Cities of Refuge: Deuteronomy 19:1-13

The Text Read

1 “When the LORD your God cuts off the nations whose land the LORD your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses, 2 you shall set apart three cities for yourselves in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess. 3 You shall measure the distances and divide into three parts the area of the land that the LORD your God gives you as a possession, so that any manslayer can flee to them.4 “This is the provision for the manslayer, who by fleeing there may save his life. If anyone kills his neighbor unintentionally without having hated him in the past— 5 as when someone goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and his hand swings the axe to cut down a tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live, 6 lest the avenger of blood in hot anger pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and strike him fatally, though the man did not deserve to die, since he had not hated his neighbor in the past. 7 Therefore I command you, You shall set apart three cities. 8 And if the LORD your God enlarges your territory, as he has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land that he promised to give to your fathers— 9 provided you are careful to keep all this commandment, which I command you today, by loving the LORD your God and by walking ever in his ways—then you shall add three other cities to these three, 10 lest innocent blood be shed in your land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance, and so the guilt of bloodshed be upon you.11 “But if anyone hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and attacks him and strikes him fatally so that he dies, and he flees into one of these cities, 12 then the elders of his city shall send and take him from there, and hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die. 13 Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, so that it may be well with you.

The Text Explained

Responsibility of Blessing

1 “When the LORD your God cuts off the nations whose land the LORD your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses, The perspective here is of a Land that has been conquered and the Israelites are in possession of the goods of the land. So Moses is looking at the nation as it will/should become. Herein lies the responsibility of blessing. Once the Land was conquered, the Israelite were responsible to keep it and to be obedient to God in it. So now God, through Moses once again brings up the Cities of Refuge. The primary purpose of these cities is so no one is unjustly condemned as a murderer. In Exodus 21 the Israelites had the altar at the sanctuary as their place of refuge. This is important b/c the person who is claiming innocence of murder is going to God Himself and in essence, pleading His case before God. He is going to God for refuge. In Numbers 35:25-28 we read.

Numbers 35:22–28 ESV

“But if he pushed him suddenly without enmity, or hurled anything on him without lying in wait or used a stone that could cause death, and without seeing him dropped it on him, so that he died, though he was not his enemy and did not seek his harm, then the congregation shall judge between the manslayer and the avenger of blood, in accordance with these rules. And the congregation shall rescue the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge to which he had fled, and he shall live in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil. But if the manslayer shall at any time go beyond the boundaries of his city of refuge to which he fled, and the avenger of blood finds him outside the boundaries of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the manslayer, he shall not be guilty of blood. For he must remain in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest, but after the death of the high priest the manslayer may return to the land of his possession.

The Cities of Refuge now come into play. They are Levitical Cities, the tribe who had no land inheritance but the Lord was their inheritance would be host to places that an Israelite would claim his innocence.

Cities of Refuge: Purpose & Location

2 you shall set apart three cities for yourselves in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess. 3 You shall measure the distances and divide into three parts the area of the land that the LORD your God gives you as a possession, so that any manslayer can flee to them. 4 “This is the provision for the manslayer, who by fleeing there may save his life. This is a very practical step. While the Israelites were in the wilderness, they would set up camp and in the center of the camp would be the sanctuary. If a person killed another, they would flee to the central location, take hold of the altar and plead their case. Now that the Israelites were entering the Promised Land, the Sanctuary would no longer be as accessible to all, so the 3 cities of Refuge were to be evenly spread apart so that it would be possible for someone innocent of murder to get there. But what is a Man-slayer? We read this in Num 35, but our text today reiterates it.

Man-slayer: Defined and Illustrated

Defined: 4b If anyone kills his neighbor unintentionally without having hated him in the past— This is what we would call manslaughter. Accidental killing. In fact, the text gives us an illustration. Verse 5.

Illustrated: 5 as when someone goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and his hand swings the axe to cut down a tree, and the head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies—he may flee to one of these cities and live, A person goes to help his neighbor chop down a tree, the axe head flies off and hits the neighbor and he dies, that is a Man-Slayer. Someone who unintentionally kills someone else. These Cities of Refuge were set-up to protect this person from being wrongly executed. But this begs the question, who is this person fleeing from? Verse 6.

Avenger of Blood: 6 lest the avenger of blood (goʾēl haddām) in hot anger pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long, and strike him fatally, though the man did not deserve to die, since he had not hated his neighbor in the past. Now the idea of an avenger of blood is quite foreign to us, however, it is an extremely old idea even alluded to in Gen 4:24 with the boasting of Lamech pre-flood. That being said, there has been much discussion on who exactly the Avenger of Blood is. Scholars have traditionally thought he was nearest male kinsman of the person who died, this would explain his hot anger at the man-slayer, or some more recent scholars believe this might be an official city representative. Or, it could even be a combination of the two where the nearest male kinsmen is given the authority by the city to pursue and bring the guilty one to trial. Regardless, this is the person who is responsible/deputized to bring justice. Side Note: For the Bible Scholars out here, goʾēl is the word for redeem or to reclaim as one’s own, to buy back. It is used quite often in the Book of Ruth where Boaz is Ruth’s goʾēl. However, here it is used to express the reclaiming of a life. A murderer is to be executed and the goʾēl haddām is responsible for making sure the murderer’s life taken. Now all of this discussion of an Avenger of Blood does presuppose due process as we read in Numbers 35:24 24 then the congregation shall judge between the manslayer and the avenger of blood, in accordance with these rules. You see, the avenger of blood was responsible for more than simply executing this person. He was responsible for being the prosecutor and executor. He was responsible to “bring him/man-slayer before the established courts of law in his home town, who would determine the case in the proper manner. If the death was manslaughter, the manslayer would be sent to the city of refuge; the city of refuge was not simply a place of safety, but a place in which the manslayer made atonement for the deed of which he was guilty.” (NICOT) Of taking a life. This was the reason he had to stay in the city under penalty of death, until the High Priest died. (Num 35:28) But why did he have to flee? In the heat of the moment, in the heat of the chase, an avenger of blood “might pursue, overtake, and kill the manslayer before the latter could find refuge even if he were innocent of murder, all in the heat of emotion.” (NAC) This would be a miscarriage of justice since the man did not deserve to die (v6). So the need for multiple places of sanctuary from a practical standpoint, increased the likelihood that justice would prevail. Then in verses 7-8, Moses tells the Israelites where to place theses cities and then adds the potential for three more as the need would arise. What is fascinating is that we see in verse 9, all of this is built on a foundation of loving God and demonstrating that love by keeping His commandments.— 9 provided you are careful to keep all this commandment... by loving the LORD your God and by walking ever in his ways—

Purpose of Cities of Refuge: Verse 10 expresses the basic aim of the Cities of Refuge. Protect innocent life. 10 lest innocent blood be shed in your land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance, and so the guilt of bloodshed be upon you. It aims to secure justice for the innocent by protecting them from wrongful retribution. However, the man-slayer, after having been found innocent of murder, was not free to return home. He was required to remain in the City of Refuge under penalty of death. In that city of refuge he was safe, outside of it, he was under the judgment of death by the goʾēl haddām/Avenger of Blood, until the death of the High Priest. So the City of Refuge was both his place of safety and his place of banishment b/c he had brought death, even unintentionally, to another. Then in verses 11-12, we are reminded that this safety is not for the murderer. If a murderer flees to a city of refuge, that murderer has no protection. He may have fled to the City of Refuge believing himself to be safe, but when the time came, he would be turned over to the Avenger of Blood and executed as a murderer. Verse 13 reminds us that murder was so heinous, the penalty of death was to be inflicted without pity or compassion of any kind.

Text Applied:

So what does this mean for us? According to the Law if you hurt someone or if you stole something, you were to repay the person who had been wronged eye for eye tooth for tooth. That is fair. We might say, “you did the crime you do the time,” or “you break it you bought it.” Yet thousands of years ago, God had His people set up cities as a refuge for those who had unintentionally killed another person. A place where the one who had killed another, by accident, could flee to for refuge. So that that person would not have to die in order repay the life he accidently took. You see these cities of refuge were a way for the Law to be satisfied and still show mercy to the one who had taken the life of another. In the City, the man-slayer was safe. Only after the High Priest, the mediator between man and God, had died, was the person allowed to leave the city. This has caused some scholars to speculate that the High Priest’s life became a type of satisfaction for the life that was lost. Again, what does this mean for us? Well, 1st God is our Refuge in this Life. We know that spiritual warfare is raging all around us. In our homes, in our libraries, in our schools, in our Government, we know that the battle is raging and we are called to put on the whole armor of God and engage the enemy through prayer, and action, speaking the truth in love. We know that as we engage in the spiritual warfare of living a god-honoring life, we will become targets for Satan and his children. We know that he is the “Prince of the Power of the Air”, and that those who are not Christians are the “sons of disobedience” and the “children of wrath”. Ephesians 2:2-4 We know that the Evil One prowls like a lion seeking whom he will devour. We often feel like we are being pursued by one who seeks our destruction. So where are we to go? To whom can we, like the Man-slayer, flee? Psalm 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Proverbs 14:26 “In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence, and His children will have a refuge.” Psalm 31:20 “In the cover of Your presence You hide them from the plots of men; You store them in Your shelter from the strife of tongues.” Psalm 91:1-2 “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”” Life is hard and it sometimes feels like we have a target on our backs. In the last two months, I counted at least 8 people I know who have lost loved ones. Not to mention the plethora of other heartaches and struggles going on. There are times when life is hard. It feels like one thing after another. Dear one, go to your place of refuge. Go to God, 1 Peter 5:6-8 “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because He cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” Dear one He is our place of refuge, in those moments of despair, flee to Him and pour out your heart to Him. 2nd, He is our Refuge from the Penalty of Sin. Hebrews 10:1 tells us that the Law, including the City of Refuge, is a shadow of the good things to come. Each and everyone of us were born into sin and the penalty for that sin is death. Here in the OT we see a picture of one who would be saved from death fleeing to the City of Refuge and there in that refuge, they find that the Law of an eye for an eye, and Mercy meet. In the Cross of Christ, we find the Law, that sin must be punished, and Mercy, I can go free, meeting together. In Christ, we find our refuge from the penalty of sin. In Him we can go free b/c our High Priest, has died and the debt of our sin has been paid. In this way, Christ is our City of Refuge.

NICOT Craigie, P. C. (1976). The Book of Deuteronomy (pp. 266–267). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

NAC Merrill, E. H. (1994). Deuteronomy (Vol. 4, p. 277). Broadman & Holman Publishers.