Yesterday we learned that six of the forty-eight towns given to the Levites would also be used as cities of refuge for persons accused of murder. Today and tomorrow we'll be looking at the rules to be used when judging the cases of these persons.
"Then the Lord said to Moses: 'Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When you cross the Jordan into Canaan, select some towns to be your cities of refuge, to which a person who has killed someone accidentally may flee. They will be places of refuge from the avenger, so that anyone accused of murder may not die before they stand trial before the assembly.'" (Numbers 35:9-12) Just as it is in our justice system today, the citizens of Israel (and non-citizens living and working among the Israelites) will have the right to a fair trial and they will have the right to be considered innocent until proven guilty. Relatives of the deceased person may not come into a city of refuge and kill the person who caused their relative's death. The evidence at trial may show that the accused never intended for anything to happen to anyone.
Accidental deaths likely occurred far more often in ancient times than they do now. We have a lot of safety equipment to help prevent life-threatening injuries when we are hunting or fishing or working on farms or in construction occupations or in manufacturing occupations. Even when a serious injury does occur in our day, we have the medical knowledge to successfully treat many types of serious injuries if the person can be gotten to a medical facility in time. But in Old Testament times it wasn't possible to be rushed to a hospital for stitches or surgery or blood transfusions or antibiotics to prevent wounds from developing deadly infections. A man in ancient times might be hunting in the forest and accidentally shoot another man with an arrow, for example, and nothing much could be done to assist the wounded man. If he lost too much blood he would die because there was no way to get a transfusion. If the arrow hit a vital organ he couldn't be rushed to a hospital where a skilled surgeon might be able to repair the damage. If he died, the man who caused his death could flee to a city of refuge until the case could be heard, and no one could touch him while he awaited trial.
"These six towns you give will be your cities of refuge. Give three on this side of the Jordan and three in Canaan as cities of refuge. These six towns will be a place of refuge for Israelites and for foreigners residing among them, so that anyone who has killed another accidentally can flee there." (Numbers 35:13-15) I'm inserting a map below that shows us where these six cities were located.
What about when a person deliberately causes the death of another? They can still flee to a city of refuge until trial, but their intentions will be judged by the manner in which they killed their fellow man. "If anyone strikes someone a fatal blow with an iron object, that person is a murderer; the murderer is to be put to death." (Numbers 35:16) If a man is arguing with another and picks up an iron farm implement, for example, and beats the other man over the head with it and the man dies, this is to be considered intentional murder. The man struck his fellow man with an object capable of causing death and he knew it was capable of causing death. If he had cared about
not endangering the other person's life, he would have handled the dispute in some other way. But instead he took up an object that he knew was capable of causing death and began hitting his fellow man over the head with it, not caring how much damage he was inflicting and perhaps hoping he was inflicting the maximum amount of damage.
Heavy iron objects weren't the only objects capable of causing deadly wounds. A wooden object could produce the same effect. "Or if anyone is holding a wooden object and strikes someone a fatal blow with it, that person is a murderer; the murderer is to be put to death." (Numbers 35:18) If two men are in a heated argument while chopping firewood, for example, and one of them takes up a large chunk of wood and strikes the other man with it as hard as he can (either once or repeatedly) and the wounded man dies, then the man who struck him is guilty of murder because he knew the length of firewood in his hand could cause a fatal injury. It's similar to beating someone with a wooden bat. If we were arguing with someone and grabbed up a wooden bat and started beating them in the head with it, we couldn't argue later that we didn't know a wooden bat was capable of causing fatal internal injuries. Any adult whose IQ falls within the normal range of intelligence knows that striking another person in the head with a bat can cause the death of that person, so in court we would almost certainly be found guilty of manslaughter at the very least and possibly of first degree murder.
The relatives of the deceased person have the right to carry out the death penalty when the accused person is found guilty of deliberately killing their loved one. "The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death; when the avenger comes upon the murderer, the avenger shall put the murderer to death." (Numbers 35:19) Capital punishment must be carried out by the courts, and not by individuals, in modern times in the United States but in ancient Israel it was carried out by the next of kin of the person who was murdered. There is a definite sense of justice about such a practice. It must have brought some satisfaction and closure to the relatives of the deceased to put the murderer to death with their own hands. But in today's world the closest thing we have to this practice is allowing the relatives of the murdered person to witness the execution of the murderer.
It's possible to cause the death of another person without using an object that could generally be considered a deadly weapon. Some examples of this would be shoving a person so that they fall from a height or throwing something at them that's heavy enough to kill them or beating them with fists badly enough to kill them. "If anyone with malice aforethought shoves another or throws something at them intentionally so that they die or if out of enmity one person hits another with their fist so that the other dies, that person is to be put to death; that person is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when they meet." (Numbers 35:20-21)
Tomorrow we'll look at the remainder of Chapter 35 and study other examples of murder cases and situations in which vengeance can be taken.
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