The Cities of Refuge East of the Jordan

41 Then Moses had three towns marked out on the far side of Jordan looking to the east; 42 To which anyone causing the death of his neighbour in error and not through hate, might go in flight; so that in one of these towns he might be kept from death: 43 The names of the towns were Bezer in the waste land, in the table-land, for the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan for Manasseh.

Moses Recounts Israel's Law

44 This is the law which Moses put before the children of Israel: 45 These are the rules and the laws and the decisions which Moses gave to the children of Israel after they came out of Egypt; 46 On the far side of Jordan, in the valley facing Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who was ruling in Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel overcame after they had come out of Egypt: 47 And they took his land for a heritage, and the land of Og, king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, whose lands were on the other side of Jordan to the east; 48 From Aroer on the edge of the valley of the Arnon as far as Mount Sion, which is Hermon, 49 And all the Arabah on the far side of Jordan to the east, as far as the sea of the Arabah under the slopes of Pisgah.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on Deuteronomy 4:41-49

Commentary on Deuteronomy 4:41-49

(Read Deuteronomy 4:41-49)

Here is the introduction to another discourse, or sermon, Moses preached to Israel, which we have in the following chapters. He sets the law before them, as the rule they were to work by, the way they were to walk in. He sets it before them, as the glass in which they were to see their natural face, that, looking into this perfect law of liberty, they might continue therein. These are the laws, given when Israel was newly come out of Egypt; and they were now repeated. Moses gave these laws in charge, while they encamped over against Beth-peor, an idol place of the Moabites. Their present triumphs were a powerful argument for obedience. And we should understand our own situation as sinners, and the nature of that gracious covenant to which we are invited. Therein greater things are shown to us than ever Israel saw from mount Sinai; greater mercies are given to us than they experienced in the wilderness, or in Canaan. One speaks to us, who is of infinitely greater dignity than Moses; who bare our sins upon the cross; and pleads with us by His dying love.