Numberschapter 35
34 verses · Moses, by tradition · 15th to 13th century BC · The Law
Key verse
Then the LORD said to Moses,
It stands in Six cities where the slayer may flee, verses 9 to 15.
The chapter
Chapter summary
The Levitical cities and the cities of refuge. Forty-eight cities with their suburbs for the Levites. Six of them as cities of refuge, three on each side of Jordan. For the man that killed any person unawares. The manslayer flees to the city; the congregation judges between him and the avenger of blood; if unintentional, he dwells in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest. The intentional murderer, though he flee, is to be put to death: ‘for blood it defileth the land … ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are’. Two witnesses required. The high priest's death ransoms the manslayer; typology for the cross runs through this chapter (Heb 6:18).
Context
Law · Moses · Numbers overview
The world behind this chapter
Numbers 35The history
The chapter is the LORD's word to Moses, spoken on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho, which verse 1 states. It stands in the fortieth year with the rest of the instructions for the crossing. The occasion is the allotment ordered in the chapter before it. The Levites were given no tribal territory and had to be provided for out of what the other tribes received. Verses 2 to 8 set that provision at forty-eight towns with their pasturelands, more from a larger tribe and less from a smaller one. A first hearer knew what the avenger of blood was. He was the nearest kinsman, and in that world the duty of answering a killing fell on the family rather than on a court. He also knew that a city of refuge held a man until his case was heard, since verse 12 says the manslayer lives there until he stands trial before the assembly. Verses 16 to 24 give the assembly its test, which turns on the weapon used and on whether there was hostility between the two men. The release in verses 25 to 28 is tied to the death of the high priest, so the term a man served was fixed by another life.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
What it meant to them
The law took the answering of blood out of the family's hands and put it before the congregation. It set six towns across the country, three on each side of the Jordan under verse 14, so a man fleeing could reach one. Verse 15 opened them to the foreigner living in Israel on the same terms. Verses 31 to 34 explain why the case had to be heard, since blood shed pollutes the land where the LORD dwells among them. A killing was treated as a matter between the nation and God.
Sources cited
- Jacob Milgrom, Numbers , The JPS Torah Commentary, 1990
- Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions , 1961
- Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments , 1832 to 1869, on Numbers 35
Where the chapter sits
Numbers 35 falls in Second census and preparations (chapters 26–36). A new generation numbered; inheritance laws; Joshua commissioned; cities of refuge and tribal boundaries.
Before it: Approach to Moab, chapters 21–25.
The whole shape of Numbers→The structure of this chapter
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. Forty-eight cities with pasture for Levi
1. (vv. 1-2)
Numbers 35:1
“And the Lord spake to Moses,....”
Numbers 35:2
“Suburbs - Rather, “pasture-grounds,” required for their large cattle, for their sheep and goats, and for all their beasts whatever they might be Num 35:3.”
These last chapters are all dated to one place, the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, the formula that stands at 22:1, 26:3 and 33:50 and closes the book at 36:13. Levi had been given no portion of the land at 18:20, and the tribe now receives forty-eight towns set inside the portions of the others. Genesis 49:7 had said of Levi, I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel, and Matthew Henry reads the scattering here as a posting through the whole country rather than a loss.
2. (vv. 3-5)
Numbers 35:3
“And cities shall they have to dwell in,....”
Numbers 35:4
“There is an apparent discrepancy between Nu 35:4 and Nu 35:5, with regard to the extent of these suburbs; but the statements in the two verses refer to totally different things--the one to the extent of the suburbs from the walls of the city, the other to the space of two thousand cubits from their extremity.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Numbers 35:5
“And ye shall measure from without the city on the east side two thousand cubits,.... Before only 1000 cubits were ordered to bemeasured, and now 2000, even 2000 more, which were to be added to the other, and to begin where they ended. The first 1000 were for their cattle and goods, these 2000 for their gardens, orchards, fields, and vineyards; and so the Jewish writers understand it.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 35:5
“From without the city - Omit “from.” The demarcation here intended would run parallel to the wall of the city, outside which it was made.”
The suburbs are pasture ground, the Hebrew migrash, given for cattle and goods, so the Levites hold grazing without holding a territory. Verse 4 measures a thousand cubits out from the wall and verse 5 measures two thousand on each of the four sides, and readers have taken the difference in two ways. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the first as the depth of the suburb from the wall and the second as a line drawn from its outer edge, while John Gill reports the Jewish writers giving the first thousand to cattle and goods and the further two thousand to gardens, fields and vineyards.
3. (vv. 6-8)
Numbers 35:6
“The Levitical cities were in an special manner the Lord’s; and therefore the places of refuge, where the manslayer might remain under the protection of a special institution devised by divine mercy, were appropriately selected from among them. No doubt also the Priests and Levites would be the fittest persons to administer the law in the doubtful cases which would be sure to occur: compare Num 35:24 note.”
Numbers 35:7
“So all the cities which ye shall give to the Levites shall be forty eight cities,.... Of these forty eight cities, their names, and what tribes they were in, and which of them were particularly cities of refuge, an account is given in Jos 21:10, them shall ye give, with their suburbs; according to the dimensions before prescribed.”
Numbers 35:8
“Nine cities were eventually given to the Levites from the large joint inheritance of Judah and Simeon; three were taken from the territory of Naphtali, and the other tribes gave each four apiece.”
Six of the forty-eight are cities of refuge and forty-two are not, and verse 8 sets the quota by size, from them that have many ye shall give many. Joshua 21 records the count being made good tribe by tribe, and Albert Barnes notes that Judah and Simeon together gave nine, Naphtali gave three, and the rest gave four apiece. The man who has taken a life is sheltered in a town belonging to the one tribe that owns no country of its own.
B. Six cities where the slayer may flee
1. (vv. 9-11)
Numbers 35:9
“And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... At the same time, or he continued his speech unto him: saying: as follows.”
Numbers 35:10
“Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them,.... Now, directly: when ye come over Jordan into the land of Canaan; as they quickly would, being now very near it, and of which there was the utmost certainty, since the Lord had promised to bring them over that river, and put them in possession of that land.”
Numbers 35:11
“Ye shall appoint - cities of refuge - The cities of refuge among the Israelites were widely different from the asyla among the Greeks and Romans, as also from the privileged altars among the Roman Catholics. Those among the Hebrews were for the protection of such only as had slain a person involuntarily. The temples and altars among the latter often served for the protection of the most profligate characters.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 35:11
“This is exemplified among the Arabs in the present day. Should an Arab of one tribe happen to kill one of another tribe, there is "blood" between the tribes, and the stain can only be wiped out by the death of some individual of the tribe with which the offense originated. Sometimes the penalty is commuted by the payment of a stipulated number of sheep or camels.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
A second speech opens and it legislates for a country Israel has not entered, when ye be come over Jordan into the land of Canaan. The protection is fenced by two words, at unawares, which is the category of the sin of ignorance at Leviticus 4:2, so the city covers the accident and never the deed. Adam Clarke sets this beside the Greek and Roman asylum and the sanctuary altars of later centuries, which sheltered whoever reached them, and marks that difference as what makes these six cities a law rather than a hiding place.
2. (vv. 12-13)
Numbers 35:12
“From the avenger - Hebrew. from the redeemer, or, from the next kinsman, to whom by the law belonged the right of redemption of the lands of; and vindication of the injury done to, the person deceased.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Numbers 35:13
“And of these cities which ye shall give,.... Of the forty eight cities they were to give to the Levites, Num 35:7, six cities shall ye have for refuge; which, I think, makes it clear, that not all the forty eight cities were for refuge, only six of them.”
The avenger is the goel, the same word and the same office as the kinsman who buys back a poor brother's field at Leviticus 25:25 and the near kinsman of Ruth 3:12. The man whose duty is to redeem a family's land is the man whose duty is to answer for its blood. Verse 12 also states what the city is for, that the manslayer die not until he stand before the congregation in judgment, so the gate buys him a hearing and no more than that.
3. (vv. 14-15)
Numbers 35:14
“On this side Jordan - Because that land was as long as Canaan, though not so broad, and besides these might be convenient for many of them that lived in Canaan.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Three cities east of Jordan and three in Canaan, and Moses severs the eastern three himself at Deuteronomy 4:41-43, Bezer, Ramoth and Golan, before he dies. Joshua 20:7-8 names the western three, Kedesh, Shechem and Hebron, so the six stand on record twice. Verse 15 opens all six to the stranger and the sojourner on the same terms as the Israelite, and Matthew Henry reads that provision as the pattern of Christ receiving Greek and Jew alike.
C. Murder, accident, and the avenger of blood
1. (vv. 16-18)
Numbers 35:16
“And if he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die,.... As with an hatchet, hammer, sword, knife, &c. he is a murderer; the instrument used by him, and with which he smote, shows that he had a bad design, and intended to kill, or he would never have smitten a man with such an instrument: the murderer shall surely be put to death; be condemned to death, and be executed, by the order of the civil magistrate, according to the law in Gen 9:6 and not be allowed the benefit of a city of refuge.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 35:16
“If he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, &c.--Various cases are here enumerated in which the Goel or avenger was at liberty to take the life of the murderer; and every one of them proves a premeditated purpose.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Numbers 35:17
“And if he smite him with throwing a stone,....”
Numbers 35:18
“Or if he smote him with an hand weapon of wood,.... A stick, or staff, or club: wherewith he may die, and he die; which is sufficient to kill a man, as the same Targum explains it; and a man dies with the blow that is given him by it: he is a murderer, and the murderer shall surely be put to death; no pardon given him, or the benefit of the city of refuge allowed him.”
Three instruments are named, iron, stone and wood, and the wording is not the same for all three. Iron carries no qualifier, while the stone and the wooden weapon are each described as wherewith he may die, since a stone or a stick may be in a man's hand for a hundred harmless reasons and a blade may not. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the whole list as evidence of a settled purpose, and John Gill takes the choice of instrument as showing the design of the man who chose it.
2. (vv. 19-21)
Numbers 35:19
“The revenger of blood - גאל הדם goel haddam, the redeemer of blood; the next in blood to him who was slain. See on Num 35:12 (note).”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Numbers 35:20
“But if he thrust him of hatred,....”
Numbers 35:21
“Or in enmity smite him with his hand, that he die,....”
Having weighed the weapon, the law turns to the mind, and verses 20 and 21 name hatred, lying in wait and enmity as what makes a blow murder. Verse 19 puts the execution in the hand of the revenger of blood himself, and readers divide over whether that is a permission granted to the kinsman or an office he discharges once sentence has been passed. Matthew Henry reports the Chaldee taking it as execution only after the court has condemned the man, and he leaves the plain sense of the verse standing beside that reading.
3. (vv. 22-24)
Numbers 35:22
“But if he thrust him suddenly, without enmity,.... Push him from a precipice, before he is aware, without any malicious design against his life, but merely through accident: or have cast upon him anything; from the top of a house, or from a building he is pulling down, or pushes a bowing wall upon him, not knowing that he is passing by it: and without lying of wait: or having contrived to do it, just as he goes along, or in any other similar way.”
Numbers 35:23
“Or with any stone wherewith a man may die,.... Which is sufficient to kill a man, if thrown at him: seeing him not; and so without intention: the Jews (s) from hence gather, that a blind man is to be acquitted and dismissed, and not banished and so stands in no need of a city of refuge; though others say he is to be banished, and needs it, and ought to have the privilege of it: and cast it upon him that he die; casting, it upon another account, and with another view, but yet falling upon a man, it kills him: and was not his enemy, neither sought him harm; it was never known that they were at variance, or that the slayer had ever by any overt act discovered any malice and enmity against the deceased, by word or deed, or ever sought to do him any injury, either to his person or property. (s) Misn. Maccot, c. 2. sect. 3.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 35:23
“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.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The accidental case is drawn with care, thrust suddenly, cast upon him seeing him not, and was not his enemy, neither sought his harm. Verse 24 puts the decision with the congregation, judging between the slayer and the revenger of blood, so the family that has lost a man does not weigh its own case. John Gill takes the congregation here as the court sitting to hear both sides, and Joshua 20:4 has the fugitive declaring his cause to the elders in the gate before the city takes him in.
4. (v. 25)
Numbers 35:25
“The man who renounces the vices and rejects the way of life of his countrymen is in flight like Lot. Such a one does not look behind himself but enters that city which is above by the passageway of his thoughts, and he does not withdraw from it until the death of the chief priest who bore the sin of the world. He indeed died once, but he dies for each person who is baptized in Christ's death, that we may be buried together with him and rise with him and walk in the newness of his life.”
Ambrose of Milan· written before 397· FLIGHT FROM THE WORLD 9.55patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 35:25
“But he had to "abide in it." His confinement within its walls was a wise and salutary rule, designed to show the sanctity of human blood in God's sight, as well as to protect the manslayer himself, whose presence and intercourse in society might have provoked the passions of the deceased's relatives.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
The term is fixed to one event, the death of the high priest which was anointed with the holy oil. No fine shortens it, no span of years completes it and no conduct earns it, so another man's death is the only key that opens the city. Adam Clarke and Matthew Henry both read that of Christ, Clarke writing at verse 32 that no sinner recovers his forfeited inheritance until the great high priest has died for his offences. The New Testament nowhere states the link, and Hebrews, which works through the priesthood at length, does not use this law.
5. (vv. 26-28)
Numbers 35:26
“But if the slayer shall at any time come without the border of the city of his refuge,.... Which seems to be the three thousand cubits assigned to every city of the Levites, and so to the cities of refuge; and which, according to the Jewish writers, were a refuge, as the city itself; and it is said (x),"he, that kills a man there, is killed for him, but though the border is a refuge, the slayer does not dwell in it, as it is said.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 35:26
“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.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Numbers 35:27
“And the revenger of blood find him without the borders of the city of his refuge,.... Without the suburbs, fields, and vineyards belonging to it: and the revenger of blood kill the slayer; being exasperated against him, and to avenge the blood of his relation on him: he shall not be guilty of blood; or be reckoned murderer, or die for it.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 35:27
“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.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Numbers 35:28
“What does it mean that a homicide returns for absolution after the death of the high priest, except that the human race, which brought death upon itself by sinning, receives absolution for its guilt after the death of the true priest, namely, our Redeemer?”
Paterius· written before 606· EXPOSITION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT, NUMBERS 24patristic
Protection has a boundary and the manslayer keeps inside it or loses it, and John Gill reports the Jewish writers counting the measured suburbs as part of the refuge. Verse 28 states the term a second time within four verses, which is where the weight of the passage sits. What the death of the high priest gives back is named as well, the land of his possession, so the release restores property and not only liberty.
6. (v. 29)
Numbers 35:29
“So these things shall be for a statute of judgment unto you,....”
Numbers 35:29-30
The statute is tied to no one place, throughout your generations in all your dwellings, so a trial for blood runs by the same rule in every town. Verse 30 sets the standard of proof, that a murderer dies by the mouth of witnesses and that one witness cannot bring any man to death. Deuteronomy 17:6 and 19:15 repeat the rule and the New Testament carries it forward at Matthew 18:16, 2 Corinthians 13:1, 1 Timothy 5:19 and Hebrews 10:28. Adam Clarke gives its practical ground, that one man may be mistaken or malicious and that two separate examinations expose the difference.
D. Blood defiles the land you live in
1. (v. 30)
Numbers 35:30
“But one witness shall not testify against any - This was a just and necessary provision. One may be mistaken, or so violently prejudiced as to impose even on his own judgment, or so wicked as to endeavor through malice to compass the life of his neighbor: but it is not likely that two or more should be of this kind; and even were they, their separate examination would lead to a discovery of the truth, and to their conviction.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2. (vv. 31-32)
Numbers 35:31
“No satisfaction - Rather, ransom (see Exo 21:30). The permission to demand pecuniary compensation for murders (expressly sanctioned by the Koran) undoubtedly mitigates, in practice, the system of private retaliation; but it does so by sacrificing the principle named in Num 35:12, Num 35:33.”
Numbers 35:32
“Until the death of the priest - Probably intended to typify, that no sinner can be delivered from his banishment from God, or recover his forfeited inheritance, till Jesus Christ, the great high priest, had died for his offenses, and risen again for his justification.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Two payments are forbidden in two verses, one for the murderer's life and one for the manslayer's exile. The word rendered satisfaction is kopher, the ransom that Exodus 21:30 does allow where an ox has gored a man, which Albert Barnes points out, so the law prices some losses and refuses to price this one. Verse 32 closes the other door, since money cannot buy the fugitive home a single day early either.
3. (vv. 33-34)
Numbers 35:33
“For blood it defileth the land - The very land was considered as guilty till the blood of the murderer was shed in it. No wonder God is so particularly strict in his laws against murderers, 1. Because he is the author of life, and none have any right to dispose of it but himself. 2. Because life is the time to prepare for the eternal world, and on it the salvation of the soul accordingly depends; therefore it is of infinite consequence to the man that his life be lengthened out to the utmost limits assigned by Divine Providence.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Numbers 35:34
“For I the Lord dwell ... - An emphatic protest against all enactment or relaxation of laws by men for their own private convenience.”
Blood defileth the land, and the land cannot be cleansed of it but by the blood of him that shed it, which is Genesis 9:6 stated as a property of the ground itself. Genesis 4:10-11 had already put it that way, the ground opening its mouth to receive Abel's blood and the blood crying out of it. Verse 34 gives the reason for the whole chapter in one clause, wherein I dwell, so the law rests on who lives in the country rather than on public order. Deuteronomy 21:1-9 takes up the case this verse leaves standing, a body found and the killer unknown, and gives a rite for a land that cannot reach the man.
This page carries no textual note on Numbers 35. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
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