Numbers · chapter 35 of 36
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Numbers 35 commands that the Levites be given forty-eight cities with their pasturelands, six of them cities of refuge. Someone who kills another without intent can flee to those cities to be tried and protected from the avenger of blood. A murderer, however, must die, provided there are at least two witnesses, because shed blood defiles the land where the Lord dwells.
The Levites received no territory of their own, because the Lord was their inheritance, but they needed places to live. Numbers 35 solves that problem and at the same time faces another: how to do justice when one person dies at another's hand. The chapter shows a justice that protects life, distinguishes intent from accident and reminds Israel that the land belongs to a holy God.
On the plains of Moab, by the Jordan, the Lord tells Moses that the Israelites are to give the Levites cities to live in from the inheritance of each tribe, with pastureland around them for their livestock. There will be forty-eight cities, and the tribes with more will give more. Six of them will be cities of refuge: three east of the Jordan and three in Canaan.
The cities of refuge allow someone who kills a person unintentionally to flee from the vengeance of the victim's relative, called the avenger of blood, until he stands trial before the congregation. The chapter distinguishes murder, done with a deadly object, in hatred or by ambush, which deserves death, from manslaughter, a blow struck without enmity or intent. The avenger may put the murderer to death, but the city protects the one who killed unintentionally. He must stay in it until the death of the high priest, and if he leaves before then, the avenger may kill him without guilt.
To sentence someone to death there must be at least two witnesses, and no ransom is accepted for the life of a murderer or to spare someone who killed unintentionally from exile. At the end the Lord gives the reason: blood defiles the land, which can only be cleansed by the blood of the one who shed it, and they must not defile the land where the Lord himself dwells among the Israelites.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Among the Levites' cities there will be six cities of refuge, to which the manslayer may flee. Whoever flees to them finds a place to live without being executed before he is tried.
The cities will serve as a refuge from the avenger, so that the manslayer does not die until he stands before the congregation. The law protects life and demands a trial, not impulsive revenge.
No one can be sentenced to death on the testimony of a single witness. The requirement of two witnesses protects the innocent against false accusations.
The Lord commands that the land where he dwells not be defiled, because he himself lives among the people of Israel. The holiness of the land is bound to his presence, which is why shedding blood is so serious.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Forty-eight, with their pasturelands. — Numbers 35:7
Answer: Six: three east of the Jordan and three in the land of Canaan. — Numbers 35:13-14
Answer: The Israelite, the foreigner or the resident who killed someone unintentionally. — Numbers 35:15
Answer: He was a murderer and had to die. — Numbers 35:16-21
Answer: Until the death of the high priest. — Numbers 35:25
Answer: At least two; one witness was not enough. — Numbers 35:30
This chapter teaches that God's justice cares for both the victim and the accused. It prevents uncontrolled revenge, demands evidence and protects the person who acted without evil intent. In a class you can talk about how we respond to an offense: with a hasty judgment or with the patience to seek the truth.
The city of refuge also sheds light on the gospel. The New Testament presents Christ as our high priest whose death sets us free, and the letter to the Hebrews speaks of taking refuge in the hope set before us. The church, in turn, is called to be a place where the one who has failed can find refuge and be treated with justice and mercy.
Numbers 35 completes the order of life in the land with the Levites' cities and the cities of refuge, and stresses that the Lord's presence demands holiness and justice. The book ends in the next chapter with one last matter of inheritance: the daughters of Zelophehad and how to keep land within each tribe.
He was the nearest relative of the dead person, charged with the responsibility of seeking justice for his blood. This chapter does not abolish that role but limits it: the unintentional killer can take refuge in the city of refuge and be tried before anyone puts him to death.
The text gives no detailed explanation. Many understand that the death of the high priest, who represented the people before God, closed a period and in some way atoned for the blood, so the manslayer could go home. Christian writers see here a shadow of the death of Christ.
Because human life has a value that money cannot cover. The text says blood defiles the land and that it can only be cleansed by the blood of the one who shed it. Nor could anyone pay to return home early from the city of refuge.