Deuteronomy 19:1
When the LORD thy God hath cut off the nations, whose land the LORD thy God giveth thee, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their cities, and in their houses; When the LORD thy God hath cut off the nations, whose land the LORD thy God giveth thee, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their cities, and in their houses;
The verse stands in the second of Moses' three addresses given just before his death. That second address, in chapters 5 to 26, reviews the law for the new generation and rehearses God's laws and what He had done for Israel before crossing the Jordan into the promised land. It is the section from which Deuteronomy is named, the word meaning second law or duplicate of the law. In a Bible-year reading plan the verse falls in the March 4 reading of Deuteronomy 18 to 21.
The verse places the law that follows in the time when the Lord has cut off and displaced the nations, given Israel their land, and Israel succeeds them and settles dwelling in their cities and houses. It concerns cities of refuge in the land Israel would inherit, occupy, and take possession of after God displaced the nations living there. It begins God's provision for cities of refuge to be secured in the land He gives.
That legislation addressed the Hebrew custom of the avenger, by which the next of kin was authorized and even required to avenge a murdered person by killing the murderer. Because the custom was too deeply rooted to be suddenly abolished, the Mosaic legislation mitigated it. The law restricted blood revenge by providing cities where a homicide could escape and claim a fair trial. It did not let a guilty murderer escape legal consequences but protected a person accused of killing from private vengeance until a trial established guilt or innocence.
A fugitive was admitted to a city of refuge after an initial decision by the elders. A regular trial before a higher court followed, after witnesses were summoned and the accusers had time to appear. An accidental killer was not to be punished, and no person could be condemned to death on the testimony of only one witness.
The provision means that Jews who accept Christ and are bitterly persecuted and forced to leave their countrymen should be given a literal city of refuge. Such a place is in a fine location providentially obtained on reasonable terms, whose object is to give them work and at the same time train them to be workers for others. A city of refuge of this kind was a place where people could hide from danger when Israel took possession of the land.