Deuteronomy 19 covers three connected concerns: the cities of refuge for those who accidentally cause a death, the sacredness of property boundaries, and the strict rules for hearing testimony in court. The questions below are designed for a small group, a Sunday school class, or personal study. Each section gives you a set of questions with leader’s notes, so you can lead a discussion without preparing a separate summary.
Deuteronomy 19 at a Glance
The chapter opens with Moses instructing Israel to set apart three cities on the west side of the Jordan, and later to add three more if the land expands. These cities are places of protection for someone who kills another person unintentionally. Moses then explains the difference between accidental and premeditated killing, using the example of a man whose axhead flies off the handle.
The chapter then turns to two other matters. It warns against moving a neighbor’s boundary stone, a practice that quietly steals land from families. It closes with the rules for witnesses: a charge must be established by two or three witnesses, and a false witness receives the penalty he had intended for his victim. The chapter ends with a stern call to remove evil from the community.
Observation Questions
Use these questions at the start of the session to make sure everyone has read the text carefully and can name what it says before anyone starts interpreting it. Let several people answer each question before you offer your own summary.
Deuteronomy 19:1-3
1 When the LORD your God cuts off the nations whose land the LORD your God gives you, and you succeed them and dwell in their cities and in their houses; 2 you shall set apart three cities for yourselves in the middle of your land, which the LORD your God gives you to possess it. 3 You shall prepare the way, and divide the borders of your land which the LORD your God causes you to inherit into three parts, that every man slayer may flee there.
(WEB)
Read this opening passage to establish the setting of the cities of refuge and the seriousness of preparing them well. It frames the rest of the chapter as a community provision rather than a random list of rules.
Deuteronomy 19:4-6
4 This is the case of the man slayer who shall flee there and live. Whoever kills his neighbor unawares, and didn’t hate him in time past; 5 as when a man goes into the forest with his neighbor to chop wood and his hand swings the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle and hits his neighbor so that he dies, he shall flee to one of these cities and live. 6 Otherwise, the avenger of blood might pursue the man slayer while his heart is hot and overtake him, because the way is long, and strike him mortally; even though he was not worthy of death, because he didn’t hate him in time past.
(WEB)
These verses define accidental killing and explain why the refuge is needed. Reading them aloud helps the group hear how carefully the text distinguishes accident from hatred.
Deuteronomy 19:11-13
11 But if any man hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, rises up against him, strikes him mortally so that he dies, and he flees into one of these cities; 12 then the elders of his city shall send and bring him there, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. 13 Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall purge the innocent blood from Israel that it may go well with you.
(WEB)
Reading the contrasting case of deliberate murder shows that the refuge was never meant to shelter the guilty. Listen for how the passage speaks of purging innocent blood and what that means for the community.
Deuteronomy 19:14
You shall not remove your neighbor’s landmark, which they of old time have set, in your inheritance which you shall inherit, in the land that the LORD your God gives you to possess.
(WEB)
This short verse is easy to skim past, which is why it deserves a slow reading. Use it to talk about small acts of dishonesty that affect whole families over time.
Deuteronomy 19:15
One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sins. At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall a matter be established.
(WEB)
Reading the requirement of two or three witnesses aloud gives the group a clear principle to discuss. It is a good verse for reflecting on how truth is established fairly in any community.
Memory Verse for Deuteronomy 19
A Closing Prayer for the Group
Father, we thank you that you care about justice, and that you protect the innocent who have done harm only by accident. Help us to see one another clearly, to give grace where it is due, and to speak the truth without adding to the rumors that wound our neighbors. Show us any boundary stones we have been tempted to move, and give us the courage to restore what is fair. Shape our community into a place where people can be safe, where truth is honored, and where your justice is seen in ordinary days. We ask this in the name of Jesus, who is our refuge. Amen.
