Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Deuteronomy 19:13
Thine eye shall not pity him, but thou shalt put away [the guilt of] innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with thee.
13. Only by such action on the part of the local authorities and the kinsmen of the murdered man can the guilt of the crime be removed from the whole nation. To this extent the ancient custom of the vendetta is recognised as part of the theocratic system.
thou shalt put away ] See on Deu 13:5 (6).
that it may go well with thee ] Another recurrent phrase; Deu 4:40, Deu 5:16; Deu 5:29, etc.
Additional Note: The Vendetta, ‘the one element of jurisprudence in the wild life of the desert,’ springs from, the simple principle of blood for blood, still valid in the law of Israel, Gen 9:6. Its moral effects are twofold and contrary. On the one hand it is a restraint upon manslaughter, the possibilities of vengeance which it lets loose engendering reluctance to take life except in self-defence. On the other, when once a man has been slain, there is no chance of a fair trial for the slayer; though his deed may have been an accident he may have to atone for it with his life; while the excitement of whole families and tribes to avenge it is a fertile source of disorder and of war, which may last and has lasted for a century. The duty of the vendetta extends sometimes to the third sometimes to the fifth degree of kinship, but among the Sinai Arabs to the sixth from the grandfather down (Jennings Bramley, PEFQ 1907, 135). Hence even in the wildest parts of Arabia there arose the right of sanctuary in any tent from which it was claimed, and the respite was used for the investigation of the case, and even in cases of wilful murder for the arrangement of some compromise financial or otherwise between the slayer and the kinsmen of the slain. In these negotiations the tribal authorities would often intervene. But even this has been found insufficient to secure order and justice, and wherever a central authority has been established among the Arabs one of its first efforts has been to control and regulate, or even to abolish, the vendetta. For modern examples the Wahabees, Mohammed ‘Ali, the Russians in the Caucasus and the Sublime Porte see Von Oppenheim, Vom Mittelmeer zum Pers. Golf. Similarly in Israel. The earlier law (as we have seen) gave sanctuary at every altar of Jehovah. When only the One Altar remained the opportunity came to modify the whole consuetudinary law; the vendetta was not abolished but controlled by the rights of sanctuary in certain accessible cities and by the interference of the local authorities. These provisions, apparently first made by D and elaborated in P, secured a fair trial and the acquittal of the innocent slayer; but they do not allow any such compromise, financial or otherwise, as frequently takes place among the Arabs between the wilful murderer and the kinsmen of his victim. In Israel the wilful murderer must die. Such distinctions of Israel’s system from the customs of her Semitic neighbours, involving as they do both a greater humanity in one direction and a greater severity in the other, are of the highest ethical interest.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Thine eye shall not pity him,…. This is not said to the avenger of blood, who is not to be supposed to have any pity or compassion on such a person, but to the elders, judges, and civil magistrates of the city to which he belonged, who took cognizance of his case; these were to show him no favour on account of his being a citizen, a neighbour, a relation or friend, or a rich man, or on any account whatever; but without favour or affection were to judge him and put him to death as a murderer; see Nu 35:21,
but thou shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel; by which they would be defiled, and be liable to punishment for it; see
Nu 35:33, the Targum of Jonathan is,
“shall put away those that shed innocent blood out of Israel;”
put them away by death:
that it may go well with thee; with the whole land and its inhabitants, and with the city particularly, and the magistrates, and men of it, to which the murderer condemned to death belonged, being continued in the enjoyment of all temporal blessings and mercies.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
put away, & c. See note on Deu 13:5.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Thine eye: Deu 7:16, Deu 13:8, Deu 25:12, Eze 16:5
but thou: Deu 21:9, Gen 9:6, Lev 24:17, Lev 24:21, Num 35:33, Num 35:34, 2Sa 21:1, 2Sa 21:14, 1Ki 2:31
Reciprocal: Gen 45:20 – regard not Deu 5:29 – that it might Deu 19:10 – General Deu 19:21 – thine eye Mat 27:25 – His Heb 10:28 – without
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
19:13 Thine {g} eye shall not pity him, but thou shalt put away [the guilt of] innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with thee.
(g) Then whoever pardons murder, goes against the word of God.