Numbers 35:1-34
Cities for the Levites
1 And the LORD spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho, saying: 2 “Command the children of Israel that they give the Levites cities to dwell in from the inheritance of their possession, and you shall also give the Levites common-land around the cities. 3 They shall have the cities to dwell in; and their common-land shall be for their cattle, for their herds, and for all their animals. 4 The common-land of the cities which you will give the Levites shall extend from the wall of the city outward a thousand cubits all around. 5 And you shall measure outside the city on the east side two thousand cubits, on the south side two thousand cubits, on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits. The city shall be in the middle. This shall belong to them as common-land for the cities.
6 “Now among the cities which you will give to the Levites you shall appoint six cities of refuge, to which a manslayer may flee. And to these you shall add forty-two cities. 7 So all the cities you will give to the Levites shall be forty-eight; these you shall give with their common-land. 8 And the cities which you will give shall be from the possession of the children of Israel; from the larger tribe you shall give many, from the smaller you shall give few. Each shall give some of its cities to the Levites, in proportion to the inheritance that each receives.”
Cities of Refuge (Deuteronomy 19:1–13; Josh. 20:1–9)
9 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 11 then you shall appoint cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person accidentally may flee there. 12 They shall be cities of refuge for you from the avenger, that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation in judgment. 13 And of the cities which you give, you shall have six cities of refuge. 14 You shall appoint three cities on this side of the Jordan, and three cities you shall appoint in the land of Canaan, which will be cities of refuge. 15 These six cities shall be for refuge for the children of Israel, for the stranger, and for the sojourner among them, that anyone who kills a person accidentally may flee there.
16 But if he strikes him with an iron implement, so that he dies, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. 17 And if he strikes him with a stone in the hand, by which one could die, and he does die, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. 18 Or if he strikes him with a wooden hand weapon, by which one could die, and he does die, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. 19 The avenger of blood himself shall put the murderer to death; when he meets him, he shall put him to death. 20 If he pushes him out of hatred or, while lying in wait, hurls something at him so that he dies, 21 or in enmity he strikes him with his hand so that he dies, the one who struck him shall surely be put to death. He is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.
22 ‘However, if he pushes him suddenly without enmity, or throws anything at him without lying in wait, 23 or uses a stone, by which a man could die, throwing it at him without seeing him, so that he dies, while he was not his enemy or seeking his harm, 24 then the congregation shall judge between the manslayer and the avenger of blood according to these judgments. 25 So the congregation shall deliver the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall return him to the city of refuge where he had fled, and he shall remain there until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil. 26 But if the manslayer at any time goes outside the limits of the city of refuge where he fled, 27 and the avenger of blood finds him outside the limits of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the manslayer, he shall not be guilty of blood, 28 because he should have remained 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.
29 ‘And these things shall be a statute of judgment to you throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 30 Whoever kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the testimony of witnesses; but one witness is not sufficient testimony against a person for the death penalty. 31 Moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death. 32 And you shall take no ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may return to dwell in the land before the death of the priest. 33 So you shall not pollute the land where you are; for blood defiles the land, and no atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it. 34 Therefore do not defile the land which you inhabit, in the midst of which I dwell; for I the LORD dwell among the children of Israel.’”
The Levitical priests were allotted their own inheritance in forty-two cities and some surrounding land for their animals. The priests also had six refuge cities given specifically for protecting manslayers who were suspected of murder and needed protection until due process ascertained their innocence or guilt. They were the protectors of the accused who could flee vigilante justice to a safe place until the judge ruled for or against their cases of manslaughter or premeditated murder. The accused were safe until then. If they were found innocent of murder, they would have to live in those cities of refuge or risk vengeance from those wanting to hold them accountable for the unintended death they caused. The only way they could safely leave was when the high priest who presided over their trial died; then they could return home safely. Those found guilty of intentional murder as proven by more than one witness to the crime, however, were to face the immediate death penalty to hold them accountable and satisfy justice for the families of the victims. This was the basis for our laws on murder and manslaughter with the exception of the prison sentence length being determined by the death of the high priest instead of a set number of years in our punitive system for manslaughter and the swift and certain death penalty for intentional murderers. They were instructed by the LORD to keep their land clean by atoning for the shed blood like Abel’s by Cain (Genesis 4:8-9) in the very first murder long ago. The law here was not to mark the murderer like Cain () and let him live, but to atone for the lifeblood shed to cleanse the Lord’s land in which they dwelt. The intent was to prevent murder and keep the promised land undefiled by such destruction of God’s creation of men and women made in His image, for that was an affront on Himself by the intentional destruction of anyone. Those who say the death penalty is inhumane are correct only in the sense that it it above that ungodly, a crime against our Creator and not just mankind, in the willful killing of anyone outside of war. The cites of refuge were intended not to protect people evading the laws of the land as we see now, but only for suspected murderers who might be proven innocent of murder and accountable for manslaughter only. They are not what we see today, in other words. Our laws therefore were originally based on Old Testament laws, but have deviated from them significantly since the LORD has been ignored as the basis for them to punish the guilty and protect the innocent for His sake and of the value of lives created in His image and not for a “humane” reason apart from His will and honor.
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