Seder 150: Deuteronomy 21:1-9---The Case of an Unsolved Murder

 In Deuteronomy 21:1-9 Moses describes the case of an unsolved murder.  The victim's blood pollutes the land, crying out like the blood of Abel (Gen 4:10), but there is no one to prosecute.  An investigation has not revealed the identity of the murderer.  

Moses lays out a ritual that will honor the life of the victim and bring closure.  A heifer's neck is broken in a valley where there is running water.  Elders of the town nearest the scene of the crime wash their hands over the heifer, affirm their innocence, and ask for forgiveness.

As with other rituals in the Pentateuch, we are left to infer the possible symbolism.  This one has been classed as an "elimination ritual," like the scapegoat ritual in Leviticus 16, where a sin is being removed from the community.  In this case, the pollution of the shedding of blood is removed as the heifer's blood is carried away by the running water.  

One proposal for the symbolism of the heifer is that this is a kind of reenactment of the murder..  As the victim's blood was shed, the animal's blood is shed.  Another possibility is that the heifer represents the unknown murderer and is being killed in place of the murderer.

Whatever the precise symbolism, the ritual communicates 

• the responsibility of the community for what has happened;
• the importance of maintaining the holiness of the community;
• the sanctity of life.  Life is precious, and a murder can't just be ignored.  

It's comforting to know that God in each case knows what occurred and will make things right in the end. 

This case is discussed right after the instructions on warfare in Deuteronomy 20.  During times of war, there is a tendency to not value life as it should be valued.  Deuteronomy 21:1-9 gives a reminder of the value of life.  

Seder 150: Deuteronomy 20---Instructions on Warfare

In Deuteronomy 20, Moses laid out the ground rules for Israelite warfare.  A big message of verses 1-9 is that warfare would not be a top priority for Israel.  They would engage in it only when God directed them to do so, in which case he would be with them (v. 1).  That meant that they didn't need large numbers of soldiers, and they would not need to have a standing army.  Spiritual readiness would be more important for them than military preparation (v. 4).

A priest was to address the troops before a battle.  He would exhort them not to have fear, and he would urge anyone who had pressing family commitments or any kind of fears to step aside.  The morale of the army would be hurt by the presence of anyone who could not participate whole-heartedly.  

After the Israelites occupied Canaan, it's possible that they would have the opportunity to acquire additional territory.  In such a case, they were to begin by offering terms of peace to that place (v 11).  

Moses repeats in verses 16-18 that they are not to make treaties with the Canaanites, however (vv 16-18).  Canaanites were to be given three options:

• join the Israelites, as Rahab and her group did;
• flee from the area;
• stay and fight.

Those who chose the third option were to be devoted to destruction (v 17).  Canaanite ways of thinking would compromise Israel's mission in the world.  

One of the worst aspects of war is the ecological damage it causes.  Israelites were to minimize that kind of damage (vv 19-20).  

Christian Torah scholar John Sailhamer observed that a number of the principles described in Deuteronomy 20 were followed by Abram in his rescue of his nephew lot in Genesis 14.  

Since God was perfectly capable of removing any military obstacles from Israel's path, he could have chosen to not subject them to any military activity.  There must have been things for them---and perhaps the surrounding nations---to learn from such activity.  Presumably some would some grow in faith through the experience.  

In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on July 1, 2023, Rob Wilson addressed the difficult subject of the conquest of Canaan.  This was a one-time event, a special situation in which a major factor was the moral depravity of the Canaanites.  Rob elaborated on the "abominable practices" mentioned in Deuteronomy 20:18.

Seder 150: Psalm 120---Deliverance from Deceitful Tongues

 In Psalm 120 the psalmist, who has previously experienced divine deliverance in times of distress (v 1), brings another situation to God.  He has been the victim of slanderous verbal attacks (v 2).  He tries to make peace, but his enemies will have none of it (vv 6-7).  

He prays that God will give his attacker the kind of punishment that the attacker has been directing at him (vv 3-4).  The images used in these verses remind us of the destructive damage that our words can do.  The deceitful tongue is like a bow shooting an arrow or like a sharp sword (see Ps 57:4; 64:3; Pr 25:18; Jer 9:3,8).  It can also be compared to a fire (James 3:6; Pr 16:27).   

"Woe to me, that I sojourn in Meshech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!" he laments in verse 5.  Meshach and Kedar are located far from Israel in completely different directions, Meshech near the Black Sea and Kedar in the Arabian desert.  Here the psalmist may be saying that he feels completely alienated in his home in Israel, as if he were staying in one of these faraway places.  Alternatively, he may be saying that he might as well be living in Meshech or Kedar, because his enemies are behaving like hostile barbarians.  Or perhaps he is saying that even when he is far from home, he is too close to these slanderers.  In any case, the verse expresses his alienation.  

Psalm 120 is the first of the psalms of ascents, songs associated with the journey to Jerusalem for one of the pilgrimage festivals.  It may be that in going to be in God's presence he finally feels at home in a way that he hasn't been experiencing in his own town (see Heb 11:13-16).