mh_parser/vol_split/5 - Deuteronomy/Chapter 19.xml

<div2 id="Deu.xx" n="xx" next="Deu.xxi" prev="Deu.xix" progress="90.19%" title="Chapter XIX">
<h2 id="Deu.xx-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
<h3 id="Deu.xx-p0.2">CHAP. XIX.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Deu.xx-p1">The laws which Moses had hitherto been repeating
and urging mostly concerned the acts of religion and devotion
towards God; but here he comes more fully to press the duties of
righteousness between man and man. This chapter relates, I. To the
sixth commandment, "Thou shalt not kill," <scripRef id="Deu.xx-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.1-Deut.19.13" parsed="|Deut|19|1|19|13" passage="De 19:1-13">ver. 1-13</scripRef>. II. To the eighth commandment,
"Thou shalt not steal," <scripRef id="Deu.xx-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.14" parsed="|Deut|19|14|0|0" passage="De 19:14">ver.
14</scripRef>. III. To the ninth commandment, "Thou shalt not bear
false witness," <scripRef id="Deu.xx-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.15-Deut.19.21" parsed="|Deut|19|15|19|21" passage="De 19:15-21">ver. 15</scripRef>,
&amp;c.</p>
<scripCom id="Deu.xx-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19" parsed="|Deut|19|0|0|0" passage="De 19" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Deu.xx-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.1-Deut.19.13" parsed="|Deut|19|1|19|13" passage="De 19:1-13" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.19.1-Deut.19.13">
<h4 id="Deu.xx-p1.6">The Cities of Refuge. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xx-p1.7">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xx-p2">1 When the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xx-p2.1">Lord</span>
thy God hath cut off the nations, whose land the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xx-p2.2">Lord</span> thy God giveth thee, and thou succeedest
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 <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xx-p2.3">Lord</span> thy God giveth thee
to possess it.   3 Thou shalt prepare thee a way, and divide
the coasts of thy land, which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xx-p2.4">Lord</span> thy God giveth thee to inherit, into three
parts, that every slayer may flee thither.   4 And this
<i>is</i> 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 head 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 slay him; whereas he <i>was</i> 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 <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xx-p2.5">Lord</span> 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
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xx-p2.6">Lord</span> 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 <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xx-p2.7">Lord</span> thy God giveth thee
<i>for</i> an inheritance, and <i>so</i> 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 mortally 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 <i>the guilt of</i> innocent
blood from Israel, that it may go well with thee.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xx-p3">It was one of the precepts given to the
sons of Noah that <i>whoso sheddeth man's blood by man shall his
blood be shed,</i> that is, by the avenger of blood, <scripRef id="Deu.xx-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.6" parsed="|Gen|9|6|0|0" passage="Ge 9:6">Gen. ix. 6</scripRef>. Now here we have the law
settled between blood and blood, between the blood of the murdered
and the blood of the murderer, and effectual provision made,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xx-p4">I. That the cities of refuge should be a
protection to him that slew another casually, so that he should not
die for that as a crime which was not his voluntary act, but only
his unhappiness. The appointment of these cities of refuge we had
before (<scripRef id="Deu.xx-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.13" parsed="|Exod|21|13|0|0" passage="Ex 21:13">Exod. xxi. 13</scripRef>), and
the law laid down concerning them at large, <scripRef id="Deu.xx-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.10-Num.35.15" parsed="|Num|35|10|35|15" passage="Nu 35:10-15">Num. xxxv. 10</scripRef>, &amp;c. It is here
repeated, and direction is given concerning three things:—</p>
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xx-p5">1. The appointing of three cities in Canaan
for this purpose. Moses had already appointed three on that side
Jordan which he saw the conquest of; and now he bids them, when
they should be settled in the other part of the country, to appoint
three more, <scripRef id="Deu.xx-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.1-Deut.19.3 Bible:Deut.19.7" parsed="|Deut|19|1|19|3;|Deut|19|7|0|0" passage="De 19:1-3,7"><i>v.</i> 1-3,
7</scripRef>. The country was to be divided into three districts,
as near by as might be equal, and a city of refuge in the centre of
each so that every corner of the land might have one within reach.
Thus Christ is not a refuge at a distance, which we must ascend to
heaven or go down to the deep for, but the word is nigh us, and
Christ in the word, <scripRef id="Deu.xx-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.10.8" parsed="|Rom|10|8|0|0" passage="Ro 10:8">Rom. x.
8</scripRef>. The gospel brings salvation <i>to our door,</i> and
there it knocks for admission. To make the flight of the delinquent
the more easy, the way must be prepared that led to the city of
refuge. Probably they had causeways or street-ways leading to those
cities, and the Jews say that the magistrates of Israel, upon one
certain day in the year, sent out messengers to see that those
roads were in good repair, and they were to remove
stumbling-blocks, mend bridges that were broken, and, where two
ways met, they were to set up a Mercurial post, with a finger to
point the right way, on which was engraven in great letters,
<i>Miklat, Miklat—Refuge, Refuge.</i> In allusion to this, gospel
ministers are to show people the way to Christ, and to assist and
direct them in flying by faith to him for refuge. They must be
ready to remove their prejudices, and help them over their
difficulties. And, blessed be God, <i>the way of holiness,</i> to
all that seek it faithfully, is a highway so plain that <i>the
wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xx-p6">2. The use to be made of these cities,
<scripRef id="Deu.xx-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.4-Deut.19.6" parsed="|Deut|19|4|19|6" passage="De 19:4-6"><i>v.</i> 4-6</scripRef>. (1.) It is
supposed that it might so happen that a man might be the death of
his neighbour without any design upon him either from a sudden
passion or malice prepense, but purely by accident, as by the
flying off of an axe-head, which is the instance here given, with
which every case of this kind was to be compared, and by it
adjudged. See how human life lies exposed daily, and what deaths we
are often in, and what need therefore we have to be always ready,
our souls being continually in our hands. How are the sons of men
<i>snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly upon them!</i>
<scripRef id="Deu.xx-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.9.12" parsed="|Eccl|9|12|0|0" passage="Ec 9:12">Eccl. ix. 12</scripRef>. An evil time
indeed it is when this happens not only to the slain but to the
slayer. (2.) It is supposed that the relations of the person slain
would be forward to avenge the blood, in affection to their friend
and in zeal for public justice. Though the law did not allow the
avenging of any other affront or injury with death, yet the avenger
of blood, the blood of a relation, shall have great allowances made
for the heat of his heart upon such a provocation as that, and his
killing only, should not be accounted murder if he did it before he
got to the city of refuge, though it is owned he was not worthy of
death. Thus would God possess people with a great horror and dread
of the sin of murder: if mere chance-medley did thus expose a man,
surely he that wilfully does violence to the blood of any person,
whether from an old grudge or upon a sudden provocation, must flee
to the pit, and <i>let no man stay him</i> (<scripRef id="Deu.xx-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Prov.28.17" parsed="|Prov|28|17|0|0" passage="Pr 28:17">Prov. xxviii. 17</scripRef>); yet the New Testament
represents the sin of murder as more heinous and more dangerous
than even this law does. <scripRef id="Deu.xx-p6.4" osisRef="Bible:1John.3.15" parsed="|1John|3|15|0|0" passage="1Jo 3:15">1 John iii.
15</scripRef>, <i>You know that no murderer has eternal life
abiding in him.</i> (3.) It is provided that, if an avenger of
blood should be so unreasonable as to demand satisfaction for blood
shed by accident only, then the city of refuge should protect the
slayer. Sins of ignorance indeed do expose us to the wrath of God,
but there is relief provided, if by faith and repentance we make
use of it. Paul that had been a persecutor obtained mercy, because
he did it ignorantly; and Christ prayed for his crucifiers,
<i>Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xx-p7">3. The appointing of three cities more for
this use in case God should hereafter enlarge their territories and
the dominion of their religion, that all those places which came
under the government of the law of Moses in other instances might
enjoy the benefit of that law in this instance, <scripRef id="Deu.xx-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.8-Deut.19.10" parsed="|Deut|19|8|19|10" passage="De 19:8-10"><i>v.</i> 8-10</scripRef>. Here is, (1.) An intimation
of God's gracious intention to enlarge their coast, as he had
promised to their fathers, if they did not by their disobedience
forfeit the promise, the condition of which is here carefully
repeated, that, if it were not performed, the reproach might lie
upon them, and not on God. He promised to give it, <i>if thou shalt
keep all these commandments;</i> not otherwise. (2.) A direction to
them to appoint three cities more in their new conquests, which,
the number intimates, should be as large as their first conquests
were; wherever the border of Israel went this privilege must attend
it, that <i>innocent blood be not shed,</i> <scripRef id="Deu.xx-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.10" parsed="|Deut|19|10|0|0" passage="De 19:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. Though God is the saviour and
preserver of all men, and has a tender regard to all lives, yet the
blood of Israelites is in a particular manner precious to him,
<scripRef id="Deu.xx-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.72.14" parsed="|Ps|72|14|0|0" passage="Ps 72:14">Ps. lxxii. 14</scripRef>. The learned
Ainsworth observes that the Jewish writers themselves own that, the
condition not being performed, the promise of the enlarging of
their coast was never fulfilled; so that there was no occasion for
ever adding these three cities of refuge; yet the holy blessed God
(say they) <i>did not command it in vain, for in the days of
Messiah the prince</i> three other cities shall be added to these
six: they expect it to be fulfilled in the letter, but we know that
in Christ it has its spiritual accomplishment, for the borders of
the gospel Israel are enlarged according to the promise, and in
Christ, <i>the Lord our righteousness,</i> refuge is provided for
those that by faith flee to him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xx-p8">II. It is provided that the cities of
refuge should be no sanctuary or shelter to a wilful murderer, but
even thence he should be fetched, and delivered to the avenger of
blood, <scripRef id="Deu.xx-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.11-Deut.19.13" parsed="|Deut|19|11|19|13" passage="De 19:11-13"><i>v.</i> 11-13</scripRef>.
1. This shows that wilful murder must never be protected by the
civil magistrate; he bears the sword of justice in vain if he
suffers those to escape the edge of it that lie under the guilt of
blood, which he by office is the avenger of. During the dominion of
the papacy in our own land, before the Reformation, there were some
churches and religious houses (as they called them) that were made
sanctuaries for the protection of all sorts of criminals that fled
to them, wilful murderers not excepted, so that (as Stamford says,
in his <i>Pleas of the Crown, lib.</i> II. <i>c.</i> xxxviii.) the
government follows not Moses but Romulus, and it was not till about
the latter end of Henry VIII's time that this privilege of
sanctuary for wilful murder was taken away, when in that, as in
other cases, the word of God came to be regarded more than the
dictates of the see of Rome. And some have thought it would be a
completing of that instance of reformation if the benefit of clergy
were taken away for man-slaughter, that is, the killing of a man
upon a small provocation, since this law allowed refuge only in
case of that which our law calls chance-medley. 2. It may be
alluded to to show that in Jesus Christ there is no refuge for
presumptuous sinners, that <i>go on still in their trespasses.</i>
If we thus <i>sin wilfully,</i> sin and go on in it, there
<i>remains no sacrifice,</i> <scripRef id="Deu.xx-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Heb.10.26" parsed="|Heb|10|26|0|0" passage="Heb 10:26">Heb. x.
26</scripRef>. Those that flee to Christ from their sins shall be
safe in him, but not those that expect to be sheltered by him in
their sins. Salvation itself cannot save such: divine justice will
fetch them even from the city of refuge, the protection of which
they are not entitled to.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Deu.xx-p8.3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19" parsed="|Deut|19|0|0|0" passage="De 19" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Deu.xx-p8.4" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.14-Deut.19.21" parsed="|Deut|19|14|19|21" passage="De 19:14-21" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.19.14-Deut.19.21">
<h4 id="Deu.xx-p8.5">False Witnesses. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xx-p8.6">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xx-p9">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 <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xx-p9.1">Lord</span> 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 <i>that which is</i> wrong;   17 Then
both the men, between whom the controversy <i>is,</i> shall stand
before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xx-p9.2">Lord</span>, before the priests
and the judges, which shall be in those days;   18 And the
judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, <i>if</i> the
witness <i>be</i> a false witness, <i>and</i> 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; <i>but</i>
life <i>shall go</i> for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand
for hand, foot for foot.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xx-p10">Here is a statute for the preventing of
frauds and perjuries; for the divine law takes care of men's rights
and properties, and has made a hedge about them. Such a friend is
it to human society and men's civil interest.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xx-p11">I. A law against frauds, <scripRef id="Deu.xx-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.14" parsed="|Deut|19|14|0|0" passage="De 19:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. 1. Here is an implicit
direction given to the first planters of Canaan to fix land-marks,
according to the distribution of the land to the several tribes and
families by lot. Note, It is the will of God that every one should
know his own, and that all good means should be used to prevent
encroachments and the doing and suffering of wrong. When right is
settled, care must be taken that it be not afterwards unsettled,
and that, if possible, no occasion of dispute may arise. 2. An
express law to posterity not to remove those land-marks which were
thus fixed at first, by which a man secretly got that to himself
which was his neighbour's. This, without doubt, is a moral precept,
and still binding, and to us it forbids, (1.) The invading of any
man's right, and taking to ourselves that which is not our own, by
any fraudulent arts or practices, as by forging, concealing,
destroying, or altering deeds and writings (which are our
land-marks, to which appeals are made), or by shifting hedges,
meer-stones, and boundaries. Though the land-marks were set by the
hand of man, yet he was a thief and a robber by the law of God that
removed them. Let every man be content with his own lot, and just
to his neighbours, and then we shall have no land-marks removed.
(2.) It forbids the sowing of discord among neighbours, and doing
any thing to occasion strife and law-suits, which is done (and it
is very ill done) by confounding those things which should
determine disputes and decide controversies. And, (3.) It forbids
breaking in upon the settled order and constitution of civil
government, and the altering of ancient usages without just cause.
This law supports the honour of prescriptions. <i>Consuetudo facit
jus—Custom is to be held as law.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xx-p12">II. A law against perjuries, which enacts
two things:—1. That a single witness should never be admitted to
give evidence in a criminal cause, so as that sentence should be
passed upon his testimony, <scripRef id="Deu.xx-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.15" parsed="|Deut|19|15|0|0" passage="De 19:15"><i>v.</i>
15</scripRef>. This law we had before, <scripRef id="Deu.xx-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.30" parsed="|Num|35|30|0|0" passage="Nu 35:30">Num. xxxv. 30</scripRef>, and in this book, <scripRef id="Deu.xx-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.6" parsed="|Deut|17|6|0|0" passage="De 17:6"><i>ch.</i> xvii. 6</scripRef>. This was enacted
in favour to the prisoner, whose life and honour should not lie at
the mercy of a particular person that had a pique against him, and
for caution to the accuser not to say that which he could not
corroborate by the testimony of another. It is a just shame which
this law puts upon mankind as false and not to be trusted; every
man is by it suspected: and it is the honour of God's grace that
the record he has given concerning his Son is confirmed both in
heaven and in earth by <i>three witnesses,</i> <scripRef id="Deu.xx-p12.4" osisRef="Bible:1John.5.7" parsed="|1John|5|7|0|0" passage="1Jo 5:7">1 John v. 7</scripRef>. <i>Let God be true and every man
a liar,</i> <scripRef id="Deu.xx-p12.5" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.4" parsed="|Rom|3|4|0|0" passage="Ro 3:4">Rom. iii. 4</scripRef>. 2.
That a false witness should incur the same punishment which was to
have been inflicted upon the person he accused. <i>If two, or
three,</i> or many witnesses, concurred in a false testimony, they
were all liable to be prosecuted upon this law. (2.) The person
wronged or brought into peril by the false testimony is supposed to
be the appellant, <scripRef id="Deu.xx-p12.6" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.17" parsed="|Deut|19|17|0|0" passage="De 19:17"><i>v.</i>
17</scripRef>. And yet if the person were put to death upon the
evidence, and afterwards it appeared to be false, any other person,
or the judges themselves, <i>ex officio—by virtue of their
office,</i> might call the false witness to account. (3.) Causes of
this kind, having more than ordinary difficulty in them, were to be
brought before the supreme court, <i>The priests and judges,</i>
who are said to be <i>before the Lord,</i> because, as other judges
sat in the gates of their cities, so these at the gate of the
sanctuary, <scripRef id="Deu.xx-p12.7" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.12" parsed="|Deut|17|12|0|0" passage="De 17:12"><i>ch.</i> xvii.
12</scripRef>. (4.) There must be great care in the trial,
<scripRef id="Deu.xx-p12.8" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.18" parsed="|Deut|19|18|0|0" passage="De 19:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. A diligent
inquisition must be made into the characters of the persons, and
all the circumstances of the case, which must be compared, that the
truth might be found out, which, where it is thus faithfully and
impartially enquired into, Providence, it may be hoped, will
particularly advance the discovery of. (5.) If it appeared that a
man had knowingly and maliciously borne false witness against his
neighbour, though the mischief he designed him thereby was not
effected, he must undergo the same penalty which his evidence would
have brought his neighbour under, <scripRef id="Deu.xx-p12.9" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.19" parsed="|Deut|19|19|0|0" passage="De 19:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. <i>Nec lex est justior
ulla—Nor could any law be more just.</i> If the crime he accused
his neighbour of was to be punished with death, the false witness
must be put to death; if with stripes, he must be beaten; if with a
pecuniary mulct, he was to be fined the sum. And because to those
who considered not the heinousness of the crime, and the necessity
of making this provision against it, it might seem hard to punish a
man so severely for a few words' speaking, especially when no
mischief did actually follow, it is added: <i>Thy eye shall not
pity,</i> <scripRef id="Deu.xx-p12.10" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.21" parsed="|Deut|19|21|0|0" passage="De 19:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. No
man needs to be more merciful than God. The benefit that will
accrue to the public from this severity will abundantly recompense
it: <i>Those that remain shall hear and fear,</i> <scripRef id="Deu.xx-p12.11" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.20" parsed="|Deut|19|20|0|0" passage="De 19:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. Such exemplary
punishments will be warnings to others not to attempt any such
mischief, when they see how he that <i>made the pit and digged it
has fallen into the ditch which he made.</i></p>
</div></div2>