Cities of Refuge

Biblical Texts

Exodus 21:13 states that God will appoint a place to which a person who kills another without intent may flee. Exodus 21:14 directs that one who kills deliberately is to be taken even from the altar.

The detailed regulations for the institution appear in Numbers 35:9-34.

• Three cities are to be set apart east of the Jordan and three in the land of Canaan.
• The six cities are included among the forty-eight towns given to the Levites (Numbers 35:6-7).
• The one who flees is to be judged by the congregation. If the killing is found to have been unintentional, the person remains in the city until the death of the high priest then serving and afterward returns home (Numbers 35:25-28).
• One who kills deliberately is to be put to death on the testimony of two or more witnesses, and no ransom (a payment in place of a life) may be accepted to spare him (Numbers 35:30-31).

Deuteronomy 4:41-43 records that Moses set apart three cities east of the Jordan: Bezer for the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead for the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan for the tribe of Manasseh. Deuteronomy 19:1-13 commands that roads to the cities of refuge be prepared and that the land be divided into three parts. The same passage offers, as an example of accidental killing, the case of a man cutting wood whose axe head slips from the handle and kills his neighbor.

In Joshua 20, three cities west of the Jordan are set apart: Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kirjath-arba, which is Hebron, in the hill country of Judah. The same chapter also reconfirms the three eastern cities. The one who fled was to state his case to the elders at the entrance of the city gate (Joshua 20:4).

Background

In ancient Israel, the near kinsman of a victim bore responsibility for avenging the blood of the dead. The Korean Revised Version renders this person as "the one who avenges blood" (KJV: "revenger of blood" or "avenger of blood"). The Hebrew word behind "avenger," go'el, is the same term used for the kinsman-redeemer.

The cities of refuge served to keep this custom from leading to vengeance without regard to whether a killing was intentional or accidental, and to ensure that a trial took place. In Hebrew the institution is expressed with the word miqlat, meaning "refuge." Numbers 35:33-34 grounds the institution in the principle that bloodshed pollutes the land. The six cities were distributed evenly on both sides of the Jordan River, although scholars differ on the exact locations of Bezer, Golan, and others.

1 Kings 1:50 and 2:28 describe Adonijah and Joab taking hold of the horns of the altar. These accounts illustrate the custom of seeking refuge at the altar, which is distinct from the institution of the cities of refuge.

Significance in the Whole of Scripture

The New Testament does not mention the cities of refuge directly. Many interpreters, however, read the phrase "we ... who have fled for refuge" in Hebrews 6:18 as an allusion to them. Some also connect the provision that the fugitive is freed only upon the death of the high priest with the death of Christ, who is the High Priest.

Interpretation and Debated Questions

• Typological reading: Reformed and evangelical preaching traditions often read the cities of refuge as a type of Jesus Christ, that is, a shadow that prefigures him. Other interpreters regard the primary purpose of the text as legal and social and caution against excessive allegorical interpretation.
• The death of the high priest: The text does not explain why the death of the high priest marks the time of return. Some see in it an atoning significance; others regard it as the point at which an era ends and a general amnesty takes effect.
• Actual practice: The later historical books contain almost no accounts of the cities of refuge in operation. Scholars therefore disagree about the extent to which the institution was actually implemented.
• Later embellishments: A widely repeated account holds that signs reading "Refuge" were posted at crossroads and that the roads were kept in repair. This is known to come not from the biblical text but from later Jewish tradition such as the Mishnah and Talmud. Sermons also commonly interpret the names of the six cities as meaning "holy," "shoulder," "fellowship," and so on, linking them to the character of Christ. This is not, however, what the text itself says, and the etymologies are disputed.
• Capital punishment debates: Numbers 35:31, which forbids accepting ransom for deliberate murder, is sometimes cited in discussions of capital punishment and the church.

In the Korean Church

Korean church preaching commonly interprets the cities of refuge as a picture of Christ, the place to which sinners may flee, or of the church community that receives those who have been wounded.