Chapter Eight
Chapter Eight
Manslaughter, War, and Murder
The people of Israel were greatly blessed. They had the Lord God for their King, a wonderful land for their home, and a holy law for their guide, and yet they faced some of the same problems that society faces today. Sinful human nature being what it is, nations will always have to deal with “man’s inhumanity to man,” because the heart of every problem is still the problem of the heart. Laws are necessary to bring order to society, to restrain evil, and to help control behavior, but laws can never change the human heart. Only the grace of God can do that. If this section of Scripture emphasizes anything, it’s that God holds human life precious and wants us to treat people fairly, for they are made in the image of God (Gen. 9:1–7). God’s desire for all nations is, “Let justice run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream” (Amos 5:24 NKJV). And His standard for us individually is Micah 6:8 (NKJV): “He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”
JUSTICE IN THE LAND (19:1–21)
The Quaker poet John Greenleaf Whittier called justice “the hope of all who suffer, the dread of all who wrong.” That’s the ideal, but it isn’t always achieved in real life. Without justice, society would fall apart, anarchy would take over, and it wouldn’t be safe for people to leave their homes. Israel didn’t have the elaborate police system we have today, so locating and punishing guilty criminals depended primarily on the elders and the judges. By singling out the “cities of refuge,” the Lord promoted justice in the land.
The cities (vv. 1–3, 7–10). Moses here reviews what he had taught Israel in Numbers 35; in fact, he had already set up the three cities of refuge east of the Jordan (Deut. 4:42–43). It would be Joshua’s responsibility to set up the other three cities west of the Jordan after Israel had conquered the land (Josh. 20). Those east of the Jordan were Golan, Ramoth, and Bezer, and on the west, they would be Kedesh, Shechem, and Hebron. If you consult a map of the Holy Land, you will see that these cities were so located that they were easily accessible to those who needed protection. The roads leading to these cities were to be kept in good repair and be clearly marked. Rabbinical tradition states that there were signs at all the crossroads pointing the way to the nearest city of refuge. The Lord wanted to make it easy for the innocent manslayer to escape the vengeance of angry people.
The Lord also made arrangements for the nation to add three more cities of refuge if the borders of their land were expanded. He had promised Israel a large land (Gen. 15:18; Ex. 23:31), and if they had obeyed His law, He would have kept His promise. It was only during the reign of David that this much territory was actually held by Israel, and then they lost it when things fell apart during Solomon’s reign. If we don’t obey God’s will and claim God’s promises, we can never receive all that God wants us to have.
The manslayer (vv. 4–6). Modern law still follows Moses in making a distinction between murder and manslaughter (Ex. 21:12–14; Lev. 24:17). The person who unintentionally killed someone could flee to the nearest city of refuge and present his case to the elders there. If he didn’t flee, a member of the victim’s family might chase him down and become “the avenger of blood” and kill him. Israel had no system for locating and arresting suspected criminals; it was left to the family of the victim to see that justice was done. The “avenger of blood” wasn’t given authority to act as judge, jury, and executioner; he was only to hand the accused over to the proper officers. But if this relative was angry, he might take the law in his own hands and kill an innocent man. By fleeing to the city of refuge, the manslayer was safe until the facts of the case could be examined and a verdict declared. If found innocent, the manslayer was allowed to live safely in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest. Even though he was innocent, he still paid a price for accidentally killing another human being. If he left the city of refuge, his life was in danger and the elders couldn’t protect him.
These cities of refuge illustrate our salvation in Jesus Christ to whom we have “fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us” (Heb. 6:18), but they do so by contrast. The man who fled in Israel did so because he wasn’t guilty of murder, but we flee because we are guilty and deserve to be judged. Nobody has to investigate our case because we know we have sinned and deserve God’s punishment. In the case of the cities of refuge, the innocent man was allowed to live, but in our case, Jesus Christ the innocent One was condemned to die. The Israelite had to remain in the city of refuge, for if he left it he might die at the hand of the avenger. The salvation we have in Christ isn’t conditioned on our obedience but depends wholly on His grace and promises. “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:28 NKJV). “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). The Israelite manslayer could legally leave the city of refuge after the death of the high priest, but our High Priest in heaven will never die and ever lives to make intercession for us (Heb. 7:25).
The murderer (vv. 11–13). But perhaps a man who had murdered his enemy would flee to a city of refuge and lie to the elders, telling them that he was innocent. It was up to the elders in his home city to set the record straight by sending notice to the city of refuge and bringing the man back to his native city. The elders in the city of refuge would extradite the accused so he could be properly tried and, if found guilty, executed. God expected each citizen to be concerned about seeing that justice was done in the land. It would be easy for the officers in the murderer’s home city to let the elders in the city of refuge worry about the case, but that wouldn’t promote justice or prevent the defilement of the land. In the nation of Israel, shedding innocent blood defiled the land, and one way to cleanse the land was to punish the offender. “Do not pollute the land where you are. Bloodshed pollutes the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it” (Num. 35:33 NIV).
Murder was one of several capital crimes in Israel. Others were idolatry and sorcery (Lev. 20:1–6), blasphemy (24:10–16), violating the Sabbath (Num. 15:32–36), willful and repeated disobedience to parents (Deut. 21:18–21; Ex. 21:15, 17), kidnapping (v. 16), bestiality (22:19), homosexuality (Lev. 20:13), adultery, and the rape of an engaged maiden (Deut. 22:22–27). We don’t have this many capital crimes today, but Israel was a theocracy and her laws were God’s laws. To break the law was to sin against the Lord and defile the land, and the people needed to understand the seriousness of such actions. In 1972, the United States Supreme Court declared capital punishment unconstitutional but then reinstated it in 1976. Capital punishment may not restrain every would-be murderer from taking a life, but it does magnify the preciousness of human life as well as honor the law.
The thief (v. 14). After Israel conquered the land of Canaan, each tribe was assigned its territory and their borders accurately described. Joshua, Eleazar the high priest, and the heads of the twelve tribes cast lots and made the assignments (Josh. 14:1–2). Within the tribes, each family and clan would make its own claim and mark it out with boundary stones. In that day, officials didn’t draw detailed real estate maps, what we today call “plats.” Everybody was expected to honor the landmarks (boundary stones), because to move the stones meant to steal land from your neighbors and their descendants (Prov. 22:28). Unscrupulous officials could easily exploit poor widows and orphans and take away their land and their income (15:25; 23:10–11). Since God owned the land and the people were His tenants, moving the stones also meant stealing from God, and He would punish them (Hos. 5:10). No wonder this crime was included among the curses announced from Mount Ebal (Deut. 27:17).
The punishment of the murderer reminded people that human life is precious, and the punishment of the thief reminded them that personal property must be respected. “Thou shalt not steal” (Ex. 20:15) covers much more territory than just forbidding a thief to enter a house and take what isn’t his. Extortion is also stealing, and God condemns officials who make unjust laws so they can rob the poor and the helpless (Ezek. 22:29). Slanderers and false witnesses rob people of their good name (Deut. 19:16–19; Matt. 15:19–20), and a good reputation is more difficult to restore than stolen merchandise.
The liar (vv. 15–21). Every system of justice depends on people knowing the truth and speaking the truth. To bear false witness is to break God’s commandment (Ex. 20:16) and to undermine the foundation of the legal system. The person who swears to tell the truth and then tells lies is committing perjury, which itself is a serious crime. The Jewish law required two or three witnesses to establish the guilt of an accused person (Deut. 17:6; Num. 35:30), and both Jesus (Matt. 18:16) and Paul (2 Cor. 13:1; 1 Tim. 5:19) applied this principle to local church discipline. The fact that two or three persons bear witness doesn’t guarantee that they are telling the truth (1 Kings 21:1–14), but Moses warned that false witnesses would be punished with the same punishment they wanted for the accused.
However, there could be situations where only one witness stands up to accuse a person and he is a false witness. What then? Both the accused and the single witness would have to go to the central court at the sanctuary and present the case to the priests and the judges there (Deut. 17:8–13). If the court discovers that the single witness is not telling the truth, he would receive the same sentence that would have been given to the accused if he had been guilty. This law would make liars think twice before falsely accusing an innocent person. Having to go to the priestly court would be deterrent enough, for the Lord could convey His truth to the priests and judges and expose the wickedness of the accuser. But knowing that they might receive the punishment they wanted for the accused would also make them hesitate, especially if it were a capital crime. “A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who speaks lies will not escape” (Prov. 19:5, 9 NKJV).
We sometimes hear that fear of punishment doesn’t deter people from breaking the law, but Deuteronomy 19:20 says otherwise: “And those who remain [the rest of the people] shall hear and fear, and hereafter they shall not again commit such evil among you” (NKJV). Every law on the books has probably been violated many times and not all violators have been arrested and tried. But that doesn’t prove that the prosecution of those who have been caught hasn’t done society good and prevented more crime. Some legal experts argue that capital punishment hasn’t stopped people from committing capital crimes, but how do they know? The speed laws haven’t stopped careless people from driving beyond the speed limit, but the fact that they have radar detectors in their cars suggests that they don’t want to meet the police! And think of how dangerous the highways would be if there were no speed laws!
Moses closed this section by reminding the people that in every case, the punishment must fit the crime (Deut. 19:21; see Ex. 21:23–25). This is known as the lex talionis, which is Latin for “the law of retaliation.” People who call this principle “barbaric” probably don’t understand what it means. The sentence must be neither too strict nor too easy but must be suited to what the law demands and what the convicted criminal deserves. Honest judges don’t give a murderer the same sentence they give the man who poisoned his neighbor’s cat, nor is a shoplifter given the same punishment as a kidnapper. This judicial principle emphasized fairness and humane treatment at a time in history when punishments were terribly brutal. In eighteenth-century England, there were over two hundred capital crimes, and a person could be hanged for picking pockets. Children who broke the law were frequently treated as adults and imprisoned for minor offenses.
When our Lord referred to the lex talionis in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:38–42), He wasn’t talking about the official judicial system but how believers should deal with personal offenses and injuries. He didn’t rescind the Old Testament law, because He came to fulfill it (vv. 17–20); rather, He prohibited His followers from “paying back in kind” those who offend them or take advantage of them. If our courts followed our Lord’s commands found in verses 38–42, the country would be in the hands of the criminals! Jesus exhorted us not to practice personal revenge but to leave such matters in the hand of God (Rom. 12:17–21). We’re to imitate the Master and return good for evil, love for hatred, and sacrifice for selfishness (1 Peter 2:11–25).
The Jews weren’t entering Canaan as sightseers but as soldiers prepared for battle and expecting God to give them victory. It’s important to note that God gave the nation two different military approaches, one for the cities in the land of Canaan (vv. 1–9, 16–18) and the other for cities outside Canaan (vv. 10–15). After Israel had conquered the land and was settled down in their inheritance, they might have to attack a distant city, because there were always enemies to deal with, and they could always accept the challenge of claiming God’s promise and enlarging the land (19:8–9).
The Lord’s assurance (v. 1). Moses didn’t minimize either the size or the strength of the enemy, for he knew that the nations living in Canaan had horses, chariots, large armies, and fortified cities. The spies who had investigated the land thirty-eight years before had seen all these obstacles and dangers (Num. 13) but had failed to see how small these matters were when compared with the greatness of their God. Moses reminded the people that the Lord had successfully brought them from the land of Egypt to the plains of Moab and defeated every enemy that had attacked them. In fact, the territory Israel now inhabited belonged to the Jews and not to the enemy, because the Lord had given His people great victory over the nations east of the Jordan. Just as the Lord had defeated Pharaoh and his army in Egypt, so He would defeat the nations in Canaan.
In the early days of the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt said in his inaugural address, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” There is a fear that mobilizes a person, as when you hear the fire alarm go off, but there is also a fear that paralyzes a person, and that’s the fear that Moses was addressing. When we fear the Lord and trust Him, we need not fear the enemy. Israel had nothing to fear, for the God who drowned the army of Egypt would defeat the armies of Canaan.
The priest’s encouragement (vv. 2–4). This was not the high priest but one of the other priests who was assigned to address the army. We shouldn’t be surprised to hear a priest encouraging the army, because the wars in Canaan were holy wars, God’s judgment against wicked nations that had rebelled against Him and sinned against a flood of light. The Lord had given these nations ample time to repent and turn to Him, but they refused to obey. Israel’s miraculous deliverance from Egypt and crossing of the Jordan River were proof enough that Almighty God was with them and judgment was coming (Josh. 2). The Jews were God’s people, fighting God’s battles, and it was fitting that they hear from God’s servant, a priest.
The Lord’s “Fear not” is what every believer needs to hear when confronting the enemies of the faith. It’s the message the Lord gave to Abraham after helping him defeat the kings (Gen. 15:1) and to Jacob when he left home to go to Egypt (46:3). Moses gave that message to the Jews as they stood at the Red Sea (Ex. 14:13), and the prophet Isaiah repeated it several times to encourage the Jewish remnant (Isa. 41:10, 13–14; 43:1, 5; 44:2, 8). You find the phrase seven times in the gospel of Luke (1:13, 30; 2:10; 5:10; 8:50; 12:7, 32). When we walk by faith and keep our eyes on the Lord (Heb. 12:1–3), He will give us the peace we need (Phil. 4:4–9). You are heading for victory when you know that the Lord is with you and fighting for you.
The officers’ encouragement (vv. 5–9). The priest encouraged the soldiers to face the enemy without fear, but the officers told them to go back home if they had any unfinished business. No officer wants to lead distracted soldiers whose minds and hearts are elsewhere, for “a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways” (James 1:8). Paul may have had this scene in mind when he wrote 2 Timothy 2:4, “No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier” (NKJV).
The officers announced three different occasions for granting temporary deferment, and the first was to allow the soldier to dedicate a new house to the Lord and start living in it (Deut. 20:5). The word translated “dedicate” (KJV) also means “to initiate,” that is, to start living in the house with his family and enjoying it. The family needed the man much more than the battlefield did, so he was deferred for a year. The second occasion was to harvest a new vineyard whose fruit the soldier hadn’t yet tasted. According to Leviticus 19:23–25, an owner of an orchard had to wait until the fifth year before he could eat the fruit of the trees, but this law probably wasn’t applied to vineyards. Five years would be a rather long deferment. The third occasion was perhaps the most important, and that was to permit the engaged soldier to go home and get married. According to Deuteronomy 24:5, he was deferred a year.
These three exceptions suggest to us that God is more interested in our enjoying the common blessings of life—homes, harvests, and honeymoons—than devoting ourselves only to the battles of life. He didn’t want any of the Jewish men to use their military responsibilities as an excuse to neglect their families, their vineyards, and their fiancées. Certainly military service was important, but the Lord was more concerned that the men have the right priorities in life. What good was accomplished for the Jewish people if their army defeated the enemy on the field but things were falling apart back home?
The priests asked the soldiers to look up and trust the Lord, and the officers asked them to look back and consider any unfinished business that would hinder them from doing their best. But the officers presented another challenge and asked the soldiers to look within and see if they were too afraid to go into battle. Gideon lost 22,000 men when he issued this challenge (Judg. 7:1–3). Fear and faith can’t coexist successfully in the same heart (Matt. 8:26; Luke 8:25). Furthermore, fear is contagious and could discourage the other soldiers. It was fear and unbelief that caused Israel’s great failure at Kadesh (Num. 13—14).
Once the ranks had been thinned out, the officers would appoint captains, so each man had to be ready to serve. At this time, Israel didn’t have what we would call a “standing army” with an organized system of permanent officers. The major officers knew their best men and would assign leadership responsibilities for each campaign. When Saul became king, he formed the nucleus of a standing army, and his successor David developed the organization even more. In fighting God’s battles, faith and courage are important, but so are authority and order.
WAR OUTSIDE THE LAND (20:10–20; 21:10–14)
Moses has been instructing the people how to wage war in the land of Canaan, but now he deals with the battles they will fight outside the land. The Lord wanted to enlarge Israel’s borders (19:8), and this would involve military engagements away from the Promised Land.
Taking a city (vv. 10–18). It’s important to note that Israel’s approach in attacking distant cities was different from their approach when they attacked the cities in the land of Canaan. God commanded Israel many times to destroy the people in the Canaanite cities and show them no mercy (vv. 1–18; 3:6; 7:1–11). During their invasion of Canaan, not only were the Jews to slay all the citizens, but they were also to destroy everything connected with the wicked Canaanite religious system, including temples, idols, and altars. This policy would help remove dangerous temptations from the Jewish people who were always prone to follow idols.
Upon arriving at a foreign city, the officers’ first responsibility was to offer terms of peace. If the people accepted the terms, then the city and its inhabitants would be spared but the city would be put under tribute to Israel. This involved paying an annual levy to Israel and making their citizens bond servants to the Israelites (see Josh. 9:16–17; 16:10; 17:13). During King David’s reign, there was a special officer in Israel who was in charge of the “forced labor” (2 Sam. 20:24). Because of his extensive building programs, King Solomon expanded this office and even included Israelites in the workforce (1 Kings 5:13–18; 2 Chron. 2:17–18). It was this burden that made Judah finally revolt against Solomon’s son Rehoboam and secede from the kingdom (1 Kings 12).
If the people refused Israel’s offer of peace, then the Jewish army was permitted to besiege the city, trusting God to give them the victory. The males in the city would be slain (Num. 31:7), the women and children would be taken as servants, and the spoils in the city would be divided among the soldiers.
Though some well-meaning people don’t like the military metaphors in the Bible, the church today is in a battle against the world, the flesh, and the Devil (Eph. 2:1–3; 6:10–18; 2 Tim. 2:3–4). But we are also ambassadors of peace who wear the shoes of “the preparation of the gospel of peace” (Eph. 6:15) and plead with rebellious sinners to be “reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:18–21). Jesus brought His message of peace to His own people (Luke 2:14) and they rejected it (13:34–35; John 1:11), so He had to replace the offer of peace with an announcement of judgment (Luke 12:51–56). In AD 70 the Roman army destroyed Jerusalem and killed, captured, or scattered the people, and there was no political nation of Israel until May 14, 1948.
Taking care of natural resources (vv. 19–20). Just as Israel was to be mindful of the God-given resources in their own land (Deut. 21:6), so they were cautioned not to waste natural resources in other lands. Defeating the enemy was important, but conserving natural resources was also important. When the Lord really wanted to humble a nation, He commanded His people to destroy the good trees (20:19), but this approach was an exception. The other trees could be used for making siege works, but the fruit trees had to be preserved, for “the tree of the field is man’s life” (Deut. 20:19), whether that man or woman is an ally or an enemy. It would take years to replace wantonly destroyed trees. War is destructive enough without adding to the ruin and waste.
Taking a wife (21:10–14). While Jewish men were not allowed to take wives from the Canaanite nations (7:3), they were permitted to marry women from the conquered cities located at a distance from the Promised Land (20:14–15). Of course, it was expected that these women would accept the faith of Israel and enter into the religious life of the nation. However, on returning home with his bride, the man had to wait a month before consummating the marriage. Knowing this would keep him from acting rashly and just taking an attractive woman to satisfy his desires, as if she were part of the spoils of battle. During that waiting period, the man could give serious consideration to what he was doing, and the woman could be emotionally prepared for a new beginning; for she had to shave her head, cut her nails, and put on different clothes.
Shaving the head was part of the rituals for cleansed lepers (Lev. 14:8–9) and the dedication of Nazarites who had fulfilled their vows (Num. 6:18). While shaving the head would be a humbling experience for the woman (see Deut. 21:14), it could also be the sign of a new beginning, as it was for the leper and the Nazarite. She was renouncing her former religion, the worship of idols, and accepting Jehovah as her God. From a practical point of view, perhaps her appearance would encourage her to stay home and get better acquainted with her Jewish husband-to-be. During this waiting period, she was expected to express her sorrow over leaving her family and her native city. In short, the experiences of this month of waiting, painful as they might be, were designed to help the woman make the transition from the old life into the new.
If after the consummation of the marriage, the man was displeased with the woman, he couldn’t just throw her out or sell her as though she were a slave. He had to divorce her and let her go wherever she desired. It’s assumed that another man could marry her or that she could return to her home city. Modern society wouldn’t countenance a woman being forcibly taken captive to become the wife of a stranger, but the ancient world was accustomed to such things (Judg. 21). However, this law did protect her from being raped and discarded after the battle or being so cheapened by her husband that another man wouldn’t want to marry her. Better that she go free than that she be forced to live with a man who didn’t want her.
ATONING FOR THE LAND (21:1–9)
The land belonged to God and the people living on it were His tenants. Their sins not only grieved the Lord but also defiled the land, especially the sins of sexual immorality (Lev. 18:24–28) and murder (Num. 35:30–34). The shedding of innocent blood was a terrible crime in Israel (Deut. 19:10, 13; Jer. 7:6; 22:3, 17). When Cain killed his brother Abel, the ground received Abel’s blood and cried out to God for justice (Gen. 4:10–12; Heb. 12:24). God keeps a record of the innocent blood shed by both animals and people, and one day will call for an accounting (Gen. 9:5–6). “When He avenges blood, He remembers them; He does not forget the cry of the humble” (Ps. 9:12 NKJV). When the Lord comes to judge, the earth will bear witness of the innocent blood that was shed (Isa. 26:21).
The “elders and judges” mentioned in Deuteronomy 21:2 are probably the “sanctuary court” mentioned in 17:8–13, and this would include the priests (21:5). This was the highest tribunal in the land and murder was a heinous crime. Furthermore, nobody had yet measured to see which city was nearest, so the elders and judges couldn’t have come from that city. Once the nearest city had been determined, the elders of that city participated in the assigned ritual. We assume that the elders and judges investigated the case thoroughly before they took the steps outhned in these verses.
The offering of the red heifer was not like the offering of a sacrifice at the sanctuary. For one thing, the priests didn’t slay the animal and catch its blood; laymen beheaded the beast in the valley, and the priests only witnessed the deed. The officers washed their hands over the dead animal (Matt. 27:24), confessed their innocence, and prayed for the Lord to forgive His people, and He did. Of course, this didn’t mean that the unknown guilty murderer was automatically forgiven, but rather that the Lord would cleanse the land and forgive Israel the sin that had been committed. God’s justice was upheld and God’s law was obeyed even though the culprit wasn’t known.
That this ritual relates to Jesus Christ and His atoning work on the cross is clear from the elders’ words, “Do not lay innocent blood to the charge of Your people Israel” (Deut. 21:8 NKJV). On that tragic day when Israel asked to have her Messiah crucified, Pilate washed his hands and said, “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” and the people replied, “Let his blood be on us and on our children” (Matt. 27:24–25 NIV). Like that innocent heifer, Jesus died for the nation and even prayed from the cross, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). Jesus fulfilled God’s will and upheld His holy law, and God withheld His judgment from Israel for approximately forty years. Jesus died for the sins of the world (John 1:29; 1 John 4:14), He died for the church (Eph. 5:25–26), and for the people of Israel: “for the transgression of my people was he stricken” (Isa. 53:8).
The entire ritual speaks of the grace of God, for man’s works could never earn God’s forgiveness. The red heifer had never been worked, the ground in the valley had never been tilled, and the elders, judges, and priests had done nothing special to merit God’s forgiveness for His people. The sacrifice wasn’t even made at the sanctuary or offered by a priest. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Eph. 2:8–9 NKJV). The offering of the innocent red heifer pointed to the offering of the Son of God, whose death brought cleansing, forgiveness, and the annulment of God’s judgment.
Reviewing this section of the law, we’re impressed with the fact that God wanted His people to enjoy living in their land, and the secret of this enjoyment was obedience to His will. Crime and injustice defiled the land, and God didn’t want His land defiled. The godless nations in Canaan so polluted the land that it “vomited them out” (Lev. 18:24–30). Apart from Israel, no nation of the world is in a covenant relationship with God, but the Lord still holds all nations accountable for their sins (Amos 1:3—2:3). One day God will judge the nations in righteousness (Joel 3:9–16) and nobody will escape.
QUESTIONS FOR PERSONAL REFLECTION OR GROUP DISCUSSION
1. Of what comfort is it to you that God is completely and always just?
2. What was the function of the cities of refuge? What does this provision teach us about God?
3. What does the practice of capital punishment do and what does it not do? In what circumstances, if any, do you believe capital punishment is appropriate?
4. Why is truth so important in our system of justice? In what ways does our system try to protect the truth? How well do you think this works?
5. What is the law of retaliation? In contrast, how did Jesus instruct us in His Sermon on the Mount to deal with personal insults and offenses?
6. On what basis should we accept the encouragement to “fear not”?
7. What does it mean for a Christian to be “entangled with the affairs of this life”? How can we avoid this?
8. What lesson do we learn from the three exemptions given in the Israelites’ military service? What do we learn about God from this?
9. What did it mean for a foreign wife to shave her head? What could a newly converted person do today to signal a new beginning?
10. In what different ways did the offering of the red heifer (Deut. 21:1–9) speak of the work of Jesus Christ and the grace of God?