Verse 15 describes the method of procedure these "searchers" and "buriers," should follow. If these were distinct from each other, the "searchers" - if they were the same, any others - on discovering a man's bone should set up a sign by it; literally, build near it a pillar; erect a heap of stone (comp. 2 Kings 23:17; Jeremiah 31:21) to call the attention of the butlers, who, on coming to the spot, should inter it in the valley of Hamon-gog.
39:11-22 How numerous the enemies which God destroyed for the defence of his people Israel! Times of great deliverances should be times of reformation. Every one should help the utmost he can, toward cleansing the land from reproach. Sin is an enemy every man should strive against. Those engaged in public work, especially of cleansing and reforming a land, ought to be men who will go through with what they undertake, who will be always employed. When good work is to be done, every one should further it. Having received special favours from God, let us cleanse ourselves from all evil. It is a work which will require persevering diligence, that search may be made into the secret recesses of sin. The judgments of the Lord, brought upon sin and sinners, are a sacrifice to the justice of God, and a feast to the faith and hope of God's people. See how evil pursues sinners, even after death. After all that ambitious and covetous men do and look for, a place of graves is all the Lord gives them on earth, while their guilty souls are doomed to misery in another world.
And the passengers that pass through the land,.... Not along with the searchers, but that travel through it upon business in it, or in other lands:
when any seeth a man's bone, then shall he set up a sign by it; as he passes along, if he happens to see a human bone in the way, or hard by, he shall stop and lay a stone, or a heap of stones, by it, or some such mark or token, signifying that a man's bone lies there:
till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamon-gog, that is, which sign shall continue till searchers come that way and take up the bone, and carry it to be buried in the valley of Hamon-gog; for carcasses and bones were not to be buried in the place where they were found, but to be brought and interred in this common place of sepulture.
when any seeth a man's bone, then shall he set up a sign by it; as he passes along, if he happens to see a human bone in the way, or hard by, he shall stop and lay a stone, or a heap of stones, by it, or some such mark or token, signifying that a man's bone lies there:
till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamon-gog, that is, which sign shall continue till searchers come that way and take up the bone, and carry it to be buried in the valley of Hamon-gog; for carcasses and bones were not to be buried in the place where they were found, but to be brought and interred in this common place of sepulture.