Manslaughter, Murder, and Malice: The whole section 19:1–21:9 may be thematically linked to the sixth commandment, “you shall not murder.” This is clearest in 19:1–13 and 21:1–9, but there are some links in the intervening laws as well, particularly 19:15–21. The organization is not overly tidy, however, and other commandments can be detected; the eighth and tenth, for example (19:14), and the ninth (19:16–19).

Israel needed structures of authority and leadership that would preserve their societal commitment to justice and obedience to God’s Torah. However, even in a nation living with the ideal standards and patterns of life of 14:28–16:17 and with the ideal leaders of 16:18–18:22, things could go wrong. Premature deaths could happen, by accident (19:5–7), by design (19:11–13), in war (ch.…