וְהַנִּשְׁאָרִ֣ים בָּכֶ֗ם יִמַּ֙קּוּ֙ בַּֽעֲוֺנָ֔ם בְּאַרְצֹ֖ת אֹיְבֵיכֶ֑ם וְאַ֛ף בַּעֲוֺנֹ֥ת אֲבֹתָ֖ם אִתָּ֥ם יִמָּֽקּוּ׃
E lembrar-Me-ei da Minha aliança com Yaakov, e também da Minha aliança com Yitzchak, e também da Minha aliança com Avraham Me lembrarei, e a terra Me lembrarei.
Akeidat Yitzchak
The list of all the journeys the Jewish people made in the desert, is to illustrate all the goodness they received at the hands of G'd during all those long years. After listing a review of the last forty years, the Torah gives instructions for the future, i.e. to drive out the Canaanites, division of the land by lottery, the reason why former residents must not be tolerated in their midst, i.e. to insure their religious and national purity. Spiritual well being is even more important than the physical amenities the land had to offer. For that reason, G'd is apparently cruel, in insisting that all the survivors of the seven nations in Canaan be killed, i.e. an act of kindness towards Israel. They are warned that survivors would become "pricks in their eyes" (33,55) blinding them concerning their real interests if they would be tolerated. In the book of Judges 2,3, we find details about how toleration of the remnants of the Canaanites spelled trouble for Israel in its homeland for many hundreds of years. After that we read about the laws concerning murder in its varying degrees. In discussing the nuances of awareness by the murderer of the severity of his crime, one point needs special emphasis. Any killer, however innocent, must be aware that the victim would revenge himself, were he but able to do so. For this reason, the relative of the victim can be expected to take the place of the murdered person and execute this revenge. Even the avenger, however, is duty bound to consider the killer's motivation, degree of awareness etc. Therefore, the Torah establishes some objective criteria by describing the weapon that caused the death. If the instrument of death is one that would not normally be used to commit murder, then surely the killer's intent had not been murderous. If bad blood had existed between the victim and the killer, even a harmless looking instrument might have been rigged to become lethal. If, however, neither the instrument of death could be classified as a weapon, nor was there evidence that animosity had existed between the victim and the killer, then no criminal intent is presumed to have existed.