Modern society is against cruel and unusual punishment. That is fine. However, our concept of cruel and unusual punishment defines almost any punishment as cruel. In today’s Scripture reading, we will read Yahweh’s definition of cruel and unusual punishment. His limit is harsher than ours. This should prompt us to reexamine our attitudes toward crime and punishment.
When we stopped reading yesterday, Moses was telling Israel how to provide for widows and orphans. If they forgot a sheaf of grain when they brought the harvest in from the field, they were not to go back and get it. Instead, they were to leave it for those in need. Likewise, when they beat the olive tree to make the olives fall to the ground, they were not to go over the limbs to get olives that did not fall. Those were also for the poor and needy.
Deut. 24:21 ¶ “When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it after you finish; it shall be for the sojourner, for the orphan, and for the widow.
This was a third way to provide for the unfortunate among them.
Deut. 24:22 And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I am commanding you to do this thing.
Notice the word “remember”. Moses said this multiple times in his discourse. Since the Israelites had been slaves in Egypt and had been mistreated, they were not to mistreat others. Instead, they were to do good to those who were vulnerable.
This is in line with teachings that Jesus gave us. He said, “Treat others the same way you want them to treat you” (Luke 6:31).
This is the opposite of what humans naturally want to do. Humans typically want to get revenge and treat others the way they were treated.
Deut. 25:1 ¶ “If there is a dispute between men and they go to court for judgment, and the judges judge their case, and they justify the righteous and condemn the wicked,
Deut. 25:2 then it shall be if the wicked man deserves to be struck, the judge shall then make him lie down and be struck in his presence with the number of stripes according to his guilt.
Deut. 25:3 He may strike him forty times but no more, lest he strike him with many more stripes than these and your brother be dishonored in your eyes.
Look at the word “dishonored”. Moses said more than forty strikes were excessive. That means anything less than forty strikes was not excessive and would not dishonor a man. Moses essentially defined cruel and unusual punishment as anything over 40 strikes.
Modern society is against cruel and unusual punishment. Unfortunately, our society’s definition of cruel and unusual punishment defines almost any punishment as cruel and unusual. Thus, many criminals are never truly punished for their crimes. That means there is no deterrent to committing crime.
Modern society would have a lot less crime if our concept of cruel and unusual punishment were closer to Yahweh’s definition of cruel and unusual punishment.
Deut. 25:4 ¶ “You shall not muzzle the ox while it is threshing.
There are several passages in the Mosaic Law which express concern for the welfare of animals. The fourth commandment about resting on the Sabbath was given to allow animals to rest as well as people (see Exodus 20:10). When they encountered an animal in distress, they were to help it, even when it belonged to their adversary (see Exodus 23:5).
This verse in chapter 25 simply acknowledges that it would have been cruel to prevent an ox from eating grain when it had grain right in front of it.
Deut. 25:5 ¶ “If brothers live together and one of them dies and has no son, then the wife of the one who died shall not be married outside the family to a strange man. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her and take her to himself as wife and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her.
To the best of my knowledge, this is the only passage in the Bible where this practice was commanded. Genesis 38 shows the practice existed in the days of the patriarchs. The book of Ruth illustrates what this looked like in real life.
Notice the word “brothers”. Leviticus 18:16 prohibited men from uncovering the nakedness of their brother’s wife, but this was a different situation.
Look at the words “live together”. There is no explanation regarding what was to happen if the brothers did not live together.
Don’t miss the words “no son”. This was only to take place when the deceased did not have a son.
Deut. 25:6 And it will be that the firstborn whom she bears shall assume the name of his dead brother, so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.
Deut. 25:7 But if the man does not desire to take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall go up to the gate to the elders and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to raise up a name for his brother in Israel; he is not willing to perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’
Deut. 25:8 Then the elders of his city shall summon him and speak to him. And if he stands and says, ‘I do not desire to take her,’
Deut. 25:9 then his brother’s wife shall come to him in the sight of the elders and pull his sandal off his foot and spit in his face; and she shall answer and say, ‘Thus it is done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.’
Deut. 25:10 And in Israel his name shall be called, ‘The house of him whose sandal is removed.’
Deut. 25:11 ¶ “If two men, a man and his brother, are struggling together, and the wife of one comes near to deliver her husband from the hand of the one who is striking him, and she puts out her hand and seizes his genitals,
Deut. 25:12 then you shall cut off her hand; you shall not show pity.
Ponder the words “you shall not show pity”. There were no second chances in this. The first offense carried severe consequences.
Deut. 25:13 ¶ “You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a large and a small.
Deut. 25:14 You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small.
Deut. 25:15 You shall have a full and just weight; you shall have a full and just measure, that your days may be prolonged in the land which Yahweh your God gives you.
Honesty was a strict requirement.
Deut. 25:16 For everyone who does these things, everyone who acts unjustly, is an abomination to Yahweh your God.
Take note of the word “abomination”. Dishonesty was an abomination.
Deut. 25:17 ¶ “Remember what Amalek did to you along the way when you came out from Egypt,
Deut. 25:18 how he met you along the way and attacked among you all the stragglers at your rear, but you were faint and weary; and he did not fear God.
This is recorded in Exodus 17. This was the occasion when Israel prevailed as long as Moses had his hands up. After the battle, Yahweh promised to blot out Amalek (see Exodus 17:14).
Deut. 25:19 Therefore it will be, when Yahweh your God has given you rest from all your surrounding enemies, in the land which Yahweh your God gives you as an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you must not forget.
Around 400 years after Moses said this, Yahweh instructed King Saul to strike Amalek. Yahweh’s instructions referenced what Amalek did to Israel when Israel left Egypt (see 1 Samuel 15).
Modern society is so obsessed with avoiding cruel and unusual punishment that we don’t really punish criminals anymore. That has resulted in an explosion of crime.
Yahweh allowed men to be struck up to 40 times. How much less crime would we have if criminals knew they ran the risk of being struck 40 times?
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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”