Numbers 35
The Levitical Cities
35:1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses in the Moabite plains by the Jordan near Jericho. He said: 35:2 “Instruct the Israelites to give the Levites towns to live in from the inheritance the Israelites will possess. You must also give the Levites grazing land around the towns. 35:3 Thus they will have towns in which to live, and their grazing lands will be for their cattle, for their possessions, and for all their animals. 35:4The grazing lands around the towns that you will give to the Levites must extend to a distance of 500 yards from the town wall.
The Levites would not receive an allotment of land. Instead, they would live in different cities which were scattered across the land of the 12 tribes of Israel.
35:5 “You must measure from outside the wall of the town on the east 1,000 yards, and on the south side 1,000 yards, and on the west side 1,000 yards, and on the north side 1,000 yards, with the town in the middle. This territory must belong to them as grazing land for the towns. 35:6 Now from these towns that you will give to the Levites you must select six towns of refuge to which a person who has killed someone may flee. And you must give them forty-two other towns.
35:7 “So the total of the towns you will give the Levites is forty-eight. You must give these together with their grazing lands. 35:8 The towns you will give must be from the possession of the Israelites. From the larger tribes you must give more; and from the smaller tribes fewer. Each must contribute some of its own towns to the Levites in proportion to the inheritance allocated to each.
There were to be 48 different Levitical cities. Six of the cities would be Cities of Refuge. Grazing land would be included for the Levitical cities.
The Cities of Refuge
35:9 Then the Lord spoke to Moses: 35:10 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you cross over the Jordan River into the land of Canaan, 35:11 you must then designate some towns as towns of refuge for you, to which a person who has killed someone unintentionally may flee. 35:12 And they must stand as your towns of refuge from the avenger in order that the killer may not die until he has stood trial before the community. 35:13 These towns that you must give shall be your six towns for refuge.
If a person accidentally killed another human being, then he could find refuge in one of the six Cities of Refuge. He was protected until his trial. These six cities would be scattered across Israel so that everyone would have quick access to them.
35:14 “You must give three towns on this side of the Jordan, and you must give three towns in the land of Canaan; they must be towns of refuge. 35:15 These six towns will be places of refuge for the Israelites, and for the foreigner, and for the settler among them, so that anyone who kills any person accidentally may flee there.
There were to be six Cities of Refuge, with three cities on each side of the Jordan.
35:16 “But if he hits someone with an iron tool so that he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer must surely be put to death. 35:17 If he strikes him by throwing a stone large enough that he could die, and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer must surely be put to death. 35:18 Or if he strikes him with a wooden hand weapon so that he could die, and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer must surely be put to death. 35:19 The avenger of blood himself must kill the murderer; when he meets him, he must kill him. 35:20 “But if he strikes him out of hatred or throws something at him intentionally so that he dies, 35:21 or with enmity he strikes him with his hand and he dies, the one who struck him must surely be put to death, for he is a murderer. The avenger of blood must kill the murderer when he meets him.
If the death was caused by a weapon, then it was considered murder. The avenger of death could be a close family member, relative, or friend of the deceased. If an evil man murdered a cherished family member, then the whole family would hunt down this murderer and kill him violently. God did not allow murderers to walk the streets and threaten his chosen people.
35:22 “But if he strikes him suddenly, without enmity, or throws anything at him unintentionally, 35:23 or with any stone large enough that a man could die, without seeing him, and throws it at him, and he dies, even though he was not his enemy nor sought his harm, 35:24 then the community must judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood according to these decisions. 35:25 The community must deliver the slayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the community must restore him to the town of refuge to which he fled, and he must live there until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the consecrated oil.
If the death was without weapons and unintentional, then the one who caused the death of another person would be protected in the City of Refuge until a court decision could be made. If he was found to be innocent, then the slayer could live in the City of Refuge until the death of the High Priest. The purpose of this law was to protect the community from family blood feuds, which were common in ancient barbaric nations.
35:26 But if the slayer at any time goes outside the boundary of the town to which he had fled, 35:27 and the avenger of blood finds him outside the borders of the town of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the slayer, he will not be guilty of blood, 35:28 because the slayer should have stayed in his town of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest, the slayer may return to the land of his possessions. 35:29 So these things must be a statutory ordinance for you throughout your generations, in all the places where you live.
If the slayer left the city, then the avenger could execute him on the street in cold blood.
35:30 “Whoever kills any person, the murderer must be put to death by the testimony of witnesses; but one witness cannot testify against any person to cause him to be put to death. 35:31 Moreover, you must not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death; he must surely be put to death.
35:32 And you must not accept a ransom for anyone who has fled to a town of refuge, to allow him to return home and live on his own land before the death of the high priest.
A murderer could not be put to death unless there were two witnesses who testified truthfully against him. A murderer could not be ransomed from the wealth of his family. The rich and wealthy were not protected, as they were in other ancient nations. God judged the poor and the wealthy equally.
35:33 “You must not pollute the land where you live, for blood defiles the land, and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed there, except by the blood of the person who shed it. 35:34 Therefore do not defile the land that you will inhabit, in which I live, for I the Lord live among the Israelites.”
Murder defiled the land. It smells bad in the nose of God. Therefore; capital punishment was incorporated throughout the Israel nation to ensure the land was clean and pure.