Societal attitudes tend to exist on a pendulum. They swing from one extreme to the other. For example, a society might go through a period of time when parents are very lax in disciplining children. When they realize they are too lax, they go to the other extreme and parents start being too overbearing.
In today’s Scripture reading, we will see some instructions Israel was given so that they didn’t execute innocent men. They had to execute murderers. However, they couldn’t execute everyone accused of murder to make sure all murderers were executed. Instead, they had to make sure those who accidentally killed people were not wrongly put to death. They had to find the right balance between justice and mercy. This is a balance we should seek today.
When we stopped reading yesterday, Moses was telling Israel not to engage in occultism. Divination, soothsaying, omens, sorcery, mediums, spiritists, and inquiring of the dead were prohibited. Moses drew a contrast. The Canaanites listened to diviners, but Israel was supposed to listen to Yahweh.
Deut. 18:15 ¶ “Yahweh your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers; you shall listen to him.
The pronoun “me” refers to Moses.
Take note of the command “you shall listen to him.” At some point in the future, there would be a prophet like Moses, and the Israelites were commanded to listen to him.
The word “prophet” is singular. There were many prophets throughout the Old Testament time period. This verse did not refer to all of them. It only referred to one prophet who would be like Moses.
In the first century AD, the Jews were expecting the Prophet. When John the Baptist started baptizing, the priests and Levites asked him if he was the Prophet. John said no (see John 1:21). After Jesus fed 5,000 men with five loaves and two fish, the people proclaimed that Jesus was the Prophet, showing that they were looking for the Prophet (see John 6:14).
The Bible never explicitly says Jesus was the Prophet mentioned in Deuteronomy. However, Jesus said Moses wrote about him, perhaps a reference to Deuteronomy 18:15 (see John 5:46). At the Transfiguration, the Father said “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!” (Matthew 17:5). The command to listen parallels Deuteronomy 18:15. When Peter preached about Jesus in Solomon’s Portico, he quoted Deuteronomy 18:15 (see Acts 3:22).
Moses delivered the Mosaic Law. Likewise, Jesus came and delivered the New Testament law.
Deut. 18:16 This is according to all that you asked of Yahweh your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of Yahweh my God; let me not see this great fire anymore, or I will die.’
Deut. 18:17 And Yahweh said to me, ‘They have spoken well.
Deut. 18:18 I will raise up a prophet from among their brothers like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.
Deut. 18:19 And it will be that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him.
Deut. 18:20 But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’
Deut. 18:21 Now you may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which Yahweh has not spoken?’
This is an excellent question. Any human can claim to be a prophet. How does any other human know whether the supposed prophet is telling the truth and is legitimately proclaiming a message from God?
Deut. 18:22 When a prophet speaks in the name of Yahweh, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which Yahweh has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.
Prophets often predicted the future. If a man claimed to be a prophet of Yahweh, but could not accurately predict the future, then he was not a true prophet.
Deut. 19:1 ¶ “When Yahweh your God cuts off the nations, whose land Yahweh your God gives you, and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and in their houses,
Deut. 19:2 you shall set apart three cities for yourself in the midst of your land, which Yahweh your God gives you to possess.
Note that the Israelites were instructed to set apart three cities.
Deut. 19:3 You shall prepare the roads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of your land which Yahweh your God will give you to inherit, so that any manslayer may flee there.
Look at the word “manslayer”. The three cities were refuge cities for manslayers.
Shortly after Yahweh gave Moses the Ten Commandments, Yahweh told Moses that anyone who commits murder should be put to death. However, if a man accidentally killed another man, then he should flee for safety to a city of refuge which would be appointed once Israel entered the Promised Land (see Exodus 21:12-13).
After the Israelites conquered land on the east bank of the Jordan River and determined that some of the Israelites would settle on that side of the Jordan, Moses appointed three cities east of the Jordan River to be cities of refuge (see Deuteronomy 4:41-42).
In the 19th chapter of Deuteronomy, Moses reminded Israel to appoint three more cities of refuge on the west side of the Jordan River after they conquered the Promised Land. The 20th chapter of Joshua lists the cities that were appointed.
Deut. 19:4 ¶ “Now this is the case of the manslayer who may flee there and live: when he strikes down his friend without premeditation, not hating him previously—
Deut. 19:5 as when a man goes into the forest with his friend to cut wood, and his hand swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron head slips off the handle and strikes his friend so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live;
Deut. 19:6 lest the avenger of blood pursue the manslayer when his heart is angry, and overtake him, because the way is long, and strike down his life, though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated him previously.
Deut. 19:7 Therefore, I am commanding you, saying, ‘You shall set apart three cities for yourself.’
Deut. 19:8 ¶ “Now if Yahweh your God enlarges your territory, just as He has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land which He promised to give to your fathers—
Deut. 19:9 if you be careful to do all this commandment which I am commanding you today, to love Yahweh your God and to walk in His ways all your days—then you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides these three.
Deut. 19:10 So innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land which Yahweh your God gives you as an inheritance, and bloodguiltiness be on you.
Look at the word “innocent”. It was necessary to put murderers to death. However, it was also necessary to take precautions against putting innocent people to death.
Note the word “bloodguiltiness”. Executing people who accidentally killed someone was as bad as deliberately committing murder.
Humans have a tendency to go to extremes. Some societies go to the extreme of executing too many people. Other societies go to the extreme of abandoning the death penalty. Yahweh expected Israel to find the correct balance of executing murderers without executing innocent men.
Yahweh told Noah that “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed” (Genesis 9:6). That has never been rescinded. It applies today. However, we should not execute everyone who is accused of murder. We should only execute those who deliberately commit murder. We need to find balance between justice and mercy.
Thanks for visiting Bible Mountain. If you have already joined my email list, thank you and please tell others about Bible Mountain. If you have not joined my email list yet, please do so now. In order to join, go to BibleMountain.com, click on subscribe, and that will take you to a page where you can sign up. Your email address will not be sold or given away. Once again, thanks for visiting Bible Mountain.
“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”