Towns for the Levites
35
📚And the LORD spoke to Moses on the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, saying, 2 📚“Command the children of Israel to give to the Levites cities to live in from the inheritance of their possession. Also you shall give pasture lands to the Levites surrounding the cities. 3 📚And they will have the cities to live in, and their pasture lands will be for their livestock and for their herds and for all their animals. 4 “And the pasture lands of the cities which you give to the Levites are to reach 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, and on the south side two thousand cubits, and on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits; and the city will be in the center. This will become theirs as pasture lands for the cities.
Cities of refuge
6 📚“And among the cities which you give to the Levites there are to be six cities for refuge. You shall appoint them for the one who kills someone, for him to flee to; and in addition to them you give forty-two cities. 7 📚So the total of the cities which you give to the Levites will be forty-eight cities. You must give them with their pasture lands. 8 📚And the cities which you give will be from the possession of the children of Israel. From those who have many cities you shall give many, but from those who have few you shall give few. Each is to give to the Levites from his cities according to his inheritance which he obtains”.
35:1-8 The Levites as a tribe did not receive a portion of the promised land. They did receive needed places to live and pasture land for cattle.⚜
The Cities of Refuge
9 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 10 📚“Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, When you have gone over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 11 📚then you shall appoint cities to be cities of refuge 📖 for you, so that whoever kills anyone unintentionally may flee there. 12 📚And they will be for you cities for refuge from the avenger, so that the one who kills another will not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment. 13 And the cities which you are to give will be your six cities of refuge. 14 📚Give three cities on this side of the Jordan, and give three cities in the land of Canaan, to be cities of refuge. 15 📚These six cities are to be a refuge, both for the children of Israel, and for the foreigner, and for the settler among them, so that anyone who kills another person unintentionally may flee there.
16 📚“And if he strikes him with an iron implement so that he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer must be put to death without fail. 17 📚And if he strikes him down by throwing a stone that could kill him, and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer must be put to death without fail. 18 Or if he strikes him with a wooden hand weapon which could kill him, and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer must be put to death without fail. 19 📚The avenger of blood himself shall kill the murderer; when he meets him, he shall put him to death. 20 📚And if he shoves him out of hatred, or throws something at him while lying in wait, so that he dies, 21 or in enmity struck him with his fist, so that he dies, the one who struck him must be put to death without fail, for he is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.
22 📚“But if he suddenly shoved him without enmity, or threw something at him without lying in wait, 23 or threw a stone which could kill a man, without seeing him and threw it on him so that he dies, not being his enemy, or seeking to harm him, 24 📚then the congregation shall judge between the one who killed the person and the avenger of blood according to these regulations. 25 📚And the congregation shall deliver the one who killed from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall return him to his city of refuge where he had fled; and he is to stay in it until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.
26 “But if the one who committed manslaughter at any time comes outside the boundary of his city of refuge where he has fled, 27 📚and the avenger of blood finds him outside the boundaries of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the one who committed manslaughter, he will not be guilty of blood, 28 📚because the person should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest the one who committed manslaughter shall return into the land of his possession.
29 📚“So these things shall be a statute of judgment for you throughout your generations wherever you live.
30 📚“If anyone kills another person, the murderer shall be put to death at the testimony of witnesses; but the testimony of one witness against another person shall not be sufficient to put him to death.
31 📚“Moreover you shall not take a ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of causing death; he must be put to death without fail.
32 📚“And you shall not take a ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge to allow him to come again to live in the land before the death of the priest.
35:9-32 The cities of refuge are mentioned also in Deut 19:1-13 and Josh 20:1-9. In those days (not now), in case of murder, a close relative of the murdered person had the right to execute God’s vengeance on the murderer (v 19; Gen 9:6; Ex 21:12; Lev 24:17). But a person might kill another accidentally. The avenger, seeing his slain relative, could not know whether he was killed intentionally or unintentionally. So these cities of refuge were provided for the man who killed another accidentally, who was not worthy of death at the hands of the avenger. Such a person could flee to one of those cities and there wait safely until his trial (vs 12,24). He was secure as long as he remained there.
For believers now God Himself is the refuge from His own anger which would take vengeance on their sins. Instead of putting us to death as we deserve God made a place of refuge for us. This refuge is Christ. He is also the High Priest and He will never die, and in Him believers will be safe forever.⚜
33 📚“So do not pollute the land where you are; for blood defiles the land, and the land cannot be cleansed from the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it. 34 📚Therefore do not defile the land which you shall inhabit, in which I will live; for I the LORD live among the children of Israel 📖”.