Numbers 35: Summary and Commentary

Verse 1

35:1-34 The tribe of Levi received no territory, so ch 35 describes their allotment of 48 towns dispersed among the territories of Israel’s other tribes (see Josh 21; see also Lev 25:32-34; 1 Chr 13:2; 2 Chr 11:14). Just as the Levites had lived in the center of the Israelite camp during the wilderness period (cp. Num 2:17), in the Promised Land they were to live among the other tribes and have a leavening influence among them (see Deut 33:9-10; 2 Chr 17:7-9; 19:8-11; 35:3). The cities and their surrounding pastureland were not a “homeland” (cp. Num 18:23; 26:62) but only a tiny fraction of the Canaanite territory dispersed among the other tribes.

Verse 4

35:4-5 Readers have long attempted to explain the alleged contradiction between the 1,500 feet and the 3,000 feet. If the Hebrews conceived of a town as a fixed point, then the square of territory around each town would measure 3,000 feet on each side. Another solution is to see a distinction between pastureland (35:4) and larger pastureland (35:5) around the town. On the basis of this text, some Jewish interpreters restricted the distance that one could walk on the Sabbath to 3,000 feet (2,000 cubits) from home.

Verse 6

35:6-34 Six of the Levites’ towns had a special purpose as cities of refuge, places where a person who has accidentally killed someone can flee for safety. This unusual institution illustrates the humanitarian aspect of Hebrew law (see also Deut 4:41-43; 19:1-13; Josh 20). These six Levitical towns provided a safe haven in cases of accidental or involuntary manslaughter (cp. Exod 21:12-14). Just as the forty-eight Levite towns were widely distributed across Israel’s territories, the six cities of refuge were dispersed so they would be widely accessible (see Josh 20:7-8). These designated settlements supplemented the role of the altar as a temporary place of asylum (e.g., 1 Kgs 1:50-53; 2:28-34; cp. Exod 21:14). Other ancient peoples provided special places of asylum or refuge, often at the altar (see Exod 21:12-14; 1 Kgs 2:28-34), but only ancient Israel established whole settlements as places of sanctuary, reflecting a special interest in social justice.

Verse 12

35:12 protection from a dead person’s relatives who want to avenge the death: Justice was enacted through vengeance at the hand of a designated avenger, usually a relative.

Verse 15

35:15-24 The Old Testament makes a clear distinction between deliberate murder and involuntary manslaughter (35:11, 22-23; Exod 21:12-14; cp. Num 15:22-31). Murder required a penalty of execution, but an accidental death did not. The cities of refuge provided protection only for those who killed another person by accident. • The use of a weapon was proof of malicious intent.

35:15 Israelites, foreigners living among you, and traveling merchants. Anyone: The same law applied impartially to everyone; Israel had one standard of justice, not two (one for citizens, another for noncitizens), as in many societies (see also Lev 19:15; Deut 1:16-17; 1 Tim 5:21; Jas 2:2-4).

Verse 19

35:19 The avenger was the victim’s closest relative; he was responsible for putting the murderer to death, carrying out the vengeance that justice required (Gen 9:6).

Verse 22

35:22-23 Here are some instances in which a victim died but was not murdered through an intentional act of violence. The cities of refuge were created as places of safety for people who were responsible for such accidental deaths.

Verse 24

35:24-25 If the slayer was cleared of the murder charge in his trial or hearing before the community (cp. Deut 19:11-12), he had to remain in the city of refuge to which he fled, and the avenger was not supposed to seek revenge, because the slayer was not guilty of murder. • until the death of the high priest: The priest’s death probably provided a kind of expiation for the blood that had been shed; even though the slayer was innocent of murder, human bloodshed had polluted the land (Num 35:33; cp. Gen 4:10-11).

Verse 26

35:26-29 The slayer still suffered a penalty for the death he had caused since he was restricted to a city of refuge until he or the high priest died. But after the death of the high priest, the slayer was free to return to his own home, and the avenger was not to seek revenge.

Verse 30

35:30 All murderers were condemned to death, but their conviction required a high standard of evidence—the testimony of two or more witnesses (cp. Deut 17:6; 19:15).

Verse 31

35:31-32 The payment of a ransom (monetary compensation) to free a convicted murderer from execution was prohibited, since the death penalty was required (cp. 2 Sam 21:2-9). Similarly, the slayer in an involuntary manslaughter could not pay a ransom to get around his confinement in a city of refuge.

Verse 33

35:33 for murder pollutes the land: If the slayer in either a homicide or involuntary manslaughter were not dealt with as commanded, God regarded the land as polluted, because human bloodshed required death (Gen 4:10-11; 9:6; contrast Exod 21:29-30; see also Lev 18:28; Ezek 36:17-18; Hos 4:2-3). In its stern warning about the evil of murder, this entire passage highlights the absolute value of human life (Exod 20:13).

Verse 34

35:34 The Lord lived among the people of Israel even as the Tabernacle stood in the middle of the Hebrew camp (see chs 1–4). This meant that they must not defile their land by ignoring God’s commands or by failing to uphold justice (cp. 5:1-4).

Verse 6

CITIES OF REFUGE. (Num 35:6-8)

there shall be six cities for refuge, which ye shall appoint for the manslayer—The establishment of those privileged sanctuaries among the cities of the Levites is probably traceable to the idea, that they would be the most suitable and impartial judges—that their presence and counsels might calm or restrain the stormy passions of the blood avenger—and that, from their being invested with the sacred character, they might be types of Christ, in whom sinners find a refuge from the destroyer (see Deu 4:43; Jos 20:8).

Verse 8

the cities which ye shall give shall be of the possession of the children of Israel—The burden of furnishing those places for the residence and support of the Levitical order was to fall in equitable proportions upon the different tribes (see Num 33:54; Jos 20:7).

Verse 11

THE BLOOD AVENGER. (Num. 35:9-34)

that the slayer may flee thither, which killeth any person at unawares—The practice of Goelism, that is, of the nearest relation of an individual who was killed being bound to demand satisfaction from the author of his death, existed from a very remote antiquity (Gen 4:14; Gen 27:45). It seems to have been an established usage in the age of Moses; and although in a rude and imperfect state of society, it is a natural and intelligible principle of criminal jurisprudence, it is liable to many great abuses; the chief of the evils inseparable from it is that the kinsman, who is bound in duty and honor to execute justice, will often be precipitate—little disposed, in the heat of passion or under the impulse of revenge, to examine into the circumstances of the case, to discriminate between the premeditated purpose of the assassin and the misfortune of the unintentional homicide. Moreover, it had a tendency, not only to foster a vindictive spirit, but in case of the Goel being unsuccessful in finding his victim, to transmit animosities and feuds against his descendants from one generation to another. This is exemplified among the Arabs in the present day. Should an Arab of one tribe happen to kill one of another tribe, there is "blood" between the tribes, and the stain can only be wiped out by the death of some individual of the tribe with which the offense originated. Sometimes the penalty is commuted by the payment of a stipulated number of sheep or camels. But such an equivalent, though offered, is as often refused, and blood has to be repaid only by blood. This practice of Goelism obtained among the Hebrews to such an extent that it was not perhaps expedient to abolish it; and Moses, while sanctioning its continuance, was directed, by divine authority, to make some special regulations, which tended both to prevent the unhappy consequences of sudden and personal vengeance, and, at the same time, to afford an accused person time and means of proving his innocence. This was the humane and equitable end contemplated in the institution of cities of refuge. There were to be six of these legalized asyla, three on the east of Jordan, both because the territory there was equal in length, though not in breadth, to Canaan, and because it might be more convenient for some to take refuge across the border. They were appointed for the benefit, not of the native Israelites only, but of all resident strangers.

Verse 16

If he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, &c.—Various cases are here enumerated in which the Goel or avenger was at liberty to take the life of the murderer; and every one of them proves a premeditated purpose.

Verse 22

But if he thrust him suddenly without enmity, or have cast upon him any thing without laying of wait, &c.—Under the excitement of a sudden provocation, or violent passion, an injury might be inflicted issuing in death; and for a person who had thus undesignedly committed slaughter, the Levitical cities offered the benefit of full protection. Once having reached the nearest, for one or other of them was within a day's journey of all parts of the land, he was secure. But he had to "abide in it." His confinement within its walls was a wise and salutary rule, designed to show the sanctity of human blood in God's sight, as well as to protect the manslayer himself, whose presence and intercourse in society might have provoked the passions of the deceased's relatives. But the period of his release from this confinement was not until the death of the high priest. That was a season of public affliction, when private sorrows were sunk or overlooked under a sense of the national calamity, and when the death of so eminent a servant of God naturally led all to serious consideration about their own mortality. The moment, however, that the refugee broke through the restraints of his confinement and ventured beyond the precincts of the asylum, he forfeited the privilege, and, if he was discovered by his pursuer, he might be slain with impunity.

Verse 29

these things shall be for a statute of judgment unto you throughout your generations—The law of the blood-avenger, as thus established by divine authority, was a vast improvement on the ancient practice of Goelism. By the appointment of cities of refuge, the manslayer was saved, in the meantime, from the blind and impetuous fury of vindictive relatives; but he might be tried by the local court, and, if proved guilty on sufficient evidence, condemned and punished as a murderer, without the possibility of deliverance by any pecuniary satisfaction. The enactment of Moses, which was an adaptation to the character and usages of the Hebrew people, secured the double advantage of promoting the ends both of humanity and of justice.

Next: Numbers Chapter 36