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Matthew Henry |
N U M B E R S
CHAP. XXXV.
Orders having been given before for the dividing of the land of Canaan
among the lay-tribes (as I may call them), care is here taken for a
competent provision for the clergy, the tribe of Levi, which ministered
in holy things.
I. Forty-eight cities were to be assigned them, with their suburbs,
some in every tribe,
II. Six cities out of these were to be for cities of refuge, for any
man that killed another unawares,
In the law concerning these observe,
1. In what case sanctuary was not allowed, namely, that of wilful
murder,
2. In what cases it was allowed,
3. What was the law concerning those that took shelter in these cities
of refuge,
&c.
| The Cities of the Levites. | B. C. 1452. |
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1 And the LORD spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan
near Jericho, saying,
2 Command the children of Israel, that they give unto the
Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell
in; and ye shall give also unto the Levites suburbs for the
cities round about them.
3 And the cities shall they have to dwell in; and the suburbs
of them shall be for their cattle, and for their goods, and for
all their beasts.
4 And the suburbs of the cities, which ye shall give unto the
Levites, shall reach from the wall of the city and outward a
thousand cubits round about.
5 And ye shall measure from without the city on the east side
two thousand cubits, and on the south side two thousand cubits,
and on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side
two thousand cubits; and the city shall be in the midst: this
shall be to them the suburbs of the cities.
6 And among the cities which ye shall give unto the Levites
there shall be six cities for refuge, which ye shall appoint
for the manslayer, that he may flee thither: and to them ye shall
add forty and two cities.
7 So all the cities which ye shall give to the Levites shall
be forty and eight cities: them shall ye give with their
suburbs.
8 And the cities which ye shall give shall be of the
possession of the children of Israel: from them that have many
ye shall give many; but from them that have few ye shall give
few: every one shall give of his cities unto the Levites
according to his inheritance which he inheriteth.
The laws about the tithes and offerings had provided very plentifully
for the maintenance of the Levites, but it was not to be thought, nor
indeed was it for the public good, that when they came to Canaan they
should all live about the tabernacle, as they had done in the
wilderness, and therefore care must be taken to provide habitations for
them, in which they might live comfortably and usefully. It is this
which is here taken care of.
I. Cities were allotted them, with their suburbs,
v. 2.
They were not to have any ground for tillage; they needed not to
sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns, for their heavenly Father
fed them with the tithe of the increase of other people’s labours, that
they might the more closely attend to the study of the law, and might
have more leisure to teach the people; for they were not fed thus
easily that they might live in idleness, but that they might give
themselves wholly to the business of their profession, and not be
entangled in the affairs of this life.
1. Cities were allotted them, that they might live near together, and
converse with one another about the law, to their mutual edification;
and that in doubtful cases they might consult one another, and in all
cases strengthen one another’s hands.
2. These cities had suburbs annexed to them for their cattle
(v. 3),
a thousand cubits from the wall was allowed them for out-houses to keep
their cattle in, and then two thousand more for fields to graze their
cattle in,
Thus was care taken that they should not only live, but live
plentifully, and have all desirable conveniences about them, that they
might not be looked upon with contempt by their neighbours.
II. These cities were to be assigned them out of the possessions of
each tribe,
v. 8.
1. That each tribe might thus make a grateful acknowledgment to God out
of their real as well as out of their personal estates (for what was
given to the Levites was accepted as given to the Lord) and thus their
possessions were sanctified to them.
2. That each tribe might have the benefit of the Levites’ dwelling
among them, to teach them the good knowledge of the Lord; thus
that light was diffused through all parts of the country, and none were
left to sit in darkness,
They shall teach Jacob thy judgments. Jacob’s curse on Levi’s
anger was, I will scatter them in Israel,
Gen. xlix. 7.
But that curse was turned into a blessing, and the Levites, by being
thus scattered, were put into a capacity of doing so much the more
good. It is a great mercy to a country to be replenished in all parts
with faithful ministers.
III. The number allotted them was forty-eight in all, four out of each
of the twelve tribes, one with another. Out of the united tribes of
Simeon and Judah nine, out of Naphtali three, and four apiece out of
the rest, as appears,
Thus were they blessed with a good
ministry, and that ministry with a comfortable maintenance, not only in
tithes, but in glebe-lands. And, though the gospel is not so particular
as the law was in this matter, yet it expressly provides that he that
is taught in the word should communicate unto him that
teaches in all good things,
Gal. vi. 6.
| The Cities of Refuge. | B. C. 1452. |
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9 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
10 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When
ye be come over Jordan into the land of Canaan;
11 Then ye shall appoint you cities to be cities of refuge for
you; that the slayer may flee thither, which killeth any person
at unawares.
12 And they shall be unto you cities for refuge from the
avenger; that the manslayer die not, until he stand before the
congregation in judgment.
13 And of these cities which ye shall give six cities shall ye
have for refuge.
14 Ye shall give three cities on this side Jordan, and three
cities shall ye give in the land of Canaan, which shall be
cities of refuge.
15 These six cities shall be a refuge, both for the children
of Israel, and for the stranger, and for the sojourner among
them: that every one that killeth any person unawares may flee
thither.
16 And if he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he
die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to
death.
17 And if he smite him with throwing a stone, wherewith he may
die, and he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be
put to death.
18 Or if he smite him with an hand weapon of wood, wherewith
he may die, and he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall
surely be put to death.
19 The revenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer: when
he meeteth him, he shall slay him.
20 But if he thrust him of hatred, or hurl at him by laying of
wait, that he die;
21 Or in enmity smite him with his hand, that he die: he that
smote him shall surely be put to death; for he is a
murderer: the revenger of blood shall slay the murderer, when he
meeteth him.
22 But if he thrust him suddenly without enmity, or have cast
upon him any thing without laying of wait,
23 Or with any stone, wherewith a man may die, seeing him
not, and cast it upon him, that he die, and was not his
enemy, neither sought his harm:
24 Then the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the
revenger of blood according to these judgments:
25 And the congregation shall deliver the slayer out of the
hand of the revenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore
him to the city of his refuge, whither he was fled: and he shall
abide in it unto the death of the high priest, which was anointed
with the holy oil.
26 But if the slayer shall at any time come without the border
of the city of his refuge, whither he was fled;
27 And the revenger of blood find him without the borders of
the city of his refuge, and the revenger of blood kill the
slayer; he shall not be guilty of blood:
28 Because he should have remained in the city of his refuge
until the death of the high priest: but after the death of the
high priest the slayer shall return into the land of his
possession.
29 So these things shall be for a statute of judgment unto
you throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
30 Whoso killeth any person, the murderer shall be put to death
by the mouth of witnesses: but one witness shall not testify
against any person to cause him to die.
31 Moreover ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a
murderer, which is guilty of death: but he shall be surely put
to death.
32 And ye shall take no satisfaction for him that is fled to
the city of his refuge, that he should come again to dwell in the
land, until the death of the priest.
33 So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: for blood
it defileth the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the
blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it.
34 Defile not therefore the land which ye shall inhabit,
wherein I dwell: for I the LORD dwell among the children of
Israel.
We have here the orders given concerning the cities of refuge, fitly
annexed to what goes before, because they were all Levites’ cities. In
this part of the constitution there is a great deal both of good law
and pure gospel.
I. Here is a great deal of good law, in the case of murder and
manslaughter, a case of which the laws of all nations have taken
particular cognizance. It is here enacted and provided, consonant to
natural equity,
1. That wilful murder should be punished with death, and in that case
no sanctuary should be allowed, no ransom taken, nor any commutation of
the punishment accepted: The murderer shall surely be put to
death,
v. 16.
It is supposed to be done of hatred
(v. 20),
or in enmity
(v. 21),
upon a sudden provocation (for our Saviour makes rash anger, as well as
malice prepense, to be murder,
whether the person be murdered with an instrument of iron
(v. 16)
or wood
(v. 18),
or with a stone thrown at him
(v. 17, 20);
nay, if he smite him with his hand in enmity, and death ensue, it is
murder
(v. 21);
and it was an ancient law, consonant to the law of nature, that
whoso sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed,
Gen. ix. 6.
Where wrong has been done restitution must be made; and, since the
murderer cannot restore the life he has wrongfully taken away, his own
must be exacted from him in lieu of it, not (as some have fancied) to
satisfy the manes or ghost of the person slain, but to satisfy the law
and the justice of a nation; and to be a warning to all others not to
do likewise. It is here said, and it is well worthy the consideration
of all princes and states, that blood defiles not only the
conscience of the murderer, who is thereby proved not to have
eternal life abiding in him
but also the land in which it is shed; so very offensive is it to God
and all good men, and the worst of nuisances. And it is added that
the land cannot be cleansed from the blood of the murdered, but
by the blood of the murderer,
If murderers escape punishment from men, those that suffer them to
escape will have a great deal to answer for, and God will nevertheless
not suffer them to escape his righteous judgments. Upon the same
principle it is provided that no satisfaction should be taken for the
life of a murderer
(v. 31):
If a man would give all the substance of his house to the
judges, to the country, or to the avenger of blood, to atone for his
crime, it must utterly be contemned. The redemption of the life
is so precious that it cannot be obtained by the multitude of
riches
which perhaps may allude to this law. A rule of law comes in here
(which is a rule of our law in cases of treason only) that no man shall
be put to death upon the testimony of one witness, but it was necessary
there should be two
(v. 30);
this law is settled in all capital cases,
And, lastly, not only the prosecution, but the execution, of the
murderer, is committed to the next of kin, who, as he was to be the
redeemer of his kinsman’s estate if it were mortgaged, so he was to be
the avenger of his blood if he were murdered
(v. 19):
The avenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer, if he be
convicted by the notorious evidence of the fact, and he needed
not to have recourse by a judicial process to the court of judgment.
But if it were uncertain who the murderer was, and the proof doubtful,
we cannot think that his bare suspicion, or surmise, would empower him
to do that which the judges themselves could not do but upon the
testimony of two witnesses. Only if the fact were plain then the next
heir of the person slain might himself, in a just indignation, slay the
murderer wherever he met him. Some think this must be understood to be
after the lawful judgment of the magistrate, and so the Chaldee says,
“He shall slay him, when he shall be condemned unto him by
judgment;” but it should seem, by
that the judges interposed only in a doubtful case, and that if the
person on whom he took vengeance was indeed the murderer, and a wilful
murderer, the avenger was innocent
(v. 27),
only, if it proved otherwise, it was at his peril. Our law allows an
appeal to be brought against a murderer by the widow, or next heir, of
the person murdered, yea, though the murderer have been acquitted upon
an indictment; and, if the murderer be found guilty upon that appeal,
execution shall be awarded at the suit of the appellant, who may
properly be called the avenger of blood.
2. But if the homicide was not voluntary, nor done designedly, if it
was without enmity, or lying in wait
(v. 22),
not seeing the person or not seeking his harm
(v. 23),
which our law calls chance-medley, or homicide per
infortunium–through misfortune, in this case there were cities of
refuge appointed for the manslayer to flee to. By our law this incurs a
forfeiture of goods, but a pardon is granted of course upon the special
matter found. Concerning the cities of refuge the law was,
(1.) That, if a man killed another, in these cities he was safe, and
under the protection of the law, till he had his trial before the
congregation, that is, before the judges in open court. If he
neglected thus to surrender himself, it was at his peril; if the
avenger of blood met him elsewhere, or overtook him loitering in his
way to the city of refuge, and slew him, his blood was upon his own
head, because he did not make use of the security which God had
provided for him.
(2.) If, upon trial, it were found to be willful murder, the city of
refuge should no longer be a protection to him; it was already
determined: Thou shalt take him from my altar, that he may die,
Exod. xxi. 14.
(3.) But if it were found to be by error or accident, and that the
stroke was given without any design upon the life of the person slain
or any other, then the man-slayer should continue safe in the city
of refuge, and the avenger of blood might not meddle with him,
There he was to remain in banishment from his own house and patrimony
till the death of the high priest; and, if at any time he went
out of that city or the suburbs of it, he put himself out of the
protection of the law, and the avenger of blood, if he met him, might
slay him,
Now,
[1.] By the preservation of the life of the man-slayer God would teach
us that men ought not to suffer for that which is rather their
unhappiness than their crime, rather the act of Providence than their
own act, for God delivered him into his hand,
Exod. xxi. 13.
[2.] By the banishment of the man-slayer from his own city, and his
confinement to the city of refuge, where he was in a manner a prisoner,
God would teach us to conceive a dread and horror of the guilt of
blood, and to be very careful of life, and always afraid lest by
oversight or negligence we occasion the death of any.
[3.] By the limiting of the time of the offender’s banishment to the
death of the high priest, an honour was put upon that sacred office.
The high priest was to be looked upon as so great a blessing to his
country that when he died their sorrow upon that occasion should
swallow up all other resentments. The cities of refuge being all of
them Levites’ cities, and the high priest being the head of that tribe,
and consequently having a peculiar dominion over these cites, those
that were confined to them might properly be looked upon as his
prisoners, and so his death must be their discharge; it was, as it
were, at his suit that the delinquent was imprisoned, and therefore at
his death it fell. Actio moritur cum persona–The suit expires with
the party. Anisworth has another notion of it, That as the high
priests, while they lived, by their service and sacrificing made
atonement for sin, wherein they prefigured Christ’s satisfaction, so,
at their death, those were released that had been exiled for casual
murder, which typified redemption in Israel.
[4.] By the abandoning of the prisoner to the avenger of blood, in case
he at any time went out of the limits of the city of refuge, they were
taught to adhere to the methods which Infinite Wisdom prescribed for
their security. It was for the honour of a remedial law that it should
be so strictly observed. How can we expect to be saved if we neglect
the salvation, which is indeed a great salvation!
II. Here is a great deal of good gospel couched under the type and
figure of the cities of refuge; and to them the apostle seems to allude
when he speaks of our fleeing for refuge to the hope set before
is
(Heb. vi. 18),
and being found in Christ,
Phil. iii. 9.
We never read in the history of the Old Testament of any use made of
these cities of refuge, any more than of other such institutions, which
yet, no doubt, were made use of upon the occasions intended; only we
read of those that, in dangerous cases, took hold of the horns of
the altar
for the altar, wherever that stood, was, as it were the capital city
of refuge. But the law concerning these cities was designed both to
raise and to encourage the expectations of those who looked for
redemption in Israel, which should be to those who were convinced of
sin, and in terror by reason of it, as the cities of refuge were to the
man-slayer. Observe,
1. There were several cities of refuge, and they were so appointed in
several parts of the country that the man-slayer, wherever he dwelt in
the land of Israel, might in half a day reach one or other of them; so,
though there is but one Christ appointed for our refuge, yet, wherever
we are, he is a refuge at hand, a very present help, for the word is
nigh us and Christ in the word.
2. The man-slayer was safe in any of these cities; so in Christ
believers that flee to him, and rest in him, are protected from the
wrath of God and the curse of the law. There is no condemnation to
those that are in Christ Jesus,
Rom. viii. 1.
Who shall condemn those that are thus sheltered?
3. They were all Levites’ cities; it was a kindness to the poor
prisoner that though he might not go up to the place where the ark was,
yet he was in the midst of Levites, who would teach him the good
knowledge of the Lord, and instruct him how to improve the providence
he was now under. It might also be expected that the Levites would
comfort and encourage him, and bid him welcome; so it is the work of
gospel ministers to bid poor sinners welcome to Christ, and to assist
and counsel those that through grace are in him.
4. Even strangers and sojourners, though they were not native
Israelites, might take the benefit of these cities of refuge,
So in Christ Jesus no difference in made between Greek and Jew; even
the sons of the stranger that by faith flee to Christ shall be
safe in him.
5. Even the suburbs or borders of the city were a sufficient security
to the offender,
So there is virtue even in the hem of Christ’s garment for the healing
and saving of poor sinners. If we cannot reach to a full assurance, we
may comfort ourselves in a good hope through grace.
6. The protection which the man-slayer found in the city of refuge was
not owing to the strength of its walls, or gates, or bars, but purely
to the divine appointment; so it is the word of the gospel that gives
souls safety in Christ, for him hath God the Father sealed.
7. If the offender was ever caught struggling out of the borders of
his city of refuge, or stealing home to his house again, he lost the
benefit of his protection, and lay exposed to the avenger of blood; so
those that are in Christ must abide in Christ, for it is at their peril
if they forsake him and wander from him. Drawing back is to
perdition.
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