Deuteronomy 19:1-21
1 When the LORD thy God hath cut off the nations, whose land the LORD thy God giveth thee, and thou succeedesta them, and dwellest in their cities, and in their houses;
2 Thou shalt separate three cities for thee in the midst of thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it.
3 Thou shalt prepare thee a way, and divide the coasts of thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee to inherit, into three parts, that every slayer may flee thither.
4 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;
5 As when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbour to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the headb slippeth from the helve, and lighteth upon his neighbour, that he die; he shall flee unto one of those cities, and live:
6 Lest the avenger of the blood pursue the slayer, while his heart is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long, and slayc him; whereas he was not worthy of death, inasmuch as he hated him not in time past.
7 Wherefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt separate three cities for thee.
8 And if the LORD thy God enlarge thy coast, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, and give thee all the land which he promised to give unto thy fathers;
9 If thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them, which I command thee this day, to love the LORD thy God, and to walk ever in his ways; then shalt thou add three cities more for thee, beside these three:
10 That innocent blood be not shed in thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and so blood be upon thee.
11 But if any man hate his neighbour, and lie in wait for him, and rise up against him, and smite him mortallyd that he die, and fleeth into one of these cities:
12 Then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him thence, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.
13 Thine eye shall not pity him, but thou shalt put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with thee.
14 Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour's landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land that the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it.
15 One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.
16 If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong;
17 Then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges, which shall be in those days;
18 And the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother;
19 Then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put the evil away from among you.
20 And those which remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you.
21 And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
Now in the nineteenth chapter again, they are told to establish the cities of refuge; three of them when they come into the land. Three had already been established on the other side of Jordan. But when you come into the land, God will appoint three cities as cities of refuge. Again the idea being that if you killed someone accidentally, if you and your friend were out chopping wood and your ax head should fly off the handle and hit him in the head and kill him and the avenger of blood would be angry because you killed his brother and he's chasing you, you could flee to the city of refuge. And there you could be saved from the avenger of blood. He could not come into the city to take you or to kill you. However, the cities of refuge were never to be a refuge from those who were guilty, for those who were guilty of first-degree murder.
Now again in verse nine, God just gives, chapter nineteen, some commandments.
If thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them, which I command thee this day, to love the LORD thy God, and to walk ever in his ways; then thou shalt add three cities more for thee, beside these three (Deuteronomy 19:9):
In other words, three more cities when you get into the land. Now, the commandment is to "love the Lord and to walk ever in his ways". They were not to touch the landmark of their neighbors. Now in those days they would set up little piles of stones. These stones would be landmarks. When you go through the land of Israel today, you can still see out in the fields these little piles of stones, which are landmarks which they have set up. In the Arab territory, in the Jewish territory, they don't practice this, but in the Arab territory in the land of Israel there on the West Bank you'll see all these little piles of stones out in the fields which are landmarks. Now you're not to go out at night and move those stones over ten feet or so. You're not to remove your neighbor's landmark. That was a crime that was looked upon with great disfavor.
Now, if a man would rise up and bear false against his neighbor and he was proved that he had perjured himself in his false witness, his sentence would be whatever kind of a crime he is trying to get pinned on his neighbor. In other words, if you got up and lied and said, "Well, I saw this man steal that cow." and it was proved that you were lying, you didn't see him, you were just trying to get him in trouble; then you would get the sentence of a cow thief. Whatever sentence would have been meted out against the fellow, whom you were trying to incriminate, that sentence would be yours. And if you were trying to incriminate him in a capital offense, then you would be put to death. So, whatever you were seeking to have done unto him shall be put onto you. And thus, God wanted them to have a healthy fear of lying as a witness, the perjury
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