CONTEXT
Part
3: Ch.12-20 Moses reminds them of Stipulations for a Holy Nation
Ch.12
– The One Place of Worship
Ch.13
– Beware Deception
Ch.14
– Food & Tithing
Ch.15
– Year Seven Changes & Firstborn Animals
Ch.
16 – Festivals, Justice &
Worship
Ch.
17 – Worship, Justice &
any Future King
Ch.
18 – Maintain Right Spiritual
Practices
Ch.19
– Rules for Cities of Refuge
Ch.
20 – Rules for Going to War
FRAMEWORKS:
Deuteronomy 19: Rules for Cities of Refuge
v.1-3
Establishing the Cities of Refuge
v.4-10
Manslaughter & Refuge
v.11-14
No Refuge for Murder
v.15-21
Rules for Witnesses
v.1-3
Establishing the Cities of Refuge
v.1
When
the Lord your God has destroyed the nations whose land he is giving
you, and when you have driven them out and settled in their towns
and houses,
v.2
then
set aside for yourselves three cities in the land the Lord your
God is giving you to possess.
v.3
Determine
the distances involved and divide into three parts the land the
Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that a person
who kills someone may flee for refuge to one of these cities.
[Notes:
Num 35:6-32 lays out the main requirements for the Cities
of Refuge. This is simply a reminder that when they got into the
Land they should set up these cities.]
v.4-10
Manslaughter & Refuge
v.4
This
is the rule concerning anyone who kills a person and flees there
for safety—anyone who kills a neighbor unintentionally, without
malice aforethought.
v.5
For
instance, a man may go into the forest with his neighbor to cut
wood, and as he swings his ax to fell a tree, the head may fly
off and hit his neighbor and kill him. That man may flee to one
of these cities and save his life.
v.6
Otherwise,
the avenger of blood might pursue him in a rage, overtake him
if the distance is too great, and kill him even though he is not
deserving of death, since he did it to his neighbor without malice
aforethought.
v.7
This
is why I command you to set aside for yourselves three cities.
v.8
If
the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he promised on oath
to your ancestors, and gives you the whole land he promised them,
v.9
because
you carefully follow all these laws I command you today—to love
the Lord your God and to walk always in obedience to him—then
you are to set aside three more cities.
v.10
Do
this so that innocent blood will not be shed in your land, which
the Lord your God is giving you as your inheritance, and so that
you will not be guilty of bloodshed.
[Notes:
Again these are covered in the Num 35 verses and so
this is simply a reminder of what has already been declared.]
v.11-14
No Refuge for Murder
v.11
But
if out of hate someone lies in wait, assaults and kills a neighbor,
and then flees to one of these cities,
v.12
the
killer shall be sent for by the town elders, be brought back from
the city, and be handed over to the avenger of blood to die.
v.13
Show
no pity. You must purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent
blood, so that it may go well with you.
v.14
Do
not move your neighbor's boundary stone set up by your predecessors
in the inheritance you receive in the land the Lord your God is
giving you to possess.
[Notes:
ditto above.]
v.15-21
Rules for Witnesses
v.15
One
witness is not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or
offense they may have committed. A matter must be established
by the testimony of two or three witnesses.
v.16
If
a malicious witness takes the stand to accuse someone of a crime,
v.17
the
two people involved in the dispute must stand in the presence
of the Lord before the priests and the judges who are in office
at the time.
v.18 The
judges must make a thorough investigation, and if the witness
proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against a fellow Israelite,
v.19
then
do to the false witness as that witness intended to do to the
other party. You must purge the evil from among you.
v.20 The
rest of the people will hear of this and be afraid, and never
again will such an evil thing be done among you.
v.21
Show
no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for
hand, foot for foot.
[Notes:
Court laws occur in various places. These verses simply
ensure someone is not convicted on the hearsay of one person.
The rules also seek to ensure honesty of testimony.]