Seder 132: Numbers 35---Cities of Refuge

 In the Promised Land the tribe of Levi would not be allotted one chunk of land, but would live in 48 towns among the other tribes--Num 35:1-8.  Ideally these representatives of God among the people would teach each tribe the ways of God.  

Six of those 48 towns---three east of the Jordan and three west of it---would be designated "cities of refuge," to which a person who had committed manslaughter could flee in order to receive a fair trial and be protected from the relatives of the victim.  

The cities of refuge are identified later in Joshua 20:7-8.  They include Hebron, Shechem, Kedesh, Ramoth, Bezer, and Golan.  

A person found guilty of manslaughter but innocent of murder would be sentenced to live in the city of refuge until the death of the current high priest.  If the person left the city of refuge before then, the victim's family was allowed legally to avenge the death of their relative.

It's not that the high priest's death atoned for the spiritual sin of the manslayer; this was a sentencing rule for a human court.  The rule had the effect of closing all of the cases of the outgoing high priest, leaving the next high priest with a clear docket.  

But in the rule about the death of the high priest, Christians see a foreshadowing of the atonement carried out by Jesus, our heavenly high priest.  

Numbers 35 makes a clear distinction between first-degree murder and manslaughter, as does Exodus 21.  Successful prosecution of first-degree murder required multiple eyewitnesses.  In a case where first-degree murder was proven, the death penalty was required---Num 35:31.  This verse implies that for other capital crimes, the death penalty was a maximum penalty but not a required one. 

There is no information in the Bible about manslaughter cases in ancient Israel.  It is interesting to imagine what kinds of cases there might have been.  Novelist Connilyn Cossette presents one such scenario in A Light on the Hill (2018).  In her story, a young woman who is responsible for the accidental poisoning of two boys has quite a challenge reaching Kedesh, since the father of the boys is bent on avenging their deaths. 

The cities of refuge were intended to defuse vicious cycles of killing and revenge, feuds between families like the notorious American feud between the Hatfield and McCoy families.  In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on January 28, 2023 entitled "Hillbilly Justice," Kyle Kettering reflected on the wisdom behind these provisions.  This was a situation where God met the Israelites where they were and pointed them toward a better way.  The cities of refuge were meant to protect everyone involved from innocent bloodshed and bring about a better future.