Deuteronomy 21 Summary

Deuteronomy 21 opens with the ritual for an unsolved murder: the elders of the nearest city are to bring an unworked heifer to an uncultivated valley, break its neck, and wash their hands over it while declaring their innocence before the Levitical priests, so that the guilt of innocent blood may be purged from Israel. The chapter then addresses three family-related laws: an Israelite soldier who wishes to marry a female captive of war must allow her a month of mourning before the marriage, and if he later divorces her he may not sell her; a man with two wives must not deprive the firstborn son of a less-favored wife of his rightful double portion of inheritance; and a persistently stubborn and rebellious son who refuses all parental correction is to be brought before the city elders and, if condemned, stoned to death so that evil is removed from the community. The chapter closes with the rule that the body of an executed criminal hanged on a tree must be buried the same day, for such a hanged man is accursed of God and leaving the body overnight would defile the land.