Deuteronomy 21:1-9: a reflection

When someone is found slain in the land and the killer is unknown, God gives a solemn ceremony by which the nearest community must take responsibility, declaring their innocence and praying for cleansing from the guilt of innocent blood. The elders of the nearest city wash their hands and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it. Forgive, LORD, your people Israel, and don't allow innocent blood among your people. Even though no individual was known to be guilty, the community did not simply ignore the shedding of innocent blood; they took it seriously, sought cleansing, and prayed that God would not hold the guilt of it against them. This shows how seriously God takes innocent life and shared responsibility for it. God takes the shedding of innocent blood seriously. The community took responsibility even for an unsolved death. Innocent life matters to God; its loss is not ignored. Shared responsibility for innocent blood is taken seriously before God.

Notice how seriously the community was to treat the shedding of innocent blood, even when no individual could be blamed. A person had been killed, and the killer was unknown; no one in the community was known to be guilty. And yet the community did not simply shrug and move on; the elders of the nearest city were to perform a solemn ceremony, declaring their innocence, praying for God's forgiveness, asking that the guilt of innocent blood not be laid on the land. This reflects how seriously God takes innocent life and the shedding of innocent blood: it is not to be treated lightly or ignored, even when no individual is directly guilty; the community as a whole was to take responsibility, to grieve it, to seek cleansing. This challenges any tendency in us to be indifferent to the loss of innocent life, to shrug off injustice and bloodshed as no concern of ours if we did not directly cause it. God cares about innocent life, and calls his people to care too, to take shared responsibility, not to be indifferent to bloodshed and injustice in our midst. Innocent life matters to God; we are not to be indifferent to its loss. The community shares responsibility for injustice, even when not directly guilty. Do not shrug off the loss of innocent life as no concern of yours. God calls his people to take injustice and bloodshed seriously.

That is worth taking to heart, for God takes innocent life seriously and calls his people to shared responsibility for it, not to be indifferent to bloodshed and injustice in our midst. We can be indifferent to the loss of innocent life, shrugging off injustice as no concern of ours if we did not directly cause it; but God required the community to take an unsolved killing seriously, to grieve it and seek cleansing, unwilling to let innocent blood be ignored. Innocent life matters to God. Do not be indifferent to injustice and the loss of innocent life around you; take it seriously, as God does. Take innocent life and injustice seriously, sharing responsibility for them rather than being indifferent, as God, when someone was found slain and the killer unknown, required the nearest community to perform a solemn ceremony, declaring their innocence and praying, forgive, LORD, your people, and don't allow innocent blood among them; for even when no individual was known to be guilty, the community was not to ignore the shedding of innocent blood but to take it seriously, grieve it, and seek cleansing, which reflects how seriously God takes innocent life and the shedding of innocent blood, not to be treated lightly even when no one is directly guilty, and this challenges any tendency in us to be indifferent to the loss of innocent life or to shrug off injustice and bloodshed as no concern of ours, calling us instead to care about innocent life as God does and to take shared responsibility for injustice in our midst.