תהלים, פרק ע״ט, פסוק ג׳

The slaughter of God's devoted followers reaches horrific proportions, marked by both immense loss of life and profound disgrace. This is a double tragedy: a mass shedding of blood just outside the holy city, compounded by the ultimate humiliation of the victims being left exposed without burial.

The sheer volume of blood spilled is compared to flowing water, highlighting the massive scale of the massacre [מלבי״ם]. Beyond the physical quantity, this imagery reflects the chilling mindset of the murderers. They took lives with a sense of total impunity, treating the blood of their victims as though it were common, unowned water, believing no one would ever hold them accountable [אבן עזרא]. Taking this concept further, another perspective contrasts this with the biblical commandment to cover the blood of a slaughtered animal with earth. Because the victims' blood was treated like ordinary water, which carries no such requirement, even their spilled blood was denied the most minimal act of burial or covering [אלשיך].

The shock of this atrocity is deeply amplified by its location. This massacre did not occur in a remote wilderness, but rather right outside the central city. Yet, despite being so close to civilization, the devastation was so absolute that no one remained to provide the fallen with a proper burial [מלבי״ם]. Under normal circumstances, the surviving Israelites would naturally gather to bury their dead [רד״ק]. However, the harsh reality of the destruction left the few remaining survivors in deep hiding. Terrified for their own lives, they dared not venture outside the city walls to tend to the bodies, knowing that doing so would likely result in their own murder in the very same areas where so much blood had already been shed [מצודת דוד, אלשיך].