Deuteronomy 3:1 “Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan, and King Og of Bashan came out against us with his whole army to do battle at Edrei.
Deuteronomy 3:2 But Yahveh said to me, ‘Do not be afraid of him, because I have handed him over to you along with his whole army and his land. Do to him as you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.’
Deuteronomy 3:3 So Yahveh, our God, also handed over King Og of Bashan and his whole army to us. We struck him until there was no survivor left.
Deuteronomy 3:4 We captured all his cities at that time. There wasn’t a city that we didn’t take from them: sixty cities, the entire region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
Deuteronomy 3:5 All these were fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, besides a large number of rural villages.
Deuteronomy 3:6 We completely destroyed them, as we had done to King Sihon of Heshbon, destroying the men, women, and children of every city.
Deuteronomy 3:7 But we took all the livestock and the spoil from the cities as plunder for ourselves.
Deuteronomy 3:8 “At that time we took the land from the two Amorite kings across the Jordan, from the Arnon Valley as far as Mount Hermon,
Deuteronomy 3:9 which the Sidonians call Sirion, but the Amorites call Senir,
Deuteronomy 3:10 all the cities of the plateau, Gilead, and Bashan as far as Salecah and Edrei, cities of Og’s kingdom in Bashan.
Deuteronomy 3:11 (Only King Og of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. Notice his bed was made of iron. Isn’t it in Rabbah of the Ammonites? It is nine cubits[1] long and four cubits[2] wide by a standard measure.)
Deuteronomy 3:12 “At that time we took possession of this land. I gave to the Reubenites and Gadites the area extending from Aroer by the Arnon Valley and half the hill country of Gilead, along with its cities.
Deuteronomy 3:13 I gave half the tribe of Manasseh, the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og. The entire region of Argob, the whole territory of Bashan, used to be called the land of the Rephaim.
Deuteronomy 3:14 Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, took over the entire region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and Maacathites. He called Bashan by his name, Jair’s Villages, as it is today.
Deuteronomy 3:15 I gave Gilead to Machir,
Deuteronomy 3:16 and I gave to the Reubenites and Gadites the area extending from Gilead to the Arnon Valley (the middle of the valley was the border) and up to the Jabbok River, the border of the Ammonites.
Deuteronomy 3:17 The Arabah and Jordan are also borders from Chinnereth as far as the Sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea, under the slopes of Pisgah on the east.
Deuteronomy 3:18 “I commanded you at that time: and this is what I said: Yahveh your God has given you this land to take possession of. All your militarily qualified sons[3] will cross over in battle formation ahead of your brothers the Israelites.
Deuteronomy 3:19 But your wives, dependents, and livestock — I know that you have much livestock — will stay in the cities I have given you
Deuteronomy 3:20 until Yahveh gives rest to your brothers as he has to you, and they also take possession of the land Yahveh your God is giving them across the Jordan. Then, each of you may return to his possession that I have given you.
Deuteronomy 3:21 “I commanded Joshua at that time, and this is what I said: Your own eyes have seen everything Yahveh your God has done to these two kings. Yahveh will do the same to all the kingdoms you are about to enter.
Deuteronomy 3:22 Don’t be afraid of them, because Yahveh your God fights for you.
Deuteronomy 3:23 “At that time I begged Yahveh, and this is what I said:
Deuteronomy 3:24 Yahveh God, you have begun to show your greatness and your strong hand to your servant, because what god is there in the sky or on the land who can perform deeds and mighty acts like yours?
Deuteronomy 3:25 Please let me cross over and see the beautiful land on the other side of the Jordan, that good hill country, and Lebanon.
Deuteronomy 3:26 “But Yahveh was angry with me because of you and would not listen to me. Yahveh said to me, ‘That’s enough! Do not speak to me again about this matter.
Deuteronomy 3:27 Go to the top of Pisgah and look to the west, north, south, and east, and see it with your own eyes because you will not cross the Jordan.
Deuteronomy 3:28 But command Joshua and make him strong and tough, because he will cross over ahead of the people and enable them to inherit this land that you will see.’
Deuteronomy 3:29 So we stayed in the valley facing Beth-peor.
“The theology is important; there is no doubt that the people were involved in the reality of the battle, but in the recollection of military success, that success was seen as the Lord’s doing.”
Craigie Peter C. The Book of Deuteronomy. Eerdmans 1976. p. 119.
“This section highlights the importance of God’s sovereignty and power in delivering the kingdoms of Sihon and Og, identified as Amorites, into the hands of the Israelites. Compared with Numbers 21:21–35, Deuteronomy makes two distinctive points. First, Deuteronomy anticipates the engagement and defeat of Sihon as inevitable from the outset in exodus terms. Secondly, Numbers 21 says nothing about the ban (Heb. ḥērem; Deut. 2:34–35; 3:6–7), suggesting that Deuteronomy viewed the conquest of the Transjordan in the same way as that of Canaan, as part of the Promised Land (cf. Deut. 3:18–20; 20:16–18).”
Woods, Edward J.. Deuteronomy: An Introduction and Commentary (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries Book 5) . InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.
Deuteronomy 2:1 “Then we turned back and headed for the open country by way of the Red Sea, as Yahveh had told me, and we traveled around the hill country of Seir for many days.
Deuteronomy 2:2 Yahveh then spoke to me, and this is what he said:
Deuteronomy 2:3 ‘You’ve been traveling around this hill country long enough; turn north.
Deuteronomy 2:4 Command the people, and this is what you should say: You are about to travel through the territory of your brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so be very careful.[1]
Deuteronomy 2:5 Don’t provoke them, because I will not give you any of their land, not even a foot-width[2] of it because I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as his possession.
Deuteronomy 2:6 You may purchase food from them, so that you may eat, and buy water from them to drink.
Deuteronomy 2:7 You see, Yahveh your God has empowered you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this immense open country. Yahveh, your God has been with you this past forty years, and you have lacked nothing.’
Deuteronomy 2:8 “So we bypassed our brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We turned away from the Arabah road and Elath and Ezion-Geber. We traveled along the road to the open country of Moab.
Deuteronomy 2:9 Yahveh said to me, ‘Show no hostility toward Moab, and do not provoke them to battle, because I will not give you any of their lands as a possession, since I have given Ar as a possession to the descendants of Lot.'”
Deuteronomy 2:10 The Emim, a great and numerous people as tall as the Anakim, had previously lived there.
Deuteronomy 2:11 They were also regarded as Rephaim, like the Anakim, though the Moabites called them Emim.
Deuteronomy 2:12 The Horites had previously lived in Seir, but the descendants of Esau took possession from them, exterminating them entirely and settling in their place, just as Israel did in the land of its possession Yahveh gave them.
Deuteronomy 2:13 “Yahveh said, ‘Now get up and cross the Zered Valley.’ So we crossed the Zered Valley.
Deuteronomy 2:14 The time we spent traveling from Kadesh-Barnea until we crossed the Zered Valley was thirty-eight years until the entire generation of fighting men had been finished[3] from the camp, as Yahveh had sworn to them.
Deuteronomy 2:15 Indeed, Yahveh’s hand was against them, to eliminate them from the camp until they had all been finished.
Deuteronomy 2:16 “When all the fighting men had died among the people,
Deuteronomy 2:17 Yahveh spoke to me, and this is what he said:
Deuteronomy 2:18 ‘Today you are going to cross the border of Moab at Ar.
Deuteronomy 2:19 When you get close to the Ammonites, don’t show any hostility to them or provoke them, because I will not give you any of the Ammonites’ land as a possession; I have given it as a possession to the descendants of Lot.'”
Deuteronomy 2:20 This, too, used to be regarded as the land of the Rephaim. The Rephaim lived there previously, though the Ammonites called them Zamzummim,
Deuteronomy 2:21 a great and numerous people, tall as the Anakim. Yahveh exterminated the Rephaim at the advance of the Ammonites, so that they took possession from them and settled in their place.
Deuteronomy 2:22 This was just as he had done for the descendants of Esau who lived in Seir when he exterminated the Horites ahead of them; they took possession from them and have lived in their place until now.
Deuteronomy 2:23 The Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, exterminated the Avvites, who lived in villages as far as Gaza and settled in their place.
Deuteronomy 2:24 “Yahveh also said, ‘Get up, move out, and cross the Arnon Valley. See, I have handed the Amorites’ King Sihon of Heshbon and his land over to you. Begin to take possession of it; engage him in battle.
Deuteronomy 2:25 Today, I will begin to put the fear and dread of you on the people everywhere under the sky. They will hear the report about you, tremble, and be in anguish upon seeing you.’
Deuteronomy 2:26 “So I sent messengers with an offer of peace to King Sihon of Heshbon from the open country of Kedemoth, and this is what they said:
Deuteronomy 2:27 ‘Let us travel through your land; we will keep strictly to the highway. We will not turn to the right or the left.
Deuteronomy 2:28 You can sell us food in exchange for silver so we may eat, and give us water for silver so we may drink. Only let us travel through on foot,
Deuteronomy 2:29 just like the descendants of Esau who live in Seir did for us, and the Moabites who live in Ar, until we cross the Jordan into the land Yahveh our God is giving us.’
Deuteronomy 2:30 But King Sihon of Heshbon would not let us travel through his land, because Yahveh your God had made his breath[4] stubborn, and his heart tough[5] in order to hand him over to you, as has now taken place.
Deuteronomy 2:31 “Then Yahveh said to me, ‘See, I have begun to give Sihon and his land to you. Begin to take possession of it.’
Deuteronomy 2:32 So Sihon and his whole army came out against us for battle at Jahaz.
Deuteronomy 2:33 Yahveh our God handed him over to us, and we defeated him, his sons, and his whole army.
Deuteronomy 2:34 At that time we captured all his cities and completely destroyed the people of every city, including the women and children. We left no survivors.
Deuteronomy 2:35 We took only the livestock and the spoil[6] from the cities we captured as plunder[7] for ourselves.
Deuteronomy 2:36 No city was inaccessible to us, from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the valley, even as far as Gilead. Yahveh, our God, gave everything to us.
Deuteronomy 2:37 But you did not go near the Ammonites’ land, all along the bank of the Jabbok River, the cities of the hill country, or any place about which Yahveh our God had commanded.
[7]בָּזָז = capture as plunder. Deuteronomy 2:35; 3:7; 13:16; 20:14.
Deuteronomy 2 quotes:
“The Ammorites were evidently wholly unsuspicious of the fearful harvest for which they were ripening : they thought not of it, until the very hour when the sickle was put in . One more hope appears to have been offered them by Moses, in the merciful proposition that they should permit the Israelites to pass through their land in peace , as had been already done in the case of the Edomites and the Moabites, but even this they scornfully rejected.”
Blunt, Henry. A Family Exposition of the Pentateuch. London: J. Hatchard and Son, 1844. p. 183.
“Now, at last, the command had come to turn again northward, in the direction of the promised land. But there were particular instructions about the route and the procedure the people should follow.”
Craigie Peter C. The Book of Deuteronomy. Eerdmans 1976. p. 107.
Deuteronomy 1:1 These are the words Moses said to all Israel across the Jordan in the open country,[1] in the Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di-zahab.
Deuteronomy 1:2 It is an eleven-day journey from Horeb to Kadesh-Barnea by way of Mount Seir.
Deuteronomy 1:3 In the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first of the month, Moses told the Israelites everything Yahveh[2] had commanded[3] him to say to them.
Deuteronomy 1:4 This was after he had defeated King Sihon of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and King Og of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth, at Edrei.
Deuteronomy 1:5 Across the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this instruction,[4] and this is what he said:
Deueronomy 1:6 “Yahveh our God spoke to us at Horeb: and this is what he said: ‘You have stayed at this mountain long enough.
Deuteronomy 1:7 Turn and set out and go to the hill country of the Amorites and their neighbors in the Arabah, the hill country, the Judean foothills, the Negev and the sea coast – to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon as far as the great river, the Euphrates River.
Deuteronomy 1:8 See, I have given the land in your sight. Enter and take possession of[5] the land Yahveh swore to give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their descendants after them.’
Deuteronomy 1:9 “I spoke to you at that time, and this is what I said: I can’t bear the responsibility for you on my own.
Deuteronomy 1:10 Yahveh your God has so multiplied you that notice[6] today you are as numerous as the stars of the sky.
Deuteronomy 1:11 May Yahveh, the God of your fathers, add to[7] you a thousand times more, and empower[8] you as he promised you.
Deuteronomy 1:12 But how can I bear your troubles, burdens, and disputes by myself?
Deuteronomy 1:13 Appoint for yourselves wise, understanding, and respected men from each of your tribes, and I will place[9] them as your heads.
Deuteronomy 1:14 “You answered[10] me, ‘What you propose to do is good.’
Deuteronomy 1:15 “So I took the leaders of your tribes, wise and respected men, and set them over you as leaders: commanders for thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, and officers for your tribes.
Deuteronomy 1:16 I commanded your judges at that time, and this is what I said: Hear the cases between your brothers and judge ethically between a man and his brother or his guest.[11]
Deuteronomy 1:17 Do not show partiality when deciding a case; listen to small and great alike. Do not be intimidated by anyone because judgment[12] belongs to God. Bring me any case too difficult for you, and I will hear it.
Deuteronomy 1:18 At that time, I commanded you about all the matters you were to accomplish.
Deuteronomy 1:19 “We then set out from Horeb and walked across all the great and dangerous open country you saw on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, just as Yahveh our God had commanded us. When we reached Kadesh-Barnea,
Deuteronomy 1:20 I said to you: You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which Yahveh our God is giving us.
Deuteronomy 1:21 See, Yahveh, your God has given the land in your sight. Go up and take possession of it as Yahveh, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not be afraid or filled with terror.
Deuteronomy 1:22 “Then all of you approached me and said, ‘Let’s send men ahead of us, so that they may explore the land for us and bring us back a word about the route we should go up and the cities we will come to.’
Deuteronomy 1:23 The request seemed good to me, so I selected twelve men from among you, one man from each tribe.
Deuteronomy 1:24 They left and went up into the hill country and came to the Valley of Eshcol, scouting the land.
Deuteronomy 1:25 They took some of the fruit from the land in their hands, carried it down to us, and brought us back a word: ‘The land Yahveh our God is giving us is good.’
Deuteronomy 1:26 “But you were not willing to go up. You rebelled against the command of Yahveh your God.
Deuteronomy 1:27 You criticized[13] it in your tents and said, ‘Yahveh brought us out of the land of Egypt to hand us over to the Amorites in order to exterminate[14] us because he hates us.
Deuteronomy 1:28 Where can we go? Our brothers have made us lose heart, saying: The people are larger and taller than we are; the cities are large, fortified to the sky. We also saw the descendants of the Anakim there.’
Deuteronomy 1:29 “Then I said to you: Don’t be terrified and don’t be afraid of them!
Deuteronomy 1:30 Yahveh, your God who goes ahead of you, will fight for you, just as you saw him do for you in Egypt.
Deuteronomy 1:31 And you saw in the open country how Yahveh your God carried you as a man carries his son all along the way you traveled until you reached this place.
Deuteronomy 1:32 But in this matter you did not trust Yahveh your God,
Deuteronomy 1:33 who went ahead of you on the road to spy out a place for you to camp. He went in the fire by night to guide you on the road you were to travel and in the cloud by day.
Deuteronomy 1:34 “When Yahveh heard your words, he was infuriated[15] and swore an oath, and this is what he said:
Deuteronomy 1:35 ‘None of these men in this evil generation will see the good land I swore to give your fathers,
Deuteronomy 1:36 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land on which he has set foot because he remained loyal to Yahveh.’
Deuteronomy 1:37 “Yahveh was angry with me also because of you and this is what he said: ‘You will not enter there either.
Deuteronomy 1:38 Joshua, son of Nun, who attends you, will enter it. Make him strong,[16] because he will enable Israel to inherit it.
Deuteronomy 1:39 Your children, whom you said would be plunder, your sons who don’t yet know good from evil, will enter there. I will give them the land, and they will take possession of it.
Deuteronomy 1:40 But you are to turn back and head for the open country by way of the Red Sea.’
Deuteronomy 1:41 “You answered me, ‘We have failed[17] Yahveh. We will go up and fight just as Yahveh our God commanded us.’ Then each of you put on his weapons of war and thought it would be easy to go up into the hill country.
Deuteronomy 1:42 “But Yahveh said to me, ‘Tell them: Don’t go up and fight, because I am not with you to keep you from being defeated in your enemies’ sight.’
Deuteronomy 1:43 So I said that to you, but you didn’t listen. You rebelled against Yahveh’s command and defiantly went up into the hill country.
Deuteronomy 1:44 Then the Amorites who lived there came out against you and chased you as if you were a swarm of bees. They crushed[18] you from Seir as far as Hormah.
Deuteronomy 1:45 When you returned, you wept in Yahveh’s sight, but he didn’t listen to your requests or pay attention to you.
Deuteronomy 1:46 This is the reason you stayed in Kadesh as long as you did.
“Such is the commencement of the fifth and last Book of the Pentateuch ,called Deuteronomy , or the second law, because it contains a repetition of the law which had been already promulged . Not indeed of the whole law, for that which regarded the priests and Levites , does not appear to have been repeated , but those which chiefly affected the congregation , the body of the people . These were all rehearsed by Moses during the last month of his life, which , together with the month of mourning for the patriarch himself, occupies the whole period contained in this book.”
Blunt, Henry. A Family Exposition of the Pentateuch. London: J. Hatchard and Son, 1844. p. 173.
“In this book the inspired Lawgiver no longer comes before us as an Historian or a Legislator, but appears as a grand orator, a sublime Poet, a heart-stirring Preacher, and a divinely -inspired Prophet of GOD . The name, “ Deuteronomy,” is derived from the Septuagint and Vulgate versions of chapter xvii. verse 18 , where it is written that the King, ” when he sitteth upon the throne of his king dom, shall write him a copy of this law in a book,” and where the versions we have mentioned read, “ he shall write for himself the Deuteronomy.” But the word Deuteronomy is not to be so understood as if Moses here designed to give a second Law, for he adds no new Law, but now in the last year and last month of his life, uttering as it were his farewell voice to the world, he reminds the people under his charge of what he had already delivered to them.”
Browne Robert Henry Nisbett. Christ in Deuteronomy : The Fulfilling of the Law. 1872. p. 1-2.
“This is a document that appears not as a record after the event but as itself an event in its own right. Jt springs full-grown from a background of obsecurity, and from the moment of its disclosure takes its place among the great books of all time. This position is due not only to its contents but equally to the remarkable religious movement occasioned by its appearance. It is one of the books that made history.”
Longacre, Lindsay Bartholomew. Deuteronomy: A Prophetic Lawbook. New York: The Methodist Book Concern, 1924. p. 11.
When , with the man of the Spiritual Church , the state of tempta tion is completed by which faith in the Lord is formed and a new state of life is inaugurated, then there is with him from the Lord , by Divine Truth , the remembrance of former states of instruction , vers . 1-6 . 2. He is reminded also that exploration had been made of his state as to evils of various kinds , in order that these might be seen and overcome , and that a state of good and truth might take their place ; and he reflects further upon the way in which he had been governed by the Lord through Divine Truths in due subordination , vers. 7-18 . 3. He remembers, too , the temptations through which he had passed ; the encouragement he had received ; his efforts in still more closely investigating theheavenly state ; the lack of courage among those who had remained in a merely natural state ; the eagerness and folly of those who essayed to overcome evil from selfish motives alone ; and their entire failure, involving his own further experiences in an intermediate state, vers . 19-46.”
Maclagan Henry. The Book of Deuteronomy Interpreted and Explained According to Its Spiritual or Internal Sense : With Copious References to the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. A. Gardner 1914. p. 1.
“Deuteronomy is аa. book intended for the people it might be described as the Institution of a Hebrew man ‘ — it is a manual, a rule of life addressed to all Israel, and also to each individual. Its end and aim is to bring about one éthos or moral tone, for the whole nation , to make it one in sentiment and religion , serving one God, and abhorring idolatry , a holy and unique people. Remembrance of God’s mercy is to turn their will and sway their emotions, and kindle them to love Him and serve Him with gladness and alacrity . The author’s words come from his heart, and are meant for the hearts of his hearers.”
Wilkins G. The Fifth Book of Moses Called Deuteronomy. J.M. Dent ; J.B. Lippincott 1902. p. xxvi.
“Hence at Horeb, and again at Mount Seir,4 and now in the plains of Moab, where Moses addressed the people, the call comes constantly to move on, until the promised land is the possessed land.”
Craigie Peter C. The Book of Deuteronomy. Eerdmans 1976. p. 95.
Numbers 36:1 The heads of the fathers’ houses of the clan of the people of Gilead the son of Machir, son of Manasseh, from the clans of the people of Joseph, came near and spoke at the face of Moses and in the sight of the leaders, the heads of the fathers’ houses of the people of Israel.
Numbers 36:2 They said, “Yahveh commanded my lord to give the land for inheritance by lot to the people of Israel, and Yahveh commanded my lord to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters.
Numbers 36:3 But if they are married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the people of Israel, then their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of our fathers and added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry. So, it will be taken away from the lot of our inheritance.
Numbers 36:4 And when the liberation of the people of Israel comes, then their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry, and their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.”
Numbers 36:5 Moses commanded the people of Israel according to Yahveh’s word, and he said, “The tribe of the people of Joseph is right.
Numbers 36:6 This is what Yahveh commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad: ‘Let them marry whom they think best; only they will marry within the clan of their father’s tribe.
Numbers 36:7 The inheritance of the people of Israel will not be transferred from one tribe to another because every one of the people of Israel will hold on to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.
Numbers 36:8 And every daughter who possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the people of Israel will be wife to one from the clan in the tribe of her father, so that every one of the people of Israel may possess the inheritance of his fathers.
Numbers 36:9 So no inheritance will be transferred from one tribe to another because each of the tribes of the people of Israel will hold on to its inheritance.'”
Numbers 36:10 The daughters of Zelophehad did as Yahveh commanded Moses,
Numbers 36:11 for Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married to sons of their father’s brothers.
Numbers 36:12 They were married into the clans of the people of Manasseh, the son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of their father’s clan.
Numbers 36:13 These are the commandments and the rules that Yahveh commanded through Moses to the people of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho. Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.
Numbers 36 quotes:
“These are the commandments and the judgments,etc. The distinction between these two terms is probably that between precepts relating to worship , and precepts relating to civil ordinances, both which classes we find in the preceding chapters, from ch . 26 to1 ch . 36.”
Bush, George. Notes Critical and Practical on the Book of Numbers. New York: [publisher not identified], 1858. p. 475.
“The particular direction which was given in the case of the daughters of Zelophehad is extended in these verses into a general and permanent law that no heiress in Israel should marry out of her father’s tribe, in order that the inheritance might not be transferred from one tribe to another, and thus, in process of time, the division of the land amongst the tribes, which was made under Divine direction , be materially changed.”
Ellicott, C. J. The Fourth Book of Moses, Called Numbers. London: Cassell & Co, 1850. p. 221.
“This closing section of (he book of Numbers may seem in the eyes of modern critics, as a mere unimportant notice, or incident; but it forms, viewed in its typical tendency, and according to the character of the Book of Numbers, a proper and fitting completion of the organization of the people of God, the hosts of Jehovah. Under the form of an occasional and special law, it establishes the typical perpetuity of the tribes of Israel and their inheritance in Canaan. The essential elements have already been considered in the comment upon chap, xxvii. The conditional gift of Canaan to Israel for all time is here presupposed. The consequence of this grant was the division of the land among the particular tribes by lot. Jehovah gave to each tribe its inheritance by lot. And as the inheritance must remain in its integrity, so also must the tribe; and indeed as the tribe, so also the individual family and the individual household, as the ordinance with respect to the levirate marriage, and the year of jubilee, clearly prove.”
Lange, Johann Peter, and Samuel T. Lowrie. Numbers: Or, the Fourth Book of Moses. New York: C. Scribner, 1899. p. 191.
Numbers 35:1 Yahveh spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, and this is what he said,
Numbers 35:2 “Command the people of Israel to give to the Levites some of the inheritance they possess as cities for them to stay in. And you will give to the Levites pasture-lands around the towns.
Numbers 35:3 The cities will be theirs to stay in, and their pasturelands will be for their herds and their flocks and all their animals.
Numbers 35:4 The pasturelands of the cities, which you will give to the Levites, will reach from the wall of the city outward a thousand cubits all around.
Numbers 35:5 And you will measure, outside the city, on the east side two thousand cubits, and the south side two thousand cubits, and on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits, the city being in the middle. This will belong to them as pasture-land for their towns.
Numbers 35:6 “The cities that you give to the Levites will be the six cities of refuge, where you will permit the person who unintentionally kills someone to run away, and in addition to them you will give forty-two cities.
Numbers 35:7 All the cities that you give to the Levites will be forty-eight, with their pasturelands.
Numbers 35:8 And as for the cities that you will give from the possession of the people of Israel, from the larger tribes you will take many, and from the smaller tribes you will take few; each, in proportion to the inheritance that it inherits, will give of its cities to the Levites.”
Numbers 35:9 And Yahveh spoke to Moses, and this is what he said,
Numbers 35:10 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan,
Numbers 35:11 then you will select cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the killer who strikes down any throat inadvertently may escape there.
Numbers 35:12 The cities will be for you a refuge from the avenger, that the killer may not die until he stands at the face of the congregation for judgment.
Numbers 35:13 And the cities that you give will be your six cities of refuge.
Numbers 35:14 You will give three cities beyond the Jordan and three cities in the land of Canaan to be cities of refuge.
Numbers 35:15 These six cities will be for refuge for the people of Israel, and for the foreign guest and the temporary resident among them, that anyone who strikes down any throat inadvertently may escape there.
Numbers 35:16 “But if he struck him down with an iron object so that he died, he is a murderer. The murderer will be put to death.
Numbers 35:17 And if he struck him down with a stone tool that could cause death, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer will be put to death.
Numbers 35:18 Or if he struck him down with a wooden tool that could cause death, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer will be put to death.
Numbers 35:19 The avenger of blood will himself put the murderer to death; when he meets him, he will put him to death.
Numbers 35:20 And if he pushed him out of hatred or hurled something at him, lying in wait, so that he died,
Numbers 35:21 or in animosity struck him down with his hand so that he died, then he who struck the blow will be put to death. He is a murderer. The avenger of blood will put the murderer to death when he meets him.
Numbers 35:22 “But if he pushed him suddenly without animosity, or hurled anything on him without lying in wait
Numbers 35:23 or used a stone that could cause death, and without seeing him dropped it on him, so that he died, though he was not his enemy and did not seek his harm,
Numbers 35:24 then the congregation will judge between the killer and the avenger of blood, in accordance with these rules.
Numbers 35:25 And the congregation will rescue the killer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation will restore him to his city of refuge to which he had escaped, and he will live in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.
Numbers 35:26 But if the killer will at any time go beyond the boundaries of his city of refuge to which he ran away,
Numbers 35:27 and the Avenger of Blood find him outside the boundaries of his city of refuge, and the Avenger of Blood kills the killer; he will not be guilty of blood.
Numbers 35:28 Because he must remain in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest, but after the death of the high priest, the killer may return to the land of his possession.
Numbers 35:29 And these things will be for a prescription and rule for you throughout your generations in all your staying places.
Numbers 35:30 “If anyone kills a throat, the murderer will be put to death on the evidence of witnesses. But no throat will be put to death on the testimony of one witness.
Numbers 35:31 Moreover, you will accept no ransom for the throat of a murderer, who is guilty of death, but he will be put to death.
Numbers 35:32 And you will accept no ransom for him who has run away to his city of refuge, that he may return to stay in the land before the death of the high priest.
Numbers 35:33 You will not pollute the land in which you live because blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.
Numbers 35:34 You will not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I stay, because I Yahveh stay in the midst of the people of Israel.”
Numbers 35 quotes:
“… the Levites were not to own the towns, but only to live in them. They were perhaps also not to be the sole residents in these towns, since passages like Lev. 25:32-35 speak only of the Levites’ redemption of houses in these towns, not the towns themselves.”
Ashley Timothy R. The Book of Numbers. Eerdmans 1993. p. 645.
” The lawgiver thus found in Israel the law of retribution in conjunction with the ancient tribal organization, and he had to take that which existed as his starting point. But God’s intention for Israel was its development into a people in which all parts functioned harmoniously; this included centralized authority, i.e. its development into an ordered state.”
Noordtzij, A. Numbers. Zondervan Pub. House, 1983. p. 298.
“Another section of case-law made the refugee cities available for aliens who had killed someone accidentally. It also makes a differentiation between manslaughter, where the death of the victim was not premediated, and murder, where the victim dies as a result of malice aforethought.”
Harrison, R.K. The Wycliffe Exegetical Commentary: Numbers. Moody Press. 1990. p. 419.
“There has been considerable discussion why the high priest’s death plays a part in these legal provisions. In God’s mercy and sovereignty, it may indicate, for the offender, the commencement of a new era.”
Brown Raymond. The Message of Numbers : Journey to the Promised Land. InterVarsity Press 2002. p. 300.
“There is a sense in which God cannot afford a strong concentration of His servants in one place, when a whole land, and a whole people, have to be served in the gospel.”
Philip James and Lloyd John Ogilvie. Numbers. Thomas Nelson 1987. p. 318.
“The Levites are associated with issues of crossing and negotiating boundaries. This case involves boundaries between purity and impurity of the land. But the Levitical cities of refuge also wrestle with the boundary between murder and manslaughter in the borderline cases of unintentional killing.”
Olson, Dennis T. Numbers. John Knox Press. p. 190.
jeffersonvann 