Deuteronomy19chapter 19

Deuteronomy 19:1-7

Numbers 35:9-15 and Exodus 21:13 had already set these cities apart, and what this chapter adds is the road: thou shalt prepare thee a way, with the land divided into three parts so that distance never decides a case. Verse 6 gives the reason plainly, that the avenger overtakes the slayer while his heart is hot because the way is long. The statute then works one example at length, an axe head flying off the helve in the wood, and no other case here is given that much room. Numbers 35:25 holds the manslayer in the city until the death of the high priest, a clause this retelling does not repeat.

Deuteronomy 19:8-13

Three cities become six if the border grows, and verse 9 makes the enlargement turn on loving the Lord thy God and walking ever in his ways, one of the six places this book commands love. Joshua 20:7-9 names all six cities, three west of Jordan and the three Moses had already set east of it at 4:41-43. Verses 11 to 13 turn the shelter around, since a man who lay in wait is fetched out by the elders of his own city and delivered to the avenger, and thine eye shall not pity him. Refuge turns on intent, and 1 Kings 2:28-34 has Solomon apply the same distinction when Joab takes hold of the horns of the altar.

Deuteronomy 19:14

One boundary rule sits between the cities of refuge and the law of witnesses, and its ground is that the marks were set by them of old time rather than by the man who holds the field now. Deuteronomy 27:17 lays a curse on whoever moves them and the people answer Amen, Proverbs 22:28 and 23:10 repeat the command, and Hosea 5:10 and Job 24:2 charge princes and the wicked with doing it. Before fences, arable ground was marked by a small cairn or a single upright stone, which is why the theft could be done quietly. The verse names no penalty, and the curse of chapter 27 is the only sanction Scripture attaches to it.

Deuteronomy 19:15

Deuteronomy 17:6 required two or three witnesses before an execution, and this verse extends the same bar to any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth. It is the sentence of this book the New Testament takes up most often: Matthew 18:16 builds church discipline on it, 2 Corinthians 13:1 and 1 Timothy 5:19 apply it to accusations, and Hebrews 10:28 recalls the death it carried under the law of Moses. John 8:17 has Jesus use it of his own witness together with the Father. Matthew 26:59-60 has the council seeking false witness until two came forward, so the form of the rule was kept while its purpose was emptied.

Deuteronomy 19:16-21

The case goes to the central court of 17:8-13, before the priests and the judges, and Albert Barnes reads both the men in verse 17 as the two parties to the original suit rather than the accused and his accuser. The witness is then sentenced for what he had thought to have done, so intent alone carries whatever penalty the lie was aiming at, death or stripes or a fine. Verse 20 uses the deterrent formula this book repeats at 13:11, 17:13 and 21:21, that those which remain shall hear, and fear. The chapter closes on life for life, eye for eye, which Exodus 21:23-25 and Leviticus 24:20 also carry and which Jesus takes up at Matthew 5:38.