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Deuteronomy 19:1
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Three Cities of Refuge

1 “When the Lord your God ahas cut off the nations whose land the Lord your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses,  
2 ayou shall separate three cities for yourself in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess.  
3 You shall prepare roads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of your land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, that any manslayer may flee there.
4 “And athis is the case of the manslayer who flees there, that he may live: Whoever kills his neighbor1 unintentionally, not having hated him in time past—  
5 as when a man goes to the woods with his neighbor to cut timber, and his hand swings a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies—he shall flee to one of these cities and live;
6 alest the avenger of blood, while his anger is hot, pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and kill him, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated the victim in time past.  
7 Therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall separate three cities for yourself.’
8 “Now if the Lord your God aenlarges your territory, as He swore to byour fathers, and gives you the land which He promised to give to your fathers,  
9 and if you keep all these commandments and do them, which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and to walk always in His ways, athen you shall add three more cities for yourself besides these three,  
10 alest innocent blood be shed in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and thus guilt of bloodshed be upon you.  
11 “But aif anyone hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, rises against him and strikes him mortally, so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities,  
12 then the elders of his city shall send and bring him from there, and deliver him over to the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.
13 aYour eye shall not pity him, bbut you shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you.  

Property Boundaries

14 a“You shall not remove your neighbor’s landmark, which the men of old have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.  

The Law Concerning Witnesses

15 a“One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established.  
Commentaries:
Barnes' Notes
<< Deuteronomy 18:22   Deuteronomy 19:2 >>


Deuteronomy 19:1-13

This and the next two chapters contain enactments designed to protect human life, and to impress its sanctity on Israel.

In Deuteronomy 19:1-13 the directions respecting the preparation of the roads to the cities of refuge, the provision of additional cities in case of an extension of territory, and the intervention of the elders as representing the congregation, are unique to Deuteronomy and supplementary to the laws on the same subject given in the earlier books (compare the marginal reference).

Deuteronomy 19:1, Deuteronomy 19:2

The three cities of refuge for the district east of Jordan had been already named. Moses now directs that when the territory on the west of Jordan had been conquered, a like allotment of three other cities in it should be made. This was accordingly done; compare Joshua 20:1 ff,

Deuteronomy 19:3

Thou shalt prepare thee a way - It was the duty of the Senate to repair the roads that led to the cities of refuge annually, and remove every obstruction. No hillock was left, no river over which there was not a bridge; and the road was at least 32 cubits broad. At cross-roads there were posts bearing the words Refuge, Refuge, to guide the fugitive in his flight. It seems as if in Isaiah 40:3 ff the imagery were borrowed from the preparation of the ways to the cities of refuge.

Deuteronomy 19:5

With the axe - literally, "with the iron." Note the employment of iron for tools, and compare Deuteronomy 3:11 note.

Deuteronomy 19:8, Deuteronomy 19:9

Provision is here made for the anticipated enlargement of the borders of Israel to the utmost limits promised by God, from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates (Genesis 15:18, note; Exodus 23:31, note). This promise, owing to the sins of the people, did not receive its fulfillment until after David had conquered the Philistines, Syrians, etc.; and this but a transient one, for many of the conquered peoples regained independence on the dissolution of Solomon' s empire.




Other Barnes' Notes entries containing Deuteronomy 19:1:

Deuteronomy 19:1-13
Ruth 2:20

 

<< Deuteronomy 18:22   Deuteronomy 19:2 >>

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