Hebrew patriarchal society, like that of the Babylonian cities,1
the Hittites, and many other primitive peoples,2 was based upon
the idea of collective responsibility. Mosaic law, even though
it established individual liability of every member of the
nation, still preserved various remnants of the ancient system.
In contradistinction to the practice ascribed to Lemech (Genesis
4:24), the Hebrew redeemer of blood was permitted to kill only
the murderer himself and not his kinsmen. Nevertheless, the
elders of a village near which a man had been murdered were
morally responsible for the crime (Deuteronomy 21:1–9).3 The
individual who committed a grave offense was "cut off from the
people"; the nation was asked "to purge the evil from its midst"
and the blessing or curses of the covenant were addressed to
every individual Israelite.4 If the community failed to call the
culprit to account, however, it was held collectively
responsible to the divine overlord. An example of this process
is the story of Achan (Joshua