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8.2.8.1 An accidental homicide is provided with a place to flee
(Exod. 21:13). Joshua set up six Cities of Refuge “as I instructed
you by the hand of Moses.” The fleeing killer was to stand at the
opening of the gate of the city, and the elders of that city would
bring him in. He would stay until he stood trial and thereafter until
the death of the high priest ( Josh. 20).8.2.8.2 As a killer flees to a city of refuge,^71 a blood avenger can
catch him and kill him without incurring bloodguilt. For this rea-
son, explains Deuteronomy, there should be three cities (Deut. 19:2–3),
and if Israel becomes enlarged, three more should be added (Deut.
19:8–9). Numbers calls for six cities of refuge, all from Levitical
towns, three in Transjordan and three in Canaan (Num. 35). Once
the killer reaches the city, the case is tried by “the community,” pos-
sibly the one in which the manslaughter occurred. If the judgment
is unintentional homicide, the community protects the unintentional
killer, putting him back in the city of refuge to which he fled (Num.
35:25–29). The homicide is either present at his trial and returned
to the city of refuge if judged an accidental killer (Num.) or stays
in the city while his trial is heard back home (Deut.).8.2.8.3 The elders of the town take the convicted murderer back
from the city of refuge and give him to the blood avenger. There
is to be no pity, because the issue is to purge bloodguilt from Israel
(Deut. 19:11–13). The accidental killer must stay in the city of refuge,
and the city serves as a kind of quarantine, keeping the blood pol-
lution that adheres to the homicide from settling in the land (Num.
35:25–27). The law warns Israel not to pollute the land (Num. 35:33),
and a blood avenger can kill an accidental homicide who leaves the
city. At the death of the high priest, the homicide can go home.
The passage does not say if the high priest of the town is meant or
only in the Temple (Num. 35:28).8.2.8.4 No ransom can be accepted for the life of a murderer (Num.
35:31), nor can ransom be taken to allow a murderer to flee to the
city of refuge (Num. 35:32). The reason given is that murder pol-
lutes the land, and only the death of the killer can expiate the blood
offthe land (Num. 35:33).(^71) Greenberg, “Asylum”; Rofé, “History of the Cities...”
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