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," ver. 1-13. II.
To the eighth commandment, "Thou shalt not steal," ver. 14. III.
To the ninth commandment, "Thou shalt not bear false witness,"
ver. 15, &c.
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The
Cities of Refuge.
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B.
C. 1451.
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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; 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; 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. 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: 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. 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 the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it
may go well with thee.
It was one of the precepts given to the sons of Noah that whoso sheddeth
man's blood by man shall his blood be shed, that is, by the avenger of
blood, Gen. ix. 6. 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,
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 (Exod. xxi. 13), and the law laid down concerning them
at large, Num. xxxv. 10, &c. It is here repeated, and direction is given
concerning three things:--
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, v. 1-3, 7. 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, Rom. x. 8. The gospel brings salvation to our door,
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, Miklat, Miklat--Refuge,
Refuge. 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, the way of holiness, to all
that seek it faithfully, is a highway so plain that the wayfaring men,
though fools, shall not err therein.
2. The use to be made of these cities, v. 4-6. (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 snared in
an evil time, when it falls suddenly upon them! Eccl. ix. 12. 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 let no man
stay him (Prov. xxviii. 17); yet the New Testament represents the sin of
murder as more heinous and more dangerous than even this law does. 1 John
iii. 15, You know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
(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, Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do.
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, v.
8-10. 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, if thou shalt keep all these
commandments; 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 innocent blood be not shed, v.
10. 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, Ps. lxxii. 14. 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) did not command it in vain, for in the days of
Messiah the prince 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, the Lord our
righteousness, refuge is provided for those that by faith flee to him.
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, v. 11-13. 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 Pleas of
the Crown, lib. II. c. 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 go on still in their trespasses.
If we thus sin wilfully, sin and go on in it, there remains no
sacrifice, Heb. x. 26. 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.
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False
Witnesses.
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B.
C. 1451.
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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. 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 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. 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.
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.
I. A law against frauds, v. 14. 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. Consuetudo facit jus--Custom is to be held as law.
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, v. 15. This law we
had before, Num. xxxv. 30, and in this book, ch. xvii. 6. 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 three witnesses, 1 John v.
7. Let God be true and every man a liar, Rom. iii. 4. 2. That a false
witness should incur the same punishment which was to have been inflicted
upon the person he accused. If two, or three, 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, v. 17. 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, ex officio--by virtue
of their office, 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, The priests and judges, who are said to be before
the Lord, because, as other judges sat in the gates of their cities, so
these at the gate of the sanctuary, ch. xvii. 12. (4.) There must be
great care in the trial, v. 18. 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, v. 19. Nec lex est justior ulla--Nor could any
law be more just. 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: Thy eye shall not pity,
v. 21. No man needs to be more merciful than God. The benefit that
will accrue to the public from this severity will abundantly recompense it: Those
that remain shall hear and fear, v. 20. Such exemplary
punishments will be warnings to others not to attempt any such mischief,
when they see how he that made the pit and
digged it has fallen into the ditch which he made.
