เฉลยธรรมบัญญัติ 21:7 วิจารณ์

In this chapter provision is made, I. For the putting away of the guilt of blood from the land, when he that shed it had fled from justice (Deu 21:1-9). II. For the preserving of the honour of a captive maid (Deu 21:10-14). III. For the securing of the right of a first-born son, though he were not a favourite (Deu 21:15-17). IV. For the restraining and punishing of a rebellious son (Deu 21:18-21). V. For the maintaining of the honour of human bodies, which must not be hanged in chains, but decently buried, even the bodies of the worst malefactors (Deu 21:22, Deu 21:23).

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 21 This chapter treats of the beheading of the heifer, for the expiation of unknown murder, and the rules to be observed in it, Deu 21:1 of a beautiful captive woman an Israelite is desirous of having for his wife, and what methods he must take to accomplish it, Deu 21:10, of giving the double portion to the firstborn, which he must not be deprived of in favour of the son of a beloved wife, Deu 21:15 and of the stubborn and rebellious son, who remaining so must be put to death, Deu 21:18 and of burying a person hanged on a tree the same day he is executed, Deu 21:22.

And they shall answer and say,.... The elders of the city, at the time of the washing of their hands: our hands have not shed this blood; have been no ways concerned in it, nor accessory to it: the Targum of Jonathan is,"it is manifest before the Lord that he did not come into our hands, nor did we dismiss him, that has shed this blood;''which is more fully explained in the Misnah (y); for had they been aware of him, or had any suspicion of him or his design, they would have detained him, or at least would not have suffered him to have departed alone: neither have our eyes seen; it, or him; so the Targum of Jerusalem,"our eyes have not seen him that hath shed this blood;''by which expression is meant, that they had no manner of knowledge of the murderer, nor of any circumstance that could lead them to suspect or conclude who he was. (y) Ut supra, (Sotah. c. 9.) sect. 6.

EXPIATION OF UNCERTAIN MURDER. (Deu 21:1-9) If one be found slain . . . lying in the field, and it be not known who hath slain him--The ceremonies here ordained to be observed on the discovery of a slaughtered corpse show the ideas of sanctity which the Mosaic law sought to associate with human blood, the horror which murder inspired, as well as the fears that were felt lest God should avenge it on the country at large, and the pollution which the land was supposed to contract from the effusion of innocent, unexpiated blood. According to Jewish writers, the Sanhedrin, taking charge of such a case, sent a deputation to examine the neighborhood. They reported to the nearest town to the spot where the body was found. An order was then issued by their supreme authority to the elders or magistrates of that town, to provide the heifer at the civic expense and go through the appointed ceremonial. The engagement of the public authorities in the work of expiation, the purchase of the victim heifer, the conducting it to a "rough valley" which might be at a considerable distance, and which, as the original implies, was a wady, a perennial stream, in the waters of which the polluting blood would be wiped away from the land, and a desert withal, incapable of cultivation; the washing of the hands, which was an ancient act symbolical of innocence--the whole of the ceremonial was calculated to make a deep impression on the Jewish, as well as on the Oriental, mind generally; to stimulate the activity of the magistrates in the discharge of their official duties; to lead to the discovery of the criminal, and the repression of crime.