申命記 21:4 CUNPTS

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Deuteronomy 21:4

Deuteronomy 21:4. Unto a rough valley The Hebrew word נחל , nachal, here used, signifies either a valley or a torrent; and most probably is here meant of a valley with a brook running through it. For ( Deu 21:6 ) the elders are required to wash their hands over the heifer, which seems to intimate that there was running water in the place. Which is neither eared nor sown Rough, uncultivated ground, fitly representing the horribleness of the murder. The Jews say, that unless, after this,... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 21:1-23

Respect for human life (21:1-23)Murder made the land unclean, and the uncleanness could be removed only by the execution of the murderer (see Numbers 35:29-34). Where the murderer could not be found, the elders of the town nearest the place of the murder had to go to an unpolluted stream nearby and carry out the ritual slaughter of a young cow instead of the unknown murderer. The blood of the cow washed away in the stream symbolized the removal of uncleanness caused by the unlawful bloodshed... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Deuteronomy 21:4

rough valley = ravine, or rough gully. eared = ploughed. Old English idiom. strike off = behead, or break the neck. read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Deuteronomy 21:4

Ver. 4. Unto a rough valley, &c.— Unto a watered valley. Schult, p. 248. The heifer was to be brought into an uncultivated ground, (probably with a brook running through it, as the elders are required to wash their hands over the heifer, ver. 6.) as some say, to represent the horridness of the murder. We are told, that the place might never be plowed or sown thereafter; which made the owners of the ground employ their utmost diligence to find out the murderer, that their land might not lie... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Deuteronomy 21:1-9

Unsolved murders 21:1-9"The reason for grouping these five laws [in ch. 21], which are apparently so different from one another, as well as for attaching them to the previous regulations, is to be found in the desire to bring out distinctly the sacredness of life and of personal rights from every point of view, and impress it upon the covenant nation." [Note: Keil and Delitzsch, 3:404.] Cities were responsible for murders committed within their jurisdictions. This indicates that there is such a... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Deuteronomy 21:1-23

Expiation of Undetected Homicide. Marriage of Captive Women. Punishment of a Rebellious SonThe last sub-section of the Second Discourse begins here, containing a variety of social and domestic regulations.1-9. The Expiation of Undetected Homicide. The cases of accidental and open, wilful murder have been already provided for in Deuteronomy 19. This passage treats the case of undetected homicide. Murder pollutes the land and must be expiated. When the murderer cannot be discovered the... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Deuteronomy 21:1-9

XXI.Deuteronomy 21:1-9. UNDETECTED HOMICIDES.(1) If one be found slain—It is remarkable that in our own time the most effectual remedy against outrages of which the perpetrators cannot be discovered is a fine upon the district in which they occur.(2) Thy elders and thy judges shall come forth.—Rashi says these were to be special commissioners, members of the great Sanhedrin.(3-4) An heifer, which hath not been wrought with . . . a rough valley which is neither eared nor sown.—Rashi’s note on... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 21:1-23

THE ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF ISRAELITE LIFEIT has often and justly been said that the life of Israel is so entirely founded on the grace and favor of God that no distinction is made between the secular and the religious laws. Whatever their origin may have been, whether they had been part of the tribal constitution before Moses’ day or not, they were all regarded as Divinely given. They had been accepted as fit building stones for the great edifice of that national life in which God was to reveal... read more

Arno Clemens Gaebelein

Arno Gaebelein's Annotated Bible - Deuteronomy 21:1-23

17. The Expiation of an Uncertain Murder and Various Instructions CHAPTER 21 1. The expiation of an unknown murder (Deuteronomy 21:1-9 ) 2. Concerning a wife, who had been a prisoner of war (Deuteronomy 21:10-14 ) 3. The right of the firstborn (Deuteronomy 21:15-17 ) 4. The punishment of a rebellious son (Deuteronomy 21:18-21 ) 5. The burial of one who hanged on a tree (Deuteronomy 21:22-23 ) The expiation of an unknown murder seems to find an interesting application in the case of... read more

John Calvin

Geneva Study Bible - Deuteronomy 21:4

21:4 And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough {b} valley, which is neither eared nor sown, and shall strike off the heifer’s neck there in the valley:(b) That the blood shed of the innocent beasts in a solitary place, might make them abhor the fact. read more