Deuteronomy 19
We have touched on cities of refuge before, here they are repeated, if somebody kills another person, that person's relatives may be out for blood. if the death was accidental and not deliberate murder, the perpetrator may flee to a city of refuge and plead his or her case and gain protection from the relatives of the dead person.
Only 1 witness is not enough to convict anybody in the Bible - this means that a vindictive person cannot accuse an innocent person.
If there are doubts about the case, the priests are to investigate carefully and if the witness is perjuring himself or herself, the punishment he intended for the victim will be meted out to them
Compared to other ancient law codes (such as the code of Hammerabi) the law in the bible applies equally to all classes of people, in other codes the severity of the offence depends very much of the status of the victim and of the offender. For example a poor man attacked by a lord could expect no justice.
Deuteronomy 20
Israel is promised peace if they obey the law of God, here it would appear that this is unlikely to happen.
Israel is told to trust in God and not to be afraid of the opposing soldiers.
The army is commanded to let anybody who wants to go leave before battle, if a man has built a house but not moved in yet, planted a vinyard but not had any wine yet, got engaged but not married yet. Or even if they don't want to be there - these people will sap the morale of the army and are not really a benefit on the field.
If Israel is attacking a city that is not set for destruction - i.e. belonging to nations that Israel is not commanded to destroy completely, Israel is to offer a chance to surrender and be subject to forced labour.
They are not to cut down any orchards or fruit bearing trees during a siege of the city But they are to kill all the men once the city is captured if they do not surrender.
The option is not given for Israel for the cities of the Hittites, Amorites, Caananites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. These people are so depraved that God has chosen to destroy them.
We have touched on cities of refuge before, here they are repeated, if somebody kills another person, that person's relatives may be out for blood. if the death was accidental and not deliberate murder, the perpetrator may flee to a city of refuge and plead his or her case and gain protection from the relatives of the dead person.
Only 1 witness is not enough to convict anybody in the Bible - this means that a vindictive person cannot accuse an innocent person.
If there are doubts about the case, the priests are to investigate carefully and if the witness is perjuring himself or herself, the punishment he intended for the victim will be meted out to them
Compared to other ancient law codes (such as the code of Hammerabi) the law in the bible applies equally to all classes of people, in other codes the severity of the offence depends very much of the status of the victim and of the offender. For example a poor man attacked by a lord could expect no justice.
Deuteronomy 20
Israel is promised peace if they obey the law of God, here it would appear that this is unlikely to happen.
Israel is told to trust in God and not to be afraid of the opposing soldiers.
The army is commanded to let anybody who wants to go leave before battle, if a man has built a house but not moved in yet, planted a vinyard but not had any wine yet, got engaged but not married yet. Or even if they don't want to be there - these people will sap the morale of the army and are not really a benefit on the field.
If Israel is attacking a city that is not set for destruction - i.e. belonging to nations that Israel is not commanded to destroy completely, Israel is to offer a chance to surrender and be subject to forced labour.
They are not to cut down any orchards or fruit bearing trees during a siege of the city But they are to kill all the men once the city is captured if they do not surrender.
The option is not given for Israel for the cities of the Hittites, Amorites, Caananites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. These people are so depraved that God has chosen to destroy them.
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