This chapter pertains to five unique circumstances:

1. .1-9 Finding a dead body in a field;
2. .10-14 Taking a captive wife;

• .15-17 Dealing with inheritance issues;

1. .18-21 Dealing with a stubborn and rebellious son;
2. .22-23 Hanging the dead body of a criminal on a tree

These are unique circumstances for which Moses provides guidelines or regulations for the Israelites to follow. Such things would happen occasionally in the PL, so Moses told the people what to do in such cases.

Obviously, we don’t have to deal with these circumstances. We don’t generally deal with dead bodies; we don’t take wives from captivity; we are not obligated to give our firstborn sons a double portion of the inheritance; we don’t stone rebellious children to death; we don’t hang criminals’ bodies on trees.

It’s an important rule of Bible interpretation that we must consider who the original audience was for these regulations. This was meant for the nation of Israel living in the PL. These are the kinds of circumstances that they might encounter.

Do these five situations have anything in common? I believe that the common theme within each of these situations is the necessity of putting away evil from Israel. In each case, the potential for evil is great. So in each case, Israel must choose to put away evil and do what is right in God’s sight.

Cf. vs. 9 and vs. 21b. These regulations help Israel put away evil and do what is right in the sight of the Lord.

All of us should be interested in reducing the evil in our lives and in doing what is right in God’s sight. Each one of these cases shows how to put away evil and do right. These verses contain some timeless principles that we can apply in our lives on a practical level.