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Introduction
Joshua chapters 13-19 detail the distribution of the land of Canaan to 11 of the 12 tribes of Israel.
The final tribe to receive an inheritance is the tribe of Levi.
The Levites do not receive a section of land devoted to them, but rather are scattered throughout the entire land and are given cities and the surrounding pastures in which to dwell.
There are 48 cities in all designated as the inheritance of the tribe.
Within those 48 cities, there are six special cities known as the cities of refuge and chapter 20 both designates those cities as well as reminds us of their purpose.
The purpose of the cities of refuge was to provide a mechanism where someone who had killed another person could receive justice and protection from revenge.
; ; ;
When a death occurred, the offender flees to one of the designated cities and receives provisional sanctuary from the “avenger of blood”.
The underlying assumption is that the murderer must be put to death and a ransom is not allowed by God to be paid for the crime.
Elders of the city return the offender to the town where the killing has occured and the offender is judged before the assembly.
P:ossibly, the elders of the sanctuary city served as jury.
If it is determined that there was no malice or evil intent, the slayer is given sanctuary in the city of refuge.
If it is determined to be murder, the slayer is handed over to be executed.
If it is accidental, the slayer must remain in the city of refuge or be subject to the avenger.
Only at the death of the high priest may the slayer return home safely, free from the retribution of the avenger.
The Old Testament did not have a police force, so the elders of the city and the family served that protective and judicial force.
This legal procedure allowed an accidental killing to be treated as an accident - we would call it manslaughter today - without the retribution normally associated with killing.
The avenger of blood was not just a blind revengeful actor, but rather a mechanism of justice.
“The avenger of blood was called upon to restore the balance in the family relations which had been upset by the slaying of one of its member.
Retribution, not vengeance, is the leading thought.
This avenger was not expected to make a distinction between intentional and unintentional slaying.
the cities of asylum were meant to introduce that distinction an to make it a workable feature in the system of retribution.”
God’s Mercy Revealed
God provided six cities to which someone could flee after an accidental killing.
Three located on one side of the Jordan (designated by Moses) and three on the West Side of Jordan - designated here in .
Kedesh of Galilee in Naphtali
Shechem in Ephraim
Hebron in Judah
Bezer in Reuben
Ramoth of Gilead in Gad
Golan in Manasseh
Golan - Manasseh
They were geographically spread so that you could get there quickly.
This also meant that you did not have to flee to another country - you could stay in Israel.
This verse summarizes the law of the cities of refuge well, adding the intriguing information that any alien (gēr) living among the Israelites was to be afforded the same protections
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CITIES OF REFUGE Safe place to flee for a person who had accidentally killed another.
The city provided asylum to the fugitive by sheltering and protecting him until a trial could be held to determine his guilt or innocence.
If, in the judgment of the city elders, the death had occurred accidentally and without intent, the man was allowed to stay there without fear of harm or revenge by the dead man’s relatives ().
Four major passages in the OT describe the right of asylum and the sanctuary provided by a city of refuge (; ; ; ).
A literal translation of the Hebrew phrase means “a city of intaking.”
This right of asylum was offered before the settlement of the promised land but was available only to one charged with accidental manslaughter.
records that “He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death” (NASB).
The passage continues, however, to promise that “if he did not lie in wait for him,” a place would be designated to which he could flee (v.
13).
Prior to the establishment of these cities, temporary safety could be gained by fleeing to a sanctuary and grasping the horns of the altar there.
and 2:28 record two examples of men seeking safety by clinging to the altar in Jerusalem.
Neither Adonijah nor Joab were innocent, though, and later were executed.
Moses was commanded to establish six cities of refuge from the total of 48 given to the Levites ().
Three were located on each side of the Jordan.
In the east were Bezer in the territory of the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead, and Golan in the area of Bashan ().
On the west side of the Jordan were Kedesh in Galilee, Shechem in Ephraim, and Kirjath-arba or Hebron in the hill country of Judah ().
Sanctuary was not limited to the people of Israel but was extended to the stranger and sojourner among them ().
The OT reveals the importance and sacredness of human life by its laws regarding the taking of life.
The reason for distributing the cities of refuge throughout Israel on both sides of the Jordan was so that a city was easily accessible to a person responsible for an accidental homicide.
He needed to find asylum immediately because a member of the dead man’s family would pursue him.
The avenger of blood sought to kill the slayer of his kin for the harm done to the family or clan.
In the early period of Israel’s history before the development of the cities of refuge, this action could result in a blood feud that terminated only with the extinction of one family.
The establishment of the cities of refuge served a humanitarian purpose by transforming a case of homicide from a private feud between two families to a judicial matter settled by a group of elders.
lists several requirements to be met prior to seeking sanctuary in a city of refuge.
The primary requisite was that the death must have occurred by accident without premeditation or intent.
Case studies are presented in , to provide examples of those incidents that prevented or allowed a slayer to seek refuge in such a place.
A second major requirement for asylum in a city of refuge was that the slayer, once being admitted to the city, could not leave until the death of the high priest (; ).
If he chose to leave the city before that time, he could be killed by the avenger of blood ().
In contrast to the temporary sanctuary offered by grasping the horns of an altar, the city of refuge provided a permanent place of asylum for the manslayer.
In a punitive way, the city also served as a place of detention.
The manslayer was not guiltless.
He could not leave under penalty of death by the avenger of blood nor could he buy his way out by offering a ransom to the relatives of the deceased.
A similar example of this punishment may be found in Solomon’s confinement of Shimei to Jerusalem under a death threat if he left the city ().
The taking of a life imposed a guilt that could not be paid for by any means short of death.
The death of the high priest, even as a result of natural causes, served to pay the price of the required penalty.
One man died in place of another.
During his life, one of the functions of a high priest was to bear the sins of the people ().
In accordance with this regulation, all the cities of refuge were Levitical cities, given to that tribe during the division of the promised land among the Israelites.
These locations probably contained local sanctuaries in which a priest served.
After the death of the high priest, the one guilty of manslaughter was free to leave the city and return to his home without fear of the avenger of blood.
See Avenger; Bloodguilt.
Brenda R. Hockenhull
Brenda R. Hockenhull, “Cities of Refuge,” ed.
Chad Brand et al., Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003), 303–305.
VERSE 9:
This verse summarizes the law of the cities of refuge well, adding the intriguing information that any alien (gēr) living among the Israelites was to be afforded the same protections
God’s Justice Respected
The spilling of blood requires punishment:
Gen
The killer could not simply buy his way out of punishment:
Num
Each person, regardless of social standing is held responsible for his or her behavior.
Ex
Man’s Penalty Removed
Following the death of the high priest, the accidental killer could return safely home.
It is not specifically stated what removed the manslayer’s guilt.
He was sentenced to a period of exile in the city of refuge, away from his home, and he could not return home until the high priest died.
Many have argued that the high priest’s death marked a period of amnesty ushering in a new era.
However, a more probable explanation is that since the high priest represented the sacrificial system, his death atoned for the sins of the manslayer.
No ransom was to be accepted for a murderer or for a manslayer (Num 35:30–31).
Only on the occasion of a death—the high priest’s—was the manslayer free to leave
In Numbers 35, the high priest is mentioned as having been anointed with “holy oil” (v.
25), which would tend to support his position as the acceptable “sacrifice.”
For Christians, the typological associations with the death of Jesus Christ—the great High Priest whose death atones for their sins—are certainly visible here.
In the same way, Christ paid the penalty for us - we deserved death, but his death paved the way for us to return home - to the Father’s House!
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