May 6, 2021
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in Deuteronomy? Here’s today’s reading:
Deuteronomy 19 (NIV)
Cities of Refuge
1When 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, 2 then set aside for yourselves three cities in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess. 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.......Continue Reading
Deuce 16-19
Moses repeats the need to for cities of refuge for this new generation called to enter and possess the promised land. As important as it was for proper protocol to be established to address murder and make sure the necessary witnesses were present and proper judgement was executed, it was also important to address the accidental killing of someone. In those cases, cities of refuge were to be established so a person could run there and find protection from improper judgement from the victims family. I love the picture it gives too of us running to God as our refuge from the wrong judgements and mistreatment from the world and find Him ready to wrap us in His arms and find there the solace and whatever proper correction we might need as well.
Justice, integrity, and obedience should be characteristics of God’s people. Justice is seen in God’s provision of cities of refuge and ensuring that someone is not convicted of any crime on the statement of one witness. If that witness proves to be false, then they should suffer the same punishment as they sought for the defendant.
Of course, God reminds us of the need for obedience in verse 9, “provided you are careful to keep all this commandment, which I command you today, by loving the LORD your God and by walking ever in his ways”
Deuteronomy 19
The idea of cities of refuge is an interesting one. I guess the idea of being able to escape being murdered for something you did unintentionally seems good but hard to wrap my head around the fact that it was common place to just go kill someone in the first place because of an accident.
I do love the multiple witnesses….eye witness accounts are never iron clad. We are flawed people and our brain wants us to believe things sometimes that is not true so to have collaboration of something is important.
I don’t often think of the commandment, “thou shalt not bear false witness” but it seems like people are daily bearing and creating false witness in our nation. It ruins people’s lives. It ruins nations.
“And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, if the witness is a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother, then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother; so you shall put away the evil from among you. And those who remain shall hear and fear, and hereafter they shall not again commit such evil among you. Your eye shall not pity: life shall be for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.”
When the Lord your God has destroyed the nations whose land he is giving you,