Deuteronomy 19

Deuteronomy 19:1

N. Criminal Laws (Chap. 19)19:1-10 Three cities of refuge had already been set up east of the Jordan River. Here Moses reminded the people to set up three cities on the other side, conveniently located so that a manslayer could flee there from the avenger of blood (vv. 1-7). To the previous instruction on this subject is added the provision for three additional cities of refuge, if the people ever possessed the full territory originally promised to them (vv. 8-10). No further mention is made of these three extra cities because Israel has never occupied all the land promised in Gen_15:18. The three cities west of the Jordan were Kedesh, Hebron, and Shechem (Jos_20:7). 19:11-13 The city of refuge did not provide safety for a murderer. Even though he fled to one of these cities, the elders were to weigh the evidence and deliver him . . . to . . . the avenger if he was found guilty. 19:14 A landmark was a stone placed in a field to indicate the boundary of one’s land. These could be moved secretly at night to expand one’s own farm, at the same time cheating one’s neighbor. Why this one verse is placed in the midst of a passage dealing with judicial practicei.e., cities of refuge and witnesses false and trueis difficult to say, but its position does not obscure its teaching. 19:15-21 The witness of one person was not enough in a legal case. There had to be two or three witnesses. A false witness was to be tried by the priests and the judges (Deu_17:8-9) and punished with the penalty of the crime with which he accused the defendant (vv. 16-21). The “eye for eye” and “tooth for tooth” principle is called the Lex talionis in Western culture (Latin for “law of retaliation”). It is commonly misrepresented as vindictive, but it is not. This law is not a license for cruelty, but a limit to it. In the context it refers to what kind of penalty could be inflicted upon a false witness.