5 Mosebok 21:6

Det Norsk Bibelselskap

Og alle de eldste i denne by, de som bor nærmest den drepte, skal tvette sine hender over kvigen som de har knekket nakken på ved bekken.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

wash their hands: Washing the hands was anciently a symbolical action, denoting that the person was innocent of the crime in question. Job 9:30, Psalms 19:12, Psalms 26:6, Psalms 51:2, Psalms 51:7, Psalms 51:14, Psalms 73:13, Jeremiah 2:22, Matthew 27:24, Matthew 27:25, Hebrews 9:10

Reciprocal: 1 Timothy 1:9 - manslayers

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And all the elders of that city that are next unto the slain man,.... The whole court of judicature belonging to it, all the magistracy of it; even though there were an hundred of them, Maimonides x says:

shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley: in token of their innocence, and this they did not only for themselves, but for the whole city, being the representatives of it; see

Psalms 26:6. Some think that this is a confirmation of the sense embraced by some, that it was a strong stream to which the heifer was brought; and there might be a stream of water here, and a valley also; though it would be no great difficulty to get from the city, which was near, a sufficient quantity of water to wash the hands of the elders with. This may denote the purification of sin by the blood of Christ, when it is confessed over him; and shows that priests and elders, ministers of the word, as well as others, stand in need of it; and that even those concerned in the death of Christ shared in the benefits of it.

x Hilchot Rotzeach, c. 9. sect. 3.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Deuteronomy 21:6. Shall wash their hands over the heifer — Washing the hands, in reference to such a subject as this, was a rite anciently used to signify that the persons thus washing were innocent of the crime in question. It was probably from the Jews that Pilate learned this symbolical method of expressing his innocence.