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Joshua 20

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The Command to Establish Cities of Refuge 1–6

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And Jehovah spake unto Joshua, saying, ​
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Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Assign you the cities of refuge, whereof I spake unto you by Moses, ​
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that the manslayer that killeth any person unwittingly and unawares may flee thither: and they shall be unto you for a refuge from the avenger of blood. ​
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And he shall flee unto one of those cities, and shall stand at the entrance of the gate of the city, and declare his cause in the ears of the elders of that city; and they shall take him into the city unto them, and give him a place, that he may dwell among them. ​
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And if the avenger of blood pursue after him, then they shall not deliver up the manslayer into his hand; because he smote his neighbor unawares, and hated him not beforetime. ​
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And he shall dwell in that city, until he stand before the congregation for judgment, until the death of the high priest that shall be in those days: then shall the manslayer return, and come unto his own city, and unto his own house, unto the city from whence he fled. ​

Designation of the Six Cities 7–9

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And they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill-country of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill-country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (the same is Hebron) in the hill-country of Judah. ​
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And beyond the Jordan at Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness in the plain out of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh. ​
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These were the appointed cities for all the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them, that whosoever killeth any person unwittingly might flee thither, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until he stood before the congregation. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Joshua 20

Verse 1

The LORD also spake unto Joshua — The land has now been divided by lot (19:51), and the LORD gives the order he had first spoken to Moses: 'When ye be come over Jordan into the land of Canaan… Then ye shall appoint you cities to be cities of refuge' (Num 35:10–11). The three eastern cities had already been set apart by Moses (Deut 4:41–43).

Verse 2

cities of refuge — Miqlat, a place of taking in, a word found only in Numbers 35, Joshua 20–21 and 1 Chronicles 6 for these cities. Their number was fixed by the law: 'three cities on this side Jordan, and three cities… in the land of Canaan' (Num 35:14). They were drawn from the Levites' cities (Num 35:6).

Verse 3

unawares and unwittingly — Shegagah, an inadvertent error, and bivli daath, 'without knowledge'. The 'avenger of blood' is the goel, the next of kin, from gaal, to redeem; the same word is 'redeemer' in Job 19:25. Deut 19:5 gives the case of the man whose axe-head slips from the helve and kills his neighbour.

Verse 4

at the entering of the gate of the city — The gate was where the elders sat to hear cases (Ruth 4:1–2; Prov 31:23). The first hearing is local: the fugitive 'shall declare his cause' there, is taken in and given 'a place'. The full judgment comes later, 'before the congregation' (v.6), as Num 35:12, 24 require.

Verse 5

hated him not beforetime — The Hebrew idiom is temol shilshom, literally 'yesterday and the day before'. The test is that of Num 35:22–23, a blow 'without enmity' and 'without laying of wait'. Deut 19:6 names the danger the city guards against: the avenger overtaking him 'while his heart is hot'.

Verse 6

until the death of the high priest — The fugitive stays in the city while the congregation decides his case, and then until the high priest dies, who is described as 'anointed with the holy oil' (Num 35:25). 'After the death of the high priest the slayer shall return into the land of his possession' (Num 35:28), to his own city and house.

Verse 7

they appointed Kedesh — 'Appointed' is qadash, to set apart as holy, the root of the name Qedesh. The three western cities lie north to south: Kedesh in Naphtali, Shechem in Ephraim, and Kirjatharba, 'which is Hebron', in Judah (see 14:15). Each is also a Levite city (21:13, 21, 32).

Verse 8

Bezer in the wilderness — The eastern cities are three: Bezer, Ramoth and Golan, the ones Moses had named: 'Bezer in the wilderness… Ramoth in Gilead… and Golan in Bashan' (Deut 4:43). One lay in each of the tribes of Reuben, Gad and half Manasseh, and each was given to the Levites (21:27, 36, 38). They lay 'on the other side Jordan by Jericho eastward'.

Verse 9

and for the stranger that sojourneth among them — The same inclusion is made in Num 35:15: 'both for the children of Israel, and for the stranger, and for the sojourner among them'. The law for sin through ignorance is likewise 'one law… both for him that is born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger' (Num 15:29).