The Pulpit Commentary — Joshua — Section 346

HOMILIES BY VARIOUI:: AUTHORS. Ver. 1-Cities of refuge. The institution of cities of refuge interests us as at once an admi.1'11ble instance of the spirit of the Mosaic legislation, and as an a1Tangement of gracious wisdom. In the absence of courts of law and any sufficient arrange- ment for the administration of justice, 11 system has uniformly arisen in all primitive tribes, and is found in many places to-day, of charging the nearest male relative with the duty of putting to death the murderer of his kinsman. The Ven- detta, as it is termed, is still practised among the Arab tribes, und even sunives vigorously in the island of Corsica. By it there was always a judge and ane:i:ecutive wherever there was a crime. And doubtless such a custom e:i:ercised a highly deterrent influence. At the same time a rough and ready system of punishment like this was incapable of being applied with that discrimination essentially necessai·y to justice. In the heat of revenge, or in the excitement and danger incident to what was regarded as the discharge of a kinsman's duty, men would often not inquire whether the death was the result of accident or of intention. It might chance that none bewailed the death more tlmn him who committed it. But the rude law left the responsible kinsman no alternative. The one who slew might be his own relative, it might be that a blow of angei·, not meant to kill, or some sheer accident, too~ awRy the life of one dear to him who struck the blow, or was the unhappy cause of the accident. But where blood had been shed, blood was to be shed. And so one fault and one bereavement not infrequently involved the co~iss~on of a gre~ter fault, and the experience of a greater bereavement. In this position of things Moses stepped in. And in the legislation he gave on the subject there is much that is worthy of notice. I. Observe, WHAT HE DID NOT PRESCRIBE, The payment of "damages" fo_r a death inflicted has been a form in which the severity of these rules for the pumsh- ment of a murder has been mitigated. In Sa:i:on times in England, blood-1:1oney was continually offered and taken. In many other lands a fin_e bas been laid on. the murderer for the benefit of his family. The Kornn permits such a compe_nsat10n; and to-day, in some Arab tribes, a man may escape the penalty of m~u·der if he can pay the fine which oustom prescribes. But th?ugh such an alternative must have been familiar to Moses, it is not adopted by him, On the contrary, he expressly  204 THE BOOK OF JOSlIU A. [en. xx. 1-!l.