“People’s lives are very valuable to Jehovah.” (10 min.)
Why is Jehovah so concerned about human lives? Thinking about that a bit, let's take the following example. What is most valuable to you? Something to buy, an ornamental object brings it to your home, something that you liked and you have it there. Or, it is more valuable, it has more importance. If it is something made with your own hands? I would dare to say that it is the second, something that you have made yourself.
Do you think that is why Jehovah is very interested in the lives of human beings? He cares about her care. That is the main reason. It is something that he created. It is your property and you have every right to demand that we take good care of it. That is why in this theme of Treasures of the Bible. "People's lives are very valuable to Jehovah."
We will analyze how since ancient Israel times, and Jehovah did everything necessary to preserve that life. Because of this, Jehovah considered that an Israelite taking the life of another person was a very serious fault. But within Jehovah's justice, he also contemplated that another human being could be killed by accident.
In those cases, the courts put forward another option and this was called Cities of Refuge. What did it consist of? Let's please look at Deuteronomy chapter 19, verses 2 and 3. The command that Jehovah gave at that time. The biblical text says:
Deuteronomy 19: 2,3
You must reserve three cities in the middle of the land that Jehovah your God will give you as property. 3 You must divide the territory of the land that Jehovah your God has given you into three parts and prepare the roads so that any murderer can flee to one of those cities.
Let's briefly explain what these six cities consisted of to get an idea: We can imagine the map of Israel from north to south, and in the center comes the Jordan River.
On the left side the three cities would appear, at the top would be Remains in the center Shechem and Hebron below, and on the right side of the Jordan River. It would be in the upper Golan, in the center Ramot Gilead and below Bézer. We can use the book Insight in volume 1, page 494 and there we have the map of these cities to understand it better, And as we can see in verse 3, Jehovah wanted the roads that led to each of these cities to be in perfect condition so that the murderer will find them easily and have the opportunity to flee and get there.
So although Jehovah cared about the death of someone that had occurred, and if it was accidental, the life of the person who had unfortunately caused such death was still important and wanted to preserve it if it was the right thing to do. So Jehovah strategically caused these six cities to be placed.
And an additional detail is that he did not want the Israelite to flee to another nation and be tempted to mix up the worship of Jehovah and stop being part of this nation. Provision that Jehovah gives, no doubt had his purpose to watch over the life that was still being maintained. If we look at Deuteronomy 19:10 where Jehovah expresses the following:
Deuteronomy 19:10
In this way innocent blood will not be shed on the land that Jehovah your God will give you as an inheritance and you will not be guilty of shedding blood.
We can note here that Jehovah was now protecting not the one responsible for death, but the one who could avenge death. The law that Jehovah had given was that if a relative of whom he had died by accident found the culprit, he could kill him and he was not charged for that death because he was simply avenging something that of course, although it was not really known how it had happened, but it was something that the law allowed.
However, by allowing cities of refuge, the opportunity was given for this involuntary murderer to arrive there and not be killed, therefore, he would not be guilty of shedding blood, The familiar who could not kill him. All this was done not to cover up a murderer, but to prevent the death of someone who had accidentally taken the life of another person.
But what if a person purposely caused someone's death and fled to these cities of refuge? Let's see what the text of Deuteronomy 19 from 11 to 13 says, how should one act in this regard?
DEUTERONOMY 11:19-13
«But, if a man who hated his neighbor waited until he attacked him, mortally wounded him, the person died and then he fled to one of these cities, 12 then the elders of his city must send someone to look for him there and deliver him into the hands of the avenger of blood, and he must die. 13 You shouldn't feel sorry for him. You must remove the guilt from Israel for shedding innocent blood, so that things go well for you.
However, the issue did not remain there when this murderer arrived at the nearest city of refuge and say that it was an accident. No, he had to present his case upon arrival in town to the elders and they would examine the events and conclude whether it was accidental or not. To conclude that it was accidental.
Then he was allowed to stay in this city and then he had to stay in it permanently during the life of the high priest who was at that time. In the event that this high priest was relatively young, until he died, this murderer could not leave the city, so perhaps once he would live forever there, away from his family.
So even though his life was spared, it would also have some consequences to keep separate from loved ones. This is one way that Jehovah will help the Israelites to understand that life is sacred and that they should be very careful when doing things.
All these details that we see showed that Jehovah considered people's lives very valuable, and that even goes as far as just wishing, the thought of showing hatred towards one of his brothers. For example, in texts such as Leviticus nineteen or Deuteronomy nineteen eighteen, at 21 it is indicated that even hating, slandering, bearing false witness, putting someone's life in danger by simply wishing the worst for that person, could be subject to being executed.
What I practice is this advice to make us notice ourselves, to take care of ourselves, to hate our brothers or to think or say something that is not true to cause them harm. That can happen. That is why the law of Jehovah was already in place, thinking that this could happen at some point. However, there are other situations that can put our lives in danger.
We want to think like Jehovah, we want to come to think like some that Jehovah is going to protect us from all our imprudence. Let us continue to show him that although life has not been made by us, but it belongs to Jehovah, let us have that attitude from him, that people's lives are very valuable to him and we want to care deeply because we owe it to Jehovah.
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