Rectifying Public and Private Wrongs: Each of the five sections of this chapter deals with a situation of human distress or misconduct and seeks either to rectify the wrong or to mitigate its worst effects. We have seen already that this is a characteristic feature of Deuteronomy—part of its “pastoral strategy.” Another feature is that the first and fifth of the laws both require actions that involve removing pollution from the sight of God and from the land.

21:1–9  Atonement for an unsolved murder. Chapter 19 deals with procedures where a killer (intentional or accidental) is known to the community. But if the killer is not known, it is not enough just to “leave the case open.” Bloodshed defiles the land (the land whose special character is emphasized in verse 1 and repeated in verse 23),…