Numbers 35

Numbers 35 appears near the end of the book of Numbers. It contains some of the ordinances Israel received before entering Canaan. Numbers 34 set the boundaries of the land of Canaan and appointed the leaders responsible for dividing it. This chapter goes on to address where the Levites, who receive no land as an inheritance, are to live, and sets out regulations for handling cases of homicide.

Outline

• Verses 1–8: From their inheritance (the land allotted to them), the tribes are to give the Levites a total of forty-eight cities, together with pasturelands extending two thousand cubits on every side outside the city walls. Six of these cities are to be cities of refuge. Tribes that received more land are to give more cities, and those that received less are to give fewer.
• Verses 9–15: Six cities of refuge are designated, three east of the Jordan River and three in the land of Canaan. A person who has killed someone "at unawares" (unintentionally) may flee there. The protection extends not only to the children of Israel but also to the stranger and the sojourner (one residing among them).
• Verses 16–21: Anyone who strikes and kills a person with an instrument of iron, stone, or wood, or out of hatred or enmity, is regarded as a murderer (one who has killed intentionally) and shall surely be put to death. The sentence is carried out by the revenger of blood (the avenger).
• Verses 22–29: If someone kills another by chance and without enmity, the congregation is to judge the case and restore him to the city of refuge. He is to remain there until the death of the high priest. If he goes beyond the border of the city of refuge, he forfeits its protection.
• Verses 30–34: No one is to be put to death on the testimony of a single witness. No satisfaction (money paid in place of a life) is to be accepted either for a murderer or for one who has fled to a city of refuge, because blood defiles the land in which the Lord dwells.

Key Verses

• Numbers 35:11 "that the slayer may flee thither, which killeth any person at unawares" — States the purpose of the cities of refuge, which distinguish between intentional and accidental killing.
• Numbers 35:25 "he shall abide in it unto the death of the high priest" — Links the time when the one who fled may return home to the death of the high priest.
• Numbers 35:33 "the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it" — The chapter's conclusion concerning life and the holiness of the land.

People and Places

• Moses: Receives the Lord's commands and delivers them to the people.
• The plains of Moab: The plains by the Jordan opposite Jericho, which form the setting of this chapter.
• The revenger of blood: A close relative of the person who was killed. In Hebrew he is called the go'el, the same word used for the kinsman-redeemer.

Points for Reflection

• The names of the six cities of refuge do not appear in this chapter. They are designated in Joshua 20, and Deuteronomy 19 also addresses the same system.
• A traditional interpretation reads the fugitive's release upon the death of the high priest as a type (a picture foreshadowing what is to come) of the death of Christ. Another interpretation connects the words "who have fled for refuge" in Hebrews 6:18 with the cities of refuge. The text itself, however, does not state either of these directly.
• The principle of two witnesses carries forward into Matthew 18:16 and 2 Corinthians 13:1. Verses 31 and 33 are cited in discussions of capital punishment and the church, though views differ on how they should be applied to present-day law.

In the Korean Church

The cities of refuge are a frequent sermon theme, used to illustrate Christ as the refuge to which sinners may flee.