Deuteronomy 21:3

_THEN THY ELDERS AND THY JUDGES SHALL COME FORTH, AND THEY SHALL MEASURE UNTO THE CITIES WHICH ARE ROUND ABOUT HIM THAT IS SLAIN:_ No JFB commentary on these verses....

1-9 If a murderer could not be found out, great solemnity is provided for putting away the guilt from the land, as an expression of dread and detesting of that sin. The providence of God has often wonderfully brought to light these hidden works of darkness, and the sin of the guilty has often strangely found them out. The dread of murder should be deeply impressed upon every heart, and all should join in detecting and punishing those who are guilty. The elders were to profess that they had not been any way aiding or abetting the sin. The priests were to pray to God for the country and nation, that God would be merciful. We must empty that measure by our prayers, which others are filling by their sins. All would be taught by this solemnity, to use the utmost care and diligence to prevent, discover, and punish murder. We may all learn from hence to take heed of partaking in other men's sin...

The requirements as regards place and victim are symbolic. The heifer represented the murderer, so far at least as to die in his stead, since he himself could not be found. As hearing his guilt the heifer must therefore be one which was of full growth and strength, and had not yet been ceremonially profaned by human use. The Christian commentators find here a type of Christ and of His sacrifice for man: but the heifer was not strictly a sacrifice or sin-offering. The transaction was rather figurative, and was so ordered as to impress the lesson of Genesis 9:5....

EXPOSITION EXPIATION OF UNCERTAIN MURDER. TREATMENT OF A CAPTIVE TAKEN TO WIFE. RIGHTS OF THE FIRSTBORN. A REBELLIOUS, REFRACTORY SON TO BE JUDGED AND PUNISHED. A MALEFACTOR WHO HAS BEEN HANGED TO BE BURIED ERE NIGHTFALL. One general idea, viz. the sacredness of human life and of personal rights, connects the laws in this chapter together, as well as connects them with the laws in the two preceding chapters....

AND IT SHALL BE, THAT THE CITY WHICH IS NEXT UNTO THE SLAIN MAN,.... And so suspected, as the Targum of Jonathan, of the murder; or the murderer is in it, or however belonged to it: EVEN THE ELDERS OF THE CITY SHALL TAKE AN HEIFER; of a year old, as the same Targum, and so Jarchi; and in this the Jewish writers agree, that it must be a year old, but not two; though heifers of three years old were sometimes used in sacrifice, Genesis 15:9 a type of Christ, in his strength, laboriousness, and patience; see Numbers 19:2 WHICH HATH NOT BEEN WROUGHT WITH; in ploughing land, or treading out corn: AND WHICH HATH NOT DRAWN IN THE YOKE, which never had any yoke put upon it; or however, if attempted to be put upon it, it would not come under it, and draw with it

17. THE EXPIATION OF AN UNCERTAIN MURDER AND VARIOUS INSTRUCTIONS CHAPTER 21 _ 1. The expiation of an unknown murder (Deuteronomy 21:1)_ 2. Concerning a wife, who had been a prisoner of war (Deuteronomy 21:10) 3. The right of the firstborn (Deuteronomy 21:15) 4. The punishment of a rebellious son (Deuteronomy 21:18) 5. The burial of one who hanged on a tree (Deuteronomy 21:22) The expiation of an unknown murder seems to find an interesting applicati

See W. R. Smith, _Kinship_ 1 p. 263 (= 64f. in _Kinship_ 2) for a similar law among the ancient Arabs. The ground of this law may be the belief that, until avenged or atoned for, a murdered man's blood defiles a land and its people. Note the idea that the community (here the nearest town) is responsible for the act of an individual. The conception of individual responsibility becomes specially prominent in Jeremiah 31:29; Ezekiel 14:12 ff., Ezekiel 18:2 f. The solidarity of the family, tribe, and nation had been emphasized in early writings, the whole suffering for the sins of each one; see Deuteronomy 13:7;...

MAN. Hebrew. _'ish._ See App-14....

_and it shall be_, etc.] Lit. _and it shall be_as regards _the city which … that the elders of that city shall take_, etc. Similar construction in Deuteronomy 12:11; Deuteronomy 18:19. _an heifer of the herd_ 1 Samuel 16:2; Genesis 15:9 (_a three year old_) for sacrifice. _which hath not been wrought with_ Heifers were used for work, Judges 14:18; Hosea 10:11;...

_VER._ 3. _SHALL TAKE AN HEIFER_— If two cities happened to be equidistant from the dead body, then they joined together to provide this heifer, which might be of three years old....