(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Deuteronomy 21:1–9 “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: Then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain: And it shall be, that the city which is next unto the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take an heifer, which hath not been wrought with, and which hath not drawn in the yoke; And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough valley, which is neither eared nor sown, and shall strike off the heifer’s neck there in the valley: 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: And all the elders of that city, that are next unto the slain man, shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley: And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it. Be merciful, O LORD, unto thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto thy people of Israel’s charge. And the blood shall be forgiven them. So shalt thou put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the LORD.”
There are crimes that are committed openly and there are crimes that are committed in secret. From time to time one person kills another and there are no witnesses. However, it is not so easy to hide a body. If someone discovered a body somewhere out in the country and there was no one to say how that person died, the leaders in that area still had to acknowledge that life was sacred before the Lord. If a person didn’t respect the sanctity of life, as the Lord had declared, then that person’s life was to be treated with the same respect that he showed for another person’s life. (Gen 9:6, “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.”) The Lord had established a system of local legal authority and the people given this charge were responsible to punish any offender for a land that didn’t have respect for life had no right to exist before the Lord. When a dead body was found the first job was to find out whose jurisdiction covered the area of the crime. The local authorities had to atone for the death, even if an offender could not be found. These people were called upon to offer a sacrifice for forgiveness of the fact that a person had been killed.
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