Numbers 35:15
Ver. 15. These six cities shall be a refuge both for the children of Israel and for the stranger,.... For an Israelite, and a proselyte of righteousness, one that embraced the Jewish religion, and in all things conformed to it, and to whom there was but one law in things civil and religious: and for the sojourner among you; the proselyte of the gate, who renounced idolatry, and observed the commands of the sons of Noah, but in other things did not comply with the Jewish ceremonies, yet had the benefit of the cities of refuge equally with the other; though the Jews say {p}, such a proselyte or sojourner had only this privilege, who slew a proselyte, but not if he slew an Israelite; but for this distinction there is no foundation in the text:that everyone that killeth any person unawares may flee thither; whether an Israelite, or a proselyte of righteousness or of the gate.{p} Misn. Maccot, c. 2. sect. 3. Numbers 35:16Ver. 16. And if he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die,.... As with an hatchet, hammer, sword, knife, &c.he is a murderer; the instrument used by him, and with which he smote, shows that he had a bad design, and intended to kill, or he would never have smitten a man with such an instrument:the murderer shall surely be put to death; be condemned to death, and be executed, by the order of the civil magistrate, according to the law in Ge 9:6 and not be allowed the benefit of a city of refuge. Numbers 35:17Ver. 17. And if he smite him with throwing a stone,.... "Or with a stone of the hand" {q}, which the Jews interpret of a stone so big as to fill a man's hand, and sowherewith he may die; at whom it is thrown; is sufficient to cause his death, if struck with it; so the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases it of a"stone of fulness of hands, which is sufficient that a man may die with it,''or be killed by it:and he die; by the blow he receives from it, either immediately or in a short time after:he is a murderer, and the murderer shall surely be put to death; as in the above case.{q} dy Nbab. Numbers 35:18Ver. 18. Or if he smote him with an hand weapon of wood,.... A stick, or staff, or club:wherewith he may die, and he die; which is sufficient to kill a man, as the same Targum explains it; and a man dies with the blow that is given him by it:he is a murderer, and the murderer shall surely be put to death; no pardon given him, or the benefit of the city of refuge allowed him. Numbers 35:19Ver. 19. The revenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer,.... Not only shall have power to do it, but, as it seems, should be obliged to do it; be the executioner of the murderer; but not before his case has been heard, examined, tried, and judged; wherefore the Targum of Jonathan adds,"in judgment,''that is, as Onkelos explains it,"when he is condemned by judgment,''the court of judicature:when he meeteth him he shall slay him; the first opportunity he has, even though, as Jarchi says, if he meets him in the midst of one of the cities of refuge, and no judgment is passed on him. Numbers 35:20Ver. 20. But if he thrust him of hatred,.... Or, "and if" {r}, since the Scripture is still speaking of such that shall die for murder, though in another instance, without having the privilege of a city of refuge; if he thrusts him with a sword or knife, or rather, since, if anything of that kind is included in the first instance of smiting with an instrument of iron, push him down from an high place, as Aben Ezra; so the men of Nazareth intended to have dispatched Christ in that way, Lu 4:29or hurl at him by lying in wait, that he die; as a bowing wall, as the same writer instances in, push down that upon him as he passes along, lying in wait for him; or throws anything at him, with an intention to kill him, and does; or casts down anything upon him, a large stone, or anything else, by which he dies.{r} Maw "et si", Pagninus, Montanus. Numbers 35:21Ver. 21. Or in enmity smite him with his hand, that he die,.... Give him a blow with his fist, on some part of his body where life is most in danger, and which issues in death:he that smote him shall surely be put to death, for he is a murderer; and therefore, according to the original law, ought to die, without reprieve or pardon; and notwithstanding this law made for cities of refuge, which were to be denied him:the revenger of blood shall slay the murderer when he meeteth him: that is, when he is condemned, as both the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan interpret it, after a hearing and trial of his case. Numbers 35:22Ver. 22. But if he thrust him suddenly, without enmity,.... Push him from a precipice, before he is aware, without any malicious design against his life, but merely through accident:or have cast upon him anything; from the top of a house, or from a building he is pulling down, or pushes a bowing wall upon him, not knowing that he is passing by it:and without lying of wait: or having contrived to do it, just as he goes along, or in any other similar way. Numbers 35:23Ver. 23. Or with any stone wherewith a man may die,.... Which is sufficient to kill a man, if thrown at him:seeing him not; and so without intention: the Jews {s} from hence gather, that a blind man is to be acquitted and dismissed, and not banished and so stands in no need of a city of refuge; though others say he is to be banished, and needs it, and ought to have the privilege of it:and cast it upon him that he die; casting, it upon another account, and with another view, but yet falling upon a man, it kills him;and was not his enemy, neither sought him harm; it was never known that they were at variance, or that the slayer had ever by any overt act discovered any malice and enmity against the deceased, by word or deed, or ever sought to do him any injury, either to his person or property.{s} Misn. Maccot, c. 2. sect. 3. Numbers 35:24Ver. 24. Then the congregation,.... That is, the court of judicature, assembled together to hear and try this cause:shall judge between the slayer and the revenger of blood; shall hear what both have to say, and pass sentence:according to these judgments; these judicial laws and rules of judgment before delivered, exemplified in various cases. Numbers 35:25Ver. 25. And the congregation shall deliver the slayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood,.... Put him under the care of proper persons, to conduct him to one of the cities of refuge, or put him in the way to it; and restrain the avenger of blood from pursuing him, until such time that it may be judged he is safe arrived there:and the congregation shall restore him to the city of refuge, whither he was fled; so that it seems by this, when one had been guilty of manslaughter, and fled to one of the cities of refuge, he might be taken from thence and had before a court of justice, and there take his trial; and if it appeared that the fact was committed by him, ignorantly, unawares, and without design, then he was returned to his city of refuge; but, if otherwise, he was put to death, notwithstanding he had fled thither; and so it is said in the Misnah {t}, that"at first, or formerly, one that killed another ignorantly or presumptuously, they sent him before to one of the cities of refuge, and the sanhedrim sent and fetched him from thence: he who was condemned to death by the court, they slew him; he that was not condemned was dismissed; he that was condemned to banishment they returned him to his place, according to Nu 35:25.''and he shall abide in it, unto the death of the high priest, which was anointed with the holy oil: and then he was to be set at liberty, and return to his house and family and have his former possessions and honours, if he had any, restored unto him, the commission or warrant for his detainer there ceasing, being made void by the death of the high priest; who was the prince of the priests and Levites, to whom those cities belonged, and so under his jurisdiction: or so it was ordered, because such was the general mourning for such a public loss as an high priest, that all private revenges would subside, and the cause of them be buried, in grief and forgetfulness; though, no doubt, this had a respect to something which will be hereafter taken notice of: the Jews say {u}, that the mothers of the priests used to supply with a sufficient quantity of food and raiment such who fled to the cities of refuge, that they might not pray for the death of their sons; and according to them, a man's case was very bad when there was no high priest; for so they write {w}"he whose cause is finished (or his case determined in a court of judicature), and there is no high priest; and he that slays an high priest, or an high priest slays another, he never goes out, no not so much as to bear testimony in any cause, and even in what the congregation has need of him, but there are his dwelling, his death, and his burial.''{t} Misn. Maccot. c. 2. sect. 6. {u} Misn. Maccot. c. 2. sect. 3. {w} Misn. Maccot, c. 2. sect. 7. Numbers 35:26Ver. 26. But if the slayer shall at any time come without the border of the city of his refuge,.... Which seems to be the three thousand cubits assigned to every city of the Levites, and so to the cities of refuge; and which, according to the Jewish writers, were a refuge, as the city itself; and it is said {x},"he, that kills a man there, is killed for him, but though the border is a refuge, the slayer does not dwell in it, as it is said. Nu 35:25, "he shall abide in it", but not in its borders:''whither he was fled; on account of manslaughter.{x} Maimon. Hilchot Rotzeach, c. 8. sect. 11. Misn. Maccot, c. 2. sect. 7. Numbers 35:27Ver. 27. And the revenger of blood find him without the borders of the city of his refuge,.... Without the suburbs, fields, and vineyards belonging to it:and the revenger of blood kill the slayer; being exasperated against him, and to avenge the blood of his relation on him:he shall not be guilty of blood; or be reckoned murderer, or die for it. Numbers 35:28Ver. 28. Because he should have remained in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest,.... Nothing could give him his liberty but his death; so that though this was a merciful provision made in such cases for such persons, and was a considerable benefit and privilege, yet it carried in it some appearance of a punishment; since such a person was confined within the boundaries of one of the cities of refuge as long as the high priest lived; and this was done to make persons cautious how they were any way accessory to the death of another, though without design:but after the death of the high priest the slayer shall return into the land of his possession; to that part of the land, and to that tribe to which he belonged, to his house and family, and to his possessions and inheritances, whatever he had, and to all the honours and privileges he before enjoyed, and under no danger from the avenger of blood henceforward: a custom somewhat like this has prevailed in some parts of Africa, as Leo Africanus {y} relates, that if a man happened to kill another, all the friends of the deceased conspired to kill him, but if they could not effect it, then the guilty person was proclaimed an exile from the city, for the whole space of seven years; and at the expiration of the whole seven years, when he returned from his exile, the chief men of the city invited him to a feast, and so he was restored to his liberty: temples, groves, altars, and statues, were common among other nations for asylums or refuges, but whole cities very rarely with the ancients; it seems there were some {z}.{y} Descriptio Africae, l. 2. p. 135, 136. {z} Vid. Marmor. Oxon. & Not. in ib. p. 25. & Rittershusium de Jure Asylorum, c. 2. Numbers 35:29Ver. 29. So these things shall be for a statute of judgment unto you,.... A judicial law, according to which they were to proceed in all the above cases:throughout your generations in all your dwellings; throughout all ages, as long as they dwelt in the land of Canaan, even unto the times of the Messiah, in whom the things figured hereby had their accomplishment: the cities of refuge were types of Christ: hence a divine person, even the Messiah, is often spoken of as the refuge of his people, Ps 9:9 with which compare Heb 6:18 these were places to flee to, as the word is rendered by the Greek version; to Christ sensible sinners flee for shelter and safety, which supposes danger in themselves from the law and justice of God; a sense of that danger which makes them flee from wrath to come; a view of Christ, as a place of refuge, and that no other but he will serve their purpose, and therefore make all the haste and speed they can unto him. The word properly signifies cities of gathering, or of reception. There was a gathering of the elect of God to Christ at his death; and there is another at effectual calling, which is an act of God's grace, and a distinguishing one, when souls gather to Christ as their Saviour for righteousness, peace, pardon, rest, and everlasting life; and when Christ receives them, though sinners, into his arms, and into his heart, and into open fellowship with him, so as to dwell in him, where they dwell pleasantly and safely; he receives them into his house here, and into heaven hereafter; and by, and in Christ, those that flee to him, and are received by him, are retained and preserved from Satan, law, hell and death. The cities of refuge were of God's appointing; so Christ, as a Saviour, and rock of refuge to his people, is appointed and foreordained of God; they were well known for refuges, as the Lord is in the places of Zion; they were open for all, at all times, as Christ is for all sinners, even the chief of sinners, Jews or Gentiles; they are all one in Christ, the Israelite, and the stranger and sojourner; all impediments were removed out of the way of them, and plain directions to them given, as are in the Gospel, and by the ministers of it; and there is always room in Christ for such that flee to him, as there was in those cities; and being in him, they are safe from the curse and condemnation of the law, from wrath to come, and from the second death; and their redemption and atonement, peace and reconciliation, liberty, life and salvation, are owing to the death of Christ, their high priest. Abendana {a} observes, that the death of the high priest atoned for the offence (of manslaughter), which was the reason the manslayer continued in the city of refuge till his death, and then was released: however, certain it is, that the death of Christ, our high priest, atones for every sin of those that flee to him, and by which they are reconciled to God. In some things there is a difference between these cities of refuge and Christ; they were six, he but one; they were for such only who shed blood ignorantly, he for such that were enemies to him, and lived in malice towards others, and guilty of the most enormous crimes: to be in these cities of refuge was a kind of exile and imprisonment, but they that are in Christ are freemen; it was possible that such might die that were in them, and at most were only delivered from temporal death, but they that flee to Christ for refuge are saved with an everlasting salvation.{a} Not. in Miclol Yophi in ver. 25. Numbers 35:30Ver. 30. Whoso killeth any person,.... Willingly, and through enmity and malice:the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of two witnesses; which is repeated partly to show, that this law concerning the cities of refuge was not designed to screen a murderer, who was guilty through malice prepense; and partly for the sake of what is added to it, that two witnesses are required in such a case, where a man's life is at stake, to prove the fact against him; which shows how careful the Lord is, and men should be, of the lives of his creatures, that no man suffer wrongfully; which is repeated again and again, that it might be observed, see De 17:6 but one witness shall not testify against any person, to cause him to die; which looks as if in other cases, in pecuniary matters, and the like, where life is not concerned, one witness may be sufficient; though it is always best and safest to have more if they can be had, that at the mouth of two or three witnesses everything may be established, De 19:15. Numbers 35:31Ver. 31. Moreover, ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer,.... Though he would give all his wealth and substance, all his estates and possessions, and whatever he is worth in the world; for all that a man has he will give for his life; but these are not to be taken, nor anything, and everything his friends may offer for him; all is to be rejected, the life of such a man is not to be saved on any consideration:which is guilty of death; as he is who kills a man willingly and purposely; but one may be guilty of killing another, and yet not be deserving of death, when it is done ignorantly and accidentally with respect to him, for which reason this clause is added: but he shall be surely put to death; by the order of the civil magistrate; and if this is not done either through want of evidence, or the fault of the judge, or the criminal clemency of the chief governor, God sooner or later will take vengeance on such a person. Numbers 35:32Ver. 32. Moreover, ye shall take no satisfaction for him that is fled to the city of his refuge,.... Though for killing a man unawares:that he should come again to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest; the high priest; such a man's liberty was not to be purchased with money, nor even his life to be bought off, should he be taken without his city; a great ransom could not deliver him from the avenger, because he was guilty of this law, which so wisely and mercifully provided for him; and consequently guilty also of great ingratitude to God, as well as of a breach of his law, and of disrespect to his high priest, under whom he was protected. Numbers 35:33Ver. 33. So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are,.... The land of Canaan, as it had been by the old inhabitants of it, by idolatry, adultery, and murder:for blood it defileth the land: the shedding of innocent blood defiles a nation, and the inhabitants of it, brings guilt thereon, and subjects to punishment:and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it; or "there can be no expiation" {b}, or "atonement made" for it in any other way; the blood of the murderer is required at his hands, and nothing short of it will satisfy law and justice, see Ge 9:6.{b} rpky al "non posset expiatio", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; to the same sense Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version. Numbers 35:34Ver. 34. Defile not therefore the land which ye shall inherit,.... By the commission of such atrocious crimes, or suffering them to go unpunished, or by taking a compensation for the life of the guilty person:wherein I dwell; which is added to strengthen the exhortation, and as giving a reason why care should be taken not to pollute it, because the Holy God dwells there; as he did in the tabernacle erected for him, and in such a peculiar manner as he did not in other lands:for I the Lord dwell among the children of Israel; he now dwelt among them as their God, and their King; his tent or tabernacle being pitched in the midst of the camps of Israel; and so he would continue to dwell among them when they were come to the land of Canaan, so long as they observed his laws, statutes, and ordinances; and therefore it behoved them to be careful that they did not pollute themselves and their land, and cause him to depart from them.
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