“If, in the land Adonai your God is giving you to possess, a murder victim is found lying in the countryside; and the perpetrator of the murder is not known; then your leaders and judges are to go out and measure the distance between it and the surrounding towns.”-Deuteronomy 21:1-2
From today, we’re going to begin our text study of the first nine verses of Deuteronomy chapter 21.
In all of Scripture, this appears to be the one and only case presented where someone chances upon a murder victim and no one seems to have any idea who did it.
If the killer could be identified, he (or she) would have been brought to justice and executed per the Torah.
However, the killer can’t be identified.
Therefore, the focus shifts onto a different track.
It shifts from trying to track down the killer and bring him to justice to…
…the problem of “bloodguilt” that the land and the people of the local community have been saddled with.
Another important point to keep in mind is that since this situation is about a corpse discovered out in the open (in a field or alongside a road), technically speaking, these verses don’t cover what to do in a situation where a murder victim is discovered inside of a city or village.
Actually, there isn’t anything in Torah that would specifically address that instance.
Therefore, the Rabbis have basically applied these verses to ANY unsolved killing whether it took place inside or outside of a town.
The first step to be undertaken is that the elders and magistrates (SHOFET in Hebrew) are to go to the murder scene and measure the distance from the location of the corpse to the towns located nearby AND…
…determine which town is closest to where the killing took place.
Understand that this particular Torah instruction envisions the time when Israel is settled in Canaan and the land has been divvied up into 12 territories (one territory for each of the 12 tribes).
The idea is that the government officials of the territory closest to the murder scene are to take responsibility for officiating over the matter per Torah.
Hence, if the murder occurred within the territory of Ephraim, then the elders and judges of that tribe would be responsible for officiating over it.
Okay, so getting back to what I was saying, the judges are to CAREFULLY measure the distance from the body to the nearby towns.
Notice I emphasized the word “carefully”.
Why?
Because this is a VERY SERIOUS MATTER that deals with “bloodguilt”.
Whichever town is closest to the murder scene is the one that has taken on bloodguilt brought about by the unsolved murder.
I want you to let that sink in for a moment.
We aren’t dealing with manmade procedures here.
This isn’t something that was just concocted inside the minds of men.
These procedures are God-ordained.
The Lord created these rules.
Another big takeaway I want you to get from this post is to notice how God created human government to administer and execute His laws here on earth.
If it wasn’t for human government, the ideal of “As In Heaven, So On Earth” would NOT be a possibility.
In this case, the judges on earth have been given the authority to determine which town is responsible for the bloodguilt that has resulted.
Here’s the thing.
The town nearest to the murder scene not only bears “bloodguilt”, they are also responsible for purging the guilt.
What do I mean when I say “purging the guilt”.
I mean they are responsible for ATONING for it.
If they do not, the curse of bloodguilt remains on them before the Lord forever until they are absolved.
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