The penalty for the murderer. ‘But if he struck his victim down [intentionally] with an iron object so that he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall certainly be put to death. Num 35:16
INTRODUCTION TO THE OLD TESTAMENT13
The Experiences in the Wilderness
II. FROM SINAI TO THE JORDAN, Numbers 10:11-22:1
6. Division of the Land; Aaron’s Death; Levitical Cities; Cities of Refuge, Num_32:1-42; Num_33:1-56; Num_34:1-29; Num_35:1-34
49. How might the unintentional manslayer escape the penalty of the murderer?
CITIES OF REFUGE
Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
‘But if he struck his victim down [intentionally] with an iron object so that he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall certainly be put to death.
If he struck his victim down [intentionally] with a stone in hand, which may cause a person to die, and he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall certainly be put to death.
Or if he struck his victim down [intentionally] with a wooden object in hand, which may cause a person to die, and he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall certainly be put to death.
The blood avenger shall himself put the murderer to death; he shall put him to death when he meets him.
But if he pushed his victim out of hatred or threw something at him with malicious intent, and he died,
or if, in enmity, he struck the victim down with his hand, and he died, the one that struck the victim shall certainly be put to death; he is a murderer. The blood avenger shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.
‘But if he pushed the victim suddenly, not in enmity, or threw anything at him without malicious intent,
or without seeing him hit him [accidentally] with a stone object that could kill him, and he died, and [the offender] was not his enemy nor intending to harm him,
then the congregation shall judge between the offender and the blood avenger according to these ordinances.
The congregation shall rescue the offender from the hand of the blood avenger and return him to his city of refuge, [the place] to which he had escaped; and he shall live there until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the sacred oil.
But if at any time the one guilty of manslaughter comes outside the border of his city of refuge to which he fled,
and the blood avenger finds him outside the border of his city of refuge and kills the offender, the blood avenger will not be guilty of murder,
because the offender should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the high priest’s death the offender shall return to the land of his possession.
‘These things shall be a statute for you throughout your generations wherever you may be.
‘If anyone kills a person [intentionally], the murderer shall be put to death on the testimony of [two or more] witnesses; but no one shall be put to death on the testimony of [only] one witness.
Moreover, you shall not accept a ransom [in exchange] for the life of a murderer guilty and sentenced to death; but he shall certainly be put to death.
You shall not accept a ransom for him who has escaped to his city of refuge, so that he may return to live in his [own] land before the death of the high priest.
So you shall not pollute and defile the land in which you live; for [the shedding of innocent] blood pollutes and defiles the land. No atonement (expiation) can be made for the land for the [innocent] blood shed in it, except by the blood (execution) of him who shed it.
You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I live, for I, the LORD, live among the people of Israel.'”
Comments by
F.B.Meyer
On
Numbers 35:16-34
THE PENALTY FOR THE MURDERER
For murder the penalty was death, Num_35:30-31; but for accidental homicide there was freedom within the city limits until the death of the high priest, when all these refugees might return to their homes with impunity. The institution of the blood-avenger was almost a necessity in those lands of scattered population and without communal organization. Here, without destroying the practice, it has been placed under careful limitations. We are our brethren’s keepers, and instead of passing on a slander, we should stand for them against those who have wrongfully maligned them.
What an exquisite promise is contained in Num_35:34! To think that Jehovah actually dwelled in the Holy Land! He dwells also in each assembly of His saints and in our hearts. See Eze_48:35; Mat_18:20; 2Co_6:16; Rev_21:3.
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