Gods Plan For Complete Justice in Life. (Deuteronomy 19: 1-14)

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Episode Notes:

Title: God's Complete Plan for Justice

Scripture: Deuteronomy 19:1-21

Summary: 

In this episode, we explore the biblical concept of Cities of Refuge as outlined in Deuteronomy 19:1-21. These cities were established by God to provide safety for those who accidentally caused the death of another person, preventing them from being unjustly killed by an, 'avenger of blood'.

We discuss how these ancient cities reflect God's justice, mercy, and provision, and how they serve as a powerful metaphor for the refuge we find in God's grace today. The episode encourages us to create spaces of refuge and safety in our own lives, to extend grace to those in need, and to stand up for justice with compassion.

Key Points:

• Cities of Refuge: Their purpose and significance in ancient Israel.
• Justice and Mercy: How these cities demonstrate God's balanced approach to justice and mercy.
• Modern Application: Ways we can embody the principles of refuge and grace in our contemporary lives.
• Societal Blueprint: A vision for a society that values life, protects the innocent, and ensures justice.

Reflection Questions:

• How can we create "cities of refuge" in our own lives and communities?
• What can we learn from the balance of justice and mercy demonstrated by the Cities of Refuge?
• How does understanding God's provision for justice and mercy deepen our relationship with Him?

Closing Thought: As we go forth today, let us be inspired to build our own “cities of refuge”—in our homes, our communities, and our hearts. Let us be quick to offer forgiveness, protect the vulnerable, and seek justice with compassion. Just as God provided places of safety for His people, He calls us to be instruments of His peace and refuge in a world that desperately needs it.

Transcript

Justice in and Out of Court.  (Deuteronomy 19: 1-21)

Full Transcript.

 Imagine living in a society where one mistake—one tragic accident—could lead to your death at the hands of an avenger. 

That was the case in ancient Israel but then God provided a hope: the Cities of Refuge. These sanctuaries were established by God Himself, offering safety and justice amidst chaos. 

In Deuteronomy 19:1-14, we uncover a powerful message about mercy, protection, and God’s provision for His people. Today, let’s explore how these ancient cities can teach us about seeking refuge in God’s grace and extending that same grace to others. 

Welcome to “Cities of Refuge,” where divine mercy meets human need in todays episode of TBPDP….

Let’s turn to Deuteronomy chapter 19 and see what it has to say about justice. Some of the concepts here apply directly to court settings, but as I mentioned, there are elements that extend beyond the courtroom.

Another point to note is that some commentators suggest that in this section, Moses seems to be expanding on the Ten Commandments. In this case, what he has to say relates to the Sixth Commandment, “Thou shalt not murder.” But here he’s going to expand a little on that. 

With that in mind, turn to Deuteronomy chapter 19, and I’ll begin reading from verse one:

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, then set aside for yourselves three cities in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess.

(Deuteronomy 19: 1-2)

Before we go on, let me pause and explain a couple of things. 

You will recall that the book of Deuteronomy is being written on the east side of the Jordan River. The children of Israel had come out of Egypt, moved up to the east side of the Jordan, and were about to enter the land. However, God had forbidden Moses to enter the land because of his disobedience. 

So, Moses is giving a series of sermons to prepare them for when they do enter the land.

Notice verse one says, “ When the Lord your God has destroyed the nations whose land he is giving you.” He’s anticipating what will happen when they cross the Jordan and enter the west side of the river. In these opening verses, he instructs them to separate three cities for themselves in the middle of the land.

Why three cities? He’s going to explain that in a minute. What he’s talking about will become very clear as we read further into the passage. But at this point, let me just say that these are what are commonly called the cities of refuge. I’ll explain what that means in a moment when we get to it.

The key point here is that he says to separate three cities for themselves.

Moses had already instructed them in chapter Deuteronomy 4 to establish three cities on the east side of the Jordan. Now, he’s talking about the west side. So, if you put the two together, there would be six cities—three on the east and three on the west side of the Jordan. 

Now, look at verse 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.

(Deuteronomy 19: 3)

Ah, now we understand. These three cities are for the manslayer to flee to—they are cities of refuge. He’s going to elaborate on this, and I’ll explain what’s involved. But at this point, note that he says to prepare roads and divide the territory.

These cities need to be equally spaced and have roads built to them so they are easily accessible to anyone who has committed manslaughter.

Moses is giving us the context layer by layer. The first three verses tell us to establish three cities on the west side of the Jordan, make them equally spaced, and build roads to them.

Starting from verse four, he will explain the purpose of these cities:

This is the rule concerning anyone who kills a person and flees there for safety—anyone who kills a neighbour unintentionally, without malice aforethought.

(Deuteronomy 19: 4)

Let’s pause here. It’s now clear who we’re talking about. A manslayer is someone who has killed another person unintentionally. Today, we would call this manslaughter. 

So this part of the passage is addressing someone who has committed manslaughter. What does it mean to kill someone unintentionally? Let’s continue with the passage to find out.

For instance, a man may go into the forest with his neighbour to cut wood, and as he swings his axe to fell a tree, the head may fly off and hit his neighbour and kill him. That man may flee to one of these cities and save his life. 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 neighbour without malice aforethought.

(Deuteronomy 19: 5-6)

Now, there’s a number of things we need to sort out in this passage. 

First, we need to see that this is a case of manslaughter and that the act was not intentional. This is very important. The person did not do anything, to use the words of Moses, that was deserving of death. 

Manslaughter does not deserve the penalty of death.

An illustration Moses gives is that of chopping down a tree when the head of the axe comes off the handle and hits someone, killing them. 

But wat’s interesting is that the passage talks about the “avenger of blood” who would pursue and kill the manslayer. So, the question becomes: who is this avenger of blood? The answer is the nearest relative of the deceased. This nearest relative, essentially a family protector, is responsible for avenging the death.

In the Old Testament, it was understood that the nearest male relative had several responsibilities. For example, he could redeem another relative out of slavery (as outlined in Leviticus 25), redeem the relative’s property (also in Leviticus 25), marry a relative’s widow and raise up children in the name of the deceased, and avenge the death of a relative, which is what this passage is about.

So, the avenger is a near kinsman—a close relative. He was responsible for killing someone who had killed one of their relatives, even if the killing was unintentional. 

Today, we don’t have anything like that because the state would step in to handle such matters. There wasn’t a sophisticated government structure in those days, so the near relative had the responsibility of being the avenger of blood. This wasn’t a judicial matter in the modern sense; it was a family matter.

Now, look at verse 7:

This is why I command you to set aside for yourselves three cities.

(Deuteronomy 19: 7)

Because the person had killed someone unintentionally—what we would call manslaughter today—and was still in danger of being killed by a near relative, he could flee to the city of refuge and live there without being killed by the avenger of blood.

We know from other passages in Scripture that the manslayer had to stay in the city of refuge until the death of the current high priest. If he left the city before the high priest died, the avenger of blood could kill him without being guilty of murder, as stated in Numbers chapter 35.

The cities of refuge are an interesting concept in ancient Israel. This concept might seem foreign to us today. We might compare to fleeing to another country where if you go there, you can’t be prosecuted for certain crimes. However, if the manslayer left the city, just as if you returned back to your home country you would be vulnerable.

Why did God establish these cities of refuge?

Some suggest, and I agree, that these cities were God’s way of teaching Israel the importance of life. Even though a man had killed someone accidentally, he still had to give up a large measure of his freedom for a period of time. 

This underscores the value of life and the seriousness of being involved in taking it, even unintentionally. This much is clear if you read the first seven verses together. 

Now, there’s a wrinkle. Look at verse 8:

If the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he promised on oath to your ancestors, and gives you the whole land he promised them, because you carefully follow all these laws I command you today—to love the Lord your God and to walk always in obedience to him—then you are to set aside three more cities. Do this so that innocent blood will not be shed in your land, which the Lord your God is giving you as your inheritance, and so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed.

(Deuteronomy 19: 8-10)

Interesting. He says there are three more cities. As I explained earlier, Moses designated three cities on the east side of the Jordan in chapter 4 and three cities on the west side in this passage. Now, he’s saying there are three more cities, making a total of nine.

Where do these other three cities come from? 

He explains that if they keep the commandments, love the Lord, and walk in His ways, the Lord will expand their territory. 

This now becomes a bit of a theological issue. God promised Abraham land that extended from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates. When they first conquered the land under Joshua, they did not acquire all of that territory. Under David and Solomon’s reigns, they did gain more land, but this raises a debate.

Some say that the promise to Abraham was fulfilled under David and Solomon, as they conquered the land, and the inhabitants paid tribute. 

However, others, including myself, argue that God promised the land to them forever, and they didn’t fully occupy it. They may have conquered it, but they didn’t settle it completely. The inhabitants paid tribute, but Israel did not fully occupy those lands.

This passage indicates that if and when they were to receive the full territory promised to Abraham, then they should set up three more cities. There is no indication elsewhere in the Old Testament that they ever established these three additional cities. However, he says that if it ever happened, they should do so.

Alright, what we’ve seen so far is that the first part of this passage is talking about manslaughter. That’s what we’re talking about: manslaughter—killing somebody that you didn’t intend to kill, involuntary manslaughter.

I was trying to think of some cases of this today. The first one that comes to mind is causing death while driving. If you are driving, let’s say you’re speeding, and you have an accident that results in someone’s death, you can be guilty of at the very most manslaughter. It’s involuntary, not premeditated, but you still caused someone death, and there is a penalty for that.

Now, if you’re going to discuss unintentional killing, the next topic logically would be intentional killing or murder. And that’s exactly what Moses addresses next.

Look at verse 11:

But if out of hate someone lies in wait, assaults and kills a neighbor, and then flees to one of these cities, 12 the killer shall be sent for by the town elders, be brought back from the city, and be handed over to the avenger of blood to die.

(Deuteronomy 19: 11-12)

This is more in line with what we are used to hearing about, murder, premeditated murder.

It’s clear in this case because it says he hates his neighbour and lies in wait. 

In crime dramas the police are always trying to prove whether the murder was premeditated or done in a moment of passion. This case clearly involves premeditated murder—there’s hatred, lying in wait, and premeditation. 

That type of killing is worthy of death, which goes all the way back to Noah. After the flood, God told Noah that whoever killed someone was worthy of death.

Therefore t city of refuge does not apply in cases of premeditated murder. If someone flees to a city of refuge after committing murder, the elders of the city where the murder occurred can go retrieve the person and hand them over to the avenger of blood to be killed.

This is serious business.

There’s one more verse on murder, verse 13:

Show no pity. You must purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, so that it may go well with you.

(Deuteronomy 19: 13)

The passage instructs the people not to pity the murderer. If you are one of the elders or part of the city of refuge, don’t protect the murderer. Bring him back and hand him over to the avenger of blood.

So far in this passage, we’ve seen two things: number one, manslaughter; number two, murder. 

Now, there’s a third issue: stealing. Let’s read the verse, and it might not initially strike you as stealing, but that’s what it amounts to. Look at verse 14:

Do not move your neighbour’s boundary stone set up by your predecessors in the inheritance you receive in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess.

Deuteronomy 19: 14)

We need to explain the landmarks. Landmarks were stones placed to indicate the boundary of a piece of property.

When the Israelites entered the land, Moses said the Lord would divide the land among the tribes and then among the families within the tribes, and each family would have their parcel of land marked by stones.

Some people would get up in the middle of the night and move the stones to give themselves more property. This was a common practice in the ancient world. Moving those stones was equivalent to stealing.

According to extra-biblical material, this was a widespread problem in the ancient world. It would be harder to do today because we have surveyors and official land registry records, but back then, it was more primitive. You just laid out stones, and if you moved the stones, you got more property. Moses said, “Don’t do that.”

Even though it was common in the ancient world, it wasn’t unknown in Israel. The book of Proverbs mentions landmarks several times, and they are even mentioned in the book of Hosea. So this problem occurred enough for Moses and then later Solomon to address it.

Why did Moses bring this up here? Some suggest he was following the Ten Commandments. Others think he discussed murder and then moved to removing landmarks because the two may be connected. 

Moving landmarks could cause hostility and lead to murder so this was just addressing the same issue but dealing with it at the root.

The Cities of Refuge were more than mere physical sanctuaries; they were divine symbols of God’s justice, mercy, and provision. They also remind us that our God is a God of second chances, a God who cares deeply about justice and the sanctity of life.

In these verses, we see a blueprint for a society that values life and seeks to protect the innocent while ensuring that justice is served. 

It’s also a call to create spaces of refuge and safety in our own lives, to extend grace to those in need, and to stand up for what is right.

As we go forth today, let us be inspired to build our own “cities of refuge”—in our homes, our communities, and our hearts. Let us be quick to offer forgiveness, to protect the vulnerable, and to seek justice with compassion.

Remember, just as God provided places of safety for His people, He calls us to be instruments of His peace and refuge in a world that desperately needs it.

May we carry this message of a God who offers a place of refuge and peace with us, embracing the call to be refuges of grace, mercy, and justice in all that we do.