I recently heard the tragic story of four pastors who were returning from a conference in an airplane, which crashed, and only one of the men survived. In that case, the cause of the accident was apparently pilot error. As the plane approached the runway, it clipped a power line and the plane disintegrated. I’m sure the pilot did not intend to kill anyone, but by his negligence, he lost his own life and two other men died. It’s a sad tragedy of human life that we are subject to accidental death.

In the law, there is a category of crime called manslaughter. Manslaughter happens when someone’s negligence or neglect unintentionally causes another person’s death. A good example of that happened recently when a truck driver made an illegal U-turn and caused the death of three people.

This kind of thing happens frequently in our world, and even in ancient times, laws addressed such things.

God instructed Moses to establish cities of refuge to which the manslayer could flee (cf. Num 35:12f). The chapter we’re looking at today gives details for setting up these cities of refuge. It also mentions the importance of maintaining borders, and it goes on to give standards for witnesses to a crime.

What do these three topics/issues have in common? The common theme here is justice. Justice demands that people in each case be either protected or punished. As Israel settles in the PL, they must insure that justice is done for both victims and perpetrators.

As we go through the passage, we’ll see that many principles of our own legal system come right from the Bible. Many of the requirements that God sets for Israel are still part of our legal system today. It should be obvious that the basis for law and justice is God’s word. God established these principles long ago.

Our lives ought to be marked by justice. We find some timeless principles of justice here that we can apply personally in our own lives.

Notice three justice issues that Moses considers here.