If one be found slain in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it, lying in the field, and it be not known who hath slain him:
If one be found slain ... lying in the field. The ceremonies here ordained to be observed on the discovery of a slaughtered corpse show the ideas of sanctity which the Mosaic law sought to associate with human blood, the horror which murder inspired, as well as the fears that were felt lest God should avenge it on the country at large, and the pollution which the land was supposed to contract from the effusion of innocent, unexpiated blood.
According to Jewish writers, the sanhedrim, taking charge of such a case, sent a deputation to examine the neighbourhood, and, they having reported which was the nearest town to the spot where the body was found, an order was issued by their supreme authority to the elders or magistrates of that town to provide the heifer at the civic expense, and go through the appointed ceremonial. The engagement of the public authorities in the work of expiation-the purchase of the victim heifer-the conducting it to a "rough valley," which might be at a considerable distance, and which, as the original - х nachal (H5158) 'eeytaan (H386): cf. Amos 5:24. Septuagint, eis faranga tracheian, a "rough," rugged valley] - implies, was a wady, a perennial stream, in the waters of which the polluting blood would be wiped away from the land, and a desert, withal, incapable of cultivation-the striking off of the heifer's head, contrary to the usual mode of slaughtering (see Wilkinson, 'Ancient Egyptians,' 2:, p. 375) - the presence of the Levites, the ministers of religion, the washing of the magistrates' hands, which was an ancient act symbolical of innocence (see the note at Matthew 27:24), followed by a solemn denial of the imputation of the crime of blood guiltiness, for themselves as well as for the community in which they lived-the whole of the ceremonial was calculated to make a deep impression on the Jewish, as well as on the Oriental mind generally, to stimulate the activity of the magistrates in the discharge of their official duties, to lead to the discovery of the criminal, and the repression of crime.
This singular statute concerning homicide by some person or persona unknown is unquestionably far superior to what is to be found in the criminal code of any other ancient nation. Plato ('De Leg.,' lib. 9:, which is commonly appended to as a model of legislative wisdom) merely provided, that on the discovery of a murdered corpse, and the assassin could not be got, proclamation should be made prohibiting his entrance into a temple; because, if he were detected, he should be immediately put to death, and denied the rites of burial. But the enactment of Moses, which was accompanied by an expressive solemnity of observances, was better calculated to serve the purposes of a penal statute; and it was undoubtedly the origin or germ of the modern coroners inquests.