Deuteronomy 19:9

9 if thou shalt hearken to do all these commands, which I charge thee this day, to love the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways continually; thou shalt add for thyself yet three cities to these three.

Deuteronomy 19:9 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 19:9

If thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them, which I
command thee this day
A phrase often met with before, and signifies the putting in practice the several laws, moral, ceremonial, and judicial, which Moses was now making a repetition of, and enjoining the observance of them by a divine authority:

to love the Lord thy God;
which is the source and spring of genuine obedience to the commands of God:

and to walk ever in his ways;
noting constancy and perseverance in them; now all this is mentioned as the condition of the enlargement of their coast, which would be the case if a due and constant regard was had to the laws of God:

and then shall thou add three cities more besides these three;
three more in the land of Canaan, besides the three now ordered to be separated in it, and besides the three on the other side of Jordan; so that there would have been nine in all, if these had been ever added; but that time never came: the Jews expect the addition of these three cities in the days of the Messiah ^F25 but the Messiah is already come, and all those cities, as they were typical of him, have had their accomplishment in him the antitype of them, of which (See Gill on Numbers 35:29).

---

FOOTNOTES:

F25 Maimon. Hilchot Rotzeach, c. 8. sect. 4.

Deuteronomy 19:9 In-Context

7 Therefore I charge thee, saying, Thou shalt separate for thy self three cities.

8 And if the Lord shall enlarge thy borders, as he sware to thy fathers, and the Lord shall give to thee all the land which he said he would give to thy fathers;

9 if thou shalt hearken to do all these commands, which I charge thee this day, to love the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways continually; thou shalt add for thyself yet three cities to these three.

10 So innocent blood shall not be spilt in the land, which the Lord thy God gives thee to inherit, and there shall not be in thee one guilty of blood.

11 But if there should be in thee a man hating his neighbour, and he should lay wait for him, and rise up against him, and smite him, that he die, and he should flee to one of these cities,