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Texts -- Deuteronomy 19:1-19 (NET)

Context
Laws Concerning Manslaughter
19:1 When the Lord your God destroys the nations whose land he is about to give you and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and houses , 19:2 you must set apart for yourselves three cities in the middle of your land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession . 19:3 You shall build a roadway and divide into thirds the whole extent of your land that the Lord your God is providing as your inheritance ; anyone who kills another person should flee to the closest of these cities. 19:4 Now this is the law pertaining to one who flees there in order to live , if he has accidentally killed another without hating him at the time of the accident. 19:5 Suppose he goes with someone else to the forest to cut wood and when he raises the ax to cut the tree , the ax head flies loose from the handle and strikes his fellow worker so hard that he dies . The person responsible may then flee to one of these cities to save himself . 19:6 Otherwise the blood avenger will chase after the killer in the heat of his anger , eventually overtake him, and kill him , though this is not a capital case since he did not hate him at the time of the accident . 19:7 Therefore , I am commanding you to set apart for yourselves three cities . 19:8 If the Lord your God enlarges your borders as he promised your ancestors and gives you all the land he pledged to them , 19:9 and then you are careful to observe all these commandments I am giving you today (namely, to love the Lord your God and to always walk in his ways ), then you must add three more cities to these three . 19:10 You must not shed innocent blood in your land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance , for that would make you guilty . 19:11 However, suppose a person hates someone else and stalks him, attacks him, kills him , and then flees to one of these cities . 19:12 The elders of his own city must send for him and remove him from there to deliver him over to the blood avenger to die . 19:13 You must not pity him, but purge out the blood of the innocent from Israel , so that it may go well with you.
Laws Concerning Witnesses
19:14 You must not encroach on your neighbor’s property , which will have been defined in the inheritance you will obtain in the land the Lord your God is giving you. 19:15 A single witness may not testify against another person for any trespass or sin that he commits . A matter may be legally established only on the testimony of two or three witnesses . 19:16 If a false witness testifies against another person and accuses him of a crime , 19:17 then both parties to the controversy must stand before the Lord , that is, before the priests and judges who will be in office in those days . 19:18 The judges will thoroughly investigate the matter, and if the witness should prove to be false and to have given false testimony against the accused , 19:19 you must do to him what he had intended to do to the accused. In this way you will purge evil from among you.

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Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • 3:1-12 Horeb is another name for Sinai (v. 1). It probably indicates a range of mountains rather than a particular mountain peak. The writer called it "the mountain of God"because it was the place where God later gave the Mos...
  • Six of these Levitical towns were also cities of refuge.The appointment of cities of refuge was a divine provision for the safety of a killer who was not guilty of premeditated murder (cf. Deut. 19:1-13; Josh. 20:1-9). God ha...
  • Let me share with you a couple of quotations that point out the importance of this book."Deuteronomy is one of the greatest books of the Old Testament. Its significance on the domestic and personal religion of all ages has no...
  • I. Introduction: the covenant setting 1:1-5II. Moses' first major address: a review of God's faithfulness 1:6-4:40A. God's past dealings with Israel 1:6-3:291. God's guidance from Sinai to Kadesh 1:6-462. The march from Kades...
  • This brief section places the events that follow in their geographical and chronological setting. It introduces the occasion for the covenant, the parties involved, and other information necessary to identify the document and...
  • "The passage at hand is without comparison as a discourse on the doctrine of God."56Moses' three rhetorical questions (vv. 32-34) clearly point out the uniqueness of Yahweh."In addition to His self-disclosure in event, in his...
  • ". . . Deuteronomy contains the most comprehensive body of laws in the Pentateuch. It is clearly intended to be consulted for guidance on many aspects of daily life, in sharp contrast with the laws of Leviticus, which are ver...
  • Another writer suggested that chapters 6-26 expand the Decalogue with the intent of addressing the spirit of the law.92He believed the structure of the book supports his contention that the writer chose exemplary cases. Moses...
  • "These clearly are not laws or commandments as such but primarily series of parenetic homilies in which Moses exhorted the people to certain courses of action in light of the upcoming conquest and occupation of Canaan. Within...
  • The section of Deuteronomy dealing with general stipulations of the covenant ends as it began, with an exhortation to covenant loyalty (5:1-5; cf. 4:32-40)."This chapter is to be understood as a re-emphasis of these principle...
  • Moses' homiletical exposition of the law of Israel that follows explains reasons for the covenant laws that arose from the Ten Commandments. This address concludes with directions for celebrating and confirming the covenant (...
  • The previous pericope alluded to the need for witnesses, and this one explains their role. A common cause of hostility between individuals that sometimes led to homicide was a failure to agree on common boundaries and to resp...
  • This section concludes the "purely legal material."284The ordinances with which Moses concluded his second address (chs. 5-26) not only specified the Israelites' actions in further respects but also focused their thinking on ...
  • "The presentation of the commandments and the statutes and ordinances that will guide Israel's life in the land is over now. Verse 16 serves as a concluding bracket around chapters 5-26, matching Moses' introduction to the wh...
  • "Moses assigned the priests and elders the duty of regularly republishing the law of the covenant. The effect of this was to associate the priests and elders with Joshua in the responsibility of rule and in the esteem of Isra...
  • One writer called the Song of Moses "one of the most impressive religious poems in the entire Old Testament."336It contrasts the faithfulness and loyal love of God with the unfaithfulness and perversity of His people. As othe...
  • The English title, Judges, comes to us from the Latin translation (Vulgate) that the Greek translation (Septuagint) influenced. In all three languages the title means "judges."This title is somewhat misleading, however, becau...
  • Adonijah was David's fourth son (2 Sam. 3:4) and the eldest one living at this time. Evidently he believed it was more important that the eldest son succeed David, as was customary in the Near East, than that the king of Yahw...
  • Josiah began to seek Yahweh when he was 16 years old and began initiating religious reforms when he was 20 (2 Chron. 34:3-7). His reforms were more extensive than those of any of his predecessors. One of them was the repair o...
  • There is general correspondence between this sixth "woe"and the third one (29:15-24), but this one deals more with application and the third one more with principles. It is the most eschatological of the "woes,"though it cont...
  • 44:15-16 The Levites from Zadok's branch of the priestly family, however, would have special privileges since Zadok and his sons had served the Lord faithfully in the past (cf. 40:46; 1 Sam. 2:35; 2 Sam. 8:17; 15:24-29; 1 Kin...
  • This warning confronted the tribe of Ephraim, or perhaps all Israel, and the Southern Kingdom of Judah.5:8 Blowing trumpets in cities announced the coming of an invader. Throughout Israel's towns the sentries would blow alarm...
  • Jesus proceeded to explain what a humble disciple should do when a brother or sister disciple has wandered from the Shepherd and the sheep.18:15 By using the term "brother"Jesus encouraged a humble approach. The disciples sho...
  • Jesus continued to minister in Galilee. His ministry to the Twelve was an important part of His ministry. It prepared the disciples for further future service. It also anticipated His ministry through them following His ascen...
  • 14:53 The high priest in view here was Caiaphas. Interestingly Mark never mentioned him by name. He was the high priest that the Romans had appointed in 18 A.D., and he served in this capacity until 36 A.D.This was an unoffic...
  • The theme of discipleship training continues in this section of verses. The 70 disciples that Jesus sent out contrast with the three men Luke just finished presenting (9:57-62). This was a second mission on which Jesus sent a...
  • Luke alone recorded this aspect of Jesus' Roman trial. He probably did so because Herod Antipas found no basis for condemning Jesus either. Thus Luke cited two official witnesses to Jesus' innocence for his readers' benefit (...
  • Luke's account of the events following Jesus' resurrection stresses the reality of that event and the reactions of the witnesses to it. All these people felt depressed because of Jesus' death, but when they learned of His res...
  • 8:12 The context of the events in this paragraph continues to be the temple during the feast of Tabernacles (v. 20, cf. 7:14). Jesus was speaking to the Jews who had assembled there some of whom were residents of Jerusalem an...
  • 13:1 There are at least four possibilities about what Paul meant by the two or three witnesses that would confirm his credibility and his critics' guilt. First, he may simply have been saying that the church would pass judgme...
  • Another group in the church deserved Timothy's special attention. Therefore Paul gave instructions concerning the care of elders to his young legate to enable him to deal with present and potential elders properly.The structu...
  • Even though believing Jews will suffer persecution at this time, God will still get His message out. Two witnesses will be especially significant at this time. Valid testimony required two witnesses under the Old Covenant (De...

Expositions Of Holy Scripture (Maclaren)

  • The elaborately careful specification of cases which gave the fugitive a right to shelter in the city is set forth at length in Numbers 35:15-24, and Deuteronomy 19:4-13. The broad principle is there laid down that the cities...
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