July 20, 2026 - Deuteronomy 19 & Psalm 140

We read Deuteronomy 19 and Psalm 140 and track one clear theme: the justice of the Lord and the right way to pursue justice among God’s people. We talk through cities of refuge, why due process protects the innocent, and how David’s prayer trains us to ask God for deliverance with confidence. 

For more information about Compass Bible Church South Valley, visit compassbiblesv.org. Keep reading. Keep growing. God’s Word is a lamp to your feet, and a light to your path. 

Transcript

Welcome And Today’s Date

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Welcome to the Lamp and Light Bible Reading Plan, where we are seeking to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, with God's word lighting the way. I'm Josiah Smith, Lead Pastor Compass South Valley. Today is Monday, July 20th, 2026.

Deuteronomy 19 Read Aloud

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Listen intently to God's written word. Deuteronomy 19. When the Lord your God cuts off the nations whose land the Lord your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses, you shall set apart three cities for yourselves in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess. You shall measure the distances and divide into three parts the area of the land that the Lord your God gives you as a possession, so that any manslayer can flee to them. This is the provision for the manslayer, who by fleeing there may save his life. If any one kills his neighbor unintentionally, without having hated him in the past, as when someone goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and his hand swings the axe to cut down a tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies, he may flee to one of these cities and live. Lest the avenger of blood in hot anger pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and strike him fatally, though the man did not deserve to die, since he had not hated his neighbor in the past. Therefore I command you, you shall set apart three cities, and if the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land that he promised to give to your fathers, provided you are careful to keep all this commandment, which I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, and by walking ever in his ways, then you shall add three other cities to these three, lest innocent blood be shed in your land that the Lord your God has given you for an inheritance, and so the guilt of bloodshed be upon you. But if anyone hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him, and attacks him, and strikes him fatally, so that he dies, and he flees into one of these cities, then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die. Your eyes shall not pity him, but you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, so that it may be well with you. You shall not move your neighbor's landmark, which the men of old have set, and the inheritance that you will hold in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess. A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses, or of three witnesses, shall a charge be established. If a malicious witness arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing, then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the Lord, before the priest and the judges who are in office in those days. The judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, then you shall do to him as he has meant to do to his brothers. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and the rest shall hear and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil among you. Your eye shall not pity, it shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Psalm 140 Read Aloud

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Psalm one forty. Deliver me, O Lord, from evil men, preserve me from violent men, who plant evil things in their heart, and stir up wars continually. They make their tongue sharp as a serpent's, and under their lips is the venom of asps. Guard me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked, preserve me from violent men, who have planned to trip up my feet. The arrogant have hidden a trap for me, and with cords they have spread a net. Besides the way they have set snares for me. I say to the Lord, You are my God, give ear to the voice of my pleas for mercy, O Lord. O Lord, my Lord, the strength of my salvation, you have covered my head in the day of battle. Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked, do not further their evil plot, or they will be exalted. As for the head of those who surround me, let the mischief of their lips overwhelm them, let burning coals fall upon them, let them be cast into fire, into miry pits no more to rise. Let not the slanderer be established in the land, let evil hunt down the violet man speedily. I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and will execute justice for the needy. Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name, the upright shall dwell in your presence.

Cities Of Refuge And Due Process

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Now, in both our readings today from Deuteronomy nineteen and Psalm 140, the justice of the Lord and a proper dispensing of justice is really the central theme. Now, of course, in Deuteronomy 19, there are laws, as we've already we've talked about this before in Numbers and Leviticus, but there are laws concerning cities of refuge for what the text describes as manslayers. And it gives this sort of strange example of chopping down trees in the woods and hitting a tree with her axe and the handle flying off and hitting your friend or your neighbor in the head and killing him. That is an accidental death. There is no hatred in the heart. And as a result, there were these cities of refuge for these quote-unquote manslayers to go in order for the proper procedure of establishing two or three witnesses and sort of going through the court system, if you will, could take place. And so this justice and these laws are established for the flourishing of this society. And there's a strict warning against innocent blood being shed. It says in verse 10, lest innocent blood be shed in your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, and so the guilt of bloodshed be upon you. So basically, there's another example of let's just say in that illustration that it gives of being in the woods and chopping down trees, and the axe uh ends up, the axe head ends up flying off and striking someone in the head and killing them. If there's not these refuge cities, and there's not proper procedure, and there's not proper justice that's being administered and dispensed, there's an opportunity for someone, the Avenger, it says, uh, to basically take matters into their own hands. To in their anger uh over the loss of a loved one, they can't actually shed the blood of an innocent person, a manslayer who, with no hatred in their heart, caused the accidental death of someone else. So this is uh what is prescribed, these cities of refuge, these cities that were intended for these manslayers manslayers to go so that they could await their trial. Now, in verse 11, it says, But if anyone hates his neighbor, so this is something different, and lies in wait for him and attacks him and strikes him fatally so that he dies, and he flees into one of these cities, then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die. So if there is a murder, a calculated cold murder, someone with hatred in their heart, and they run to one of these cities of refuge, they are to be rejected. In a sense, they are to be deported, if we can use that word uh in today's society with all of its baggage, but they they were to be removed from uh this city, and they were ultimately to be given over uh to justice. And it says in verse 12, then the elders of his city again shall send and take him from there and hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die. Uh, he took a life, and uh, as a result, the penalty of that, the just penalty of that is death.

Witness Standards And God’s Vindication

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Now, again, there are these laws concerning witnesses. No one could just make accusations willy-nilly. There were uh procedures in a proper order to things. So it says in verse 15, a single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or any connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses shall a charge be established. Now, let me just point this out. I won't have time to go into it, but that concept of on the evidence or two or three witnesses, you will see repeated throughout the New Testament. You will specifically see it repeated in the life and ministry of Jesus, you'll see it repeated in the writings of the apostles, and you're gonna see it repeated, as we already have, really, in the book of Hebrews. So just keep that in mind. Uh some of the groundwork, as it were, of the New Testament is being laid even right here in Deuteronomy and in other places that we've already read in the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers. And now we are, of course, in the fifth book of the Pentateuch, Deuteronomy. So Genesis, or rather, Deuteronomy 19 is uh all about laws that are for the promoting of justice, for the flourishing of this society. Now, Psalm 140 is all about justice, really, and vindication and the Lord's deliverance uh of David from evil men. That's the request, that's the desire. Deliver me, O Lord, from evil men, preserve me from violent men who plan evil things in their heart and stirs up wars uh continually. Guard me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked. I say to the Lord, verse 6, You are my God, give ear to the voice of my pleas for mercy. So David, in the midst of this persecution, he cries out to the Lord for mercy. He cries out to the Lord for justice, and uh as a result, he he finds great confidence. O Lord, my Lord, the strength of my salvation, you have covered my head in the day of battle. Uh so the justice of God and the proper even administration of justice within God's society, his chosen people, are uh highlighted both in Deuteronomy 19 and of course in Psalm 140.

Final Encouragement And Resources

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Well, thank you so much for joining us today on the Lamp and Light Bible reading podcast. For more information about Compass Bible Church South Valley, visit Compass Bible SV.org. Keep reading, keep growing. God's word is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path.