And; or, for, as the particle is oft taken; this being the reason of the foregoing prohibition. Of your lives; or, of your souls, i.e. of your persons; the word soul being oft put for person. Or, your blood, which is for your lives, i.e. which by the spirits it generates is the great preserver and instrument of your lives, and of all your vital actions, and the great bond which ties your souls and bodies together. The sense of the place is: If I am thus careful for the blood of beasts, be assured I will be much more solicitous for the blood of men, when it shall be shed by unjust and violent hands. I will make inquisition for the author of such bloodshed, as I did after Cain, and consequently punish him; for this phrase of requiring implies punishment. See Genesis 42:22 Deuteronomy 18:19, compared with Acts 3:23 Psalms 9:13. If magistrates neglect this duty, I myself will avenge it by my own hand. At the hand of every beast will I require it; not for the punishment of the beast, which being under no law is not capable of sin nor punishment; but for caution to men, for whose use seeing they were made, it is no abuse of them if they be destroyed for man's benefit. Compare Exodus 21:28 Leviticus 20:15. At the hand of every man's brother. This is added, either,
1. As an aggravation of the crime, because the man slain was the brother of the murderer; all men being made of one blood, Acts 17:26. And having one Father, even God, Zechariah 2:10, and Adam too. Upon which account all men are frequently called one another's brethren, as is manifest from Genesis 26:31, Genesis 29:4, Leviticus 19:17, Leviticus 25:14, Leviticus 26:37, and from many other places of Scripture. Or.
2. As an assurance of the punishment of the murderer, without any exception of the nearest relation; which, though it makes the sin greater, yet many times is a security against punishment, the murderer easily finding favour and pardon from his parents and dear friends. But the former sense seems the better.