Day 302: A terrible accident – Deuteronomy 19 vs 1 – 10
1-3 “When the Lord your God destroys the nations whose land he is giving you, you will take over their land and settle in their towns and homes. Then you must set apart three cities of refuge in the land the Lord your God is giving you. Survey the territory, and divide the land the Lord your God is giving you into three districts, with one of these cities in each district. Then anyone who has killed someone can flee to one of the cities of refuge for safety. 4 If someone kills another person unintentionally, without previous hostility, the slayer may flee to any of these cities to live in safety.
5-7 For example, suppose someone goes into the forest with a neighbour to cut wood. And suppose one of them swings an axe to chop down a tree, and the axe head flies off the handle, killing the other person. In such cases, the slayer may flee to one of the cities of refuge to live in safety. If the distance to the nearest city of refuge is too far, an enraged avenger might be able to chase down and kill the person who caused the death. Then the slayer would die unfairly, since he had never shown hostility toward the person who died. That is why I am commanding you to set aside three cities of refuge.
8-9 And if the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he swore to your ancestors, and gives you all the land he promised them, you must designate three additional cities of refuge. He will give you this land if you are careful to obey all the commands I have given you - if you always love the Lord your God and walk in his ways. 10 That way you will prevent the death of innocent people in the land the Lord your God is giving you as your special possession. You will not be held responsible for the death of innocent people.” Deuteronomy 19:1-10 New Living Translation paraphrase (English Standard Version link)
Despite promising the Israelites His blessing and protection if they loved Him and faithfully obeyed His commandments, God knew their response would be wavering. So, apart from giving commandments about how judges should be fair in dealing with crimes and not take bribes, He also gave instructions for when terrible accidents occurred. Verses 5-7 are an example of the sort of thing that might happen. But what do those verses tell us about human nature?
It seems our first reaction to negative events is usually aggression. The relative of a person killed in an accident would not first get all the facts about what happened, but would set off with vengeance to destroy anyone they thought was to blame. That's not only true of serious situations when someone’s died. Many people explode when anything goes wrong without examining the facts. It may be with your internet provider, a holiday booking agent, or even another car driver!
God made provision for the short-fuses of the Israelites by providing cities that would give refuge to people fleeing for their life from someone after their blood. And He arranged that such cities would be within reach of people no matter where they lived in the land. We see God's knowledge of our hearts again in vs 8-9. What do those words indicate.
Three times the Lord says 'if'. He had promised much more territory than just the East side of the Jordan River where three of the tribes were already given land. But it depended on obedience to His commandments. And if they got more territory they were to set aside further cities to give nearby refuge for anyone fleeing for their life from an avenger so that innocent blood was not shed in the land. God was concerned about innocent blood being shed.
Two thoughts. Think what this means for today. Not only all the abortions – but also the many genocides that have taken place. How defiled our earth must be in God's sight. The only thing that can take away such stain was for the Son of God to give His innocent blood to atone for such sin. Not only the sin of shedding innocent blood - but all disobedience to God's holy commandments. The other thought is how God didn't only provide a place for the innocent to flee to; He has also provided a place where the guilty can find refuge, and He has put it within reach of all. “Don’t say in your heart, ‘who will go up to heaven?’ or ‘who will go down to the place of the dead?’ God's message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart. For if you openly declare that Jesus is Lord - and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead - you will be saved.” (Romans 10:6-9)