And if he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death.
| Word | Hebrew | Strong’s | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| smite | הִכָּ֛הוּ hi.Ka.hu | H5221 | to strike (lightly or severely · verb, hiphil perfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular |
| instrument | בִּכְלִ֨י bikh.Li | H3627 | something prepared · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct |
| iron | בַרְזֶ֧ל var.Zel | H1270 | iron (as cutting) · noun, common masculine singular absolute |
| die | וַיָּמֹ֖ת vai.ya.Mot | H4191 | to die (literally or figuratively) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular |
| murderer | רֹצֵ֣חַֽ ro.Tze.ach | H7523 | properly · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute |
| murderer | הָרֹצֵֽחַ ha.ro.Tze.ach | H7523 | properly · definite article + verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute |
| surely | מ֥וֹת Mot | H4191 | to die (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal infinitive absolute |
| death | יוּמַ֖ת yu.Mat | H4191 | to die (literally or figuratively) · verb, hophal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular |
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
If he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, &c.--Various cases are here enumerated in which the Goel or avenger was at liberty to take the life of the murderer; and every one of them proves a premeditated purpose.
Until he stand before the congregation in judgment - So one of these cities was not a perpetual asylum; It was only a pro tempore refuge, till the case could be fairly examined by the magistrates in the presence of the people, or the elders their representatives; and this was done in the city or place where he had done the murder, Jos 20:4, Jos 20:6. If he was found worthy of death, they delivered him to the avenger that he might be slain, Deu 19:12; if not, they sent him back to the city of refuge, where he remained till the death of the high priest, Num 35:25. Before the cities of refuge were appointed, the altar appears to have been a sanctuary for those who had killed a person unwittingl…
Read the whole note in the consoleAnd if he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die,.... As with an hatchet, hammer, sword, knife, &c. he is a murderer; the instrument used by him, and with which he smote, shows that he had a bad design, and intended to kill, or he would never have smitten a man with such an instrument: the murderer shall surely be put to death; be condemned to death, and be executed, by the order of the civil magistrate, according to the law in Genesis 9:6 and not be allowed the benefit of a city of refuge.
Numbers 35:9-34 9. And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, 9. Et locutus est Jehova ad Mosen dicendo: 10. Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come over Jordan into the land of Canaan, 10. Alloquere filios Israel, et dicas eis, Quum transieritis Jordanem in terra Chanaan, 11. Then ye shall appoint you cities to be cities of refuge for you; that the slayer may flee thither, which killeth any person at unawares. 11. Constituetis vobis urbes: urbes autem refugii erunt vobis, quo fugiet homicida qui percusserit aliquem per errorem. 12. And they shall be unto you cities for refuge from the avenger; that the manslayer die not, until he stand before the congregati…
Special instructions are given in Num 35:16-28, with reference to the judicial procedure. First of all (Num 35:16-21), with regard to qualified slaying or murder. If any person has struck another with an iron instrument (an axe, hatchet, hammer, etc.), or "with a stone of the hand, from which one dies," i.e., with a stone which filled the hand, - a large stone, therefore, with which it was possible to kill, - or "with a wooden instrument of the hand, from which one dies," i.e., with a thick club, or a large, strong wooden instrument, and he then died (so that he died in consequence), he was a murderer, who was to be put to death. "For the suspicion would rest upon any one who had used an ins…
Read the whole note in the consoleThe Old Testament makes a clear distinction between deliberate murder and involuntary manslaughter (35:11, 22-23; Exod 21:12-14; cp. Num 15:22-31). Murder required a penalty of execution, but an accidental death did not. The cities of refuge provided protection only for those who killed another person by accident. • The use of a weapon was proof of malicious intent. 35:15 Israelites, foreigners living among you, and traveling merchants. Anyone: The same law applied impartially to everyone; Israel had one standard of justice, not two (one for citizens, another for noncitizens), as in many societies (see also Lev 19:15; Deut 1:16-17; 1 Tim 5:21; Jas 2:2-4).
ואם בכלי ברזל הכהו BUT IF HE SMOTE HIM WITH AN INSTRUMENT OF IRON — This is not speaking of one who kills inadvertently, who is mentioned near this (in the preceding verse), but of one who kills intentionally; and its purpose is to teach us that with whatever instrument one kills, it is necessary that it must have a size sufficient to cause death, because in the case of all of them (vv. 17, 18) it is said, אשר ימות “[an instrument] by which one may die”, the Hebrew of which we translate in the Targum by, “[an instrument] which is of such a size that one may die through it” — in the case of all, except in that of iron, because it is manifest and known to the Holy One, blessed be He, that iron…
Read the whole note in the consoleHenry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Clarke, Gill, Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch are in the public domain; Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, CC BY-SA 4.0 — all from the Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org). Rashi: the Rosenbaum & Silbermann Pentateuch (public domain) and the Judaica Press and Metsudah Tanakh (CC BY), via Sefaria. Spurgeon's Treasury of David: public domain (lyteword's markdown edition, CC0).
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
