Reflections on Deuteronomy 19

Deuteronomy 19 (Contemporary English Version)

1. Soon you will go into the land and attack the nations. The LORD your God will destroy them and give you their lands, towns, and homes. Then after you are settled,
   
2. you must choose three of your towns to be Safe Towns. Divide the land into three regions with one Safe Town near the middle of each, so that a Safe Town can be easily reached from anywhere in your land. Then, if one of you accidentally kills someone, you can run to a Safe Town and find protection from being put to death. But you must not have been angry with the person you killed.
   
3. (SEE 19:2)
   
4. (SEE 19:2)
   
5. For example, suppose you and a friend go into the forest to cut wood. You are chopping down a tree with an ax, when the ax head slips off the handle, hits your friend, and kills him. You can run to one of the Safe Towns and save your life.
   
6. You don't deserve to die, since you did not mean to harm your friend. But he did get killed, and his relatives might be very angry. They might even choose one of the men from their family to track you down and kill you. If it is too far to one of the Safe Towns, the victim's relative might be able to catch you and kill you.
   
7. That's why I said there must be three Safe Towns.
   
8. Israel, the LORD your God has promised that if you obey his laws and teachings I'm giving you, and if you always love him, then he will give you the land he promised your ancestors. When that happens, you must name three more Safe Towns in the new territory.
   
9. (SEE 19:8)
   
10. You will need them, so innocent people won't be killed on your land while they are trying to reach a Safe Town that is too far away. You will be guilty of murder, if innocent people lose their lives because you didn't name enough Safe Towns in the land the LORD your God will give you.
    
11. But what if you really do commit murder? Suppose one of you hates a neighbor. So you wait in a deserted place, kill the neighbor, and run to a Safe Town.
    
12. If that happens, the leaders of your town must send messengers to bring you back from the Safe Town. They will hand you over to one of the victim's relatives, who will put you to death.
    
13. Israel, for the good of the whole country, you must kill anyone who murders an innocent person. Never show mercy to a murderer!
    
14. In the land the LORD is giving you, there are already stones set up to mark the property lines between fields. So don't move those stones.
    
15. Before you are convicted of a crime, at least two witnesses must be able to testify that you did it.
    
16. If you accuse someone of a crime, but seem to be lying,
    
17. then both you and the accused must be taken to the court at the place where the LORD is worshiped. There the priests and judges will find out if you are lying or telling the truth. If you are lying and the accused is innocent,
    
18. (SEE 19:17)
    
19. then you will be punished without mercy. You will receive the same punishment the accused would have received if found guilty, whether it means losing an eye, a tooth, a hand, a foot, or even your life. Israel, the crime of telling lies in court must be punished. And when people hear what happens to witnesses that lie, everyone else who testifies in court will tell the truth.
    
20. (SEE 19:19)
    
21. (SEE 19:19)
    

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    Moses continued to prepare the Israelites for their entry into Canaan by reminding them of the laws they were to observe in the new land. These are laws given them at Sinai when God established His covenant with them. In many instances Moses added points of clarification not found in the Numbers account of these laws.
    
    The first topic of law in this chapter is the cities of refuge. Moses had already spoken to this since their arrival in the Plains of Moab east of the Jordan where they were presently camped. On this earlier occasion he had them establish three cities of refuge east of the Jordan or in the transjordan area to which it is sometimes referred. On this occasion he is including the territory west of the Jordan. Had Israel obeyed the Lord fully and received the whole territory promised to Abraham, they would have needed t establish three more cities of refuge. But that never occurred. These cities were established for the protection of persons who accidentally killed someone, keeping the family protector of the one killed from avenging the death and killing the one who took the life unintentionally. So, though the killing was accidental, the killer was given a sentence of imprisonment in the city of refuge for what could be the remainder of his life. He could not leave the city without risk of being killed by the family protector. And the protector could legally do so. However, upon the death of the High Priest, the unintentional killer could go free. Therefore, his sentence could be for the remainder of his life or for only a short time depending on the age and health of the High Priest when he enters.
    
    The other two topics of law addressed in this chapter concern stealing of property and bearing false witness. Regarding the stealing of property, this specifically had to do with the illegal moving of landmarks. Whatever land boundaries were established when the land was first distributed were not to be disturbed. To move a neighbor's boundary marker, or landmark, was equivalent to stealing a portion of his property. This was obviously prohibited. As for the matter of bearing false witness, a bit more explanation is given. It was a multifaceted crime that involved more than lying. It was motivated by malicious intent to harm another person so they were punished for something they didn't do. It also, intentionally or otherwise, made a mockery of the justice system.
    
    As a safeguard against false witness, no one could be charged with a crime on the witness of only one person. Two or three witnesses were required. However, even if there were only one witness, that person was required to register the charge with the authorities. Having done so, an investigation would be made of the charge. It seems, though, that this investigation was aimed at determining the truthfulness of the witness since the one accused could not be charged of a crime on the witness of only one person. If the investigation found that the witness brought false testimony, they were charged with the punishment that went with the crime - punishment intended for the one against whom they brought false witness.
    
    A permissive society might consider all of this hateful and vindictive. Certainly not the instructions of a loving God. But a permissive society seems more intent on protecting the criminal than his victim. Subscribing to a philosophy that says, "what's done is done. Don't make it worse by harming the perpetrator."  But our Creator, the One who knows human nature better than any human says, "You must not show pity." Furthermore, He says, "You must purge the evil from you. Then everyone else will hear and be afraid, and they will never again do anything evil like this among you." (19:19-21) Regardless of any human philosophy or theory, God knows that punishment for crime is a deterrent. Failure to punish crime allows it to infect the whole society.