Deuteronomy 19 Three Cities

seekeroftruth

Well-Known Member
Deuteronomy 19:1 When the Lord your God has destroyed the nations whose land he is giving you, and when you have driven them out and settled in their towns and houses, 2 then set aside for yourselves three cities in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess. 3 Determine the distances involved and divide into three parts the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that a person who kills someone may flee for refuge to one of these cities.

4 This is the rule concerning anyone who kills a person and flees there for safety—anyone who kills a neighbor unintentionally, without malice aforethought. 5 For instance, a man may go into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and as he swings his ax to fell a tree, the head may fly off and hit his neighbor and kill him. That man may flee to one of these cities and save his life. 6 Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue him in a rage, overtake him if the distance is too great, and kill him even though he is not deserving of death, since he did it to his neighbor without malice aforethought. 7 This is why I command you to set aside for yourselves three cities.​

This is from the easy English site.

God ordered the Israelites to choose three cities on the west of the River Jordan. Those cities would be in addition to the three cities on the east of the River Jordan. They were cities for somebody who had killed another person by accident. The relatives of the dead person must not get revenge. A judge must decide first whether the killer was guilty. The three cities had to be in places that people could reach easily. Moses gives an example of someone who kills another person by accident. The dead man’s relative must not get revenge while he was
still angry​

And this is from bibletrack.org.

What if someone was killed by you as a result of an accident as in the example found in verses 4-5? Well, in that case, you better high tail it to one of the 6 cities of refuge (3 in Canaan and 3 east of the Jordan River). If you really didn't mean to do it, they'll protect you. It's bad news though for the guy who intended to inflict harm (a premeditated murder) - they're going to turn you over to the blood-relative avenger chasing you when he arrives and allow him to take you out (so to speak) according to the stipulations of verses 11-12. Elsewhere, the regulations concerning the Cities of Refuge are found in Numbers 35:9-34 and Joshua 20. These cities were six of the of the 48 cities inhabited by Levites - three of them east of the Jordan River, and three of them west.

Guilty people, no doubt, made their way to the cities of refuge. The person chasing them, bent on revenge, would have to provide 3 witnesses to the despicable act or let him be. Remember though, the refuge would have to stay within the city limits to be safe.

:coffee:
 
Top