Albert Barnes Commentary Deuteronomy 21
Albert Barnes Commentary
Deuteronomy 21
Albert Barnes Commentary
Deuteronomy 21
"then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain:" — Deuteronomy 21:2 (ASV)
The elders represented the citizens at large, the judges the magistracy: priests (Deuteronomy 21:5) from the nearest priestly town were likewise to be at hand. Thus, all classes would be represented at the purging away of that blood-guiltiness which, until removed, attached to the whole community.
"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;" — Deuteronomy 21:3 (ASV)
The requirements regarding the place and victim are symbolic. The heifer represented the murderer, at least to the extent that it died in his place, since he himself could not be found. As bearing his guilt, the heifer therefore had to be one of full growth and strength, and one that had not yet been ceremonially profaned by human use.
Christian commentators find here a type of Christ and His sacrifice for humanity. However, the heifer was not strictly a sacrifice or sin-offering. The transaction was rather figurative and was designed to impress the lesson of Genesis 9:5.
"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." — Deuteronomy 21:4 (ASV)
Eared - that is, plowed; compare Genesis 45:6 note and references. The word is derived from the Latin, and is in frequent use by English writers of the fifteenth and two following centuries.
Strike off the heifer’s neck - Rather, “break its neck” . The mode of killing the victim distinguishes this lustration from the sin-offering, in which there would be of course shedding and sprinkling of the blood.
"When thou goest forth to battle against thine enemies, and Jehovah thy God delivereth them into thy hands, and thou carriest them away captive," — Deuteronomy 21:10 (ASV)
The regulations which now follow in the rest of this and throughout the next chapter bring out the sanctity of various personal rights and relations fundamental to human life and society.
(Deuteronomy 21:10–14). The war supposed here is one against the neighboring nations after Israel had utterly destroyed the Canaanites , and taken possession of their land.
"then thou shalt bring her home to thy house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails;" — Deuteronomy 21:12 (ASV)
Shaving the head (a customary sign of purification, Leviticus 14:8; Numbers 8:7), and the putting away of the garment of her captivity, were designed to signify the translation of the woman from the state of a pagan and a slave to that of a wife among the covenant-people. Consistency required that she should pare (dress, compare 2 Samuel 19:24), not suffer to grow, her nails; and thus, as far as possible, lay aside everything belonging to her condition as an alien.
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