Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
God commands that a hidden homicide be expiated by the slaughter of a heifer and by the protestation of the magistrate of his innocence. Second, verse 10, a captive woman, in order to be taken as a wife, is commanded to shave her hair and trim her nails. Third, verse 15, the son of the hated wife, if he is the firstborn, is to be assigned the rights of the firstborn. Fourth, verse 18, a stubborn and profligate son is to be stoned. Fifth, verse 22, the bodies of those hanged are to be buried the same day, because cursed is he who hangs on the tree.
Vulgate Text: Deuteronomy 21:1-23
1. When there shall be found in the land, which the Lord your God is about to give you, the body of a slain man, and the guilty party is unknown, 2. your elders and judges shall go out, and shall measure the distances from the place of the body to each of the surrounding cities: 3. and whichever they perceive to be nearest to the rest, the elders of that city shall take a heifer from the herd, which has not drawn the yoke, nor plowed the earth with a plowshare, 4. and they shall lead it to a rough and rocky valley, which has never been plowed nor received seed; and they shall cut the neck of the heifer there; 5. and the priests, the sons of Levi, whom the Lord your God has chosen to minister to Him and to bless in His name, shall approach, and by their word every matter, and whatever is clean or unclean, shall be judged. 6. And the elders of that city shall come to the slain man, and shall wash their hands over the heifer that was struck in the valley, 7. and shall say: Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes seen it. 8. Be merciful to Your people Israel, whom You have redeemed, O Lord, and do not impute innocent blood in the midst of Your people Israel. And the guilt of blood shall be taken from them: 9. and you shall be free from the blood of the innocent that was shed, when you have done what the Lord commanded. 10. If you go out to battle against your enemies, and the Lord your God delivers them into your hand, and you take captives, 11. and see among the number of captives a beautiful woman, and love her, and wish to have her as a wife, 12. you shall bring her into your house: and she shall shave her hair, and trim her nails. 13. And she shall put off the garment in which she was captured; and sitting in your house, she shall weep for her father and mother for one month: and afterward you shall go in to her, and sleep with her, and she shall be your wife. 14. But if afterward she does not please you, you shall let her go free, and you cannot sell her for money, nor oppress her by your power: because you have humbled her. 15. If a man has two wives, one beloved and the other hated, and they have borne him children, and the son of the hated wife is the firstborn, 16. and he wishes to divide his substance among his sons, he cannot make the son of the beloved wife firstborn, and set him before the son of the hated wife; 17. but he shall acknowledge the son of the hated wife as firstborn, and shall give him a double portion of all that he has: for he is the beginning of his children, and to him are due the rights of the firstborn. 18. If a man begets a stubborn and insolent son, who will not obey the command of his father or mother, and when corrected scorns to obey: 19. they shall seize him and bring him to the elders of that city, and to the gate of judgment, 20. and shall say to them: This son of ours is insolent and stubborn, he scorns to hear our admonitions, he indulges in carousing, and in luxury and banquets: 21. the people of the city shall stone him; and he shall die, that you may remove evil from your midst, and all Israel hearing may be afraid. 22. When a man has committed a crime punishable by death, and having been condemned to death has been hanged on a gibbet, 23. his body shall not remain on the tree; but on the same day he shall be buried, because cursed by God is he who hangs on the tree: and you shall in no way defile your land, which the Lord your God has given you as a possession.
Verse 2: They Shall Measure from the Place of the Body
2. THEY SHALL MEASURE FROM THE PLACE OF THE BODY -- they shall calculate how many miles or paces the place of the body is from each of the neighboring cities.
Note: the body is here attributed to the nearest city, because the presumption falls on it above others that someone from it committed the murder. Hence the elders of that city are commanded, verse 7, with a victim, to purge themselves by public protestation from the crime and from the vengeance of the crime, whose author they do not know, so that by this means they may avert the wrath of God both from themselves and from their people.
The magistrate was also to punish, lest the guilt of one should provoke the wrath of God against the whole community of Israel, as is said in distinction 45, canon 18.
Finally, the third reason for this ordinance was that the author of the crime, if he were among them, might be betrayed. For it is a kind of natural miracle, says Abulensis, that if the killer approaches the body of the slain, the wounds sweat blood, and this happens not only when someone has recently been killed, but even after many days; indeed, from the very bare bones blood sometimes flows out, as has been seen many times, God obviously showing by this sign the author of so enormous a crime. For God is accustomed, even among the Gentiles, to uncover and avenge homicide by wondrous judgment and evidence. Hence that cry of the Maltese to Paul, when he was attacked by a viper: "Justice does not allow him to live," but pursues him to death as a murderer.
Hear the examples from the Gentiles. Macarius of Mytilene, a priest of Bacchus, lured a guest into the temple and killed him: shortly after, his sons, wishing to imitate their father's sacrifices, one slaughtered the other as if a victim; the mother, learning of this, in a fury killed with a firebrand the remaining son, who had slaughtered the other; the father-priest, learning of this, slew the mother, his own wife, and therefore, being captured and having confessed the crime, he breathed out his life in torments before the public execution. Behold, God punished the homicide of the priest with the slaughter of his children, his wife, and the homicide himself: the witness is Aelian, Book 13.
Two Arcadian friends came to Megara; one lodged with a friend, the other at an inn: the latter appeared to the former at night, asking him to come to his aid, because death was being prepared for him by the innkeeper; the first rose; but thinking it was a dream, he soon lay down again. The other returned, asking that, if he had not wished to help him while alive, at least he would not suffer his death to go unavenged: for he had been killed by the innkeeper, and his body thrown into a cart lay hidden under dung. "In the morning, therefore," he said, "stand at the gate before the cart leaves the town, and you will discover the body and the matter as I describe." He did so, discovered the body and the innkeeper, and the innkeeper paid the penalty. Here there is not the slightest doubt that the dream was sent to the friend by God, so that the author of the homicide might be revealed. Cicero narrates this, Book 1 of On Divination.
The poet Ibycus, when he had fallen among robbers, about to be killed, called as witnesses the cranes that happened to be flying overhead. Some time later, when the same robbers were sitting in the forum, and cranes again flew overhead, they whispered among themselves jokingly in each other's ears: The avengers of Ibycus are here. Those sitting nearby seized upon this remark with suspicion -- especially since Ibycus had already been long missed. Asked what they meant by those words, they answered hesitatingly and inconsistently. Subjected to torture, they confessed the crime. And so, as it were by the testimony of cranes, they paid the penalty to Ibycus, or rather perished by their own judgment. So Plutarch, On Talkativeness.
King Pyrrhus on a journey came upon a dog that was guarding the body of its slaughtered master: and hearing that it had remained there without food for three days and had not left, he ordered the body to be buried, the dog to be taken with him, and care to be had for it. A few days later the king was reviewing his troops, and the soldiers were passing before the seated king. The dog was there, quiet: but when it caught sight of its master's killers passing by, it rushed at them with barking and rage, turning back repeatedly toward Pyrrhus. And so, being seized immediately and an inquiry held, since evidence from other sources had also come in, they confessed the murder and paid the penalty: so Plutarch, On the Cleverness of Animals.
The dog of Hesiod indicated the sons of Ganyctor of Naupactus, by whom Hesiod had been slain. So the same Plutarch.
Popielus, king of Poland, killed his uncles: soon mice bursting forth from the tombs of the slain attacked the king; nor could they be prevented from harassing him by fires lit all around: so that at last, abandoned by his own people and confessing that he was being struck by divine vengeance, he was torn apart by those tiny creatures, as all the Polish historians relate.
Verse 3: The Elders Shall Take a Heifer
3. THE ELDERS OF THAT CITY (which is nearest to the body) SHALL TAKE A HEIFER FROM THE HERD, WHICH HAS NOT DRAWN THE YOKE -- which, namely, being strong and not worn down by the labor of drawing a cart or plow, bears the symbol and type of the innocence of the one who was killed.
4. AND THEY SHALL LEAD IT TO A ROUGH AND ROCKY VALLEY. -- Rabbi Joseph Kimchi thinks this valley is called rough, rocky, and uncultivated by prolepsis: because, namely, it would be such in the future. For the place was rendered sacred and accursed by the flesh of this expiatory heifer, scattered in it and putrefying there, so that it was not permitted to sow or cultivate it. But this opinion clearly contradicts the words of Scripture, for it says: "And they shall lead it to a rough and rocky valley, which has never been plowed nor received seed;" which words clearly signify what this valley is and has been, not what it will be in the future.
This heifer therefore was to be slaughtered in a rough valley, because this is a symbol of the horror of homicide. For all these things were prescribed by God to terrify that rough people, and to deter them from homicide, through this outward display, as it were, of mourning and funeral, and through the expiatory victim for the homicide, for which, since the author was hidden, the whole community seemed to be liable, as one that sustained such a member within itself and had not watched sufficiently over its flock.
AND THEY SHALL CUT THE NECK OF THE HEIFER -- to signify that both the murderer, if he were known, and he who conceals the homicide, especially if he is one of these elders, that is, of the magistracy, ought to be beheaded.
Verses 5-7: The Protestation of the Elders
5. EVERY MATTER DEPENDS. -- Delete the word "depends" with the following colon, as the Roman editions delete it, as if to say: The elders of the city shall approach the priests, whose duty it is to judge and decide all controversies and every matter of uncleanness.
7. AND THEY SHALL SAY: OUR HANDS HAVE NOT SHED THIS BLOOD, NOR HAVE OUR EYES SEEN IT -- as if to say: We do not know the author of the homicide; if we knew, we would certainly punish him.
Where note: By the words "have not shed," the judges do not merely signify that they have not with their own hands shed blood: for this would have been too little, and would not have sufficed for their innocence; but moreover that by their consent, or connivance, or dissimulation, or granting of impunity, or any other similar negligence they gave no occasion for the homicide. For the magistrate who is bound by office to make the roads safe from assassins and to prevent murders, unless he does so, is guilty of them, even if he is not aware of them. For only to a private person saying: "I did not commit the theft," is the reply given: "You will not feed the crows on the cross;" but more is required of a public person, such as a magistrate. So Rabbi Solomon, Lyranus, and others.
Verse 8: Do Not Impute Innocent Blood
8. DO NOT IMPUTE INNOCENT BLOOD IN THE MIDST OF YOUR PEOPLE -- do not impute the killing of this innocent man to the people of Israel, nor take vengeance on them for it.
Certain Hebrews think that the soul of the slain man wanders and roams on earth, and cries out for vengeance to heaven, until the magistrate punishes the murderer and removes him from the land: for then that soul departs from the earth and demands no further vengeance. But this opinion smacks of Judaism.
AND THE GUILT OF BLOOD SHALL BE TAKEN FROM THEM (the elders of the people) -- in Hebrew, and blood shall be forgiven them, that is, the guilt or punishment of the blood shed. So that God may not punish the people as being negligent in punishing homicides; because they did what they could, and what the Lord commanded, for apprehending the murderer and for expiating the homicide.
Verse 9: You Shall Be Free from the Blood of the Innocent
9. AND YOU SHALL BE FREE FROM THE BLOOD OF THE INNOCENT. -- Here Moses turns to the people itself, because all Israel was held guilty of blood whenever someone was killed, unless through the elders of the nearest city this inquest and lustration was performed: for through it they were absolved.
Note: The slain man is called innocent, though he could have been guilty and an aggressor: because according to the presumption of law, everyone is presumed good unless the contrary is proven. So Abulensis.
Allegory: The Heifer and Christ
Allegorically, the rough valley is the place of Calvary where Christ was crucified.
Allegorically, this heifer signifies the flesh of our Redeemer, says Procopius and Rabanus, which never drew the yoke of sin, and was sacrificed in the hard, untamed valley most rough with the thorns of vices, namely in Jerusalem: the priests wash their hands over it, that is, the holy Apostles and preachers demonstrate that their works are clean in the passion of Christ; while by them the flesh of Christ, crucified by the Jews for the expiation of our sins, is preached; and while they confess themselves free from the impiety of the Jews, they shall obtain forgiveness, says Cyril in the Glaphyra. See Rabanus. Rupertus explains these things differently.
Verses 11-12: The Captive Woman
11 and 12. IF YOU SEE AMONG THE NUMBER OF CAPTIVES A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN, AND WISH TO HAVE HER AS A WIFE, etc. SHE SHALL SHAVE HER HAIR, AND TRIM HER NAILS. -- These rites were prescribed, says Cajetan, so that the harshness and unseemliness of the act might be mitigated, namely that a Gentile woman should be taken as a wife among the people of God; and it was fitting that she should be sanctified by these lustrations, as it were, and so be mixed with the holy people, having forgotten her nation and kindred.
Tropologically, it is permitted for Christian teachers to take a Gentile woman, that is, to appropriate for themselves those things found among the Gentiles or heretics that are learned or elegant, provided however that they cut away what is harmful and superfluous. So St. Jerome, letter to Magnus, Rupertus and Rabanus, who however more aptly interpret these things of the soul, translated from paganism to Christianity, from sin to grace; for, as the Gloss says from him, this Gentile woman is the sinful soul, which is beautiful because created in the image of God; but is captive because of crime: Christ courts her as a bride, and for this to happen, she shaves her hair, that is, puts off past vices through contrition; and trims her nails, that is, the occasions of sin: yet she is permitted to weep for her father and mother for a brief time, because the recently converted grieves at being torn from former friendships and pleasures; but when this grief is wiped away, she is joined to Christ the Bridegroom. So Cyril in the Glaphyra, and St. Ambrose, Book 35, letter to Irenaeus.
SHE SHALL TRIM (in Hebrew: she shall do, that is, she shall shape by trimming) HER NAILS. -- The Rabbis therefore wrongly explain "she shall do" as "she shall let grow" the nails, so that she becomes ugly, and thus the desire of the conqueror for her, since she is a Gentile, may be extinguished or diminished.
Verse 14: If She Does Not Please You
14. IF SHE DOES NOT PLEASE YOU -- if she is not agreeable to you. YOU HAVE HUMBLED -- you have taken her.
Verse 17: The Double Portion of the Firstborn
17. AND HE SHALL GIVE HIM A DOUBLE PORTION OF ALL THAT HE HAS. -- For the firstborn received a double portion of the inheritance. So Joseph obtained a double tribe, namely Ephraim and Manasseh, and consequently a double inheritance in Canaan, in place of Reuben the firstborn of Jacob. For "double," the Hebrew is pi shenayim, that is, "the mouth of two," that is, a double portion; as if the firstborn had two mouths, and the other brothers one each, which are to be fed and filled from the parents' hereditary portion. So in 4 Kings 2:9, Elisha asks of Elijah, being taken up, a double portion of his spirit. In Hebrew it is: let there be, I pray, upon me the mouth of two of your spirit, as if to say: I am as the firstborn among your disciples, namely I am the first whom you received into your school and training; give me therefore, as to your firstborn, that I may obtain twice the power of your spirit above my fellow disciples and companions. He does not, therefore, desire to surpass Elijah his master, but his fellow disciples in spirit. Or rather, as if to say: Because I am your firstborn and at the same time your only-begotten (for you have no other disciples and ministers than me), grant that I may succeed to both of your spirits, namely that of prophecy and that of miracles. Hence Sirach 48:13 says that the spirit of Elijah was fulfilled in Elisha; so explain Abulensis and Cajetan there.
Verse 18: The Gate of Judgment
18. THEY SHALL BRING HIM, etc. TO THE GATE OF JUDGMENT. -- For at the gates, to which outsiders first came, as in certain public courts and tribunals, judgments were formerly rendered, as is clear from chapter 22, verse 15; Job 31:21; Proverbs 31:23. "The custom of the ancients was," says St. Gregory, Book 19 of the Moralia, 13, "for the elders to take their stand at the gate and to judge the cases of those entering, so that the people of the city might be so much the more peaceful, inasmuch as it was not permitted for the quarrelsome to enter."
Verse 21: The People Shall Stone Him
21. THE PEOPLE SHALL STONE HIM -- namely after the examination and sentence of the judges.
Verses 22-23: Cursed Is He Who Hangs on the Tree
22 and 23. WHEN, etc. HE HAS BEEN HANGED ON A GIBBET, etc. ON THE SAME DAY HE SHALL BE BURIED; BECAUSE CURSED BY GOD IS HE WHO HANGS ON THE TREE. -- In Hebrew it is: because a curse of God is the hanged one; Symmachus: because for the blasphemy of God is the hanged one; others: because a reproach to God is the hanged one. You may ask why?
The Jews fable that, before the burial of the body, the soul cannot come to its rest, nor be led by angels into the bridal chamber of God, but in the meantime is harassed and afflicted by swarms of demons. But these are their nonsensical tales. Therefore first, Andreas Masius on Joshua 8:28, responds that the hanged body must be buried immediately, because it is considered to defile the land, in that men, the inhabitants of the earth, are formed by this spectacle into the most impious and pernicious opinion of the mortality of the soul, by which they see human bodies treated like beasts. But this reason is more clever than genuine.
Second, Abulensis: To hang malefactors, he says, because it is an act of justice by which the guilty is punished, redounds to the glory of God: but if the hanged man's body remains on the cross, the hanged man is no longer punished, being already dead, but only his body, which bears some image of God in the human and upright countenance. Only the image of God then remains, which is punished: but this redounds to the injury and dishonor of God; therefore the body of the hanged man must immediately be buried. But this reason too is more subtle than solid: and fits not only the hanged, but any dead persons and corpses.
I say therefore with Cajetan that "cursed" is here taken to mean "execrable." For God wished that the most criminal offenders (whose punishment was hanging) be utterly destroyed from the land, so that not even their bodies should remain as a punishment, as customarily happens to those who are consigned to flames. Moreover, the clause "lest the land be defiled," as the Chaldean suggests, is an explanation of the preceding words. For just as Scripture everywhere says that evil men defile the land, so when something of them remains, such as their corpses, the land is still considered unexpiated and defiled.
Hence Christ, hanging on the cross, is called "a curse" by the Apostle, Galatians 3:13, because, as Rupertus says, God transferred the curses of the human race onto Christ, namely while Christ took upon Himself the infamous and execrable death of the cross for us, "so that not only no death, but not even any kind of death, should be feared by Christian liberty, as Jewish servitude feared," says St. Augustine, in the book Against Adimantus, chapter 21, and Book 14 Against Faustus, chapter 41, and Tertullian, in the book On Patience, chapter 8: "The Lord," he says, "is Himself cursed in the law, and yet He alone is blessed. Therefore let us servants follow the Lord, and let us be cursed patiently, that we may be able to be blessed."
But note that this law properly speaks of the guilty and the criminal, as is clear, not of the innocent, such as Christ was: so Eucherius in his Questions here; see the discussion at Galatians 3:13.
Note: This law was judicial, and therefore has now been abrogated by the law and death of Christ. Hence now, neither are those hanged cursed above other criminals, nor are they buried the same day; but they hang on the gibbet for days, months, and years, to the terror of other malefactors.