cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the slayer may flee thither which killeth any person at unawares, by error, inadvert. ently, without premeditation or malice. V. 12. And they shall be unto you cities for refuge from the avenger (of blood), that the manslayer die not until he stand before the congregation in judgment and be able to clear himself of the charge of malicious murder. V. 13. And of these cities which ye shall give six cities shall ye have for refuge. V. 14. Ye shall give three cities on this side Jordan, in the territory of the two and one half tribes, and three cities shall ye give in the land of Canaan, which shall be cities of refuge. V. 15. These six cities shall be a refuge, both for the children of Israel and for the stranger and for the sojourner among them, that every one that killeth any person unawares, unintentionally, may flee thither. These regulations are still further expanded in Deut. 19, 1-13, especially with regard to the avenger of blood, for so the nearest relative of any person to whom an injustice had been done was called. By God's permission such a person was empowered to revenge a wrong, even to the extent of putting a slayer to death, the present precept regulating the custom. There follow regulations concerning the legal process in the case of manslaughter. V. 16. And if he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. V. 17. And if he smite him with throwing a stone, with a stone large enough to fill the hand, and therefore presumably heavy enough to cause death, wherewith he may die, and he die, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. V. 18. Or if he smite him with an handweapon of wood, one whose holding requires the full size of the hand, wherewith he may die, and he die, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. V. 19. The revenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer; when he meeteth him, he shall slay him. In these three cases, where a heavy iron instrument, an ax or hammer, a large stone, or a heavy wooden tool or cudgel was used in striking down the neighbor, the evidence that he deliberately took the neighbor's life was considered conclusive from the outset. V. 20. But if he thrust him of hatred, or hurl at him by laying of wait, with deliberate intent, that he die, v. 21. or in enmity smite him with his hand that he die, he that smote him shall surely be put to death; for he is a murderer; the revenger of blood shall slay the murderer when he meeteth him, the elders of the city of refuge in that case being obliged to deliver the murderer to the avenger of blood, Deut. 19, 11. 12. V. 22. But if he thrust him suddenly without enmity, without a previous quarrel, or have cast upon him anything without laying of wait, without malicious intention, v. 23. or with any stone wherewith a man may die, seeing him not, and cast it upon him that he die, as might happen, for instance, during the building of a house, and was not his enemy, neither sought his harm, had absolutely no intention of hurting him, v. 24. then the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the revenger of blood according to these judgments, according to the regulations as contained in this chapter; v. 25. and the congregation shall deliver the slayer out of the hand of the revenger of blood, save his life by preventing his execution by the hand of the revenger, and the congregation shall restore him to the city of his refuge, grant him safe-conduct to this haven of safety, whither he was filed, for the trial, of course, took place in his own city; and he shall abide in it unto the death of the high priest which was anointed with the holy oil, the incumbent of the office at the time of the trial. The death of the high priest thus released him from his banishment. V. 26. But if the slayer shall at any time come without the border of the city of his refuge, whither he was filed, where he enjoyed the protection of the Levites under the provisions of this law, v. 27. and the revenger of blood find him without the borders of the city of his refuge, and the revenger of blood kill the slayer, he (the revenger) shall not be guilty of blood, shall not be considered a murderer, v. 28. because he (the slayer) should have remained in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest the slayer shall return into the land of his possession, to his own inheritance in the midst of his tribe, since his life was now safeguarded by the Law of God. V. 29. So these things shall be for a statute of judgment unto you throughout your generations in all your dwellings, these precepts belonged to the ordinances which should remain in power as long as the nation of Israel endured. V. 30. Whoso killeth any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses, their testimony being needed to convict him; but one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die. Where the life of a person was in jeopardy, the testimony of a single person, no matter how trustworthy he might be otherwise, should not be deemed sufficient for conviction. Cp. Deut. 17, 6; 19, 15. V. 31. Moreover, ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer which is guilty of death, he could not save his life by paying a sum of money as ransom; but he shall be surely put to death. V. 32. And ye shall take no satisfaction for him that is filed to the city of his refuge, that he should come again to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest; no payment of money should procure for him a release from his banishment. V. 33. So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are, by sparing the life of a murderer, due to false sentiment or the acceptance of bribe money; for blood, it defileth the land, namely, that shed in wilful murder; and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein but by the blood of him that shed it, Gen. 9, 6; only by this expiation is the justice of God satisfied. V. 34. Defile not, therefore, the land which ye shall inhabit, wherein I dwell; for I, the Lord, dwell among the children of Israel, and every desecration of the land would call forth His avenging justice, Lev. 18, 25. Although this special precept belongs to the Levitical Law of the Old Testament, it would be well for legislative bodies and executives, in our country especially, to lay aside the false sentimentalism which spares the lives of murderers and has proved itself a curse to the nation. CHAPTER 36. cerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, Let them marry, become wives, to whom they think best; only to the family of the tribe of their father shall they marry, that was the restriction to which they were bound. Moreover, this was to be a general rule. V.7. So shall not the inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe to tribe, not be transferred by marriages of this kind; for every one of the children of Israel shall keep himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers, to avoid confusion. V. 8. And every daughter that possesseth an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel, in the form of land or real estate, shall be wife unto one of the family of the tribe of her father, that the children of Israel may enjoy every man the inheritance of his fathers. V. 9. Neither shall the inheritance remove from one tribe to another tribe; but every one of the tribes of the children of Israel shall keep himself to his own inheritance. SO V. 10. Even Of the Inheritance of Daughters. THE OBJECTION RAISED. - V. 1. And the chief fathers of the families of the children of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came near and spake before Moses and before the princes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel, voicing an objection which had come to them with regard to a recent decision; v. 2. and they said, The Lord commanded my lord (Moses) to give the land for an inheritance by lot to the children of Israel; and my lord was commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of Zelophehad, our brother, that is, of the member of their tribe, unto his daughters. V. 3. And if they be married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel, then shall their inheritance, according to the provision, as it now stood, be taken from the inheritance of our fathers and shall be put to the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are received; shall it be taken from the lot of our inheritance. The consequence, as they saw it, would be that the territory of the several tribes would not remain intact and that a general confusion would result. V. 4. And when the jubilee of the children of Israel shall be, then shall their inheritance, that of Zelophehad's daughters, be put unto the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are received, by the fact of their marriage; so shall their inheritance be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers. Until the Year of Jubilee there was always a possibility of a childless marriage or of the sale of the property to members of the tribe of Manasseh; but after the Year of Jubilee the last chance would be gone, and relief would no longer be possible. THE REGULATION. V. 5. And Moses commanded the children of Israel according to the word of the Lord, which he had meanwhile received, saying, The tribe of the sons of Joseph hath said well. V. 6. This is the thing which the Lord doth command con as the Lord commanded Moses, so did the daughters of Zelophehad; v. 11. for Mahlah, Tirzah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married unto their father's brothers' sons, to their cousins, unless the Hebrew term is used in the wider sense. V. 12. And they were married into the families, and thus also by marriage became members of the families, of the sons of Manasseh, the son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of the family of their father. V. 13. These are the commandments and the judgments, the ordinances or statutes, which the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses unto the children of Israel in the Plains of Moab by Jordan, near Jericho. Thus Moses put his signature to the lawgiving of the Plains of Moab, "though without in any way implying that the explanation, further development, and hortatory enforcement of the Law and its statutes and judgments, which follow in Deuteronomy, are not of Mosaic origin." (Keil.) The name which has been given to this last of the five books of Moses characterizes its contents as "the second giving of the Law," or "the repetition of the Law," since the greater part of the book is devoted to the repetition, explanation, and inculcation of the Law as contained in the preceding books. It is a review of the commandments and statutes which the Lord had given to His people. The book contains the last discourses of Moses, the man of God, addressed to the children of Israel. Before being gathered to his people, as the Lord had said in telling him of his coming death, he once more reminds the children of Israel of all the mercies, ordinances, and promises of God. The time is the eleventh month of the fortieth year after the departure from Egypt; the place is the encampment of Israel on the east side of Jordan, opposite Jericho, in the Plains of Moab. Here the great prophet makes his closing appeal to those whom he had led and formed into a nation, asking them to keep inviolate the covenant of the Lord and to walk in His ways at all times. Moses eagerly desires the happiness of his people. "Oh, that there were such an heart in them that they would fear Me, and keep all My commandments always, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!" Chap. 5, 29. The last three sections of the book, which contain the announcement of the death of Moses, his last blessing, and the narrative of his death, were probably added to Deuteronomy by the inspired author of the Book of Joshua. "The forty years of wandering are at an end. The children of Israel are in sight of the Promised Land. Moses recognizes the fact that his leadership is about to end, but that the covenant is to abide. A crisis has come in the affairs of the nation, and a review of Israel's history and a restatement of God's laws must be made. A new generation had grown up, which had not heard the original promulgation of the Law at Sinai. A new country was before the nation. This country was devoted to an idolatrous worship of the most seductive kind. On every high hill and in every grove this worship was carried on. An unflinching devotion to God was necessary to resist this alluring worship, which was more to be dreaded than an armed resistance. Moses endeavors to impress his hearers with the advantages of obedience and the disadvantages of disobedience to God's Law." (Sell.) The book, as indicated above, may be divided into two unequal divisions. In the first division, which contains the farewell addresses of Moses, we have his introductory address, the repetition and inculcation of the Law, and the announcement of blessing and curse. The second division, embracing the last four chapters, contains the account of the farewell of Moses, of his last hymn, blessing, with its Messianic contents, and death.1) 1) Concordia Bible Class, Feb., 1919, 28. 29; Fuerbringer, Einleitung in das Alte Testament, 26. CHAPTER 1. A Review of the Journey from Sinai to Kadesh. THE INTRODUCTION. - V. 1. These be the words, the addresses, which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Jordan in the wilderness, in the semiarid steppes, in the plain over against the Red Sea, after whose passage they had entered into the wilderness, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab. The stations of the desert were just barely behind the children of Israel, and the impression of the wilderness still prevailed. The geographic reference at this point recalls the entire journey and offers a picture of the entire country traversed, as it extended from the Red Sea to the northern boundary of the Wilderness of Paran, and from there to the western boundary of Edom and Moabitis. V. 2. (There are eleven days' journey from Horeb, or Sinai, where the Law was given, by the way of Mount Seir, along V.3. its foothills and leading to its highest elevation, unto Kadesh-barnea, and so long it had taken the people upon their first trip.) And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel according unto all that the Lord had given him in commandment unto them, in agreement with all the precepts and ordinances which had been given to him during all the years of the desert journey; v. 4. after he had slain Sihon, the king of the Amorites, which dwelt in Heshbon, and Og, the king of Bashan, which dwelt at Astaroth (and) in Edrei, the two names either being those of his capital cities, or Edrei was located in the fertile region of Ashtaroth. It was at this time, when the defeat of the two mightiest kings east of the Jordan served as a guarantee to the children of Israel for the further fulfilment of God's promises, that Moses received the command to address the children of Israel in the manner recorded in this book. V. 5. On this side Jordan, in the land of Moab, for the plains where Israel was encamped were originally a part of Moabitis, began Moses to declare, to expound, this Law, saying, v. 6. The Lord, our God, spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount, namely, from the third month of the first year after the exodus to the twentieth day of the second month of the second year. V. 7. Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, the mountainous country inhabited by the Amorites, a description of the land of Canaan in the narrower sense, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, literally, "to all the near neighbors" (for the inhabitants of the entire country are meant), in the plain, especially toward the southeast and east, along the Jordan and the Dead Sea, in the hills, both of what was later Judea and Galilee, and in the vale, the plains toward the Mediterranean Sea, especially that of Sharon, and in the south, the semiarid steppes of Southern Judea, and by the seaside, the lowlands immediately bordering upon the Mediterranean, to the land of the Canaanites, for all these parts were included in the general description of the land, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates, since it was the original intention of the Lord to include all this country within the limits of the Land of Promise. In reality, it was only during the time of David and Solomon that the boundaries of Israel's territory reached from the head of the Elanitic Gulf and the brook of Egypt to the Euphrates. V. 8. Behold, I have set the land before you, it was Jehovah's gift to them and its possession therefore should be certain and easy; go in and possess the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them. Gen. 22, 16. THE ASSISTANTS OF MOSES. V. 9. And I spake unto you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone. Moses does not observe the chronological order of events, but selects such as were of importance for his present purpose. It was while the people were encamped at Horeb that Moses arranged for assistants, Ex. 18, 13-26. The seventy elders were appointed at a later date, Num. 11, 14-30. V. 10. The Lord, your God, hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude, as the Lord had promised in the prophecy of the covenant, Gen. 15, 5 ff.; 12, 2; 18, 18; 22, 17; 26, 4. And Moses here inserts his own devout wish and prayer, v. 11. (The Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye are and bless you as He hath promised you!) V. 12. How can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, for the responsibility for the entire people's welfare rested upon him, and your burden, all the business nich they had laid upon Moses, which he had assumed as an obligation, and your strife, the many difficulties connected with their quarrels and litigations? V. 13. Take you wise men and understanding, they were to select these men themselves, since it was necessary to place a great deal of trust in them, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you. These rulers were thus characterized by the fear of God, by good common sense in judging particular cases, and were acknowledged as trustworthy by the people themselves, an excellent combination for the purpose. V. 14. And ye answered me and said, The thing which thou hast spoken is good for us to do. V. 15. So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men and known, and made them heads over you, formally invested them with the authority needed, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes. V. 16. And I charged your judges, for as such these men were to act, at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, more in the capacity of mediators than of executives, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him. V. 17. Ye shall not respect persons in judgment, literally, "look upon, acknowledge, make a distinction between, faces," said of being partial; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great. Ye shall not be afraid of the face of man, no matter if he be powerful otherwise; for the judgment is God's; and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it, Ex. 18, 22. 26. V. 18. And I commanded you at that time all the things which ye should do. The chief judicial authority remained with Moses, under the direct leadership of God. The believers of the New Testament have one infallible rule to guide them at all times, the Word of Scripture. KADESH-BARNEA AND THE SPIES.-V. 19. And when we departed from Horeb, Num. 10, 11, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness which ye saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorites, during their journey to reach that country, as the Lord, our God, commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea, which may be considered as being located in the extreme southern boundary of the Amorite country. V. 20. And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, the range which separated them from Canaan, and which here stands for the entire country, which the Lord, our God, doth give unto us. Moses represented the goal as even then attained. V. 21. Behold, the Lord, thy God, hath set the land before thee, He had made them a present of the entire country in advance; go up and possess it, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged. V. 22. And ye came near unto me, every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come. This account supplements that of Num. 13, showing that Moses was in favor of going right ahead with the conquest of the country, and that the Lord had given command to send spies only after the people had suggested this course. V. 23. And the saying pleased me well; and I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe, Num. 13, 3-16. V. 24. And they turned, set out, and went up into the mountain, the mountainous country of Canaan, and came unto the Valley of Eshcol, and searched it out, Num. 13, 22-24. V. 25. And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which the Lord, our God, doth give us. It was in this point, with regard to the fertility of the land, that the report of all the spies had agreed. V. 26. Notwithstanding ye would not go up, being influenced by the terror which had taken hold upon the majority of the spies, Num. 13, 31, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord, your God; v. 27. and ye murmured in your tents, Num. 14, 1-4. for so the rebellion had begun, and said, Because the Lord hated us, He hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us. By addressing the present generation in the words of this accusation, Moses indicated that the same rebellious spirit that actuated their fathers lived also in them. V. 28. Whither shall we go up? Our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and, moreover, we have seen the sons of the Anakim there. Num. 13, 28-33. V. 29. Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them. Moses had seconded the efforts of Joshua and Caleb. V. 30. The Lord, your God, which goeth before you, He shall fight for you, according to all that He did for you in Egypt before your eyes; v. 31. and in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the Lord, thy God, bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place. Cp. Ex. 19, 4. They had experienced the merciful kindness of God which took up the faint and perishing, the care which bore them upon His arm and brought them safely through every danger; and they should continue to trust in the almighty power of Jehovah as being able to bring them into the Land of Promise. V. 32. Yet in this thing Popular Commentary, Old Test., I. ye did not believe the Lord, your God, v. 33. who went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in' fire by night, to show you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day. The entire behavior of the children of Israel at that time had been based upon lack of faith in the Lord, it flowed from unbelief. V. 34. And the Lord heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware, saying, v. 35. Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land which I sware to give unto your fathers, v. 36. save Caleb, the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the Lord, Num. 14, 22-24. V. 37. Also the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, namely, at Meribah, an incident which Moses includes at this point for the sake of cumulative effect, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither, Num. 20, 12. This is not inserted in chronological sequence, but in logical connection, and is very effective. V. 38. But Joshua, the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither; encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. Cp. Num. 14, 30; 27, 18. 19. V. 39. Moreover, your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, having no part in that particular transgression of their parents, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it, Num. 14, 31. V. 40. But as for you, turn you, away from the inviting richness of the Land of Promise, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea, Num. 14, 25. V. 41. Then ye answered and said unto me, We have sinned against the Lord, we will go up and fight, according to all that the Lord, our God, commanded us, Num. 14, 40. And when ye had girded on every man his weapons of war, ye were ready to go up into the hill; in their presumptuousness they thought it an easy matter to storm the pass on their own account. V. 42. And the Lord said unto me, Say unto them, Go not up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest ye be smitten before your enemies; their defeat without His assistance was a foregone conclusion. V. 43. So I spake unto you; and ye would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord, and went presumptuously, with proud, defiant insolence, up into the hill. V. 44. And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, and had prepared for a possible invasion, came out against you, and chased you as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah, pursuing them far into Edomitish territory, 1 Chron. 5, 42. 43. V. 45. And ye returned and wept before the 20 |