Coroner's procedure, c.1250 BC

[khaosworks]

Something for my own reference, from Deuteronomy Chapter 21:

1 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:

2 Then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain:

3 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;

4 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:

5 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:

6 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:

7 And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.

8 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.

9 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.

Comments

[braider.livejournal.com]

Hm. Interesting undertones. Can you explain, perchance, what it meant in terms of the cultural context? I'm wondering if I'm misreading it....

[khaosworks.livejournal.com]

Essentially, this prescribed procedure outlines and emphasises the seriousness of an unsolved — and thus unavenged — murder. The elaborateness of the ceremony underlines to the community how murder is not just an injustice, but a sin so dark that it actually pollutes and defiles the very land that it happens on, to the point where ritual cleansing of the land needs to be carried out with a blood sacrifice and forgiveness begged from God lest His wrath strike down on them. It is a reminder that murder is not an individual crime put one that strikes at the very heart of the society, something that upsets the internal order.

Some commentators also suggest that the huge expense of the ritual, with the sacrifice of the heifer (which is not a cheap animal) and calling out the priests, also gives the community leaders an incentive to solve the murder and avenge the crime.

[cellio]

Numbers 36 also contains a passage about how blood (that is, from murder) poisons the land. Oh, and there a bit in Genesis after Kayin kills Hevel that's relevant (the land calling out from the blood spilled on it, I think). And when Noach is given laws before repopulating the world (Gen 9), we're told that blood=life. It's pretty clear that spilling blood is serious stuff.

The Levites are involved here because they are the vehicle by which the people stay right with God. They perform the rituals, including rituals of atonement. The book of Leviticus has lots to say about the various offerings, including sin-offerings for atonement.

[khaosworks.livejournal.com]

Numbers 35, I think you mean, which also sets out provisions for persons to take blood vengeance for the killing of a relative, as well as setting aside cities of sanctuary where an unintentional killer (as opposed to one with malice aforethought and other exceptions laid out in Numbers 35) could be safe from that blood vengeance until a trial could be held.

[cellio]

Numbers 35, I think you mean,

Oops, sorry. That'll teach me to cite from memory. Yes, I specifically meant 35:33-34, where we're told outright that blood pollutes the land.

In the case of a known murderer, the blood of the killer atones for the blood of the victim. In the case of an accidental killing, the killer waits in a city of refuge until the high priest dies; his death apparently atones for all waiting accidental killers. This leaves the case where there's been a murder (not an accident) and you don't know who did it; the passage you quoted addresses a subset of those cases. I'm not aware of biblical specification of what to do with an unsolved murder in a city, though I'm sure some law has been derived. By the time of the talmud, at least, the rabbis are pretty willing to prevent a capital sentence from being carried out if there's any chance of getting the guy off, yet I don't see a lot of discussion there about alternate ways to "make good" for the victim's blood.

[thebitterguy]

So, yeah, CSI: Judea. That's interesting.

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

Yes. I particularly like the scientific element of the measuring...

[haloumi.livejournal.com]

Well, give that they have a guy called Kane in CSI:Miami who had a dead brother and he was jealous of what his brother had (i.e. the wife)- I think they're already halfway there.

At least, that's what I think they had in mind at the start even though they didn't follow it through properly.

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

So presumably this will be incorporated into US judicial procedure in the near future?

[jahura.livejournal.com]

Not from what I can determine. We Americans are big on blame, and tagging a face and a name to the crime. It's the quick-and-dirty solution. Therefore, we would be more inclined to perform human sacrifice than animal.