2 Say to the children of Israel, Let certain towns be marked out as safe places, as I said to you by the mouth of Moses,
And the towns which you give the Levites are to be the six safe places to which the taker of life may go in flight; and in addition you are to give them forty-two towns.
Then Moses had three towns marked out on the far side of Jordan looking to the east; To which anyone causing the death of his neighbour in error and not through hate, might go in flight; so that in one of these towns he might be kept from death: The names of the towns were Bezer in the waste land, in the table-land, for the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan for Manasseh.
Then let certain towns be marked out as safe places to which anyone who takes the life of another in error may go in flight. In these towns you may be safe from him who has the right of punishment; so that death may not overtake the taker of life till he has been judged by the meeting of the people. Six of the towns which you give will be such safe places; Three on the other side of Jordan and three in the land of Canaan, to be safe places for flight. For the children of Israel and for the man from another country who is living among them, these six towns are to be safe places, where anyone causing the death of another through error may go in flight. But if a man gives another man a blow with an iron instrument, causing his death, he is a taker of life and is certainly to be put to death. Or if he gives him a blow with a stone in his hand, causing his death, he is a taker of life and is certainly to be put to death. Or if he gave him blows with a wood instrument in his hands, causing his death, he is a taker of life and is certainly to be put to death. He whose right it is to give punishment for blood, may himself put to death the taker of life when he comes face to face with him. If in his hate he put a sword through him, or waiting secretly for him sent a spear or stone at him, causing his death; Or in hate gave him blows with his hand, causing death; he who gave the death-blow is to be put to death; he is a taker of life: he whose right it is to give punishment for blood may put to death the taker of life when he comes face to face with him. But if a man has given a wound to another suddenly and not in hate, or without design has sent something against him, Or has given him a blow with a stone, without seeing him, so causing his death, though he had nothing against him and no desire to do him evil: Then let the meeting of the people be judge between the man responsible for the death and him who has the right of punishment for blood, acting by these rules:
You are to have three towns marked out in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage. You are to make ready a way, and see that the land which the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage, is marked out into three parts, to which any taker of life may go in flight. This is to be the rule for anyone who goes in flight there, after causing the death of his neighbour in error and not through hate; For example, if a man goes into the woods with his neighbour for the purpose of cutting down trees, and when he takes his axe to give a blow to the tree, the head of the axe comes off, and falling on to his neighbour gives him a wound causing his death; then the man may go in flight to one of these towns and be safe: For if not, he who has the right of punishment may go running after the taker of life in the heat of his wrath, and overtake him because the way is long, and give him a death-blow; though it is not right for him to be put to death because he was not moved by hate. And so I am ordering you to see that three towns are marked out for this purpose. And if the Lord your God makes wide the limits of your land, as he said in his oath to your fathers, and gives you all the land which he undertook to give to your fathers; If you keep and do all these orders which I give you today, loving the Lord your God and walking ever in his ways; then let three more towns, in addition to these three, be marked out for you: So that in all your land, which the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage, no man may be wrongly put to death, for which you will be responsible. But if any man has hate for his neighbour, and waiting for him secretly makes an attack on him and gives him a blow causing his death, and then goes in flight to one of these towns; The responsible men of his town are to send and take him, and give him up to the one who has the right of punishment to be put to death. Have no pity on him, so that Israel may be clear from the crime of putting a man to death without cause, and it will be well for you.
But if he had no evil purpose against him, and God gave him into his hand, I will give you a place to which he may go in flight. But if a man makes an attack on his neighbour on purpose, to put him to death by deceit, you are to take him from my altar and put him to death.
Who will say anything against the saints of God? It is God who makes us clear from evil; Who will give a decision against us? It is Christ Jesus who not only was put to death, but came again from the dead, who is now at the right hand of God, taking our part.
So that we, who have gone in flight from danger to the hope which has been put before us, may have a strong comfort in two unchanging things, in which it is not possible for God to be false; And this hope is like a strong band for our souls, fixed and certain, and going in to that which is inside the veil;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Joshua 20
Commentary on Joshua 20 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
After the distribution of the land by lot among the tribes of Israel, six towns were set apart, in accordance with the Mosaic instructions in Num 35, as places of refuge for unintentional manslayers. Before describing the appointment and setting apart of these towns, the writer repeats in Joshua 20:1-6 the main points of the Mosaic law contained in Num 35:9-29 and Deuteronomy 19:1-13, with reference to the reception of the manslayers into these towns. לכם תּנוּ , “ give to you ,” i.e., appoint for yourselves, “ cities of refuge ,” etc. In Joshua 20:6, the two regulations, “ until he stand before the congregation for judgment ,” and “ until the death of the high priest ,” are to be understood, in accordance with the clear explanation given in Numbers 35:24-25, as meaning that the manslayer was to live in the town till the congregation had pronounced judgment upon the matter, and either given him up to the avenger of blood as a wilful murderer, or taken him back to the city of refuge as an unintentional manslayer, in which case he was to remain there till the death of the existing high priest. For further particulars, see at Num 35.
List of the cites: Levitical cities were chosen, for the reasons explained in the Commentary on the Pentateuch.
Joshua 20:7
In the land on this side (viz., Canaan) they sanctified the following cities. In the north , Kedesh (see at Joshua 12:22), in Galil , on the mountains of Naphtali. Galil (a circle) was a district in the northern part of the subsequent province of Galilee; it is called הגּוים גּליל , circle of the heathen, in Isaiah 9:1, because an unusually large number of heathen or Gentiles were living there. In the centre of the land, Shechem , upon the mountains of Ephraim (see at Joshua 17:7). And in the south, Kirjath-arba , i.e., Hebron, upon the mountains of Judah (see at Joshua 10:3).
Joshua 20:8-9
The cities in the land on the other side had already been appointed by Moses (Deuteronomy 4:41-43). For the sake of completeness, they are mentioned here again: viz., Bezer , Ramoth in Gilead , and Golan (see at Deuteronomy 4:43). The subject is brought to a close in Joshua 20:9. המּוּעדה ערי signifies neither urbes congregationis ( Kimchi ) nor urbes asyli ( Gesenius ), but cities of appointment, - those which received the appointment already given and repeated again in what follows.