Deuteronomy 19:5

_AND THIS IS THE CASE OF THE SLAYER, WHICH SHALL FLEE THITHER, THAT HE MAY LIVE: WHOSO KILLETH HIS NEIGHBOUR IGNORANTLY, WHOM HE HATED NOT IN TIME PAST;_ No JFB commentary on these verses....

1-13 Here is the law settled between the blood of the murdered, and the blood of the murderer; provision is made, that the cities of refuge should be a protection, so that a man should not die for that as a crime, which was not his willing act. In Christ, the Lord our Righteousness, refuge is provided for those who by faith flee unto him. But there is no refuge in Jesus Christ for presumptuous sinners, who go on still in their trespasses. Those who flee to Christ from their sins, shall be safe in him, but not those who expect to be sheltered by him in their sins....

This and the next two chapters contain enactments designed to protect human life, and to impress its sanctity on Israel. In Deuteronomy 19:1 the directions respecting the preparation of the roads to the cities of refuge, the provision of additional cities in case of an extension of territory, and the intervention of the elders as representing the congregation, are unique to Deuteronomy and supplementary to the laws on the same subject given in the earlier books (compare the marginal reference). Deuteronomy 19:1, Deuteronomy 19:2 The three cities of refuge for the district east of Jordan had be

EXPOSITION LAWS CONCERNING CITIES OF REFUGE. LANDMARKS NOT TO BE REMOVED. LAWS CONCERNING WITNESSES. DEUTERONOMY 19:1 Moses had before this enunciated the law concerning cities of refuge for manslayers, and had already pointed out the cities on the east of the Jordan that were to be set apart for this (Numbers 35:11, etc.; Deuteronomy 4:41, etc.), he here repeats the law with special reference to the appointment of such cities "in the midst of the

AS WHEN A MAN GOETH INTO THE WOOD WITH HIS NEIGHBOUR TO HEW WOOD,.... A wood is a place common to men, and cutting down wood a business which any man might do; whereas a private place, where a man had no right to be, and doing what he had no business with, rendered a case suspicious, and such a man was liable to be taken up when any affair happened of the kind here spoken of; so the Jewish writers observe t, "a wood is a public place for him that hurts and him that is hurt to enter there;'' both had a right to go thither, the one as well as the other, he to whom the accident came, and he by whom it came; but they say, a court that belongs to a master of a house (a private court) is excepted, where there is no power or liberty for him that hurts or for him that is hurt to enter. Abba Saul says, What is hewing wood? It is what a man has a right to do, or is in his power; it is what is pu...

The cities of refuge (lit. of reception, Numbers 35:12 P) were in criminal law the substitute for the local, now disestablished, sanctuaries, each sanctuary in ancient times affording temporary protection for criminals whose guilt was not obvious (Numbers 35*, Joshua 20*). British churches have served the same purpose, (_cf._ the Sanctuary Knocker of Durham Cathedral and Frithstool of Beverley Minster and of Hexham Abbey). Blood revenge was the police of the primitive Aryan and Semitic peoples, and it needed such restraint as the law of asylum supplied. For the earlier law, see Exodus 21:12 * (JE), and for the later, Numbers 35 and Joshua 20:1 (both P). The need for this law arose through the operation of the principle of o

AS WHEN. Figure of speech _Synecdoche_ (of Species), App-6, one example put for every kind. HEAD. Hebrew. Iron. HELVE. handle. Hebrew. wood, which may mean the handle or the tree....

_as when a man goeth_ Heb. _and who goeth_, continuing the construction of the previous clause; but EVV."s rendering is possible by a slight emendation of the Heb. _forest_ As in most instances in which forest is used by EVV., the term misleads. Heb. _ya-ar_was one antithesis to fertile or cultivated land (Isaiah 29:7) and, as evident from the conditions of Palestine today as well as those reflected in the O.T. (_HGHL_, 80 f., _Jerus._i. 78, 305), must usually have meant _copse_or _jungle_or, at the most, _woodland_. The Ar. _wa-ar_is -rocky ground," whether with or without bush. _and his hand fetcheth a stroke_ Heb. _is driven_, or _lets drive, with the axe_. _helve_ R.V. marg., _tree_; which offers the alternative meaning, that the edge of the axe slipped aside from the tree which it struck. But Heb. "çṣ

LESSON FIFTEEN DEUTERONOMY 19:1-21; DEUTERONOMY 21:1-9 f. THE SANCTITY OF LIFE AND PROPERTY (Deuteronomy 19:1-21; Deuteronomy 21:1-9) (1) CONCERNING MURDER (Deuteronomy 19:1-13; Deuteronomy 21:1-9) (a) The Cities of Refuge (Deuteronomy 19:1-13) When Jehovah thy God sh

THE CITIES OF REFUGE. PUNISHMENT OF DECEIT AND FALSE WITNESS 1-13. On the Cities of Refuge see Numbers 35:9 and notes there....