Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 35:18
Or [if] he smite him with a hand weapon of wood, wherewith he may die, and he die, he [is] a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death.
Or if he smote him with an hand weapon of wood,…. A stick, or staff, or club:
wherewith he may die, and he die; which is sufficient to kill a man, as the same Targum explains it; and a man dies with the blow that is given him by it:
he is a murderer, and the murderer shall surely be put to death; no pardon given him, or the benefit of the city of refuge allowed him.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Num 35:18 Or [if] he smite him with an hand weapon of wood, wherewith he may die, and he die, he [is] a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death.
Ver. 18. The murderer shall surely be put to death. ] This is ius gentium. The Turks’ justice in this case will rather cut off two innocent men, than let one offender escape. The Persians punish theft and manslaughter so severely, that in an age a man shall hardly hear either of the one or the other. a A severity fit for Italy, where they blaspheme oftener than swear, and murder more than revile or slander b (like the dogs of Congo, which, they say, c bite, but bark not): and no less fit for France, where within ten years six thousand gentlemen have been slain, as it appears by the king’s pardons. d Byron, Lord high-Marshal of France, and Governor of Burgundy, slew a certain judge for putting to death a malefactor, whom he had commanded to be spared; for this he sued a pardon, and had it: but not long after he turned traitor to his prince that had pardoned him, and was justly executed. e
a Cartwr., Travels.
b Spec. Europ.
c Purchas.
d Les ombres des defunde sieurs de Villemor.
e Epitome Hist. Gall., p. 275.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Num 35:18. With a hand-weapon It made no difference with what kind of weapon he was killed, whether it was of iron, wood, or stone. If he was killed wittingly and knowingly, it was murder, and the guilty person was to die for it. For though perhaps he had no intention to kill the person, yet he ought to have moderated his passion, and could not be ignorant that such an instrument was capable of inflicting a deadly wound.