Ver. 1. In the field.] Or elsewhere; the field is instanced, because in places more frequented, murders are not so easily concealed, or so commonly committed.
Ver. 2. Then thy elders.] Some of the Sanhedrim.
Ver. 3. Shall take a heifer.] Signifying Christ, who is the propitiation for his people’s sins, (1 John 2:2)
Ver. 4. Which is neither eared nor sown.] That is, that afterwards should neither be tilled nor sown, for horror and hatred of the innocent blood there spilled. So the mountains of Gilboah. (2 Samuel 1:6)
Ver. 5. And by their word,] i.e., According to that exposition that they shall give of God’s Word, and not by any absolute or arbitrary power of their own.
Ver. 6. Shall wash their hands.] An old ceremony, used in this case by the Gentiles also, as the Scholiast upon Sophocles showeth. [See Trapp on “Mt 27:24”]
Ver. 7. And they shall answer.] To the priest’s examining them, and in God’s name making inquisition for blood.
Ver. 8. And the blood shall be forgiven.] The fault of not well watching and guarding the place where the murder was committed. Our King Alfred was the first that divided this kingdom into shires: he ordained also that his subjects should be divided into tens or tithings, every of which severally should give bond for the good abearing of each other. By this course men were not only careful of their own actions, but each had an eye to all the nine, for which he stood bound, as the nine had over him: insomuch that a poor girl might travel safely with a bag of gold in her hand, and none durst meddle with her. The ancientest of these men were called the tithing men.
Ver. 11. And hast a desire unto her.] This was permitted them, as divorce was, ob duricordium. But that is a base passage in the Turk’s Koran, that God did not give men such appetites to have them frustrate, but enjoyed, as made for the gust of man, not for his torment, wherein his Creator delights not; and therefore they hold it lawful for a man to marry as many wives as he is able to maintain.
Ver. 12. And she shall shave her head.] In token that she must renounce her heathenism, and lead a new and holy life. And if she thus consented to marry, she saved her life by it; so do those their souls that consent to Christ, casting away their transgressions, and paring off their superfluities, by the constant practice of mortification.
Ver. 13. A full month.] Worldly sorrow, like a land flood, is for the present impetuous and violent, but time wears it out, not so godly sorrow.
Ver. 14. Because thou hast humbled her.] This expression shows, that God approved not of his fact, which yet he tolerated. By “humbling” her is meant the taking away her honour of chastity; her credit was now gone. The body as a vessel should be “possessed in sanctification and honour.” (1 Thessalonians 4:4)
Ver. 15. And another hated,] i.e., Less loved, as Genesis 29:31. [See Trapp on “Ge 29:31”]
Ver. 17. A double portion.] According to this phrase, Elisha (2 Kings 2:9) doth not desire a greater measure of the spirit than rested upon his master; but only to excel the other children of the prophets by a right of the firstborn.
Ver. 20. He is a glutton.] The same word is used for a vile person in Jeremiah 15:19. And indeed belly-gods (Philippians 3:19) are dungy-gods. (Habakkuk 2:18 Ezekiel 4:12,13) A scavenger, whose office is to empty, is to be preferred before him that liveth but to fill, privies.
Ver. 21. Shall hear and fear.] [See Trapp on “De 19:20”]
Ver. 23. For he that is hanged.] [See Trapp on “Ga 3:13”]