Deuteronomy 20:8-21:21
We learn here that there is no use seeking the help of those who are not whole-hearted in serving the Lord, for their very presence will only be a hindrance. Paul saw this in Acts 15:38 when he refused to take John Mark with them on a missionary tour because he had turned back previously. May we ever follow the wisdom of God’s Word in these things, for His glory as well as for our own good and blessing.
In warfare, when they came against a city, they were first to proclaim peace to it. Then if the inhabitants refused to make peace, they were to fight and capture the city, killing all the men in it. If it were one of the cities of the land which the Lord had given them, against which they were fighting, they were to utterly destroy it, lest they should learn some of the evil ways of the people, for if we keep just a little of the world near us, it will soon lead us astray. Let us be watchful about the little things!
They were not to destroy the fruit trees in their warfare, for God had given them for food. It is never right to be willfully destructive of what God has given.
No Passing Over Sin
If a person was found dead, and no one knew who did it, then the city which was nearest to the place of the crime was to be held responsible. The elders and judges of the city were to take a heifer which had never been under a yoke, and bring it to a rough valley. There they were to cut off the heifer’s neck, and then wash their hands over its dead body, while the priests, and Levites, looked on. They were to declare their innocence in the matter, and ask God to be merciful to them and forgive them. There was to be no passing over sin, or lightness about the seriousness of it.
These instructions remind us so forcibly of the One — the guiltless One — whom the Jews put to death. Then after they had done it, they tried to excuse themselves (Acts 5:28). But God cannot pass over sin — it must be judged. Either the guilty one must die or a substitute must die in his stead, and so the heifer died in the place of the guilty man here. What a picture of the Lord Jesus, the One who was never under the yoke of sin, but who died that we, the guilty ones, might go free! What a “rough valley” it was for Him, as He became our sin-bearer upon Calvary’s cross! In matchless grace He put down Israel’s sin as a sin of ignorance (Luke 23:34; Acts 3:17), and therefore all those who call out for mercy, as the elders did here, will be forgiven and brought into blessing. Have you called out for mercy? Are you under the shelter of the blood of the Substitute whom God has provided?
Relationship Between Parents and Children
In all the people’s dealings there was to be the fullest consideration for others, and no one was to be abused. They were not to show any favoritism as parents, but to give the right of the firstborn to the one whose it was.
If, however, a man had a stubborn and rebellious son who would not obey his father or his mother, even when punished, he was to be brought to the elders of the city. The parents were then to tell before them all about his naughtiness, and then all the men of the city were to stone him to death for his stubbornness. How awfully solemn this is! If there is anyone reading these lines who is showing a stubborn and rebellious attitude to his or her parents, is this not a warning to you?
Further Meditations
1. What were the children of Israel to do when they came against a city?
2. Describe how the Israelites refused to pass over sin in the case of Achan in Joshua 7.
3. The subject of holiness and dealing with sin is often misunderstood. You might gain a deeper understanding of it by reading Holiness and Communion by C. H. Mackintosh.