What would the ancient world have been like if God had not given his laws? Most of them were given in response to real life situations and they were mostly to protect human rights. God wanted order and accountability, not reckless behavior toward vulnerable members of society.

God didn’t give very many laws about good farming or wise business practices, and almost nothing about investing for the future. The rich and powerful already had ways of governing themselves for their mutual benefit.

But there were many laws regarding how to treat women, slaves, and the poor. God stood up for those people whom the rich and powerful regarded as property. And he attached strong penalties for those who disrupted society by hurting those people.

Marrying a Captive Woman 

Deuteronomy 21:10-14

Women who were taken captive in a battle were regarded as property. If a man noticed a beautiful woman and wanted to marry her, he could take her home, but he had to treat her with respect. She shaved her head, trimmed her nails and put away her normal clothes while she mourned for the home and family she had lost.

After one month, the man could marry her. If the marriage didn’t work out, she was free to go wherever she wished. Her husband could not sell her or reduce her to slave status.

This law only applied to women who did not practice the idolatry of Canaan. God’s demand that idolaters be wiped out meant that no Canaanite woman could become the wife of an Israelite.

Justice for the First Born

Deuteronomy 21:15-17

Polygamy was not part of God’s plan, but because it existed he made laws for the people it impacted. If a man had two wives, and loved one but didn’t love the other, he had to respect the legal birth order of their children.

If the unloved wife gave birth to his first son, that son became his heir. He could not promote the son of the wife he loved ahead of the legitimate heir. No matter how he felt, he had to give the firstborn son a double share of his estate.

Deception in Marriage 

Deuteronomy 22:13-21

Israelite men generally expected to marry virgin women. The proof of virginity was captured on a cloth on the wedding night and handed over to the bride’s parents for safekeeping. If a man wanted out of the marriage, and accused his wife of lying about her virginity, the parents could meet him in court with their proof. If he was the one who lied, he paid a 100 shekel fine to his father-in-law for dishonoring the family.

If the woman did lie about her virginity, she was supposed to be taken to her father’s house and stoned to death by the men of her town. Her crime was promiscuity while growing up in her father’s home. God didn’t want that evil going on in Israel.

Girls in Israel lived under the guardianship of their fathers, mothers, brothers and other extended family members until they were married. They were well known by the people of their towns and they married very young. There would not have been very many promiscuous girls in Israel.

Extra-Marital Affairs 

Deuteronomy 22:22-28

If a man committed adultery with a married woman, it was a crime worthy of death for both participants. If a man seduced an engaged girl and she didn’t resist him, they also were considered adulterers and faced the death penalty.

If a man had sex with an unmarried girl against her will, he was guilty and the death penalty was applied, but the girl was not charged with any crime. A rape was considered to be as serious as a murderous attack.

If a man seduced a girl and it was discovered, he had to pay her father a bride price of fifty shekels and marry her. He could never divorce her.

No man was allowed to marry his father’s wife under any circumstances.

Other Laws for Marriage 

Deuteronomy 24:1-5, 25:5-10

If a man became unhappy with his wife and had good cause to send her away, he had to write her a certificate of divorce. If she married again, but was divorced or widowed in the second marriage, she could not return to her first husband. It was detestable to God that marriage would be treated like a carousel of relationships.

A man who was recently married was excused from military service for a year. He was expected to spend that time bringing happiness to his new wife.

A woman who was widowed without children was expected to remain in her husband’s family and marry his brother. Her first son in the second marriage carried on her dead husband’s name.

If her brother-in-law refused to marry her, he was publicly disgraced when she took off one of his sandals in the presence of the elders, and spit in his face. After that his family was known as The Family of the Unsandaled.

God’s Justice for Women

We may think that some of these laws are primitive or quaint, but imagine life for women without them. What if there were no protections for unmarried girls and no defense against false accusations by angry husbands? What if all young, childless widows could be cast out by their husband’s families?

God’s laws provided justice for women in a time when women were considered to be hardly more than property by men.

Dealing with a Rebellious Son 

Deuteronomy 21:18-21

A wayward son could bring as much grief to a family as a promiscuous daughter, and the penalty was the same. The men of the town could stone to death a son who was disobedient, stubborn, rebellious, and a glutton and drunkard.

His parents had to be the ones who brought him to the elders and that probably didn’t happen very often. It was a disgrace to have raised such a son, and it was extremely hard to hand one’s son over for that kind of punishment.

Various Other Regulations

There are a lot of miscellaneous laws and pieces of advice in the rest of Deuteronomy 21 – 25. Here are a few examples.

God didn’t want Israelites to be disgraced when they were punished. If an executed person’s body was hung up on display as a lesson to others, it must be buried the same day he died. If a person was flogged as punishment, the strokes were limited to forty.

People were to rescue stray livestock and try to return them to their owners. If they came across a fallen animal, they should help it back to its feet. A person who liked bird’s eggs as a delicacy, should let the mother bird live so she could nest again.

If someone built a new house with room on the roof for entertaining guests, they should build a wall around it so no one fell off.

When the army was in the field, they were to build a latrine for sanitation. God was with them out there and he didn’t want to come across anything indecent in the camp.

When a person walked through a vineyard they could eat a few grapes, but not fill a basket to take home. Nor should they take a scythe to someone else’s grain. If they were hungry, they could eat a handful of kernels as they passed by.

Instructions From a Good Father

Are you someone who likes knowing the rules? What do you think life would be like if people didn’t  follow some of these basic regulations?

God gave many other regulations that seem like common sense to us now, but imagine if no one had practiced of them. The Lord was a good father who instructed his people well and told them they would prosper if they kept these laws.