Deuteronomy 21:1
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, De 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, De 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, De 21:15 and of the stubborn and rebellious son, who remaining so must be put to death, De 21:18 and of burying a person hanged on a tree the same day he is executed, De 21:22.
Ver. 1. If one be found slain,.... After public war with an enemy, Moses proceeds to speak of a private quarrel and fight of one man with another, in which one is slain, as Aben Ezra observes:
in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it; where murders might be committed more secretly, and remain undiscovered, when they came to live in separate cities, towns, and villages, with fields adjacent to them, than now encamped together:
lying in the field; where the quarrel begun, and where the fight was fought: or, however, where the murderer met with his enemy, and slew him, and left him; it being common for duels to be fought, and murders committed in a field; the first murder in the world was committed in such a place, Ge 4:8. The Targum of Jonathan is,
"not hidden under an heap, not hanging on a tree, nor swimming on the face of the waters;''
which same things are observed in the Misnah {i}, and gathered from some words in the text:
in the land, and so not under a heap;
lying, and so not hanging;
in the field, and so not swimming on the water:
and it be not known who hath slain him; the parties being alone, and no witnesses of the fact, at least that appear; for, if it was known, the heifer was not beheaded, later mentioned {k}; and one witness in this case was sufficient, and even one that was not otherwise admitted.
{i} Sotah, c. 9. sect. 2. {k} Maimon. Hilchot Rotzeach, c. 9. sect. 11, 12.