Deuteronomy 21:4

"It shall be that the elders of the city which is nearest to the slain man shall take a heifer of the herd, which hasn’t been worked with and which has not drawn in the yoke."

Key Reflection

In Deuteronomy 21:4, when the nearest city elders encounter a slain body outside their gates, they are to choose a young and unbroken ox from the local herd for a significant ritual. This process would have been deeply meaningful to the original audience, as it involved selecting an animal that had never carried any burden or worked in the field, symbolizing purity and new life. The act of choosing such an innocent beast underscored the solemnity and gravity of addressing a violent crime at the community level.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

Eared -i. e., plowed; compareGenesis 45:6note and references. The word is derived from the Latin, and is in frequent use by English writers of the fifteenth and two following centuries. Strike off the heifer’s neck -Rather, “break its neck” (compareExodus 13:13). 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.

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