191 " When the Lord your God cuts off the nations , whose land the Lord your God gives you, and you dispossess them and settle in their cities and in their houses , 2 you shall set aside three cities for yourself in the midst of your land , which the Lord your God gives you to possess . 3 "You shall prepare the roads for yourself, and divide into three parts the territory of your land which the Lord your God will give you as a possession , so that any manslayer may flee there . 4 " Now this is the case of the manslayer who may flee there and live : when he kills his friend unintentionally e , not hating him previously - 5 as when a man goes into the forest with his friend to cut wood , and his hand swings the axe to cut down the tree , and the iron head slips off the handle and strikes his friend so that he dies -he may flee to one of these cities and live ; 6 otherwise the avenger of blood might pursue the manslayer in the heat of his anger , and overtake him, because the way is long , and take his life , though he was not deserving of death , since he had not hated him previously . 7 "Therefore e , I command you, saying , 'You shall set aside three cities for yourself.' 8 "If the Lord your God enlarges your territory , just as He has sworn to your fathers , and gives you all the land which He promised to give your fathers - 9 if you carefully observe all this commandment which I command you today , to love the Lord your God , and to walk in His ways always e - then you shall add three more cities for yourself, besides these three . 10 "So innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance , and bloodguiltiness be on you. 11 "But if there is a man who hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and rises up against him and strikes him so that he dies , and he flees to one of these cities , 12 then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood , that he may die . 13 " You shall not pity him, but you shall purge the blood of the innocent from Israel , that it may go well with you.
14 " You shall not move your neighbor's boundary mark, which the ancestors have set , in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the Lord your God gives you to possess .
15 " A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin which he has committed ; on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed . 16 " If a malicious witness rises up against a man to accuse him of wrongdoing , 17 then both the men who have the dispute shall stand before the Lord , before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days . 18 "The judges shall investigate thoroughly , and if the witness is a false witness and he has accused his brother falsely , 19 then you shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother . Thus you shall purge the evil from among you. 20 " The rest will hear and be afraid , and will never again e do such an evil thing among you. 21 "Thus you shall not show pity : life for life , eye for eye , tooth for tooth , hand for hand , foot for foot .
201 "When you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God , who brought you up from the land of Egypt , is with you. 2 "When you are approaching the battle , the priest shall come near and speak to the people . 3 "He shall say to them, 'Hear , O Israel , you are approaching the battle against your enemies today . Do not be fainthearted e . Do not be afraid , or panic , or tremble before e them, 4 for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies , to save you.' 5 "The officers also shall speak to the people , saying , 'Who is the man that has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him depart and return to his house , otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would dedicate it. 6 'Who is the man that has planted a vineyard and has not begun to use its fruit ? Let him depart and return to his house , otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would begin to use its fruit . 7 ' And who is the man that is engaged to a woman and has not married her? Let him depart and return to his house , otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would marry her.' 8 "Then the officers shall speak further to the people and say , ' Who is the man that is afraid and fainthearted e ? Let him depart and return to his house , so that he might not make his brothers' hearts melt like his heart .' 9 "When the officers have finished speaking to the people , they shall appoint commanders of armies at the head of the people .
10 "When you approach a city to fight against it, you shall offer it terms of peace . 11 "If it agrees to make peace with you and opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall become your forced labor and shall serve you. 12 "However, if it does not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it. 13 "When the Lord your God gives it into your hand , you shall strike all the men in it with the edge of the sword . 14 "Only the women and the children and the animals and all that is in the city , all its spoil , you shall take as booty for yourself; and you shall use the spoil of your enemies which the Lord your God has given you. 15 "Thus you shall do to all the cities that are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations nearby . 16 " Only in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance , you shall not leave alive anything that breathes . 17 "But you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite , the Canaanite and the Perizzite , the Hivite and the Jebusite , as the Lord your God has commanded you, 18 so that they may not teach you to do according to all their detestable things which they have done for their gods , so that you would sin against the Lord your God . 19 "When you besiege a city a long time , to make war against it in order to capture it, you shall not destroy its trees by swinging an axe against them; for you may eat from them, and you shall not cut them down . For is the tree of the field a man , that it should be besieged by you? 20 "Only the trees which you know are not fruit trees you shall destroy and cut down , that you may construct siegeworks against the city that is making war with you until it falls .
211 "If a slain person is found lying in the open country in the land which the Lord your God gives you to possess , and it is not known who has struck him, 2 then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities which are around the slain one . 3 "It shall be that the city which is nearest to the slain man , that is, the elders of that city , shall take a heifer of the herd , which has not been worked and which has not pulled in a yoke ; 4 and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water , which has not been plowed or sown , and shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley . 5 "Then the priests , the sons of Levi , shall come near , for the Lord your God has chosen them to serve Him and to bless in the name of the Lord ; and every dispute and every assault shall be settled e by them. 6 "All the elders of that city which is nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley ; 7 and they shall answer and say , 'Our hands did not shed this blood , nor did our eyes see it. 8 'Forgive Your people Israel whom You have redeemed , O Lord , and do not place the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of Your people Israel .' And the bloodguiltiness shall be forgiven them. 9 " So you shall remove the guilt of innocent blood from your midst , when you do what is right in the eyes of the Lord .
10 "When you go out to battle against your enemies , and the Lord your God delivers them into your hands and you take them away captive , 11 and see among the captives a beautiful woman , and have a desire for her and would take her as a wife for yourself, 12 then you shall bring her home to your house , and she shall shave her head and trim her nails . 13 "She shall also remove the clothes of her captivity and shall remain in your house , and mourn her father and mother a full month ; and after that you may go in to her and be her husband and she shall be your wife . 14 "It shall be, if you are not pleased with her, then you shall let her go wherever she wishes ; but you shall certainly not sell her for money , you shall not mistreat her, because e you have humbled her.
15 "If a man has two wives , the one loved and the other unloved , and both the loved and the unloved have borne him sons , if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved , 16 then it shall be in the day he wills what he has to his sons , he cannot e make the son of the loved the firstborn before e the son of the unloved , who is the firstborn . 17 "But he shall acknowledge the firstborn , the son of the unloved , by giving him a double portion of all that he has , for he is the beginning of his strength ; to him belongs the right of the firstborn .
18 "If any man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey e his father or his mother , and when they chastise him, he will not even listen to them, 19 then his father and mother shall seize him, and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gateway of his hometown . 20 "They shall say to the elders of his city , 'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious , he will not obey e us, he is a glutton and a drunkard .' 21 " Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death ; so you shall remove the evil from your midst , and all Israel will hear of it and fear . 22 "If a man has committed a sin worthy of death and he is put to death , and you hang him on a tree , 23 his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree , but you shall surely bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is accursed of God ), so that you do not defile your land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance .
21 "And then if anyone says to you, 'Behold , here is the Christ '; or, 'Behold , He is there '; do not believe him; 22 for false Christs and false prophets will arise , and will show signs and wonders , in order to lead astray , if possible , the elect . 23 "But take heed ; behold , I have told you everything in advance .
24 "But in those days , after that tribulation , THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT , 25 AND THE STARS WILL BE FALLING from heaven , and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken . 26 "Then they will see THE SON OF MAN COMING IN CLOUDS with great power and glory . 27 "And then He will send forth the angels , and will gather together His elect from the four winds , from the farthest end of the earth to the farthest end of heaven .
28 "Now learn the parable from the fig tree : when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves , you know that summer is near . 29 "Even so , you too , when you see these things happening , recognize that He is near , right at the door . 30 "Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place . 31 "Heaven and earth will pass away , but My words will not pass away . 32 " But of that day or hour no one knows , not even the angels in heaven , nor the Son , but the Father alone. 33 "Take heed , keep on the alert ; for you do not know when the appointed time will come . 34 " It is like a man away on a journey , who upon leaving his house and putting his slaves in charge , assigning to each one his task , also commanded the doorkeeper to stay on the alert . 35 "Therefore , be on the alert -for you do not know when the master of the house is coming , whether in the evening , at midnight , or when the rooster crows , or in the morning - 36 in case he should come suddenly and find you asleep . 37 "What I say to you I say to all , ' Be on the alert !' "
(Read Mark 13:14-23)
The Jews in rebelling against the Romans, and in persecuting the Christians, hastened their own ruin apace. Here we have a prediction of that ruin which came upon them within less than forty years after this. Such destruction and desolation, that the like cannot be found in any history. Promises of power to persevere, and cautions against falling away, well agree with each other. But the more we consider these things, the more we shall see abundant cause to flee without delay for refuge to Christ, and to renounce every earthly object, for the salvation of our souls.
(Read Mark 13:24-27)
The disciples had confounded the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the world. This mistake Christ set right, and showed that the day of Christ's coming, and the day of judgment, shall be after that tribulation. Here he foretells the final dissolution of the present frame and fabric of the world. Also, the visible appearance of the Lord Jesus coming in the clouds, and the gathering together of all the elect to him.
(Read Mark 13:28-37)
We have the application of this prophetic sermon. As to the destruction of Jerusalem, expect it to come very shortly. As to the end of the world, do not inquire when it will come, for of that day and that hour knoweth no man. Christ, as God, could not be ignorant of anything; but the Divine wisdom which dwelt in our Saviour, communicated itself to his human soul according to the Divine pleasure. As to both, our duty is to watch and pray. Our Lord Jesus, when he ascended on high, left something for all his servants to do. We ought to be always upon our watch, in expectation of his return. This applies to Christ's coming to us at our death, as well as to the general judgment. We know not whether our Master will come in the days of youth, or middle age, or old age; but, as soon as we are born, we begin to die, and therefore we must expect death. Our great care must be, that, whenever our Lord comes, he may not find us secure, indulging in ease and sloth, mindless of our work and duty. He says to all, Watch, that you may be found in peace, without spot, and blameless.
