2 Corinthians 5:17

Deut. 21:10-14. The gospel in taking a wife from the captives.

POST OVERVIEW. A careful exegesis of Deuteronomy 21:10-14 reveals that the gospel of Jesus Christ is foreshadowed here.

(Scriptures covered: 1 Pet. 1:1; 2:10; 3:4, 5; Eph. 2:12-13; 4:19; 2 Cor. 5:17; Rom. 6:3, 4; Phil. 3:19, 20-21; 1 John 3:2; Rev. 7:9; 20:11-15)

Deuteronomy repeats much of the Law that has been revealed in Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, but the book also adds laws that are only declared in Deuteronomy. In Deut. 21:10-14, we encounter one such law as Moses gives instructions about the lawful procedure for taking a wife from a captive people. As I read and re-read this passage carefully, I began to see in this situation and in these procedures a clear foreshadowing of the gospel.

BEGINNING AND ENDING SITUATIONS. The law in Deut. 21 concerns what happens when Israel defeats its enemies in battle. When the LORD delivers an enemy into Israel’s hands, the enemy will be made captive. Now, among the captive people there is a beautiful woman. This woman is an orphaned (21:13) member of a defeated people, a people who do not know the LORD. She has no reason for hope. Yet by the end of this short passage, the woman has a husband and has been enfolded into the covenant people of the LORD. When we see such a turn of events in the Scripture, we should sit up and pay attention and see if there might be hidden here a picture of the gospel of our salvation.

We will explore several New Testament passages to see the gospel here.

FROM GODLESS PEOPLE TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD

1 Peter 2:10a. Peter says of those who reside as aliens (1:1; figurative for all disciples of Jesus), “you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God.” The woman is part of an unnamed people who have been defeated and made captive to Israel. She is part of “not a people.” Her people have no laws, they have no tabernacle, they have no knowledge of the LORD. They have no past and they have no future. They are a people who are “not a people.”

And so are we before we know the Lord Jesus. No matter what Genealogy.com tells us about our ancestors, we are part of “not a people.” We have no glorious past and we have no idea of our future. We are “not a people” heading nowhere. But then the Lord calls us by His grace and we are made part of the people of God. Now we are part of the covenant people. We are now those who will be gathered around the throne praising the Lamb (Rev. 7:9f) rather than those who will be cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:11-15).

In Deut. 21, the woman once was not a people, but now she was part of the people of God. In the gospel, this is our story as well.

FROM NO MERCY TO IMMENSE MERCY

1 Peter 2:10b. “You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” The beautiful captive woman in Deut. 21 was a part of a conquered people. Beautiful women who are part of a conquered people do not anticipate mercy from their conquerors. So this woman expected the worst. Defeated people receive the consequences of being defeated. In these situations, being beautiful was a curse. But instead of abuse and humiliation, she is adopted into the midst of the conquering people. Instead of the shameful treatment usually given to conquered women, she becomes the wife of one of the people of the LORD. She had not received mercy, but now she has received immense mercy.

And so it is with everyone who has come to faith in Jesus. Before we know Jesus as Lord, we are among the condemned, justly deserving the LORD’s wrath. We are guilty of the crimes of which we are accused and expect to receive a just recompense for those crimes. But instead of the judgment we deserve, we hear the amazing words of the grace of God contained in the gospel. From the ranks of the condemned we are raised to new life, are cleansed from our filthy sins and are adopted into the kingdom as members of the true church, the bride of Christ.

FROM EXCLUDED, HOPELESS STRANGERS TO WASHED AND SANCTIFIED SAINTS

Ephesians 2:12-13.

12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

In her captive state, the beautiful woman was “separate from Christ.” She had no knowledge of a Messiah or a Savior. Her people were separated from the Holy One of Israel. No connection. She was “excluded from the commonwealth of Israel.” She was not a Hebrew and therefore could not enter into the covenant with the LORD. She was not just separated from Christ by her ignorance, but she was excluded from Israel because of her people of birth. She was a Gentile, and so she was excluded from Israel. And she was a “stranger to the covenants of promise.” Because Israel was in the covenant with the LORD, they had access to all the amazing promises that the LORD has given to His people, but this captive woman had never heard one single promise from the LORD. She was a stranger to all the riches of the LORD’s grace. She knew nothing about forgiveness, salvation, joy, fellowship, holiness, grace, mercy, hope or peace. As a captive these were beyond her imagination. She had no hope and was without God in the world.

But when she was chosen out of the captives and brought into the house of the covenant people and had been cleansed from her former uncleanness and had been given a new identity, then she had been brought near to the LORD.

And this is exactly our story, for in this passage in Ephesians 2, Paul is writing to Gentiles like you and me. We were separate from Christ and we had no hope and were without God in this world. But then the Lord brought the gospel to our ears and He graciously chose to open our hearts to Christ and to His salvation (Acts 16:14). Spiritually He brought us into His house and shaved our head and trimmed our nails (Deut. 21:12). We removed the old filthy clothes of our old life (Zech. 3:3-5; Col. 3:9) so that “we were washed, we were sanctified, we were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11).

NEW IDENTITY

2 Cor. 5:17. “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” Formerly this woman identified with a rejected, outcast people who “did not know God and were slaves to those which by nature are no gods” (Gal. 4:8). Her past identity was full of superstition and idol-worship and confusion; peace and joy and hope were not even possibilities. But then she was taken captive by someone who followed the LORD and her past identity was put to death and forgotten. Notice that she shall “mourn her father and mother a full month” (Deut. 21:13). This period of time is given for her old identity to die. This mourning indicates that her old life and her old identity are irretrievably gone. The mourning punctuates closure and finality. Mourning here serves the same purpose as burial. Whatever is appropriately mourned will never come back again. “The old things passed away.” But now a new life replaces the old life, the life of a member of the people of the LORD. Now she identifies with the covenant people of God who enjoy His blessings and hold to His promises. Her new identity includes hope, joy, and peace and now she can be among “the holy women who hoped in God” and “adorn themselves with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit” (1 Peter 3:4, 5).

Again, this picture is a foreshadow of what we who worship Jesus have received in Christ. Before we knew Jesus as Lord, our identity was to “glory in our shame and to set our minds on earthly things” (Phil. 3:19). We were trapped in a life of “giving ourselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness” (Eph. 4:19). We had been born in Adam, our failed federal head, who had given us our slavery to sin. We carried the guilt of sin and wore the label of “sinner.” Our identity was a shameful identity, yet there seemed to be no escape. “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24). It seemed that the only out was our death.

“I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death” (Romans 6:4a). “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?” (Rom. 6:3). Since the only way out of our trap was to bring about our death so that we could rise again to “walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4c), the Lord made our death possible through the gospel. “Now if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we will also be in the likeness of His resurrection” (Rom. 6:5). The old things of sin and shame have passed away and, in the future, we have been promised an eternal glorified body with which to worship Jesus forever (Phil. 3:20-21; 1 John 3:2).

SUMMARY

One of the delights of carefully and thoughtfully reading the Old Testament is the discovery of these foretastes of the gospel sprinkled throughout. We have seen that in Deuteronomy 21:10-14, in this story about the law of marrying a beautiful captive, the gospel is displayed in the mercy that this woman received and also in her new identity with the privileged people of God.

Soli Deo gloria            rmb                 12/26/2023                 #686

Eager to obey the voice of the Master

While I was walking in my neighborhood, I passed a man sitting on a bench in his yard. About ten feet away from the man was his dog, a German Shepherd. To the casual observer, the dog appeared to be doing nothing at all, but I sensed that the dog was actually waiting for a command from the man, his master. Although apparently relaxed, the German Shepherd had its ears cocked and tuned to any utterance from its master, ready at any instant to do whatever was commanded. As I thought about that, I realized that the dog is made for no other purpose than to obey a master. This German Shepherd has no goal in life and, by itself, no inherent reason for existence. But when the dog has a master who commands the dog for the master’s pleasure, then the dog has a purpose.

THE NEED FOR A MASTER

As I contemplated these things, I began to see that the life of every person is similar to life of a dog in this sense, that as the dog seeks a master to give its life meaning, so the human being is adrift in the world until he submits to God to direct his life. We have been created to serve our great God and to obey His commands.

MAN, THE HIGHEST CREATURE

Now, to some, this sounds preposterous and maybe a little insulting. Man is the highest of the creatures on the earth, the only one created in God’s image. Man has intellect and volition and is able to comprehend both the future and the past. Man has been able to accomplish phenomenal things in every conceivable field of endeavor. And all of that is remarkable and certainly sets man apart from the rest of the creation.

MAN, THE MORAL CREATURE

But the fundamental difference between human beings and the rest of the created order is not man’s intellect but is man’s morality. Man is the only creature that is morally aware, so that man is responsible to God for his moral judgments and his actions. He has been created by a holy God to obey His Creator’s commandments and to live in harmony with his holy God and to enjoy fellowship with Him forever. When a man submits to God as his Master, then that man has peace and purpose.

MAN, THE FALLEN CREATURE

Now, we know that most human beings do not submit to God as their Master. This is because man is a fallen creature and has rebelled against God. Man is born as a sinner and therefore refuses to submit to God. The natural man rejects God as his Master and instead chooses to do whatever he wants to do. In this sense, then, natural man is similar to the German Shepherd without a master. Both have a life without purpose.

REDEEMED MAN, THE BORN AGAIN CREATION

But there is good news! For even though man is born into this world as a sinner and as a rebel against God, he can be born again and can be made into a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). In the analogy with the German Shepherd, as the dog can find a master and be trained to obey him, so a human being can believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and can obey Him as Master. The person who submits to and obeys Jesus Christ is a person who has found meaning and usefulness in this life and eternal life in the world to come.

Here are some illustrations of how this analogy might work.

A dog who has submitted to a master and is well-trained does not evaluate the commands of the master. The dog simply obeys the master’s command as issued and leaves the reason for the command up to the master. In other words, the dog does not need to understand the reason for the command to obey it.

In the same way, the disciple of Jesus should not evaluate the commands of the Lord or delay obedience until they understand the reasons for the commands. They should be as Abraham when he was told to take Isaac to Moriah to sacrifice him there (Genesis 22:1). Abraham obeyed, even though he could not have understood why the LORD would give him such a command. The disciple of Jesus obeys by faith, even if they don’t understand.

As I have already argued, a dog’s life is relatively useless without a master to give it direction, but with a master who will train the dog, the dog can be very useful.

In the same way, a man is relatively useless until he is called to salvation. In fact, often without the Lord’s call a person’s life is destructive and negative and worse than useless. In Matthew 20:1-15, in the parable of the workers in the vineyard, the owner of the vineyard goes repeatedly to the marketplace where the workers are just standing around doing nothing. This is an illustration of our life before we know Jesus as Lord and Savior. No matter our labors before Christ, we are simply standing idle in the marketplace. But once we are figuratively hired and sent out to labor in the vineyard, then our lives are useful as we produce fruit for the Kingdom.

The dog who is properly trained by its master seeks only the approval of its master. It may be friendly to other people, but its primary motivation is to please its master.

In the same way, the disciple of Jesus who has submitted to Christ seeks the approval of Christ above all things. His primary aim is to hear from the Lord, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21).

The trained German Shepherd waits for its master’s commands. Remember the dog on the lawn beside its master. Even though apparently at rest, the dog was actually in focused anticipation for any command from its master.

In the same way, the disciple of Jesus eagerly reads the word of God so that he may know the commands of the Lord. The trained disciple seeks the Lord’s commands so that he may eagerly obey.

When the trained dog hears the voice of its master, it goes from dead still to obedient action in a moment. Just so, when the trained disciple discerns the voice of the Lord, he moves into action without hesitation.

A dog that has been properly trained will attempt to obey the master’s command, even if that obedience results in the dog’s death. For the dog with a master, obeying its master is more important than life itself.

Likewise, the disciple of Jesus joyfully obeys the Lord regardless of the circumstances. This is captured in the words of the apostle Paul, “For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).

SDG                 rmb                 11/19/2021                 #457