Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy Chapter 19

• Deuteronomy 19:1 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; 

Before we continue I want to remind all readers about the reason that the Lord allowed Israel to cut off the nations of Canaan and dwell in their place. These people who dwelled in the land of Canaan before the Israelites came into the land were very wicked. They practiced things such as child sacrifice and making their sons and daughters pass through fire. When a nation gets so wicked that the existence threatens the surrounding world, God puts a stop to it. He bears long with people though before cutting them off. God waited through the days of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and another 400 years while they were in bondage in Egypt before bringing Israel out of Egypt and then allowing them to bring God's judgment upon the land of Canaan. God gave those in Canaan a long time to repent and believe in the real God. He gave the Canannites plenty of space to repent.

When Israel went into unbelief in the wilderness, another 40 years passed before they were allowed to go into the land of promise.

In order to stop any judgment of God from coming upon a nation, that nation must repent. If we read the letters to the seven churches in the first part of the book of Revelation, we see the answer to any group of people even those that call themselves a church, is to repent if they stray from the right way. So why doesn't God just let them live and let live? Because wickedness would cause us to eventually destroy ourselves. Even now innocent children suffer because of the sins of adults. 

When we read about the account of Nineveh and the prophet Jonah, we see what happens when a nation does repent. God has mercy. Nineveh was so wicked the prophet Jonah didn't want God to stop His judgment. Nineveh was a tormentor of Israel and Jonah didn't want to go to Nineveh in the first place. Nineveh repented, God stopped His judgment. Years later they were destroyed because they returned back to their wickedness and did not repent but they repented at the preaching of Jonah so that generation was spared. So God does have mercy when He sees genuine repentance. 

When God first promised the land of Canaan to Abraham, He didn't allow Abraham to take over the land when Abraham first came into the land. That is because their iniquity had not gotten to the place where they were beyond repentance. God knew ahead of time when the nations of the Canaanites would go beyond the point of no return so He promised the land to Abraham years before but didn't allow Israel to occupy the land until the sin or iniquity of the occupants of Canaan was full or to the point beyond any hope of repentance. 

Here is the verses that show God speaking to Abraham about the iniquity of the Amorites:

• Genesis 15:13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; 
• 14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. 
• 15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. 
• 16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. 

Years after Israel occupied the land God promised to Abraham when Israel copied the way of the heathen and refused to repent, God brought judgment upon them and they lost their land by the invasion of Babylon. They came back 70 years later only to lose the land again in 70 AD just a short time after rejecting the Messiah that was sent to save them from their sin. (Jesus Christ). 

Yet the promises of God still holds true. God promised the land to Israel and to Israel it shall go. In 1948, they became a nation again. As a nation Israel has still not received Jesus as their Messiah. Jesus has not returned yet so Israel still will go through much tribulation before they will live in peace. Yet we do see many individual people of Israel that have come to believe and receive Jesus.

I said all that to show why God allowed Israel to be given that land in the first place. 

• Deuteronomy 19:2 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; 

This was a way to give people a fair trial instead of someone who may be innocent, being killed by family members before he has a chance to be judged by the right authorities. Vigilante vengeful types of governments have never been the will of God. 

• Deuteronomy 19:5 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 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. 

It is impressive to me that God would think of this. He cares about justice and fairness. That is why He gave the law through Moses in the first place. He knows that man is born into sin and will sin if there is no law to hold that sin in check. He had to show us what is evil and what is good so we can live in peace as much as possible until the coming of the Prince of Peace which we now know as Jesus Christ. 

Yet we see no peace. That is because Jesus had to pay the price and die for the sins we commit. Not all have believed and received the gospel as yet. When the gospel is preached into the entire world then Jesus will return and set up the first righteous kingdom the earth has yet to experience. 

• Deuteronomy 19:8 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: 

Notice the conditions to Israel keeping the land promised to them. IF IF IF, they keep the commandments. Even today, we enter into His rest if we do not return to unbelief. 

• Hebrews 4:10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 
• 11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. 

Jesus told us that if we do not believe in Him, (the one God sent to save us from sin) then we shall die in our sins. The only way to be saved and inherit eternal life is to believe in Jesus Christ that came to take away our sins. 

• John 8:24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. 

Only through faith in Christ can we possibly have the strength and love of God within us to keep His commandments. If we love Him, we will keep His commandments. 

• John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments. 
• 16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 

This comforter is the Holy Spirit that is given to all who obey Him. 

• Acts 5:30 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. 
• 31 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. 
• 32 And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him. 

Back to Deuteronomy:

• Deuteronomy 19:10 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. 

God does not want the innocent to suffer so until Christ comes to set up His perfect kingdom, we have to have some kind of law and order to protect the innocent. 

• Deuteronomy 19:11 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. 
• 3 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. 

We see that these cities were not to be set up to protect the guilty. The guilty were to be judged and if he murdered willfully, he was not to be protected. 

• Deuteronomy 19:14 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. 

God did not approve of stealing land once it was marked and given to the rightful owner. God is out for our good, not our evil. If we listen to Him, even whole nations will reap the benefits. 

• Deuteronomy 19:15 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. 

A person was never to be put to death by the testimony of only one witness. If a man commits murder and only has one witness, then judgment has to be left to God. He must not be put to death. The witness may be lying. 

• Deuteronomy 19:16 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. 

Bearing a false witness was a serious crime and the person who was guilty of it, had to pay the same price that the person he was witnessing against would have had to pay, if he would have been found guilty. So a false witness could have gotten a death penalty. 

• Deuteronomy 19:20 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. 

The only thing that can cancel this type of judgment is forgiveness and the mercy of God. If we repent, we can be forgiven and receive eternal life. We sometimes have to pay the price of sin according to the laws of the land we live in, but if we repent and follow Jesus Christ, we can avert the judgment of God because Christ paid the price for our sins by being put to death even though He was innocent of any crime. His death can count on behalf of anyone who simply believes. -DC

Deuteronomy 20