Deuteronomy 21-25 contains a miscellaneous selection of laws that are difficult to classify topically in the order in which they appear. Laws from different spheres of life are placed next to each other. Though the laws in today's Bible reading, Deuteronomy 21, seem distant to us, there is much we can learn from them.

Verses 1-9 are about murders where the murderer is not known. Because the murder has tainted the land, a sacrifice is necessary to ″purge″ the nation of ″guilt″ (v. 9). Ignoring unsolved murders would suggest that goodness is not valued, and crime is not evil. Such an attitude would dishonour the nation by lowering its standards of morality. Crime requires a serious response even when we don't know who did wrong.

Verses 10-14 restrain what victorious soldiers can do to captive women, who are often abused by soldiers. A soldier can marry the one he loves. But before that, activities are prescribed that symbolise mourning for her family, putting away her past life, and being adopted into Israelite society. Moses is not encouraging religious intermarriage, which the Bible condemns (Ezra 9:1-5), but he is approving interracial marriage with those who join the people of God. If he loses his love for her, she must have the freedom to go wherever she wants without being treated like a slave. Again, the concern is for the woman. The man must not take advantage of her and sell her as a slave.

Verses 15-17 say that the eldest son in a polygamous marriage should receive the share of the family inheritance given to the firstborn even if his mother was not the father's favourite wife. In many parts of the ancient Near East, the firstborn son received a double share of his father's property. This law was given to guard against letting favouritism and emotional feelings get the better of us when dealing with the rights of people. Polygamy was common in the ancient Near East and was tolerated in the Old Testament. But the ideal was monogamy (Genesis 2:24). The Bible often mentions the problems caused by polygamy, as here.

Deuteronomy 21:18-21 says parents should hand incorrigibly disobedient sons over to the law. They had become a threat to society and their behaviour was an affront to God's laws. Today, some parents are coerced by rebellious children to steal or beg to satisfy their addiction to drugs, alcohol, or gambling. Though difficult, the parents may need to hand over their children to the authorities (or to rehabilitation centres) so that the harm they do is forcibly stopped.

Verses 22-23 say that bodies of executed criminals (which are ceremonially unclean) should not be kept in the open overnight. The church used the statement about ″anyone who is hung on a pole [being] under God's curse″ to explain the significance of the death of Christ (Galatians 3:13). He died as a criminal because ″'He himself bore our sins' in his body on the cross″ (1 Peter 2:24). People ask, ″What kind of God would permit a father to hand over his own son for execution?″ We answer, ″The God who himself handed over His own son to be a curse for us all.″