Deuteronomy 4:42

_THEN MOSES SEVERED THREE CITIES ON THIS SIDE JORDAN TOWARD THE SUNRISING;_ Then Moses severed three cities on this side Jordan - (see the notes at Numbers 35:6; Joshua 20:7)....

41-49 Here is the introduction to another discourse, or sermon, Moses preached to Israel, which we have in the following chapters. He sets the law before them, as the rule they were to work by, the way they were to walk in. He sets it before them, as the glass in which they were to see their natural face, that, looking into this perfect law of liberty, they might continue therein. These are the laws, given when Israel was newly come out of Egypt; and they were now repeated. Moses gave these laws in charge, while they encamped over against Beth-peor, an idol place of the Moabites. Their present triumphs were a powerful argument for obedience. And we should understand our own situation as sinners, and the nature of that gracious covenant to which we are invited. Therein greater things are shown to us than ever Israel saw from mount Sinai; greater mercies are given to us than they experien...

These verses are inserted between two distinct and complete discourses for the reason to which they themselves call attention (“Then Moses severed three cities,” etc.); i. e., the fact narrated took place historically after Moses spoke the one discourse and before he delivered the other. In thus severing the three cities of refuge Moses carried out a previous command of God (see the marginal references); and so followed up his exhortations to obedience by setting a punctual example of it, as far as opportunity was given him. Deuteronomy 4:43 IN THE PLAIN COUNTRY - literally, “in the land of the Mishor.” The word means a level tract of land; but when used (Deuteronomy 3:10;...

EXPOSITION DEUTERONOMY 4:25-5 Moses enforces the warning against idolatry, by predicting the evil that should come upon the nation through the apostasy of those who should in after times turn from Jehovah to strange gods. When they should have begotten children and children's children, and had been long in the land, _i_._e_._ _when in after years a generation should arise that had not known the things they had seen, or had forgotten them (Deuteronomy 4:9), and the nation should then become wanton and corrupt, and fall into idolatry (cf. Deuteronomy 6:10, etc.; D

THAT THE SLAYER MIGHT FLEE THITHER,.... For refuge; the slayer of a man, but not any slayer, but WHICH SHOULD KILL HIS NEIGHBOUR UNAWARES; by accident to him, without any design and intention to kill him; ignorantly, as the Septuagint version; and so Onkelos: AND HATED HIM NOT IN TIMES PAST; it having never appeared that there had been a quarrel between them, and that the slayer had shown any enmity to the man slain any time before the fact, or bore a grudge against him, or spite unto him: AND THAT, FLEEING UNTO ONE OF THESE CITIES, HE MIGHT LIVE; in peace and safety unto his own death, or unto the death of the high priest, when he was released from his confinement to the city of his refuge, and might return to his tribe, house, family, and possessions....

4. THE THREE CITIES OF REFUGE CHAPTER 4:41-43 _ 1. The cities set apart (Deuteronomy 4:41)_ 2. The cities named (Deuteronomy 4:43) The first address being ended, an action of Moses takes place. To detect here the hand of an editor, who added these verses, as critics claim, cannot be sustained. The cities of refuge were mentioned in Numbers. Here the three on this side of Jordan are given. Then there were three more on the other side of which we read in chapter 19 and in the book of Joshua. As stated in our annotations in Numbers, the cities of refuge are typical of Christ, who is our shelter from the avenger. Scattered through the land for the gracious purpose of sheltering the slayer, they also bear a prophetic testimony. They speak of Israel's hope. “Thes

HATED. he hated....

Historical Note _Then_, i.e. at the time of the preceding discourse in Moab, Moses set apart three cities E. of Jordan as asylums for men, who unwittingly and without previous hatred had slain their fellows: Beṣer, on the Plateau, Ramoth in Gilead, and Golan in Bashan. The style of this fragment is deuteronomic (see notes below). But had it belonged to the previous historical discourse it would surely have appeared somewhere in Deuteronomy 3:18-29 (before the subsequent exhortations); and have been expressed in the 1st instead of the 3rd pers. sing. Nor is it alluded to, nor presupposed by, D's law on the Cities of Refuge, Deuteronomy 19:1 ff.; indeed, it cannot have been known to the author of this law which directs Israel to set apart three cities in the midst of the land which Go

APPENDIX: APPOINTMENT OF EASTERN CITIES OF REFUGE (Deuteronomy 4:41-43) 41 Then Moses set apart three cities beyond the Jordan toward the sunrising; 42 that the manslayer might flee thither, that slayeth his neighbor unawares, and hated him not in time past; and that fleeing unto one of these cities he might live: 43 _namely,_ Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, for the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites. THOUGHT QUESTIONS 4:41-43 93. Read Numbers 35:9-15 and Deuteronomy 19:1-13 and Joshua 20:1-6 to help in under

FIRST DISCOURSE (DEUTERONOMY 1:14 TO DEUTERONOMY 4:43) The long sojourn in the wilderness is now drawing to a close. The Israelites are encamped in the Plains of Moab within sight of the Promised Land. Moses, feeling that his death is approaching, delivers his final charges to the people. In the first, he reviews briefly the history of Israel from Mt. Sinai to the Jordan, dwelling on the goodness of God, and making it the basis of an earnest appeal to the people to remember all that He has done for them, and to keep His commandments....