Deu 21 | TNotes | STEP | Summary for Deut 21:1-9: 21:1-9 The guilt of murder was usually removed through the death of the murderer (19:11-13 ; Num 35:30-34 ). However, if the murderer was unknown, the guilt could still be removed by using this ritual. 21:1 In contrast to the word translated murder in the Ten Commandments (see study note on 5:17), the Hebrew verb here translated murdered (literally pierced through ) indicates clear evidence that the death was not by natural causes.

Summary for Deut 21:1-9: 21:1-9 ^a The guilt of murder was usually removed through the death of the murderer (19:11-13 ^b; Num 35:30-34 ^c). However, if the murderer was unknown, the guilt could still be removed by using this ritual. 21:1 ^d In contrast to the word translated murder in the Ten Commandments (see study note on 5:17), the Hebrew verb here translated murdered (literally pierced through) indicates clear evidence that the death was not by natural causes.
Summary for Deut 21:3-8: 21:3-8 ^e An avenger from the victim’s family (19:6-7 ^f; Num 35:16-29 ^g) could not hold the whole community responsible.
21:4 ^h The stream would be an ever-flowing (perennial) brook located in an isolated area, free of contaminants.
21:6 ⁱ wash their hands: This ancient practice asserted innocence (cp. Matt 27:24 ^j); by it the community would declare that it was not responsible for a crime committed in its vicinity.
21:12 ^k To shave her head and cut her nails demonstrated a captive woman’s separation from her home and family. She was cutting off the past to join a new family and community.
21:13 ^l To change the clothes she was wearing symbolically communicated taking on a new life and identifying with a new family.
21:14 ^m humiliated her: By first taking her prisoner and then divorcing her, a captive woman’s husband devalued her. To protect her from further disgrace, the law prohibited him from selling her as a slave or from using her as one. Instead, she must be allowed to go free.
Summary for Deut 21:15-17: 21:15-17 ⁿ The law required that a firstborn son receive the greater share of his father’s inheritance (see 21:15-16 ^o; 2 Kgs 2:9 ^p). The custom of giving the firstborn son a double portion is first recorded here but was implied in earlier practice (see Gen 25:31-34 ^q; 27:1-4 ^r; 48:8-22 ^s).

• son of his father’s virility: The eldest male child carried this distinction because he proved that the man was capable of siring children, and a boy in particular.
21:20 ^t Calling someone a glutton and a drunkard was probably a proverbial cliché suggesting self-indulgence and laziness. Such a son was a good-for-nothing who rebelled against his parents and thus also against the community and divine authority (see Prov 23:20-21 ^u).
21:22 ^v hung on a tree: This was not the method of execution, at least in this text. It was a shameful display of those already put to death for capital offenses, probably to show the Lord’s hatred of sin and to deter others who might commit such acts (see also Gen 40:19 ^w, 22 ^x; Josh 10:26 ^y; 2 Sam 4:12 ^z; 21:12 ^aa; Esth 2:23 ^ab; 7:10 ^ac).
21:23 ^ad for anyone who is hung: The Greek version reads for everyone who is hung on a tree. Cp. Gal 3:13 ^ae, which explains how this proverb applies to Jesus.

• cursed in the sight of God: Unrepentant sinners do fall under God’s judgment. However, the idea of this proverb is probably that whoever saw a person in this condition would naturally conclude that God had cursed that person, when in fact the person could have been misjudged or even lynched.