Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Joshua · About this commentary
Cities of Refuge
Joshua 20:1-9
1 Yahweh spoke to Joshua, saying, · WEB
Six cities are opened for the accidental killer — justice that distinguishes intent, held open to the foreigner, with release dated to the high priest's death.
"Assign the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you by Moses, that the man slayer who kills any person accidentally or unintentionally may flee there" Joshua 20:2–3.
The settled land's first institution after the allotments is a mercy structure. Moses' legislation Numbers 35:9–15 Deuteronomy 19:1–6 is executed: six cities where the accidental killer can outrun the avenger of blood — the kinsman whose ancient duty was life for life. The law does not abolish that world in a stroke; it builds refuge into it, interposing walls and process between rage and its target.
The distinctions the institution draws are the foundations of all humane justice. Intent is weighed: the man who struck his neighbor unintentionally, and didn't hate him before Joshua 20:5 is not a murderer, and Scripture refuses to let the two die the same death Exodus 21:13–14 Numbers 35:22–25. Process replaces pursuit: the fugitive must declare his case in the ears of the elders at the gate Joshua 20:4, is received, and later stands before the congregation for judgment Joshua 20:6 — asylum leading to trial, not instead of it. Refuge was never impunity; a murderer found guilty was handed over Deuteronomy 19:11–12.
They set apart Kedesh in Galilee... Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath Arba (also called Hebron)... Bezer... Ramoth in Gilead... and Golan in Bashan Joshua 20:7–8.
The geography is pastoral care in map form: three cities west of the Jordan, three east, spaced north, center, and south — no corner of the land more than a day's hard run from mercy. All six are Levite cities Joshua 21:13 Joshua 21:27 Joshua 21:32 Joshua 21:38, the refuge placed in the keeping of the tribe whose inheritance was God himself.
He shall dwell in that city... until the death of the high priest that shall be in those days. Then the man slayer shall return... to his own city Joshua 20:6.
The release clause is the institution's strangest and deepest line. No payment frees the fugitive — ransom for a life was expressly forbidden Numbers 35:32 — and no term of years; only the high priest's death opens the gate home. One man's death, and every exile in all six cities walks free at once: the shape is unmistakable, and the New Testament reaches for this very vocabulary — we who have fled for refuge... a hope both sure and steadfast entering where a high priest forever has gone Hebrews 6:18–20. And the door stands open wide: for all the children of Israel, and for the alien who lives among them Joshua 20:9 — mercy with no citizenship test, in a book so often read as closed to the outsider.
settled What this mark means