Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Deuteronomy 21:1 - 21:9

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Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Deuteronomy 21:1 - 21:9


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The Case of an Unknown Murder

v. 1. If one be found slain in the land which the Lord, thy God, giveth thee to possess it, somewhere out in the open, on the soil, lying in the field, where the murderer had left or dragged him, and it be not known who hath slain him,

v. 2. then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth,
namely, those of the neighboring cities and towns, the elders as the representatives of the congregation, and the judges as the exponents of law and order, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain;

v. 3. and it shall be that the city which is next unto the slain man, even the elders of that city, shall take an heifer,
a young cow, which hath not been wrought with, and which hath not drawn in the yoke, one whose strength has in no way been broken by hard work;

v. 4. and the elders of that city,
not merely because some citizen of their town would be suspected of the crime, but because blood-guiltiness was upon Israel generally, and therefore especially upon the places in the neighborhood of the murder, shall bring down the heifer unto a rough valley, a rocky gorge with a perennial stream, which is neither eared nor sown, where some barren strip was useless for agricultural purposes, and strike off the heifer's neck there in the valley, break her neck in symbolical representation of the punishment which should hare struck the murderer;

v. 5. and the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near,
some from the nearest city set aside for their residence; for them the Lord, thy God, hath chosen to minister unto Him, and to bless in the name of the Lord; and by their word, according to their advice and decision, shall every controversy and every stroke be tried, they decide the quarrels and determine when a punishment by beating should be administered, as the representatives of the Lord they receive the statement of the elders and sanction their action;

v. 6. and all the elders of that city that are next unto the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley,
as a symbolical declaration of innocence, Psa_26:6; Psa_73:13; Mat_27:24;

v. 7. and they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it,
they and their city were neither guilty of the crime, nor did they have any knowledge of its commission.

v. 8. Be merciful, O Lord, unto Thy people Israel, whom Thou hast redeemed,
namely, by leading them out of Egypt, and lay not innocent blood unto Thy people of Israel's charge, they asked the Lord to cover over the guilt of blood and not lay the murder to their charge, since they were innocent of the blood that had been shed. And the blood shall be forgiven them, that is, the murder would not be placed to their account. Thus the share of guilt cleaving to their city was expiated.

v. 9. So shalt thou put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the Lord.
Cf Num_35:33. Doing right in the sight of God included also the proper punishment of the murderer, in case he should still be apprehended, for the rite here prescribed did not clear the criminal in the sight of God. His rule is that he who sheds men's blood, by men shall his blood be shed.