the
|
|
nearest relations; the instruments of their being justly become the
|
|
instruments of their destruction. The children that forget their duty
|
|
must thank themselves and not blame their parents if they are regarded
|
|
with less and less affection. And, how difficult soever tender parents
|
|
now find it to reconcile themselves to the just punishment of their
|
|
rebellious children, in the day of the revelation of the righteous
|
|
judgment of God all natural affection will be so entirely swallowed up
|
|
in divine love that they will acquiesce even in the condemnation of
|
|
those children, because God will be therein for ever glorified.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. What judgment is to be executed upon him: he must publicly <I>stoned
|
|
to death by the men of his city,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+21:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>.
|
|
|
|
And thus,
|
|
|
|
(1.) The paternal authority was supported, and God, our common Father,
|
|
showed himself jealous for it, it being one of the first and most
|
|
ancient streams derived from him that is the fountain of all power.
|
|
|
|
(2.) This law, if duly executed, would <I>early destroy the wicked of
|
|
the land.</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+101:8">Ps. ci. 8</A>),
|
|
|
|
and prevent the spreading of the gangrene, by cutting off the corrupt
|
|
part betimes; for those that were bad members of families would never
|
|
make good members of the commonwealth.
|
|
|
|
(3.) It would strike an awe upon children, and frighten them into
|
|
obedience to their parents, if they would not otherwise be brought to
|
|
their duty and kept in it: <I>All Israel shall hear.</I> The Jews say,
|
|
"The elders that condemned him were to send notice of it in writing all
|
|
the nation over, <I>In such a court, such a day, we stoned such a one,
|
|
because he was a stubborn and rebellious son.</I>" And I have sometimes
|
|
wished that as in all our courts there is an exact record kept of the
|
|
condemnation of criminals, <I>in perpetuam rei memoriam--that the
|
|
memorial may never be lost,</I> so there might be public and authentic
|
|
notice given in print to the kingdom of such condemnations, and the
|
|
executions upon them, by the elders themselves, <I>in terrorem--that
|
|
all may hear and fear.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. A law for the burying of the bodies of malefactors that were
|
|
hanged,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+21:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>.
|
|
|
|
The hanging of them by the neck till the body was dead was not used at
|
|
all among the Jews, as with us; but of such as were stoned to death, if
|
|
it were for blasphemy, or some other very execrable crime, it was
|
|
usual, by order of the judges, to hang up the dead bodies upon a post
|
|
for some time, as a spectacle to the world, to express the ignominy of
|
|
the crime, and to strike the greater terror upon others, that they
|
|
might not only hear and fear, but see and fear. Now it is here provided
|
|
that, whatever time of the day they were thus hanged up, at sun-set
|
|
they should be taken down and buried, and not left to hang out all
|
|
night; sufficient (says the law) <I>to such a man is this
|
|
punishment;</I> hitherto let it go, but no further. Let the malefactor
|
|
and his crime be hidden in the grave. Now,
|
|
|
|
1. God would thus preserve the honour of human bodies and tenderness
|
|
towards the worst of criminals. The time of exposing dead bodies thus
|
|
is limited for the same reason that the number of stripes was limited
|
|
by another law: <I>Lest thy brother seem vile unto thee.</I> Punishing
|
|
beyond death God reserves to himself; as for man, there is no more that
|
|
he can do. Whether therefore the hanging of malefactors in chains, and
|
|
setting up their heads and quarters, be decent among Christians that
|
|
look for the resurrection of the body, may perhaps be worth
|
|
considering.
|
|
|
|
2. Yet it is plain there was something ceremonial in it; by the law of
|
|
Moses the touch of a dead body was defiling, and therefore dead bodies
|
|
must not be left hanging up in the country, because, by the same rule,
|
|
this would defile the land. But,
|
|
|
|
3. There is one reason here given which has reference to Christ. <I>He
|
|
that is hanged is accursed of God,</I> that is, it is the highest
|
|
degree of disgrace and reproach that can be done to a man, and
|
|
proclaims him under the curse of God as much as any external punishment
|
|
can. Those that see him thus hang between heaven and earth will
|
|
conclude him abandoned of both and unworthy of either; and therefore
|
|
let him not hang all night, for that would carry it too far. Now the
|
|
apostle, showing how Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law
|
|
by being himself made a curse for us, illustrates it by comparing the
|
|
brand here put on him that was hanged on a tree with the death of
|
|
Christ,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+3:13">Gal. iii. 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
Moses, by the Spirit, uses this phrase of being <I>accursed of God,</I>
|
|
when he means no more than being treated most ignominiously, that it
|
|
might afterwards be applied to the death of Christ, and might show that
|
|
in it he underwent the curse of the law for us, which is a great
|
|
enhancement of his love and a great encouragement to our faith in him.
|
|
And (as the excellent bishop Patrick well observes) this passage is
|
|
applied to the death of Christ, not only because he bore our sins and
|
|
was exposed to shame, as these malefactors were that were accursed of
|
|
God, but because he was in the evening taken down from the cursed tree
|
|
and buried (and that by the particular care of the Jews, with an eye to
|
|
this law,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+19:31">John xix. 31</A>),
|
|
|
|
in token that now, the guilt being removed, the law was satisfied, as
|
|
it was when the malefactor had hanged till sun-set; it demanded no
|
|
more. Then he ceased to be a curse, and those that were his. And, as
|
|
the land of Israel was pure and clean when the dead body was buried, so
|
|
the church is washed and cleansed by the complete satisfaction which
|
|
thus Christ made.</P>
|
|
|
|
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