6). Provision of Cities of Refuge and Prevention of Defilement of the Land (Numbers 35:9-34).
Central to maintaining the purity of the land was the need to prevent within it the shedding of innocent blood. If a man deliberately slew another his life was forfeit. Blood would have to be given for blood, however shed (Exodus 21:23; Deuteronomy 19:21). For to slay a man was to take what belonged to God, his very life, the breath of God (Genesis 2:7), and to despatch his lifeblood into the dust before the time determined by Yahweh (Ecclesiastes 12:7), and thus his own life would be forfeit (Genesis 9:5-6). In that way would the land be cleansed from blood guilt. If the murderer could not be discovered special provisions were made for an atonement ceremony so that the guilt could be purged (Deuteronomy 21:1-9).
But the question arose, what about the accidental shedding of blood? Provision was made for this in the cities of refuge. There the manslayer could be isolated until the death of the High Priest, whose blood would in some way then allow for the manslayer's release, probably because the High Priest died and his blood was shed as the representative of the whole of Israel before Yahweh. Until then the ‘innocent' manslayer could not be allowed to roam the land. His life was, as it were, held in suspense, until the death of the High Priest had finally expunged the consequences of shedding blood. By this the sacredness of human life was stressed. It was not a punishment. He was not imprisoned, his movements were not restricted, but he knew that if he moved away from the shelter of the city of refuge the avenger of blood was duty bound to seek him out in order to kill him.
For further stress on the cities of refuge see Exodus 21:13; Deuteronomy 19:1-13; compare Joshua 20:2; Joshua 20:8. They symbolise the place of safety in Christ for all who flee to Him from ‘unwitting sin'.
It is interesting that here, as in the case of the Balaam stories, we now have three threefold sequences placed within a chiastic framework. In both cases the divine is being directly affected by the activities of a human, in the former case by sorcery, in the latter by the extinguishing of the breath of Yahweh, of the image of God, in a man.
a When they pass over Jordan they are to provide cities of refuge for unwitting manslayers (to prevent the shedding of innocent blood) (Numbers 35:9-11).
b The city is for a manslayer's protection until he is brought for trial (Numbers 35:12).
c Six cities to be appointed, three in Canaan and three beyond Jordan. These cities available for both Israelites and resident aliens (Numbers 35:13-15),
d Three descriptions of slayings which deserve death (Numbers 35:16-18).
e The avenger of blood may put such to death when he meets him (Numbers 35:19).
d Three further descriptions of slayings which deserve death (Numbers 35:20-21 a).
e The avenger of blood may put him to death when he meets him (Numbers 35:21 b).
d Three descriptions of accidental slayings which do not deserve death (Numbers 35:22-23).
e The congregation will judge them and put them in safety in a city of refuge until the death of the High Priest. (Numbers 35:24-25).
c If the manslayer leaves his appointed city of refuge before that he can be slain by the avenger of blood without him incurring guilt (Numbers 35:26-28).
b The deliberate manslayer will be slain at the mouth of witnesses (at least two) (Numbers 35:29-30).
a No ransom to be allowed for manslaying, whether deliberate or accidental. This is because violent shedding of blood pollutes the land and there must be a death for it, for the land is not to be defiled because Yahweh dwells in it (Numbers 35:31-34).
The Provision of Cities of Refuge for Unwitting Manslayers (to prevent the shedding of innocent blood) (Numbers 35:9-11).
‘And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,'
Once more we are reminded that we have here Yahweh's word given to Moses.
“ Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall appoint for yourselves cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person unwittingly may flee there.”
The need for cities of refuge is declared by this requirement for their being ‘appointed'. They were needed in order to prevent the shedding of innocent blood, but also in order to isolate from the land anyone who had shed blood and slain another. The sacredness to God of human life was such that none who had taken such a life could be allowed to roam free in the land unless a parallel death had taken place. For thereby the land would be defiled.
“ And the cities shall be to you for refuge from the avenger (goel), that the manslayer die not, until he stand before the congregation for judgment.”
These cities would act as a refuge from ‘the Avenger' (the goel). The ‘goel' often signified the ‘next-of-kin', the kinsman-redeemer (Numbers 5:8; Numbers 27:11; Leviticus 25:25; Leviticus 25:49), and the term was used of those seen as responsible in the family for the protection of its name, its integrity, its wholeness and its inheritance from Yahweh. A man could sometimes be his own goel (Leviticus 25:26, compare Genesis 4:24; Genesis 27:45). Most would thus see ‘the avenger' as a member of the family of a slain man who had the right to seek blood vengeance, the idea partly being that murder could be best controlled by allowing swift justice to be carried out by those most affected. Such an avenger could not then be accused of murder because he was judicially avenging the death of a member of his own family, and taking ‘life for life'. He was acting as official executioner. Such a concept was known from the earliest times. Cain feared that his family would kill him on sight (Genesis 4:14). This sense of a right to family revenge is still in vogue among some supposedly civilised people even today, and treated as acceptable, even though usually illegal, an indication that man with all his outward sophistication, is still a beast at heart. Some others see the Avenger as being an appointed official whose responsibility it was to seek out murderers and slay them.
Note that the refuge was only until the manslayer was brought to trial before the people's representatives. But that would probably only happen if an accusation was brought against him. It then remained his refuge either if he was not accused or if he was found not guilty of deliberate murder. But stress is laid on the fact that for a guilty man there was no permanent refuge.
“Stand before the congregation for judgment.” ‘Before the congregation' generally indicates the whole of Israel (16:9; 32:4). Thus this was probably before the Tent of Meeting, with the justices and elders conducting the trial, with all who would being able to gather to hear the verdict. For the fact that if not guilty he was to be returned to the city of refuge confirms that it took place away from there. Alternately it might have been in the locality where the manslaying had been committed (19:12), where witnesses could be found, but in that case we might have expected that to be explained. And that would not really be ‘before the congregation', unless ‘before the congregation' is seen as signifying being judged by one's peers.
Something of the procedure is described in Joshua 20:4. The manslayer would flee from the avenger of blood to a city of refuge, and there he would stand before the gates of the city, and, having been brought within the gate area, would state his case before the elders. They were then to decide whether to receive him into the city, and give him a place in order that he might dwell among them, or whether to reject him because he admitted to deliberate murder. In cases of doubt they were not to deliver him up to the avenger of blood until he had stood ‘before the congregation' for judgment.