Deuteronomy 21:5

Deu 21:5 And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them the LORD thy God hath chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of the LORD; and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be [tried]:

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.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Deu 21:5-6. By their word shall every controversy be tried — That is, every one of this kind, every one that shall arise about any stroke, whether such a mortal stroke as is here spoken of, or any other, or wound given by one man to another. In these matters they shall give sentence, being consulted by the elders or judges of the cities, Deu 17:9-12. The elders shall wash their hands — Protesting their innocence, says a learned Jewish writer, (Chazkuni,) in these words: “As our hands are now clean, so are we innocent of the blood which has been shed.” See an allusion to this, Psa 26:6; Mat 27:24.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. the priests the sons of Levi shall come near] The same vb as of the priest in Deu_20:2, R.V. approach. The appearance of the priests is remarkable, for they have nothing else to do in the ceremony. They have been introduced, then, either by D or, since they are not designated by D’s usual title for them (the priests the Levites), by an editor who, under the later priestly conceptions, cannot imagine such a ceremony without them. The rest of the v. reads as though the insertor gave it as his reason for bringing them in. For the formulas of which it consists see on Deu_10:8, Deu_17:8; Deu_17:12, Deu_18:5.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near,.... Who were clearly of the tribe of Levi, as Aben Ezra notes; about whom there could be no dispute; for it seems there sometimes were persons in that office, of whom there was some doubt at least whether they were of that tribe; these seem to be such that belonged to the court of judicature at Jerusalem; see Deu 17:9, who were to be present at this solemnity, to direct in the performance of it, and to judge and determine in any matter of difficulty that might arise:

for them the Lord thy God hath chosen to minister unto him; in the service of the sanctuary, by offering sacrifices, &c.

and to bless in the name of the Lord; the people; see Num 6:23.

and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried; every controversy between man and man respecting civil things, and every stroke or blow which one man may give another; and whatsoever came before them was tried by them, according to the respective laws given concerning the things in question, and were not determined by them in an arbitrary way, according to their own will and pleasure; see Deu 17:8.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Judged. We see here again the great authority of the priests, chap. xvii. 9. Hebrew, "by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried," as the Protestants render it. (Haydock) --- Some understand by stroke, the leprosy, of which they were undoubtedly the judges. But it is better to explain it of all wounds, and even of death, (Calmet) concerning which Moses is here speaking. (Haydock) --- The Rabbins restrain the authority of priests as much as they can, to give greater power to their chimerical Sanhedrim. They pretend here that they had only to pronounce the blessing, ver. 8. Josephus ([Antiquities?] iv. 8) joins the magistrates with them in the whole ceremony. This awful meeting of so many people, tended to discover the authors of the murder, as all would naturally converse together on the subject, and each person declaring what he knew, some suspicions might at last be formed, which might by degrees lead to the detection. Josephus says rewards were proposed to any who might make a discovery. Draco decreed, that on the very day when a murder was announced, if the author was not known, the whole people (of Athens) should be purified. (Calmet) --- Abulensis insinuates, that if the murderer was present in the crowd, he might be detected by blood gushing from to corpse of the deceased, &c., as God often brings murder to light in a wonderful manner. (Cic.[Cicero,?] Div. 1.) (Tirinus)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The priests shall come near, both to direct them in all the circumstances of action and to see that the law was observed, and to bless them in God’s name, by praying for them, and absolving or pronouncing them guiltless in this matter.

Every controversy; not absolutely all manner of controversies that could possibly arise, as if their word were to determine whether there were a God or providence or no, whether God should be worshipped, and his commands observed, or no, whether Moses was a true prophet or an impostor, whether apostate and idolatrous Israelites should be punished or no, which is apparently absurd and ridiculous; but every such controversy as might arise about the matter here spoken of; nothing being more usual than to understand universal expressions in a limited sense; and indeed this is limited and explained by the following words,

and every stroke, the particle and being put expositively, of which instances have been formerly given, i.e. every controversy which shall arise about any stroke, whether such a mortal stroke as is here spoken of, a murder, which may well be called a stroke, as to smite is oft used for to kill, as Gen 4:15; Lev 24:17, &c., or any other stroke or wound given by one man to another.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5. And the priests… shall come near — The priests were not to take part in the matter, but were present to see that all things were done in accordance with law.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near. The presence of the priests at this ceremony was due to their position as the servants of Jehovah the King of Israel, on whom it devolved to see that all was done in any matter as his Law prescribed. The priests present were probably those from the nearest Levitical town. And by their word shall every controversy and every stroke he tried; literally, And upon their mouth shall be every strife and every stroke, i.e. by their judgment the character of the act shall be determined, and as they decide so shall the matter stand. (cf. Deu_10:8 Deu_17:8) In the present case the presence of the priests at the transaction gave it sanction as valid.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Every controversy - Of this kind: every controversy which shall rise about any stroke, whether such a mortal stroke as is here spoken of, or any other stroke or wound given by one man to another.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

General Information:

Moses continues speaking to the people of Israel.

must come forward

"must come to the valley"

for Yahweh your God has chosen them to serve him

"because the priests are the ones whom Yahweh your God has chosen to serve him"

Yahweh your God

Moses speaks to the Israelites as if he were speaking to one man, so the word "your" is singular. (See: Forms of You)

give blessing

"bless the people of Israel"

in the name of Yahweh

Here the metonym "in the name of" refers to Yahweh and his authority. AT: "as one who says and does what Yahweh himself would say and do" (See: Metonymy)

Yahweh and to decide every case of dispute and assault by their word

"Yahweh, and they will be the ones who settle all disagreements and cases of violence"

translationWords

priest

descend

Levi

chosen one

servant

bless

people group

name

word

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.