The Establishment of the First Cities of Refuge (Deuteronomy 4:41-43).
The establishing of these cities of refuge was a deliberate act which was a declaration of Moses' certainty that they were now here in this land to stay. Their purpose was permanent and an official seal that they were in the land permanently. It was a reminder also that there was now law in the land (compare Deuteronomy 1:15-17), for it was a reminder of the penalty for taking blood, and of God's mercy to be shown to those who only did so accidentally. So it puts the seal on his words and caps them with a physical seal that can be seen by all. In those cities of refuge the kingly rule of God has already begun. If in the future they were ever in doubt they would be able to look at these cities of refuge and be reminded of Moses' words at the time that they were selected and appointed, and recognise with gratitude that God has given them refuge too, refuge in the promised land.
These verses may be analysed as follows:
· Moses set apart three cities in Beyond Jordan toward the sunrising (Deuteronomy 4:41).
· That the manslayer might flee to them, who kills his neighbour unawares, and hated him not in time past (Deuteronomy 4:42 a).
· And that fleeing to one of these cities he might live (Deuteronomy 4:42 b).
· “Namely, Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, for the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites (Deuteronomy 4:43).
Note that in ‘a” the three cities are to be set apart and in the parallel they are carefully named. And in ‘b' they are for the innocent manslayer to flee to, and in the parallel those who are innocent and flee to them will live.
‘ Then Moses set apart three cities in Beyond Jordan toward the sunrising, that the manslayer might flee to them, who kills his neighbour unawares, and hated him not in time past, and that fleeing to one of these cities he might live,'
These three cities were established in ‘Beyond Jordan toward the sunrising', that part of Beyond Jordan which was east of Jordan, that is in Transjordan in the territory of the two and a half settled tribes.
Their need arose because of the law of blood vengeance. That law stated that when a man was killed his family must avenge his death on the one who had done it. Thus if they slew the killer right was seen as on their side. The cities of refuge provided a place to which men could go who had killed accidentally, or who were innocent but could not prove it in time. Once they were there they were safe from the avengers of blood. But their cases had then to be examined thoroughly, and if it was decided that they had actually killed the dead person deliberately they would be turned out of the city of refuge so that the avengers of blood could exact their punishment.
‘ Namely, Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, for the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites.'
The names of the cities were given. They were evidence that Israel was now safely settled in at least a part of the land.
Bezer was mentioned on the Moabite stone of King Mesha, but is not specifically identifiable. Ramoth may well be Tell Ramith between the Rivers Yarmuk and Jabbok. Golan is not identifiable with any certainty.
‘ And this is the instruction (torah) which Moses set before the children of Israel.'
With these words the first section is completed. This is clearly a colophon (document identifier) as is partly evidenced by it standing alone, although we could parallel it with Deuteronomy 1:1.
Conclusion Part 1.
The first mini-covenant within the overall total covenant is now completed by the end of Moses' first speech. The basis has been laid down for what is to come. The preamble and historical background to the covenant has been laid out.
We may summarise the historical background briefly as follows:
1). Yahweh had built up and established Israel as a nation preparatory to them entering the land, but they had failed to obey Him and were thus expelled from the land (Deuteronomy 1:6-46).
2). But He had forgiven the offence of Israel and had then, once the generation that had sinned had died, led the next generation through Edom, Moab and Ammon where they were able to witness nations to whom Yahweh had given their own land and who had been able to defeat the equivalent of the Anakim while possessing it (Deuteronomy 2:1-23), proof of what Yahweh could do.
3). He had then defeated the Amorites under Sihon and Og, handing their land and all their possessions over to Israel (Deuteronomy 2:24 to Deuteronomy 3:17). Again proof of what Yahweh could do.
Thus the two bugbears which had resulted in the original defeat, the Anakim and the Amorites were already demonstrated to be defeatable, and there was here both warning and guarantee of success. This then resulted in the command to the soldiers of the two and a half tribes which had settled on the eastern side of the Jordan to go forward with their brothers to claim the whole land (Deuteronomy 3:18-20), and the command to Joshua to go forward without fear, along with the confirmation of Moses' exclusion from the land for disobedience (Deuteronomy 3:21-29).
At this point they were reminded of the great revelation that they had received at Mount Sinai in Horeb and exhorted, with warnings, to obedience to His commandments (Deuteronomy 4:1-40), for it was on their response to His covenant that all would depend. Yahweh could not bless a disobedient people.
Then He gave them an earnest of what was to be by the setting up of three cities of refuge, the visible seal of their establishment in that part of the land, and the guarantee of what was to be in the future when the second set of cities of refuge would be set up (Deuteronomy 4:41-43).
Thus was all now prepared for the presentation of the great covenant in Chapter s Deuteronomy 4:45 to Deuteronomy 29:1.