Bible Commentaries
Deuteronomy 19

Verses 1-21

Still with his mind on the fact that the people were coming into the land, Moses made further applications of the laws to the new conditions. His words now had to do with life and land and truth and justice.

Cities of refuge were to be provided in order that in the administration of the law which safeguards human life there should be strict justice. The accidental killing of a man was not to be counted equal to premeditated murder. Deliberate killing was to be followed by the death penalty, the cities of refuge offering no harbor to the guilty.

The words concerning the land were brief but clear. No man was to remove an ancient landmark. The far- reaching importance of this will be understood when it is remembered how absolutely man depends on the land for physical sustenance.

Truth as between man and man in all dealings must be maintained at all costs. Anything in the nature of false witness was to be severely punished.

The final words have in them a note of great severity as they sternly insist on the necessity for the strictest justice in all human interrelationships.