Deuteronomy 21:9

_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...

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....

SO SHALT THOU PUT AWAY THE GUILT OF INNOCENT BLOOD FROM AMONG YOU,.... Which otherwise, the person not being found out, and brought to just punishment for it, would devolve upon the whole. Aben Ezra interprets it the punishment of innocent blood, which, by the above method being taken, would not be inflicted on them: WHEN THOU SHALT DO THAT WHICH IS RIGHT IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD; as it was to observe this law concerning the beheading of the heifer, with all the rites and ceremonies belonging to it here enjoined; as well as every other command, statute, and ordinance of the Lord, which are all right to be done, Psalms 19:8....

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;...

PUT AWAY, &C. See note on Deuteronomy 13:5. GUILT OF INNOCENT BLOOD. blood-guiltiness, blood being put for guilt. See note on Deuteronomy 21:8....

_So shalt thou put away_ Heb. _and thou, thou shalt put away_, an emphatic variation of the formula with which D usually closes similar laws (see Deuteronomy 13:5, (6), Deuteronomy 19:13, etc.), as if he only now resumed his own words. _when thou shalt do_, etc.] To make the construction right we should prefix to this clause, the words _that it may be well with thee_. See Deuteronomy 6:18....

_VER._ 9. _SO SHALT THOU PUT AWAY THE GUILT OF INNOCENT BLOOD_— Till this was done, the guilt was to be looked upon as national; but upon this solemn performance the government was deemed to have discharged its duty, and the nation was cleared of all guilt in the matter. This law, we see, made provision to purify a neighbouring city, and in a solemn manner by their magistrates, from any knowledge of a murder in which they had no hand, and to which they were no way privy; to keep up an abhorrence of the crime, and a care to prevent or detest it: in which particular it is remarkable that no ancient lawgiver has been more exact than Moses. The Greeks had some good rules respecting this matter; and Plato, in particular, ordered, that, "upon the finding a murdered body, public declaration should be made, that the murderer (if he could not be discovered) should banish himself immediately from...

(b) Expiation for an Unknown Murderer's Crime (Deuteronomy 21:1-9) If one be found slain in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee to possess it, lying in the field, and it be not known who hath smitten him; 2 then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain: 3 and it shall be, that the city which is nearest unto the slain man, even the elders _of_ that city shall take a heifer of the herd, which hath not been wrought with, and which hath not drawn in the yoke; 4 and the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley. 5 And the priests the son of Levi shall come near; for them Jehovah thy God hath chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of Jehovah; and accordi