Proverbs 28:17 - Exposition

A man that doeth violence to the blood of any person shall flee to the pit. This should be, a man oppressed ( Isaiah 38:14 ), burdened , with the blood of anyone . The wilful murderer, with his guilt upon his soul, flies in vain from remorse; his crime pursues him even to the grave. For inadvertent manslaughter the cities of refuge offered an asylum, but for deliberate murder there was no safe refuge, either from the stings of conscience or from the avenger of blood, but death. The homicide, like Cain ( Genesis 4:14 ), must be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth. "Pit" ( bor ), some take to mean any hiding place, "a cave, or well;" but it is very commonly found in the sense of sepulchre ( Psalms 28:1 ; Isaiah 14:19 , etc.), and is so explained here by most commentators. Let no man stay him. We had in Proverbs 24:11 , etc; an injunction to save human life; but the case was quite different from this of wilful murder. Here it is directed that no one attempt to save him from the punishment which he has incurred, or to comfort him under the remorse which he suffers. Let him be left alone to meet the fate which he has merited. The LXX . gives a different idea to the gnome, "He who becomes bail for a man charged with murder shall be banished and shall not be in safety." They add a verse which we shall meet again, almost in the same words ( Proverbs 29:17 , Proverbs 29:18 ), "Chasten thy son, and he will love thee, and will give honour to thy soul; he shall not obey a sinful nation."