“tu autem alienus eris ab innocentis cruore, qui fusus est, cum feceris quod præcepit Dominus.”
“So shalt thou put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the LORD.”
“So you shall purge from among you the guilt of shedding innocent blood, since you have done what is right in the eyes of the LORD.”
“So you shall put away the innocent blood from among you, when you shall do that which is right in Yahweh’s eyes.”
“So shalt thou put away the innocent blood from the midst of thee, when thou shalt do that which is right in the eyes of Jehovah.”
And, &c. Hebrew, “Thou shalt put away,” (Haydock) or “extinguish the voice of innocent blood,” which otherwise would cry to heaven for vengeance, Genesis iv. 10. In this sacrifice, (Calmet) though it deserves not the name, (Menochius) we may consider Jesus Christ suffering for the sins of others. (Calmet)
By this law a soldier is allowed to marry his captive if he pleased. For the hardness of their hearts Moses gave them this permission, lest, if they had not had liberty given them to marry such, they should have taken liberty to defile themselves with them, and by such wickedness the camp would have been troubled. The man is supposed to have a wife already, and to take this wife for a secondary wife, as the Jews called them. This indulgence of men's inordinate desires, in which their hearts walked after their eyes, is by no means agreeable to the law of Christ, which therefore in this respect, among others, far exceeds in glory the law of Moses. The gospel permits not him that has one wife to take another, for from the beginning it was not so. The gospel forbids looking upon a woman, though a beautiful one, to lust after her, and commands the mortifying and denying of all irregular desires, though it be as uneasy as the cutting off of a right hand; so much does our holy religion, more than that of the Jews, advance the honour and support the dominion of the soul over the body, the spirit over the flesh, consonant to the glorious discovery it makes of life and immortality, and the better hope.
Verses 1-9 If a murderer could not be found out, great solemnity is provided for putting away the guilt from the land, as an expression of dread and detesting of that sin. The providence of God has often wonderfully brought to light these hidden works of darkness, and the sin of the guilty has often strangely found them out. The dread of murder should be deeply impressed upon every heart, and all should join in detecting and punishing those who are guilty. The elders were to profess that they had not been any way aiding or abetting the sin. The priests were to pray to God for the country and nation, that God would be merciful. We must empty that measure by our prayers, which others are filling by their sins. All would be taught by this solemnity, to use the utmost care and diligence to prevent, discover, and punish murder. We may all learn from hence to take heed of partaking in other men's sins. And we have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, if we do not reprove them.