17 A man who is tormented by life blood will be a fugitive until death; no one will support him.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
The case of willful murder, not the lesser crime of manslaughter for which the cities of refuge were appointed. One, with that guilt on his soul, is simply hasting on to his own destruction. Those who see him must simply stand aloof, and let God's judgments fulfill themselves.
That doeth violence to the blood - He who either slays the innocent, or procures his destruction, may flee to hide himself: but let none give him protection. The law demands his life, because he is a murderer; and let none deprive justice of its claim. Murder is the most horrid crime in the sight of God and man; it scarcely ever goes unpunished, and is universally execrated.
A man that doeth violence to the blood of [any] person shall flee to the pit; let no man (i) sustain him.
(i) No one will be able to deliver him.
A man that doeth violence to the blood of any person,.... That sheds the blood of any in a violent manner; that lays violent hands upon a club, and takes away his life, contrary to the law in Genesis 9:6. Or, "that is pressed because of the blood of any person" (q); pressed in his own mind; filled with horror, and tortured in his conscience, for the innocent blood he has shed: the letter "daleth" in the word "Adam" is lesser than usual; and Vitringa, on Isaiah 34:6; observes, that it signifies a man red with blood, oppressed in his conscience, and depressed by God, which this minute letter is a symbol of; and thinks it applicable to Edom or Rome: or it signifies one pressed, pursued, and dose followed by the avenger of blood;
shall flee to the pit; let no man stay him; support or help him. When such a murderer flees, and is pursued, and unawares falls into a pit, or is like to do so, let no man warn him of it, or help him out of it; or if he flees to a pit to hide himself, let no man hold him or detain him there, or suffer him to continue in such a lurking place, but discover him or pluck him out; or, if he is a fugitive and a vagabond all his days, as Cain, the murderer of his brother, was, till he comes to the pit of the grave, let no man yield him any support or sustenance.
(q) "pressus propter sanguinem animae", Amama, Cartwright; so R. Joseph Kimchi in D. Kimchii Sepher Shorash rad.
The murderer shall be haunted with terrors. None shall desire to save him from deserved punishment, nor pity him.
doeth violence . . . blood, &c.--or, that is oppressed by the blood of life (Genesis 9:6), which he has taken.
to the pit--the grave or destruction (Proverbs 1:12; Job 33:18-24; Psalm 143:7).
stay him--sustain or deliver him.
17 A man burdened with the guilt of blood upon his soul
Fleeth to the pit; let no one detain him.
Luther translates: "A man that doeth violence to the blood of any one," as if he had read the word עשׁק. Lwenstein persuades himself that עשׁק may mean "having oppressed," and for this refers to לבוּשׁ, having clothed, in the Mishna נשׁוּי, רבוּב, Lat. coenatus, juratus; but none of all these cases are of the same nature, for always the conduct designated is interpreted as a suffering of that which is done, e.g., the drawing on, as a being clothed; the riding, as a being ridden, etc. Of עשׁק, in the sense of the oppression of another, there is no such part. pass. as throws the action as a condition back upon the subject. This is valid also against Aben Ezra, who supposes that עשׁק means oppressing after the forms אנוּר, שׁדוּד, שׁכוּן, for of שׁכוּן, settled = dwelling, that which has just been said is true; that אנוּר is equivalent to אגר, cf. regarding it under Proverbs 30:1, and that שׁדוּד, Psalm 137:8, is equivalent to שׁדד, is not true. Kimchi adds, under the name of his father (Joseph Kimchi), also שׁחוּט, Jeremiah 9:7 = שׁוחט; but that "slaughtered" can be equivalent to slaughtering is impossible. Some MSS have the word עשׂק, which is not inadmissible, but not in the sense of "accused" (Lwenstein), but: persecuted, exposed to war; for עשׁק signifies to treat hostilely, and post-bibl. generally to aspire after or pursue anything, e.g., עסוק בּדברי תורה, R. עשׂ (whence Piel contrectare, cf. Isaiah 23:2, according to which עשׁק appears to be an intensifying of this עשׂה). However, there is no ground for regarding עשׁק
(Note: Bttcher supposes much rather עשּׁק = מעשּׁק; also, Proverbs 25:11, דבּר = מדבּר; but that does not follow from the defectiva scriptio, nor from anything else.)
as not original, nor in the sense of "hard pressed;" for it is not used of avenging persecution, but: inwardly pressed, for Isaiah 38:14 עשׁקה also signifies the anguish of a guilty conscience. Whoever is inwardly bowed down by the blood of a man whom he has murdered, betakes himself to a ceaseless flight to escape the avenger of blood, the punishment of his guilt, and his own inward torment; he flees and finds no rest, till at last the grave (בור according to the Eastern, i.e., the Babylonian, mode of writing בּר) receives him, and death accomplishes the only possible propitiation of the murderer. The exhortation, "let no one detain him," does not mean that one should not lay hold on the fugitive; but, since תּמך בּ does not mean merely to hold fast, but to hold right, that one should not afford him any support, any refuge, any covering or security against the vengeance which pursues him; that one should not rescue him from the arm of justice, and thereby invade and disturb the public administration of justice, which rests on moral foundations; on the other side, the Book of Prov; Proverbs 24:11., has uttered its exhortation to save a human life whenever it is possible to do so. The proverb lying before us cannot thus mean anything else than that no one should give to the murderer, as such, any assistance; that no one should save him clandestinely, and thereby make himself a partaker of his sin. Grace cannot come into the place of justice till justice has been fully recognised. Human sympathy, human forbearance, under the false title of grace, do not stand in contrast to this justice. We must, however, render אל־יתמכו־בו not directly as an admonition against that which is immoral; it may also be a declaration of that which is impossible: only let no one support him, let no one seek to deliver him from the unrest which drives him from place to place. This is, however, in vain; he is unceasingly driven about to fulfil his lot. But the translation: nemine eum sustinente (Fleischer), is inadmissible; a mere declaration of a fact without any subjective colouring is never אל reven si g seq. fut.
Violence - That sheddeth any man's blood. Shall flee - Shall speedily be destroyed. Shall slay - None should desire or endeavour to save him from his deserved punishment.
*More commentary available at chapter level.