Deuteronomychapter 19
21 verses · BSBDeuteronomy book hub →
Key verse
When the LORD your God has cut off the nations whose land He is giving you, and when you have driven them out and settled in their cities and houses,
It stands in Three cities, and three more if he enlarges you, verses 1 to 13.
The chapter
Chapter summary
Cities of refuge in the land; the landmark; the false witness. Three cities within the land on this side of Jordan (with three more if the LORD enlarges the coast). The manslayer with unintentional death flees there; the avenger of blood will not prevail; the high priest's death ends the refuge. The deliberate murderer, though he flee, is fetched thence and given to the avenger's hand. ‘Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour's landmark’. A false witness must bear the penalty he sought to bring on the accused: ‘eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot’.
Context
Law · Moses · Deuteronomy overview
The world behind this chapter
Deuteronomy 19The history
The chapter is Moses speaking in the fortieth year, and it legislates for a land Israel does not yet hold. The house reading dates it to about 1406 BC, stated as a reading rather than a settled date. The place is the plains of Moab, and the cities being set apart lie across the river in territory still to be divided. The occasion is the making of a system for a killing, since the cities were already established at Numbers 35:9-15 and what this address adds is the road to them. A first hearer knew there was no police force and no public prosecutor. When a man was killed, pursuing the killer fell to the nearest male relative, who is called the redeemer of blood. That system delivered justice quickly, and it also delivered vengeance on an innocent man before anyone could ask questions. A first hearer also knew how a field was marked. Arable ground was bounded by stones set by earlier generations, and shifting one quietly at night stole land in a way that was almost impossible to prove. Across the region boundary stones were inscribed with curses on whoever moved them, and Israel's version of that sanction is the covenant curse of 27:17.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
What it meant to them
The refuge system told first hearers that intent decides the case. The same fact of a dead man on the ground could be murder or misfortune, and the covenant ordered a road built so the difference could be heard before the avenger arrived. The law of witnesses closed the other side of it, since a man who testified falsely received the penalty he had intended for his brother. In a system that ran on sworn testimony, that was the strongest safeguard available.
Sources cited
- Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
- This site's published exposition of Deuteronomy 19, in the store's exposition_notes
Where the chapter sits
Deuteronomy 19 falls in Second sermon, the law restated (chapters 5–26). The Decalogue repeated; the Shema; laws for the land, for worship, for kingship, for war, for the poor. The covenant's central exposition.
Before it: First sermon, retrospective, chapters 1–4. After it: Third sermon, blessings and curses, chapters 27–30.
The whole shape of Deuteronomy→The structure of this chapter
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. Three cities, and three more if he enlarges you
1. (vv. 1-7)
Deuteronomy 19:1
“This and the next two chapters contain enactments designed to protect human life, and to impress its sanctity on Israel. In Deu 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). Deu 19:1, Deu 19:2 The three cities of refuge for the district east of Jordan had been already named.”
Deuteronomy 19:2
“Thou shalt separate three cities for thee in the midst of thy land--Goelism, or the duty of the nearest kinsmen to avenge the death of a slaughtered relative, being the customary law of that age (as it still is among the Arabs and other people of the East), Moses incorporated it in an improved form with his legislative code.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Deuteronomy 19:3
“Thou shalt prepare thee a way - The Jews inform us that the roads to the cities of refuge were made very broad, thirty-two cubits; and even, so that there should be no impediments in the way; and were constantly kept in good repair.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Deuteronomy 19:4
“And this is the case of the slayer, which shall flee thither, that he may live,....”
Deuteronomy 19:5
“The very words of Scripture indicate that even ignorance is a sin. This is why Job offers holocausts for his sons, lest perchance they may have sinned unwittingly in thought. And if a man is killed by the iron of an axe that flies off the handle when a man is hewing wood, the wood hewer is ordered to flee to a city of refuge and remain in that place until the death of the high priest.”
Jerome· written before 420· Against the Pelagians 1.33patristic
Deuteronomy 19:6
“Lest the avenger of blood pursue the slayer,....”
Deuteronomy 19:7
“Wherefore I command thee, saying, thou shalt separate three cities for thee. This was to be done immediately, as soon as they were settled in the land of Canaan, and established in the possession of it, the inhabitants being cut off, or driven out, or however subdued.”
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.
2. (vv. 8-13)
Deuteronomy 19:8
“And if the Lord thy God enlarge thy coast,.... Extend it further than it was upon their first settlement, even carry it as far as the river Euphrates, as in the times of Solomon, 1Ki 4:21. Jarchi interprets it of such an enlargement as to give them the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites and Kadmonites: (as he hath sworn unto thy fathers), and give thee all the land which he promised to give unto thy, fathers: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; see Gen 15:19.”
Deuteronomy 19:9
“Shalt thou add three cities more - This was afterwards found necessary, and accordingly six cities were appointed, three on either side Jordan. See Jos 21:1-3, etc. In imitation of these cities of refuge the heathens had their asyla, and the Catholics their privileged altars. See Exo 21:13 (note), Exo 21:14 (note), and Num 35:11 (note), etc.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Deuteronomy 19:10
“That innocent blood be not shed,....”
1 more voice on this verse
Deuteronomy 19:10
“Though God is the saviour and preserver of all men, and has a tender regard to all lives, yet the blood of Israelites is in a particular manner precious to him, Ps. lxxii.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Deuteronomy 19:11
“It may be alluded to to show that in Jesus Christ there is no refuge for presumptuous sinners, that go on still in their trespasses. If we thus sin wilfully, sin and go on in it, there remains no sacrifice, Heb. x.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Deuteronomy 19:12
“Then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him thence,....”
Deuteronomy 19:13
“Thine eye shall not pity him,....”
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.
B. Do not move your neighbor's landmarkv. 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 19:14
“Thou shalt not remove thy neighbor’s landmark - Before the extensive use of fences, landed property was marked out by stones or posts, set up so as to ascertain the divisions of family estates. It was easy to remove one of these landmarks, and set it in a different place; and thus the dishonest man enlarged his own estate by contracting that of his neighbor. The termini or landmarks among the Romans were held very sacred, and were at last deified. To these termini Numa Pompillus commanded offerings of broth, cakes, and firstfruits, to be made.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Deuteronomy 19:14
“Though gardens and vineyards are surrounded by dry-stone walls or hedges of prickly pear, the boundaries of arable fields are marked by nothing but by a little trench, a small cairn, or a single erect stone, placed at certain intervals.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
C. A false witness gets what he intended
1. (v. 15)
Deuteronomy 19:15
“One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity--The following rules to regulate the admission of testimony in public courts are founded on the principles of natural justice. A single witness shall not be admitted to the condemnation of an accused person.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
4 more voices on this verse
Deuteronomy 19:15
“One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth,....”
Deuteronomy 19:15
“Therefore if a people composed of a great multitude was found a false witness, how must it be understood, "In the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall stand," except that in this way. The Trinity, in which is unending stability of truth, was revealed through a mystery. Do you want to have a good case? Have two or three witnesses, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
Augustine of Hippo· written before 430· TRACTATE ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 36.10.1patristic
Deuteronomy 19:15
“As a matter of fact, a single witness generally speaks the truth, while a mob may tell lies. And the world, in its conversion to Christianity, believed one apostle preaching the gospel rather than the mistaken multitude who persecuted him.”
Augustine of Hippo· written before 430· AGAINST FAUSTUS, A MANICHAEAN 16.13Early Church
Deuteronomy 19:15
“13 Thine eye shall not pity him, but thou shalt put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with thee. It was one of the precepts given to the sons of Noah that whoso sheddeth man's blood by man shall his blood be shed, that is, by the avenger of blood, Gen. ix.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Deuteronomy 19:15
- Quoted in2 Corinthians 13:1This is the third time I am coming to you. “Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.”
'In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established'
- Quoted inMatthew 18:16“But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’”
'in the mouth of two or three witnesses' (church discipline)
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.
2. (vv. 16-21)
Deuteronomy 19:16
“Testify against him that which is wrong - Margin, more literally, “a falling away.” The word is used Deu 13:5 to signify apostasy or revolt; here it is no doubt to be understood in the wider sense of any departure from the Law.”
Deuteronomy 19:17
“Both the men, between whom the controversy is - Not the accused and the false witness, but the plaintiff and defendant (compare Exo 23:1) who were summoned before the supreme court held, as provided in Deut. 17, at the sanctuary. The judges acted as God’s representative; to lie to them was to lie to Him.”
Deuteronomy 19:18
“And the judges shall make diligent inquisition,.... Into the case before them, into the nature of the evidence and proof that each witness brings for or against; so the Targum of Jonathan,"the judges shall interrogate the witness, by whom these things are said, well;''shall thoroughly examine the testimony given, and look carefully into it: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother; it appears plainly by full evidence that he has testified a falsehood of him.”
Deuteronomy 19:19
“Nec lex est justior ulla--Nor could any law be more just. If the crime he accused his neighbour of was to be punished with death, the false witness must be put to death; if with stripes, he must be beaten; if with a pecuniary mulct, he was to be fined the sum.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Deuteronomy 19:20
“And those which remain shall hear, and fear,.... Those which survive the false witness shall hear of the punishment inflicted on him, and fear to commit the like sin, lest they should be punished in like manner.”
Deuteronomy 19:21
“Life - for life, eye for eye, etc. - The operation of such a law as this must have been very salutary: if a man prized his own members, he would naturally avoid injuring those of others. It is a pity that this law were not still in force: it would certainly prevent many of those savage acts which now both disgrace and injure society. I speak this in reference to law generally, and the provision that should be made to prevent and punish ferocious and malevolent offenses.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Deuteronomy 19:21
“And thine eye shall not pity,....”
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.
This page carries no textual note on Deuteronomy 19. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
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