Day 57 – A Year in the Bible – Deuteronomy 19-21
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DEUTERONOMY 19 – AT THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES
Cities of Refuge
When the LORD thy God hath cut off the nations, whose land the LORD thy God giveth thee, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their cities, and in their houses; Thou shalt separate three cities for thee in the midst of thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it. 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. – Deuteronomy 19:1-3
Cities of Refuge
1. When you are settled in Canaan, you shall separate three cities for refuge in the midst of the land (Deut. 19:1-2,7).
2. Prepare a way and divide your land into three parts and choose a city of refuge in each division (Deut. 19:3).
3. The cities shall be for the manslayer to flee for protection from the avenger of blood, when the killing is accidental (Deut. 19:4-6).
4. When you obey God and He enlarges your land, giving you all that He has promised, you shall add three more cities of refuge, making six in all (Deut. 19:8-10).
5. If a man willfully slays another and flees to a city of refuge, the elders of the city shall deliver him to the avenger of blood to die (Deut. 19:11-12).
6. You shall not pity the willful murderer, but shall execute him to put away the guilt of innocent blood in Israel (Deut. 19:13).
At the Mouth of Two or Three Witnesses Shall the Matter Be Established
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. – Deuteronomy 19:15
Bearing False Witness
1. One witness shall not rise up against a man to condemn him for any crime. At the mouth of two or three witnesses shall a matter be established (Deut. 19:15; cp. Deut. 17:6).
2. If a false witness rises up against a man to testify against him, both men shall be brought before the Lord and before the priests and judges to settle the controversy (Deut. 19:16-17).
3. The judges shall cross examine both men and if the witness is found to be false, and has sought to injure his neighbor, he shall be punished in the same way that he thought to punish his neighbor (Deut. 19:18-19).
4. Those that remain shall hear of the just judgment, and shall fear, and refrain from such wickedness (Deut. 19:20).
5. Your eye shall not pity the false witness who had no pity for his neighbor, but you shall mete out to him the punishment his neighbor would have received had he been convicted–life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot (Deut. 19:21).
DEUTERONOMY 20 – WHEN YOU GO INTO BATTLE
Let Not Your Hearts Faint, Fear Not, Do Not Tremble
When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the LORD thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people, and shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them; for the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you. – Deuteronomy 20:1-4
Preparation for battle:
– When you go to battle and see that your enemies outnumber you, do not be afraid of them, for God is with you.
– When you come near to battle the priest shall encourage the people to put their trust in God who will deliver them regardless of the enemy (Deut. 20:3-4).
Six things that priests were to say:
1. Hear, O Israel, you go out today against your enemies.
2. Let not your hearts faint.
3. Fear not your enemies.
4. Do not tremble before them.
5. Be not terrified because of them.
6. The Lord goes before you, to fight for you, and give you victory (Deut. 20:4)
– The officers shall also speak to the people and let the men that are legally exempt from war go home (Deut. 20:5-8).
Four classes that were exempt from war:
1. New homeowners, lest they be killed and others dedicate their houses (Deut. 20:5; 28:30).
2. Owners of newly-planted vineyards, lest they die and others enjoy them (Deut. 20:6; 28:30).
3. Betrothed men, lest they be killed and others take their wives (Deut. 20:7; 28:30).
4. The fearful and fainthearted, lest they cause others to become cowards (Deut. 20:8).
– The officers shall make captains to lead the armies (Deut. 20:9).
Laws of Conquest
1. When you go to fight against a foreign city, proclaim peace to it (Deut. 20:10).
2. If the city makes an answer of peace and opens to you, the people in it shall be tributary to you and serve you (Deut. 20:11).
3. If it will not make peace with you, then besiege it (Deut. 20:12).
4. When the Lord has given you the city, you shall smite every male with the edge of the sword (Deut. 20:13).
5. The women and little ones, the cattle, and all the spoil (allowed by the law), you shall take for yourselves (Deut. 20:14).
6. You shall eat the spoil of your enemies, which God gives you.
7. You shall do this to foreign cities outside Canaan (Deut. 20:15).
8. Of the inhabitants of the cities of Canaan you shall leave none alive (Deut. 20:16).
9. You shall utterly destroy them, as God has commanded you (Deut. 20:17).
10. When you besiege a city a long time and take it, you shall not destroy all the trees, for you will need the fruit during the siege (Deut. 20:19).
11. Only the trees that are not fruit-bearing you shall cut down (Deut. 20:20).
12. You shall use them to build bulwarks against the city until it is subdued.
DEUTERONOMY 21 – HE THAT IS HANGED
The Right of the Firstborn
If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be her’s that was hated: then it shall be, when he maketh his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, which is indeed the firstborn: but he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his. – Deuteronomy 21:15-17
He that is Hanged is accursed of God
And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance. – Deuteronomy 21:22-23
On the cross, Jesus Christ became the curse, that in Him, when He arose from the grave, that curse would be broken from the lives of those that came to Him and believed.
A Good Friday for us but was a dreadful one for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
John 19:31 – The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
Galatians 3:13-14 – Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Lord make me hate my sin more and live my life with thoughts of the cross and our Savior who took my place on that cross. Let thoughts of Him be on my heart always.
(All lists taken from Dake Study Bible)
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