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for them the LORD thy God hath chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of the LORD; and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be <i>tried</i>:</div><div id="jump">Jump to: <a href="/commentaries/barnes/deuteronomy/21.htm" title="Barnes' Notes">Barnes</a> • <a href="/commentaries/benson/deuteronomy/21.htm" title="Benson Commentary">Benson</a> • <a href="/commentaries/illustrator/deuteronomy/21.htm" title="Biblical Illustrator">BI</a> • <a href="/commentaries/calvin/deuteronomy/21.htm" title="Calvin's Commentaries">Calvin</a> • <a href="/commentaries/cambridge/deuteronomy/21.htm" title="Cambridge Bible">Cambridge</a> • <a href="/commentaries/clarke/deuteronomy/21.htm" title="Clarke's Commentary">Clarke</a> • <a href="/commentaries/darby/deuteronomy/21.htm" title="Darby's Bible Synopsis">Darby</a> • <a href="/commentaries/ellicott/deuteronomy/21.htm" title="Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers">Ellicott</a> • <a href="/commentaries/expositors/deuteronomy/21.htm" title="Expositor's Bible">Expositor's</a> • <a href="/commentaries/edt/deuteronomy/21.htm" title="Expositor's Dictionary">Exp Dct</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gaebelein/deuteronomy/21.htm" title="Gaebelein's Annotated Bible">Gaebelein</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gsb/deuteronomy/21.htm" title="Geneva Study Bible">GSB</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gill/deuteronomy/21.htm" title="Gill's Bible Exposition">Gill</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gray/deuteronomy/21.htm" title="Gray's Concise">Gray</a> • <a href="/commentaries/guzik/deuteronomy/21.htm" title="Guzik Bible Commentary">Guzik</a> • <a href="/commentaries/haydock/deuteronomy/21.htm" title="Haydock Catholic Bible Commentary">Haydock</a> • <a href="/commentaries/hastings/deuteronomy/8-2.htm" title="Hastings Great Texts">Hastings</a> • <a href="/commentaries/homiletics/deuteronomy/21.htm" title="Pulpit Homiletics">Homiletics</a> • <a href="/commentaries/jfb/deuteronomy/21.htm" title="Jamieson-Fausset-Brown">JFB</a> • <a href="/commentaries/kad/deuteronomy/21.htm" title="Keil and Delitzsch OT">KD</a> • <a href="/commentaries/king-en/deuteronomy/21.htm" title="Kingcomments Bible Studies">King</a> • <a href="/commentaries/lange/deuteronomy/21.htm" title="Lange Commentary">Lange</a> • <a href="/commentaries/maclaren/deuteronomy/21.htm" title="MacLaren Expositions">MacLaren</a> • <a href="/commentaries/mhc/deuteronomy/21.htm" title="Matthew Henry Concise">MHC</a> • <a href="/commentaries/mhcw/deuteronomy/21.htm" title="Matthew Henry Full">MHCW</a> • <a href="/commentaries/parker/deuteronomy/21.htm" title="The People's Bible by Joseph Parker">Parker</a> • <a href="/commentaries/poole/deuteronomy/21.htm" title="Matthew Poole">Poole</a> • <a href="/commentaries/pulpit/deuteronomy/21.htm" title="Pulpit Commentary">Pulpit</a> • <a href="/commentaries/sermon/deuteronomy/21.htm" title="Sermon Bible">Sermon</a> • <a href="/commentaries/sco/deuteronomy/21.htm" title="Scofield Reference Notes">SCO</a> • <a href="/commentaries/ttb/deuteronomy/21.htm" title="Through The Bible">TTB</a> • <a href="/commentaries/wes/deuteronomy/21.htm" title="Wesley's Notes">WES</a> • <a href="#tsk" title="Treasury of Scripture Knowledge">TSK</a></div><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="comtype">EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)</div><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/benson/deuteronomy/21.htm">Benson Commentary</a></div><span class="bld"><a href="/context/deuteronomy/21-5.htm" title="And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them the LORD your God has chosen to minister to him, and to bless in the name of the LORD; and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried:...">Deuteronomy 21:5-6</a></span>. <span class="ital">By their word shall every controversy be tried — </span>That is, every one of this kind, every one that shall arise about any stroke, whether such a mortal stroke as is here spoken of, or any other, or wound given by one man to another. In these matters they shall give sentence, being consulted by the elders or judges of the cities, <a href="/context/deuteronomy/17-9.htm" title="And you shall come to the priests the Levites, and to the judge that shall be in those days, and inquire; and they shall show you the sentence of judgment:...">Deuteronomy 17:9-12</a>. <span class="ital">The elders shall wash their hands — </span>Protesting their innocence, says a learned Jewish writer, (Chazkuni,) in these words: “As our hands are now clean, so are we innocent of the blood which has been shed.” See an allusion to this, <a href="/psalms/26-6.htm" title="I will wash my hands in innocence: so will I compass your altar, O LORD:">Psalm 26:6</a>; <a href="/matthew/27-24.htm" title="When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see you to it.">Matthew 27:24</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="mhc" id="mhc"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/mhc/deuteronomy/21.htm">Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary</a></div>21:1-9 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.<a name="bar" id="bar"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/barnes/deuteronomy/21.htm">Barnes' Notes on the Bible</a></div>Eared - i. e., plowed; compare <a href="/genesis/45-6.htm">Genesis 45:6</a> note and references. The word is derived from the Latin, and is in frequent use by English writers of the fifteenth and two following centuries.<p>Strike off the heifer's neck - Rather, "break its neck" (compare <a href="/exodus/13-13.htm">Exodus 13:13</a>). The mode of killing the victim distinguishes this lustration from the sin-offering, in which there would be of course shedding and sprinkling of the blood. <a name="jfb" id="jfb"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/jfb/deuteronomy/21.htm">Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary</a></div>CHAPTER 21<p>De 21:1-9. Expiation of Uncertain Murder.<p>1-6. If one be found slain … lying in the field, and it be not known who hath slain him—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 Sanhedrin, taking charge of such a case, sent a deputation to examine the neighborhood. They reported to the nearest town to the spot where the body was found. An order was then 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 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 washing of the hands, which was an ancient act symbolical of innocence—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.<div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/poole/deuteronomy/21.htm">Matthew Poole's Commentary</a></div> <span class="bld">The priests shall come near, </span> both to direct them in all the circumstances of action and to see that the law was observed, and to bless them in God’s name, by praying for them, and absolving or pronouncing them guiltless in this matter. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">Every controversy; </span> not absolutely all manner of controversies that could possibly arise, as if their word were to determine whether there were a God or providence or no, whether God should be worshipped, and his commands observed, or no, whether Moses was a true prophet or an impostor, whether apostate and idolatrous Israelites should be punished or no, which is apparently absurd and ridiculous; but every such controversy as might arise about the matter here spoken of; nothing being more usual than to understand universal expressions in a limited sense; and indeed this is limited and explained by the following words, <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="bld">and every stroke, </span> the particle <span class="ital">and</span> being put expositively, of which instances have been formerly given, i.e. every controversy which shall arise about any stroke, whether such a mortal stroke as is here spoken of, a murder, which may well be called <span class="ital">a stroke</span>, as <span class="ital">to smite</span> is oft used for <span class="ital">to kill</span>, as <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/genesis/4-15.htm" title="And the LORD said to him, Therefore whoever slays Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark on Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.">Genesis 4:15</a> <a href="/leviticus/24-17.htm" title="And he that kills any man shall surely be put to death.">Leviticus 24:17</a></span>, &c., or any other stroke or wound given by one man to another. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="gil" id="gil"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/gill/deuteronomy/21.htm">Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible</a></div>And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near,.... Who were clearly of the tribe of Levi, as Aben Ezra notes; about whom there could be no dispute; for it seems there sometimes were persons in that office, of whom there was some doubt at least whether they were of that tribe; these seem to be such that belonged to the court of judicature at Jerusalem; see <a href="http://biblehub.com/deuteronomy/17-9.htm">Deuteronomy 17:9</a>, who were to be present at this solemnity, to direct in the performance of it, and to judge and determine in any matter of difficulty that might arise: <p>for them the Lord thy God hath chosen to minister unto him; in the service of the sanctuary, by offering sacrifices, &c. <p>and to bless in the name of the Lord; the people; see <a href="/numbers/6-23.htm">Numbers 6:23</a>. <p>and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried; every controversy between man and man respecting civil things, and every stroke or blow which one man may give another; and whatsoever came before them was tried by them, according to the respective laws given concerning the things in question, and were not determined by them in an arbitrary way, according to their own will and pleasure; see <a href="/deuteronomy/17-8.htm">Deuteronomy 17:8</a>. <a name="gsb" id="gsb"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/gsb/deuteronomy/21.htm">Geneva Study Bible</a></div><span class="cverse2">And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them the LORD thy God hath chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of the LORD; and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried:</span></div></div><div id="centbox"><div class="padcent"><div class="comtype">EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)</div><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/cambridge/deuteronomy/21.htm">Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges</a></div><span class="bld">5</span>. <span class="ital">the priests the sons of Levi shall come near</span>] The same vb as of <span class="ital">the priest</span> in <a href="/deuteronomy/20-2.htm" title="And it shall be, when you are come near to the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people,">Deuteronomy 20:2</a>, R.V. <span class="ital">approach</span>. The appearance of the priests is remarkable, for they have nothing else to do in the ceremony. They have been introduced, then, either by D or, since they are not designated by D’s usual title for them (<span class="ital">the priests the Levites</span>), by an editor who, under the later priestly conceptions, cannot imagine such a ceremony without them. The rest of the <span class="ital">v</span>. reads as though the insertor gave it as his reason for bringing them in. For the formulas of which it consists see on <a href="/deuteronomy/10-8.htm" title="At that time the LORD separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to minister to him, and to bless in his name, to this day.">Deuteronomy 10:8</a>, <a href="/deuteronomy/17-8.htm" title="If there arise a matter too hard for you in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within your gates: then shall you arise, and get you up into the place which the LORD your God shall choose;">Deuteronomy 17:8</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/17-12.htm" title="And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not listen to the priest that stands to minister there before the LORD your God, or to the judge, even that man shall die: and you shall put away the evil from Israel.">Deuteronomy 17:12</a>, <a href="/deuteronomy/18-5.htm" title="For the LORD your God has chosen him out of all your tribes, to stand to minister in the name of the LORD, him and his sons for ever.">Deuteronomy 18:5</a>.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="pul" id="pul"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/pulpit/deuteronomy/21.htm">Pulpit Commentary</a></div><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 5.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near.</span> The presence of the priests at this ceremony was due to their position as the servants of Jehovah the King of Israel, on whom it devolved to see that all was done in any matter as his Law prescribed. The priests present were probably those from the nearest Levitical town. <span class="cmt_word">And by their word shall every controversy and every stroke he tried</span>; literally, <span class="accented">And upon</span> <span class="accented">their mouth shall be every strife and every stroke</span>, <span class="accented">i</span>.<span class="accented">e</span>. by their judgment the character of the act shall be determined, and as they decide so shall the matter stand (cf. <a href="/deuteronomy/10-8.htm">Deuteronomy 10:8</a>; <a href="/deuteronomy/17-8.htm">Deuteronomy 17:8</a>). In the present case the presence of the priests at the transaction gave it sanction as valid. Deuteronomy 21:5<a name="kad" id="kad"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/kad/deuteronomy/21.htm">Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament</a></div>The priests were to come near during this transaction; i.e., some priests from the nearest Levitical town were to be present at it, not to conduct the affair, but as those whom Jehovah had chosen to serve Him and to bless in His name (cf. <a href="/deuteronomy/13-5.htm">Deuteronomy 13:5</a>), and according to whose mouth (words) every dispute and every stroke happened (cf. <a href="/deuteronomy/17-8.htm">Deuteronomy 17:8</a>), i.e., simply as those who were authorized by the Lord, and as the representatives of the divine right, to receive the explanation and petition of the elders, and acknowledge the legal validity of the act.<div class="vheading2">Links</div><a href="/interlinear/deuteronomy/21-5.htm">Deuteronomy 21:5 Interlinear</a><br /><a href="/texts/deuteronomy/21-5.htm">Deuteronomy 21:5 Parallel Texts</a><br /><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/niv/deuteronomy/21-5.htm">Deuteronomy 21:5 NIV</a><br /><a href="/nlt/deuteronomy/21-5.htm">Deuteronomy 21:5 NLT</a><br /><a href="/esv/deuteronomy/21-5.htm">Deuteronomy 21:5 ESV</a><br /><a href="/nasb/deuteronomy/21-5.htm">Deuteronomy 21:5 NASB</a><br /><a href="/kjv/deuteronomy/21-5.htm">Deuteronomy 21:5 KJV</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="http://bibleapps.com/deuteronomy/21-5.htm">Deuteronomy 21:5 Bible Apps</a><br /><a href="/deuteronomy/21-5.htm">Deuteronomy 21:5 Parallel</a><br /><a href="http://bibliaparalela.com/deuteronomy/21-5.htm">Deuteronomy 21:5 Biblia Paralela</a><br /><a href="http://holybible.com.cn/deuteronomy/21-5.htm">Deuteronomy 21:5 Chinese Bible</a><br /><a href="http://saintebible.com/deuteronomy/21-5.htm">Deuteronomy 21:5 French Bible</a><br /><a href="http://bibeltext.com/deuteronomy/21-5.htm">Deuteronomy 21:5 German Bible</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/">Bible Hub</a><br /></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="mdd"><div align="center"><div class="bot2"><table align="center" width="100%"><tr><td align="center"><div align="center"> <script id="3d27ed63fc4348d5b062c4527ae09445"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=51ce25d5-1a8c-424a-8695-4bd48c750f35&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script> <script id="b817b7107f1d4a7997da1b3c33457e03"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=cb0edd8b-b416-47eb-8c6d-3cc96561f7e8&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-2'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-0' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-3'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-1' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div align="center" id='div-gpt-ad-1531425649696-0'> </div><br /><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:200px;height:200px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-3753401421161123" data-ad-slot="3592799687"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /><br /> </div> <div id="left"><a href="../deuteronomy/21-4.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="Deuteronomy 21:4"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="Deuteronomy 21:4" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../deuteronomy/21-6.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="Deuteronomy 21:6"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="Deuteronomy 21:6" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div> <div id="bot"><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhnew2.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></td></tr></table></div></body></html>