Joshua 20, Cities of Refuge

Another short chapter. (Remember, chapter divisions were determined in the Middle Ages and were never part of the original text.)

We have divided the land. Now we work on cities of refuge, an important justice concept for ancient Israel.

Joshua 20: 1-6, The refuge city concept

Then the LORD said to Joshua: Tell the Israelites to designate the cities of refuge, as I instructed you through Moses, so that anyone who kills a person accidentally and unintentionally may flee there and find protection from the avenger of blood.

"When he flees to one of these cities, he is to stand in the entrance of the city gate and state his case before the elders of that city. Then they are to admit him into their city and give him a place to live with them. If the avenger of blood pursues him, they must not surrender the one accused, because he killed his neighbor unintentionally and without malice aforethought. He is to stay in that city until he has stood trial before the assembly and until the death of the high priest who is serving at that time. Then he may go back to his own home in the town from which he fled."

The city of refuge deals with accidental killing, that is, manslaughter, and allows the right of trial.    Madvig, in his commentary on Joshua, claims that this is extraordinary --  although the "right of sanctuary" was common in the ancient Near East, the concept of a city of refuge was not.

Joshua 20: 7-9, Refuge cities

So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah. On the east side of the Jordan of Jericho they designated Bezer in the desert on the plateau in the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead in the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan in the tribe of Manasseh.

Any of the Israelites or any alien living among them who killed someone accidentally could flee to these designated cities and not be killed by the avenger of blood prior to standing trial before the assembly.

The cities of refuge are spread out across Canaan so that everyone has a good chance of getting to one. Kedesh is in Galilee, that is, northern Israel, Shechem is in the center and Kiriath Arba, the town given to Caleb (Joshua 14: 13-15), is in the south.

One notes that aliens in the land had the same right as any Israelite to a city of refuge. Israel is to always be conscious of the status of "alien", recalling their own time as aliens in Egypt.

(NIV footnotes: In verse 8, "Jordan of Jericho" was possibly an ancient name for the Jordan River.)