Welcome to a year in the Bible with Daily Grace. The Bible tells one big story of redemption,

and we want to spend five minutes every day journeying through the Bible from start to

finish and exploring how all of it points to Jesus.

What's up everybody? Welcome back to another episode of a year in the Bible podcast with

the Daily Grace Company. My name is Kyra and I'm a writer on staff. I'm so happy to be here with

you all today. We are discussing Deuteronomy chapters 19 to 21. These chapters showcase God's

concern for justice. Biblical justice reflects God's righteous and compassionate character.

The laws in these chapters also show God's desire for His people to pursue just living.

First, through Moses, the Lord tells the people to set apart cities of refuge in the promised land.

These cities were supposed to be places where those fleeing unjust treatment could go. Specifically,

those who had committed manslaughter and needed protection from someone seeking revenge.

In this case, the person who committed manslaughter did not have malice in his heart,

so he did not deserve to be punished. Instead, he should be protected from harm.

The Israelites performed justice by protecting the vulnerable and caring for them.

Another area where the Israelites were to protect the vulnerable was in legal proceedings.

God knew there would be people who would be falsely accused of a crime. He told the people

to pursue careful investigation so that they could discern the truth from the lie.

If one was a justly accusing, they were to be punished for the crime. The false accuser intended

to commit an act of harm towards one who did not deserve it and was to receive the punishment

he intended to inflict on the other. A third area where the Israelites reflected God's grace

and justice was in wartime rules during conflicts with far away nations. The Israelites were

to make offers of peace with these groups, but if the nation refused, the Israelites had to enact

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