Fear No Fear

(All scripture from Lexham English Bible, Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software)

Cities of refuge was where you could flee if you accidentally killed someone. The territory of Israel was to be divided into three sections and each one was to have a city of refuge. They were there to make sure that innocent blood would not be shed. No one would kill him for revenge for an accidental death. And God made a promise. IF the people carefully kept all His commandments, then God would give them ALL the land He promised their fathers and they would need to establish three more. Unfortunately, they never did. However, if it was an on-purpose killing, a planned, lying-in-wait murder, they were not to be allowed refuge.

In the same section, God prohibits the moving of border markers between neighbour’s properties. Changing the inheritance boundary of your land was as bad as murder. God owns EVERYTHING and you are only stewards of it. Since that is the case, you are KILLING inheritance when you change the boundary.

In all cases of the Law, one witness isn’t enough. Two or three witnesses were required. If a false witness came up and accused someone, their testimony was to be examined thoroughly by the judges. When it was found to be false, they were to do to the false witness what they had planned for the person they were testifying against.

“And the rest shall hear and shall fear, and they shall not continue to do such a thing again as this evil thing in your midst.” (Deuteronomy 19:20)

Next, God talked about warfare. He established rules which ONLY work when God is your Source. If you aren’t 100% reliant on Him, these are foolish rules that weaken your position. He starts by affirming with them that they were NOT to fear and NOT to be terrified. This establishes that fear and terror are a CHOICE. God would be completely unjust to tell us to do something we could not do. Why can we CHOOSE not to be scared? Because we can CHOOSE to make God our Source of all things. If they remembered that the Lord their God was fighting for them and would give them victory, they could choose not to fear. It’s the same for us. We are not promised no struggles, no fights, and no persecutions. We are PROMISED overcoming victory because Jesus IS the overcomer and we look to God as our SOURCE. HE will give US the victory HE accomplishes. It’s a choice of TRUST. For us the same as it was for them.

Type one: someone had built a house, but not yet dedicated it. Type two: someone who had planted a vineyard, but not yet enjoyed the fruit. Type three: someone who was engaged, but not yet married. These three types were allowed to go home. There is a fourth type. Slightly different from the others. A carnal type. Someone who did NOT trust God as their Source: someone who was afraid of the coming fight. They were ALSO to go home. These types leaving could seriously reduce your fighting force, but that didn’t matter when God was fighting for you. It was AFTER these four types left that the officers of the military would be chosen. The officer corps were not permanent positions. There was no need for a standing army. God was calling the shots.

There were two types of fighting. One was INSIDE the land. Everyone was to be killed because they were idolatrous, practised abominations, and were a cancer and stumbling stone to the people of Israel. They were not slave material. They were not marriage candidates. They were to be completely destroyed. The other kind was OUTSIDE the land. First, they were to approach it. They were to make an offer of peace. They were to be vassals. If they refused and fought, the men could be killed but not the women and children. The women could be taken home and treated as wife material BUT only after a mourning period. If you decided that you DIDN’T want them after all of that, they could NOT be made slaved. They could be let go, but NOT demeaned. Remember that women in the ancient world were often destitute without a husband, so allowing them to marry women from towns far away was more about providing futures for those women than anything else.

If the city decided to fight and there was a siege for a long time, trees that produced fruit were to be left alone. Only trees that were not used for food could be taken down and used for siege material. After all, their fight was with the people, not the trees.

Summary

Key Players: God, Moses

Key Themes: Cities of Refuge, Witnesses, Warfare

Key Verse(s): Deuteronomy 19:8-10, 14; 20:2-4, 19-20