He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death.
He that smiteth a man so that he die, shall be surely put to death. The preceding acts for protecting the rights and privileges of the poor and dependent are here succeeded by an enumeration of laws respecting the punishment of personal injuries, which in various forms and degrees of atrocity seem at this early stage of social life in Israel to have been painfully frequent. These regulations were founded on the lex Talionis, the principle of retributive justice; and cases are specified, marked by circumstances which, when properly investigated, might tend to modify or entirely restrain the application of that principle.
A violent assault, which issued in the immediate or ultimate death of the injured party, involved the criminality of homicide, the penalty of which was death (see the note at Genesis 9:6). But it might happen that the blow was accidental or unintentional; and it was the duty of the judge to prosecute his inquiries, so as to discriminate between an act of violence committed on deliberate purpose, or from malice pretense, and what was an unforeseen, unexpected casualty, or the result of mere thoughtlessness. In cases of this latter sort certain places would be appointed on their settlement in the promised land as asylums, where offenders might seek refuge until a formal inquiry should be instituted, and if declared innocent, he should be legally discharged from the penal consequences of his act (see the notes at Numbers 35:16-34). But a foul, treacherous, resolute murderer should not be allowed to escape with impunity; and even though he should secrete himself at the altar of God, which fancy might suggest or superstition dream was an inviolable sanctuary (cf. Leviticus 4:2; Leviticus 5:15; Leviticus 5:18; Numbers 15:27-31), the convicted criminal was to be dragged by the hands of justice to meet his doom (cf. 1 Kings 2:29-31).