Join Us

“Your Refuge from the avenger of blood” (Josh. 20: 3)

Six cities - three each on the East and West of the Jordan River - were designated as places of protection for persons suspected of manslaughter. The six cities were among the 48 assigned to the Levites (Num. 35: 6-7). Joshua gives the names of these cities : “And they appointed Kedesh in Galilee in mount Naphtali, and Shechem in mount Ephraim, and Kirjatharba, which is Hebron, in the mountain of Judah. And on the other side Jordan by Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness upon the plain out of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh. These were the cities appointed for all the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them, that whosoever killeth any person at unawares might flee thither, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until he stood before the congregation” (Josh. 20: 7-9).

All the six designated cities were strategically located throughout the whole of Israel to enable the manslayer easy access to the nearest available refuge. On the Eastern sector, Golan was located in the north, Ramoth in the centre and Bezer to the south. Similarly, the Western cities of Kedesh, Shechem and Kirjatharba, which is Hebron, were likewise set north, centre and south respectively.

These cities served not only the Israelites, but all strangers living in the country (Deut. 19:1-10). The Lord also commanded that when the Israelites should multiply and enlarge their land, they should add three other cities of refuge. But this command was never fulfilled.

In ancient Israel, the duty of slaying the murderer rested upon the shoulder of the “go’el”, the nearest male next of kin: “The revenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer: when he meeteth him, he shall slay him” (Num. 35: 19). He owed it to the widow of the deceased, to other family members as well as to society. Murderers were not allowed to live, and there was no way to ransom them: “Moreover ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death: but he shall be surely put to death” (Num. 35: 31).

A distinction was made between slaying a man deliberately or unwittingly. The wilful murderer was to be killed under the law of retribution, while he “that killeth any person unawares” (Num. 35: 15) could find asylum in one of these cities of refuge - “And this is the case of the slayer, which shall flee thither, that he may live: Whoso killeth his neighbour ignorantly, whom he hated not in time past; As when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbour to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth from the helve, and lighteth upon his neighbour, that he die; he shall flee unto one of those cities, and live: Lest the avenger of the blood pursue the slayer, while his heart is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long, and slay him; whereas he was not worthy of death, inasmuch as he hated him not in time past” (Deut. 19: 4-6).

Thus, the cities of refuge were provided as a humane and equitable way out for the innocent manslayer. This gracious provision also helped to prevent abuses of revenge killings or animosities which might develop into a “blood-feud.” The manslayers could flee to these cities of asylum and live out their lives safe from the clutches of the avenger of blood.

It is emphasised that Israelites should exercise care that a slayer who killed ignorantly was within easy reach of a city of refuge. Everything was done to facilitate the flight of the manslayer, lest the avenger of blood i.e. the nearest kin, should overtake him “while his heart is hot” and smite him mortally “because the way is long” (Deut. 19: 6). It is said that cities of refuge were so arranged, that any man might reach one of them within half a day. The roads to the city of refuge were strictly preserved, every river was bridged, and every obstruction removed, so that the man who fled might find an easy passage to the city. Once a year, the elders went along the roads and saw to their order, so that nothing might impede the flight of any one, and cause him, through delay, to be overtaken and slain.

Viewing the cities of refuge as a parallel to the Gospel of Grace, C H Spurgeon commented: “How graciously do the promises of the Gospel remove stumbling blocks from the way! Where there were by-roads and turnings, there were fixed up hand-posts, with this inscription upon them – ‘To the city of refuge!’ This is the picture of the road to Christ. It is no roundabout road of the law; it is no obeying this, that, and the other; it is a straight road: ‘Believe, and live.’ It is a road so hard, that no self-righteous man can ever tread it, but so easy, that every sinner, who knows himself to be a sinner, may by it find his way to heaven … Only waste no time, loiter not by the way, for the avenger of blood is swift of foot; and it may be he is at your heels at this still hour of eventide.” (… to be continued)