Numbers
Chapter 35
Levitical Cities
The Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab, near the Jordan opposite Jericho. He said:
“Tell the people of Israel to give the Levites towns from their property to live in, including surrounding pastureland.
They shall live in the towns and tend their cattle and animals in the pastureland nearby.
The pasture around the towns you give to the Levites shall extend 500 yards in each direction from the walls of the towns,
forming a square area of 1,000 yards on each side with the town at the center.
The towns you give to the Levites will include the six towns of refuge where someone who causes another’s death can escape, and you will also give them forty-two additional towns.
Altogether, you will give forty-eight towns to the Levites, along with their pasturelands.
You shall take these towns from the property of the Israelites, choosing more towns from tribes with larger landholdings and fewer from tribes with smaller lands. Each tribe will give towns to the Levites proportional to the land they own.
Cities of Refuge
The Lord spoke to Moses and said:
“Say this to the people of Israel: When you cross the Jordan River and reach the land of Canaan,
you are to select towns that you will designate as towns of refuge to which a person who has killed someone accidentally may escape.
In these towns, they will be safe from the dead person’s relative who wants revenge so that the killer may not die without being brought to trial before the community.
The towns you give will serve you as six cities of refuge:
the three that you give beyond the Jordan and the three that you give in the land of Canaan are to be cities of refuge.
These six towns will be a refuge for the people of Israel as well as for the stranger and the foreigner among you, where anyone who has killed accidentally may find safety.
But if the killer has struck someone with an iron object or with a stone or wooden instrument and has killed that person, he is a murderer and must be put to death.
The dead person’s nearest relative must put the murderer to death. When he finds him, he must kill him.
If someone hates another person and causes his death by pushing him down,
throwing something at him, or hitting him with a fist, he is a murderer and must be put to death. The deceased person’s closest relative is responsible for executing him when they find him.
However, if someone unintentionally kills a person he does not hate—whether by pushing, throwing something at him,
or, without looking, throwing a stone that results in death—
the community shall judge in favor of the person who caused the death rather than the family member seeking revenge.
They will send the person who killed accidentally back to the city of refuge where he fled for safety, where he must stay until the death of the high priest.
If the killer should leave the city of refuge to which he had gone for safety
and the dead person’s nearest relative meets him outside the city of refuge, the relative may kill him without fear of punishment
since the killer should stay in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. Only after the high priest’s death is he free to return to his own home.
These regulations are for you and your descendants wherever you may be.
In case of murder, the accused may be found guilty and put to death only on the evidence of two or more witnesses; the evidence of only one witness is not enough to uphold an accusation of murder.
You shall not accept payment to save the life of a murderer condemned to death; he must die.
Nor are you to accept payment from anyone who wishes to leave his city of refuge to return and live in his own home before the death of the high priest.
You must not defile the land you live in. Murder defiles the land, and there is no other atonement for the land where blood has been shed than through the blood of the murderer.
You must not defile the land you live in, where I live; for I, the Lord, live among the people of Israel.”
Commentaries
Levitical Cities.
The only tribe that did not receive a territory was the tribe of Levi. The religious explanation is that their inheritance was the Lord himself, as their role was solely religious. However, by thinking ahead to the physical space the Levites would occupy, this law requires each Israelite to give a portion of their inheritance to the Levites. Serving the Lord does not eliminate the need for a space of one’s own for oneself and one’s family.
Cities of Refuge.
Verse 35:6 mandated the surrender of six cities to the Levites from the forty-eight that the entire Israelite community was to give to this tribe; here, the issue is expanded and regulated. The law of retaliation is at stake: to take the life of someone who has taken a life. The rule is designed to protect those who, without intent or fault, have killed another person.
What is striking is that the murderer had to stay in one of those cities until the death of the high priest (25:28). This figure became so revered that, when a condemned man was taken to the place of execution, if by chance the high priest crossed his path, he was immediately pardoned. The same happened on the day the high priest died: pardons were granted, sentences were reduced, and sins were forgiven, among other things. Verses 30-34 suggest that it was possible to redeem the life of a murderer, a custom found in ancient Hittite society.
Israel has recognized the law of blood since ancient times: to kill anyone who has killed, a duty performed by the closest relative of the victim. This later legislation moderates this custom somewhat and also establishes a formal trial process that could result in a death sentence for the offender or allow him to flee to a city of refuge without the possibility of ransom. Why could he not be ransomed? Because he had shed blood, and blood could only be atoned for with blood. Refuge was a mercy granted to the offender, who had to stay there but could be killed by the avenger if found outside the city of refuge, in which case it was not considered a crime (27).