Cities of Refuge
1 Then the LORD spoke to Joshua, 2 “Tell the Israelites: Select your cities of refuge, as I instructed you through Moses, b 3 so that a person who kills someone unintentionally or accidentally may flee there. These will be your refuge from the avenger of blood. c 4 When someone flees to one of these cities, stands at the entrance of the city gate, and states his case before the elders of that city, they are to bring him into the city and give him a place to live among them. d 5 And if the avenger of blood pursues him, they must not hand the one who committed manslaughter over to him, for he killed his neighbor accidentally and did not hate him beforehand. 6 He is to stay in that city until he stands trial before the assembly and until the death of the high priest serving at that time. e Then the one who committed manslaughter may return home to his own city from which he fled.”
7 So they designated Kedesh in the hill country of Naphtali in Galilee, f Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah. g 8 Across the Jordan east of Jericho, they selected Bezer on the wilderness plateau from Reuben’s tribe, Ramoth in Gilead from Gad’s tribe, and Golan in Bashan from Manasseh’s tribe.
9 These are the cities appointed for all the Israelites and the aliens residing among them, h so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there and not die at the hand of the avenger of blood until he stands before the assembly.
C. Cities of refuge and Levitical towns (20:1–21:45). 20:1–6. With the entire land allotted to all the tribes, the Lord then gives further instructions to Joshua regarding cities of refuge (20:1–9; see also Ex 21:12–13; Nm 35:6–33; Dt 19:1–13). These are essentially centers of asylum where individuals who have unintentionally killed another can go and seek protection from avengers. Ancient Israel allowed blood vengeance: a close relative of a murder victim could seek the life of the victim’s killer without such an act of vengeance being considered murder (cf. Nm 35:16–21, 27). But the law also distinguishes between premeditated murder and unintentional manslaughter; only those guilty of the former deserve death (Nm 35:16–25; Dt 19:4–6, 11–13). Thus, cities of refuge are established primarily to ensure that those guilty of unintentional manslaughter will not be undeservedly killed, so that the land will not be polluted by unnecessary bloodshed (Dt 19:10).
20:7–9. So, the Israelites set aside six towns as cities of refuge, as the Lord instructed. In accordance with Nm 35:6, 9–15, all six are Levitical towns (cf. 21:11–13, 21, 27, 32, 36, 38), with three located west of the Jordan (Kedesh, Shechem, and Hebron; 20:7) and three in the east (Bezer, Ramoth in Gilead, and Golan; 20:8). The cities are equally spread out on each side of the Jordan, with two in the north (Kedesh and Golan), two in the central region (Shechem and Ramoth in Gilead), and two in the south (Hebron and Bezer), to ensure sufficiently easy access throughout the land.