Chapter 20
The Cities of Refuge
20:1 Then the LORD said to Joshua, 2 “Say to the people of Israel, ‘Appoint the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses, 3 that the manslayer who strikes any person without intent or unknowingly may flee there. They shall be for you a refuge from the avenger of blood. 4 He shall flee to one of these cities and shall stand at the entrance of the gate of the city and explain his case to the elders of that city. Then they shall take him into the city and give him a place, and he shall remain with them. 5 And if the avenger of blood pursues him, they shall not give up the manslayer into his hand, because he struck his neighbor unknowingly, and did not hate him in the past. 6 And he shall remain in that city until he has stood before the congregation for judgment, until the death of him who is high priest at the time. Then the manslayer may return to his own town and his own home, to the town from which he fled.’ ”
Now that the land inheritance allocation was finished, God instructs Joshua to have the people of Israel determine the location of the cities of refuge (see Exodus 21:13; Numbers 35:9-34; Deuteronomy 4:41-43; 19:2-9). These were cities where a person who accidentally killed another, can run to for protection from the avenger of blood (a close relative of the deceased), who by law was allowed to avenge the death. Once the person arrives in the city they can plead their case to the elders of the city and be granted immunity, but only while they remain in the city. They can only leave after the high priest dies (click here for more information regarding this concept). These cities would need to have easy access (no harsh terrain, good roads, no major elevation changes, etc.) and be strategically located for quick access. If the killing was intentional then it would be considered a murder and none of the cities of refuge could protect them as the penalty for murder is death.
20:7 So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah. 8 And beyond the Jordan east of Jericho, they appointed Bezer in the wilderness on the tableland, from the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead, from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan, from the tribe of Manasseh. 9 These were the cities designated for all the people of Israel and for the stranger sojourning among them, that anyone who killed a person without intent could flee there, so that he might not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, till he stood before the congregation.
Six cities were selected, three on the west side of the Jordan River and three on the east side. On the west they chose Kedesh in the north (this is not Kadesh-barnea, that city is near the southern border of Judah), Shechem in the middle, and Hebron in the south. The cities of refuge on the east were Bezer in the south, Ramoth in the center, and Golan in the north. These were for all of the people of Israel and anyone else living among them. Everyone had to know where they were and how to get there.
Per Moses’ instructions, these cities were to be administered by the Levites, “The cities that you give to the Levites shall be the six cities of refuge, where you shall permit the manslayer to flee, and in addition to them you shall give forty-two cities. All the cities that you give to the Levites shall be forty-eight, with their pasturelands.” (Numbers 35:6-7, ESV) The remaining forty-two cities is the topic of the next chapter.