Themes

The cities of refuge

In a world without police, the law set apart six cities where someone who killed by accident could run and be safe until trial.

General view, Samaria, Holy Land, (i.e., Sabastiyah, Palestine-LCCN2002725052 — Public domain. Image credits

Key verse

…then you shall appoint for yourselves cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the man slayer who kills any person unwittingly may flee there.

Numbers 35:11

World English Bible (public domain)

What they were

Numbers 35 sets apart six cities, three on each side of the Jordan, so that anyone who killed someone by accident could reach one. Inside the city the killer was protected from the “avenger of blood,” the relative expected to take revenge, until the community heard the case.

Refuge was not a loophole for murder. The cities protected the accidental killer; a deliberate murderer was still handed over.

Free when the high priest died

The killer had to stay in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest (Numbers 35:25; Joshua 20:6). Only then could he go home. Lampstead’s cross-references connect this to Hebrews, where Christ is the high priest who “lives forever to make intercession.”

A picture of Christ

Christian writers have long read the cities as a picture of finding refuge in Christ. Hebrews 6:18 speaks of believers “who have fled for refuge to take hold of the hope set before us.”

The culture behind the text

Cities of refugeWithout police, a dead person's relative (the "avenger of blood") was expected to kill the killer. Six cities protected someone who killed by accident until trial. Christian writers have long used them as a picture of finding refuge in Christ.Numbers 35:9-28; Hebrews 6:18

Study notes

Cities of refuge · Numbers 35:11Six cities where someone who killed accidentally could flee from the avenger of blood until trial.Cities of refuge · Joshua 20:3Six cities, three on each side of the Jordan, within reach of anyone.Until the death of the high priest · Joshua 20:6A manslayer could return home only after the high priest's death.

Key passages

Numbers 35:9-28The law of the cities Joshua 20:1-9Joshua names the six cities Hebrews 6:18“Fled for refuge”

How the Bible connects it

Every cross-reference in Lampstead says why it’s linked. A few from this page:

Numbers 35:11 → Exodus 21:13Why: Exodus promised a place for the accidental killer to flee…but not if it is unintentional, but God allows it to happen; then I will appoint you a place where he shall flee.Numbers 35:11 → Joshua 20:2Why: Joshua appoints the cities of refuge“Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘Assign the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you by Moses…”Numbers 35:25 → Joshua 20:6Why: The killer stays in the city until the high priest diesHe shall dwell in that city until he stands before the congregation for judgment, until the death of the high priest that shall be in those days. Then the man slayer shall return, and come to his own city, and to his own house, to the city he fled from.’Numbers 35:25 → Exodus 29:7Why: The high priest's death frees the killer, a high priest anointed as in Exodus 29Then you shall take the anointing oil, and pour it on his head, and anoint him.Numbers 35:25 → Hebrews 7:25-28Why: Christ the high priest saves foreverTherefore he is also able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, seeing that he lives forever to make intercession for them …

Study this deeper in Lampstead

Read Numbers 35 with verse-by-verse study notes, cross-references that explain why they’re linked, people and places. Free during the beta.

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Sources behind these notes: Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897), "Refuge, Cities of"; Keil & Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament (1866–91). Bible text: World English Bible (public domain).