Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary

on the Whole Bible

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Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)

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D E U T E R O N O M Y

CHAP. XIX.

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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.

The Cities of Refuge.	B. C. 1451.

     

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.

False Witnesses.	B. C. 1451.

     

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.

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Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)

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