Números 35

Números 35

MacDonald - The death of the high priest brought freedom to those who had escaped to the cities of refuge. They could no longer be harmed by the avenger of blood. The death of our Great High Priest frees us from the condemning demands of the Law. How foolish this stipulation would be if one failed to see in it a symbol of the work of our Lord at the Cross! As for the symbolic teaching, the people of Israel are the manslayer, having put the Messiah to death. Yet they did it ignorantly (Acts 3:17+). The Lord Jesus prayed, “they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34+). Just as the manslayer was displaced from his own home and had to live in the city of refuge, so Israel has been living in exile ever since. The nation’s complete restoration to its possession will take place, not at the death of the Great High Priest (for He can never die), but when He comes to reign. Merrill Unger adds an interesting note about the cities of refuge - "According to the rabbis, in order to aid the fugitive it was the business of the Sanhedrin to keep the roads leading to the cities of refuge in the best possible repair. No hills were left, every river was bridged, and the road itself was to be at least thirty-two cubits broad. At every turn were guideposts bearing the word Refuge; and two students of the law were appointed to accompany the fleeing man, to pacify, if possible, the avenger, should he overtake the fugitive." (Unger's Bible Dictionary) Numbers 35:29 'These things shall be for a statutory ordinance to you throughout your generations in all your dwellings. Nu 27:1,11 Numbers 35 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries These things shall be for a statutory ordinance to you throughout your generations in all your dwellings - These laws are binding and permanently in force in the Promised Land. Numbers 35:30 'If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death at the evidence of witnesses, but no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness. De 17:6-7 19:15 Mt 18:16 Joh 8:17,18 2Co 13:1 1Ti 5:19 Heb 10:28 Rev 11:3 Numbers 35 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries DEATH PENALTY ONLY WITH WITNESSES If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death at the evidence of witnesses - Capital punishment was the decree for a murderer and there were no alternatives. Currid - If the evidence of two or more witnesses is sound and the manslayer is convicted, then ‘the manslayer shall be executed’. The latter clause has a cognate syntax, so that it literally reads, ‘the manslayer shall be man-slain’, or ‘the killer shall be killed’; this is an emphatic and poignant way to reflect ironic justice. This means that the punishment for the crime is found within the crime itself. (EPSC-Nu) But no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness - At least two witnesses must testify in a capital crime. They did not have to be eyewitnesses, but had to be independent witnesses who were aware of circumstantial evidence that was sufficient to find the person guilty of murder (see notes below). Note the witnesses must be reputable (see 1 Kings 21:10–13). "Ancient Near-Eastern law generally agrees with this statute." (Currid) Related Passages: Deuteronomy 17:6 says "On the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness." Deuteronomy 19:15 adds “A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin which he has committed; on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed. Norman Geisler - When Critics Ask - NUMBERS 35:30—Does the need for two witnesses mean that it is wrong to condemn someone on other evidence? PROBLEM: According to Numbers 35:30, a man accused of murder could be convicted and condemned on the testimony of two witnesses, but not on the testimony of only one witness. However, the great majority of crimes are not committed in the open for people to witness. Does this make it wrong to convict and condemn someone on the basis of other evidence when there have been no eyewitnesses? SOLUTION: It would be wrong to assume that the Hebrew word translated “witness” (ed), is exactly equivalent to the English usage. Leviticus 5:1 gives a good example of the wider range of use of this Hebrew word: “If a person sins in hearing the utterance of an oath, and is a witness, whether he has seen or known of the matter—if he does not tell it, he bears guilt.” In this verse, the same Hebrew word translated “witness” refers to someone who has either seen or known of a matter. According to the Mosaic Law, then, there were two types of witnesses who could offer testimony to the guilt of an individual. One was an eyewitness, the other was one who, though not an eyewitness, could provide testimony to the identity of the offender. This verse does not make it wrong to convict a person on evidence that is other than direct eyewitness evidence. Further, the OT writer did not have in view, nor intend to exclude, such modern things as fingerprints and audio and video tapes. Gleason Archer - Does Numbers 35:30 make it wrong to condemn a murderer to death on mere circumstantial evidence? Numbers 35:30 says, “If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death at the evidence of witnesses, but no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness” (NASB). Similarly we read in Deuteronomy 17:6: “On the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness” (NASB). If the term “witness” (ʿēḏ) means only an eyewitness of the crime while it was actually being committed, this would seem to restrict the imposition of the death penalty to those comparatively rare instances where the murderer committed homicide in full view of the public. This might mean that less than 10 percent of the cases of the violations of the sixth commandment could lawfully be brought to trial and result in the achievement of justice. Yet the real thrust of the laws against first-degree murder was that the murderer should surely be brought to trial and executed. Nothing less than “life for life” was allowed under the Torah (cf. Ex 21:23; Dt. 19:21). Although some other legal systems (such as the Hittite Code) allowed for the payment of blood-money as an alternative to the death penalty, this was expressly forbidden by the law of God. Numbers 35:31 states: “Moreover, you shall not take ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death” (NASB). Verse 33 goes on to say, “So you shall not pollute the land in which you are; for blood pollutes the land and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it” (NASB). The seriousness of an unsolved murder for the welfare of the district in which it occurred was such that Deuteronomy 21 required a solemn inquest to be held when it could not immediately be discovered who was guilty of the crime. Dt 21:3–8 specify: “It shall be that the city which is nearest to the slain man, that is, the elders of that city, shall take a heifer of the herd, which has not been worked and which has not pulled in a yoke; 4 and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which has not been plowed or sown, and shall break the heifer’s neck there in the valley. 5 “Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for the LORD your God has chosen them to serve Him and to bless in the name of the LORD; and every dispute and every assault shall be settled by them. 6 “All the elders of that city which is nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley; 7 and they shall answer and say, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it. 8 ‘Forgive Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, O LORD, and do not place the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of Your people Israel.’ And the bloodguiltiness shall be forgiven them. This passage makes it clear that murder was a very heinous offense in the eyes of God, rather than a crime to be so lightly regarded as to be punishable perhaps one time out of ten (on the technicality that two men had not actually seen the killer strike the blow). There is a far wider implication that results from this restrictive interpretation: the two-witnesses requirement applies not only to homicide cases but to any other crime for which a suspect could be bought to trial. Deuteronomy 19:15 says, “A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin which he has committed; on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed” (NASB). This two-witnesses rule therefore applies to theft, fraud, adultery (which is seldom performed in public view), embezzlement, or any other offense for which a man might be subject to criminal process. Every criminal guilty of any of these offenses would therefore get off scot-free if he had taken the prudent measure of committing his crime where two people did not happen to be watching him. It is safe to say that neither ancient Israel nor any other system of jurisprudence known to man could effectively function under such a restriction as that. How then are we to understand this requirement for two or more witnesses in the prosecution of an accused suspect? The answer is found in a study of the actual usage of the term ʿēḏ (“witness”) as employed in the Hebrew Scriptures. In Leviticus 5:1 we read, “Now if a person sins, after he hears a public adjuration to testify, when he is a witness, whether he has seen or otherwise known, if he does not tell it, then he will bear his guilt” (NASB). This verse clearly establishes that there are two kinds of witnesses who may offer testimony in a criminal process: those who have seen the crime actually being committed, and those who, though not eyewitnesses, have seen some evidence relative to the identity of the offender. One who has found a written death-threat, for example, or who has heard the accused express a desire or intention to kill, rob, or rape the victim, would be acceptable as a witness within this definition of ʿēḏ (one who has pertinent knowledge concerning the crime even though he has not actually seen it being committed). A slightly different use of ʿēd is found in the law of responsibility for a missing animal that has been entrusted to the care of another, as Exodus 22:13: “If it is all torn to pieces [i.e., by some predatory beast], let him bring it as evidence (ʿēḏ); he shall not make restitution for what has been torn to pieces” (NASB). Here then the lacerated corpse of the sheep or donkey, or whatever it may have been, will serve as a “witness” to the fact that the animal was killed without any fault on the part of the caretaker. Yet that corpse could hardly be described as an eye-witness! Similarly, also, documents or memorial stones may serve as a witness (`ed)—such as the gal-ʿēḏ that Jacob and Laban erected at the spot where Laban had overtaken his fleeing son-in-law, and they had finally come to a covenant agreement toward each other (Gen. 31:46–49). Both gal-ʿēḏ (which gave rise to the name of “Gilead” for the whole region) and Laban’s Aramaic equivalent, yegar śāhadûṯāʾ, signified “stone-pile of witness.” Yet in these lifeless stones we can hardly find a visual observer. Along the same line are references to written documents, which serve as a “witness” (ʿēḏ, or its feminine form, ʿēḏāh) to the contract or covenant into which the contractual parties have entered. Thus Joshua 24:25–26 quotes Joshua himself as referring to the stone (or stela) that he had erected at Shechem, on which the words of their covenant commitment to Yahweh had been inscribed; he says of it in v.27: “Behold, this stone shall be for a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the LORD which he spoke to us; thus it shall be for a witness against you, lest you deny your God” (NASB). The inscribed stela was certainly not an eyewitness (even though it is poetically represented as an auditor to the ceremony), but rather it served as a document in evidence. We conclude, therefore, that concrete objects and written documents may be entered into evidence before a court hearing as valid testimony in any kind of a criminal process, whether or not a capital offense is involved. This falls more or less in line with the different types of evidence received in criminal cases even in our modern courts, and so there is no contravention of biblical principles in allowing such testimony, even though only one actual eyewitness may be found, or none at all. Each witness called to the stand is asked to testify only of matters within his personal observation and experience, and this satisfies the specifications of an ʿēḏ in a perfectly adequate fashion according to actual biblical usage. (For further discussion, see article on John 8:11.) (NIEBD) Numbers 35:31 'Moreover, you shall not take ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death. Moreover (KJV): Ge 9:5,6 Ex 21:14 De 19:11-13 2Sa 12:13 1Ki 2:28-34 Ps 51:14 guilty of death (KJV): Heb. faulty to die Numbers 35 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Related Passages: Exodus 21:14 “If, however, a man acts presumptuously toward his neighbor, so as to kill him craftily, you are to take him even from My altar, that he may die. Deuteronomy 19:11-13 “But if there is a man who hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and rises up against him and strikes him so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, 12 then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. 13 “You shall not pity him, but you shall purge the blood of the innocent from Israel, that it may go well with you. DAVID'S MURDER - 2 Samuel 12:13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has taken away your sin; you shall not die. MOSES' MURDER – Ex 2:12 So he looked this way and that, and when he saw there was no one around, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 He went out the next day, and behold, two Hebrews were fighting with each other; and he said to the offender, “Why are you striking your companion?” 14 But he said, “Who made you a prince or a judge over us? Are you intending to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and said, “Surely the matter has become known.” NO RANSOM AVAILABLE FOR MURDERER Moreover, you shall not take ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death - Pagan nations allows "blood money" to be paid in lieu of the death penalty, but God allows no such practice. Numbers 35:32 'You shall not take ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may return to live in the land before the death of the priest. Acts 4:12 Ga 2:21 Gal 3:10-13,22 Rev 5:9 Numbers 35 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries NO RANSOM FOR A MANSLAYER You shall not take ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may return to live in the land before the death of the priest. TSK note on manslaying fleeing the avenger - The region east of Jordan was nearly as long as that on the west, and therefore three cities were appointed in each division. One or other of these cities would be within half a day's journey of every part of the land; and as it would rarely happen that the avenger of blood would be on the spot, and none had a right to assault or detain the manslayer, at least if no malicious intention was manifest, the unhappy men would, therefore, get the start of their adversaries, and very few of them be overtaken before they gained the place of refuge. But then they must forsake their families, employments, most important interests, and dearest comforts; and they must neither loiter nor yield to weariness, nor regard difficulties, nor slacken their pace, till they had got safe within the walls of the city. The Jewish writers inform us, that to afford every facility to those who thus fled for their life, the road to these cities was always preserved in good repair; and way-posts, upon which was inscribed REFUGE were placed wherever needful, that they might not so much as hesitate for a moment. Numbers 35:33 'So you shall not pollute the land in which you are; for blood pollutes the land and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it. BGT Numbers 35:33 καὶ οὐ μὴ φονοκτονήσητε τὴν γῆν εἰς ἣν ὑμεῖς κατοικεῖτε τὸ γὰρ αἷμα τοῦτο φονοκτονεῖ τὴν γῆν καὶ οὐκ ἐξιλασθήσεται ἡ γῆ ἀπὸ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ ἐκχυθέντος ἐπ᾽ αὐτῆς ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ ἐκχέοντος NET Numbers 35:33 "You must not pollute the land where you live, for blood defiles the land, and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed there, except by the blood of the person who shed it. NLT Numbers 35:33 This will ensure that the land where you live will not be polluted, for murder pollutes the land. And no sacrifice except the execution of the murderer can purify the land from murder. ESV Numbers 35:33 You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it. NIV Numbers 35:33 " 'Do not pollute the land where you are. Bloodshed pollutes the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it. KJV Numbers 35:33 So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: for blood it defileth the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it. YLT Numbers 35:33 'And ye profane not the land which ye are in, for blood profaneth the land; as to the land, it is not pardoned for blood which is shed in it except by the blood of him who sheddeth it; LXE Numbers 35:33 So shall ye not pollute with murder the land in which ye dwell; for this blood pollutes the land, and the land shall not be purged from the blood shed upon it, but by the blood of him that shed it. ASV Numbers 35:33 So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: for blood, it polluteth the land; and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it. CSB Numbers 35:33 "Do not defile the land where you are, for bloodshed defiles the land, and there can be no atonement for the land because of the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of the person who shed it. NKJ Numbers 35:33 `So you shall not pollute the land where you are; for blood defiles the land, and no atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it. NRS Numbers 35:33 You shall not pollute the land in which you live; for blood pollutes the land, and no expiation can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it. NAB Numbers 35:33 You shall not desecrate the land where you live. Since bloodshed desecrates the land, the land can have no atonement for the blood shed on it except through the blood of him who shed it. NJB Numbers 35:33 Do not profane the country you live in. Blood profanes the country and, for the country, the only expiation for the blood shed in it is the blood of the man who shed it. GWN Numbers 35:33 "You must not pollute the land where you live. Murder is what pollutes the land. The land where a murder was committed can never make peace with the LORD except through the death of the murderer. you shall not pollute the land : Lev 18:25 De 21:1-8,23 2Ki 23:26 24:4 Ps 106:28 Isa 26:21 Eze 22:24-27 Ho 4:2,3 Mic 4:11 Mt 23:31-35 Lu 11:50,51 the land cannot be cleansed (KJV): Heb. there can be no expiation for the land Numbers 35 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Related Passage: Leviticus 18:25 (SEE Lev 18:19-24 - SEXUAL PERVERSION/IMMORALITY) ‘For the land has become defiled, therefore I have brought its punishment upon it, so the land has spewed out its inhabitants (CANAANITES PERVERSIONS WERE UNSPEAKABLY EVIL AND THEY WERE "SPEWED OUT" - THINK OF AMERICA WHICH IS THE LEADING NATION IN THE WORLD FOR PORNOGRAPHY! WOE!). James 1:27+ Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained (UNPOLLUTED) by the world. SHED BLOOD POLLUTES LAND ONLY SHED BLOOD CAN ATONE So you shall not pollute (chaneph) the land in which you are; for blood pollutes (chaneph) the land and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it - The Hebrew word for pollute and pollutes (see below) are translated in the Lxx with phonoktoneo which means to defile with murder or pollute with blood and is also used in Ps 106:38. The only expiation or atonement for the land was the shed blood of the murderer. (cf "life for life" Ex 21:23, Lev 24:18). Milgrom - The Hebrew verb ḥ-n-f means “be corrupt, polluted,” especially when it refers to the land, as in Isaiah 24:9, Jeremiah 3:1, 2, 9, and Psalms 106:38. The Holy Land (like the Israelites) must observe its Sabbaths (Lev. 25:2, 5; Lev 26:34–35) and is polluted by bloodshed, idolatry, and incest (Ezek. 36:17–18) until it vomits out its inhabitants (Lev. 18:28). The notion that illicit bloodshed pollutes the land so that it does not yield its fruit is attested in the oldest sources (Gen. 4:10–12; 2 Sam. 21:1). Jubilees 21:19 expressly warns Israel not to allow compensation for murder lest the (unredeemed) blood of the slain pollute the earth. Currid - Unrequited blood profanes the land so that it needs to be cleansed; atonement is necessary. And atonement demands the blood of the one who had shed blood. Nahmanides - The Presence of the Lord cannot abide in a land that is unclean because the blood of innocents has been shed unless it is expiated by the blood of him who shed it. Vv. 31–32 warned us not to take bribes from killers; now we are cautioned that we must not “warp the land” by applying special treatment to anyone because of their status or their power, even without money changing hands. The more warped our behavior, the more we cause the land to treat its inhabitants in a warped way. Expiation (make no ransom) (03722)(kapar) means to make atonement, to make reconciliation (to reconcile), to purge, to make propitiation (to propitiate), to pacify, to cancel. There are two main ideas regarding the meaning of kapar - (1) Kapar means to cover over sin (2) A number of resources however favor the idea that kapar means to wipe away. Polluted (02610)(chaneph) means to be defiled, to be profane, to pollute, to corrupt, to be godless. "This word most often appears in association with the defilement of the land, suggesting a tainting not by active commission but by passive contact with those committing sin." (Baker) Chaneph denotes the pollution of the land through the shedding of blood (Nu. 35:33); through divorce (Jer. 3:1); and through breaking God's covenant (Isa. 24:5). The earth was "defiled" by the sins of Judah in the prophecy of Isaiah (Isa 24:5) and false prophets and priests were "profane" in Judah near the time of their exile to Babylon (Jer. 23:11). The land was considered "polluted" when adultery and wanton immorality were practiced. (Jer 3:1) The land "polluted" (Ps 106:38; Jer. 3:1, 9) as a result of sacrifice to idols and gross immorality. Baker adds that "Two notable exceptions to this linkage with the land further intensify the notion that the primary meaning is one of passive contamination. In Jeremiah, the Lord declared that the prophets and the priests were corrupted, seemingly by their association with the people's sin (Jer. 23:11)." (CWSD) Breaking of marriage vows to marry another precludes a return to the first mate; in the same way a favored people who drifted back and forth between devotion to idols and the Lord, pollutes the land (Jeremiah 3:1). The Hiphil stem describes the pollution of land. The murderer who had shed innocent blood was regarded as polluting the land (Numbers 35:33). Only 8x in the Bible - completely polluted(1), pollute(1), polluted(6), pollutes(1), turn to godlessness(1). Numbers 35:33 ‘So you shall not pollute the land in which you are; for blood pollutes the land and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it. Psalm 106:37-38 They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons, And shed innocent blood, The blood of their sons and their daughters, Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; And the land was polluted with the blood.