When may someone who has fled to a city of refuge return home?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The person must remain until standing in judgment and giving an account, and until the death of the high priest who is in office at that time. The chapter gives refuge for killing unawares and names the cities where it applies.

Chapter breakdown

The Lord speaks to Josue and tells him to instruct the children of Israel to appoint the cities of refuge spoken of through Moses. Someone who kills a person unawares may flee there and escape the wrath of the kinsman who avenges the blood.

The person stands before the city gate and tells its elders the things that prove innocence. The elders receive the person and give a place to dwell. If the avenger of blood pursues, they must not deliver the person into his hands, because the neighbor was killed unawares and the person was not proved to have been the neighbor’s enemy two or three days before. The person remains in the city until standing in judgment and giving an account, and until the death of the high priest who is in office at that time. Then the person may return to the city and house from which the flight began.

They appoint Cedes in Galilee in mount Nephtali, Sichem in mount Ephraim, and Cariath-Arbe, which is Hebron, in mount Juda. Beyond the Jordan east of Jericho, they appoint Bosor in the plain of the wilderness from Ruben’s tribe, Ramoth in Galaad from Gad’s tribe, and Gaulon in Basan from Manasses’s tribe.

These cities are appointed for all the children of Israel and for the strangers who dwell among them. Someone who kills a person unawares may flee there and avoid dying at the hands of the kinsman seeking revenge for blood until standing before the people and laying the cause open.

The story inside

The chapter gives an order and a procedure, rather than a story about a named fugitive. The Lord directs Josue to appoint the refuge cities already spoken of through Moses. A person who kills unawares must explain the case at the gate to the elders, who receive the person and withhold delivery to the pursuer under the stated conditions. Residence continues through judgment and until the death of the high priest in office. The named cities lie on both sides of the Jordan, and the final rule includes resident strangers as well as Israel. The gate reception and the later account before the people are both part of the record.

Lessons worth keeping

1
Refuge concerns a killing done unawares. The text explains why the elders do not hand the person over and retains the qualification about not being proved an enemy two or three days before. Replacing that detail with a broader invented rule would change the stated condition.
2
Reception is followed by an account in judgment. The elders give a place to dwell, but the person must still stand in judgment and explain the cause. Return also depends on the death of the high priest then in office; neither condition should disappear from the explanation.
3
The rule includes strangers living among Israel. The closing verse names both groups and protects the person from the avenger until the cause is laid before the people. The six city names and locations show the appointed places without an added theory about their placement.

Test your recall

Why must the elders withhold the fugitive from the avenger, and which two conditions must be met before the person returns home?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 24455–24466
Josue Chapter 20 The cities of refuge are appointed for casual manslaughter. 20:1. And the Lord spoke to Josue, saying: Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: 20:2. Appoint cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you by the hand of Moses: 20:3. That whosoever shall kill a person unawares may flee to them, and may escape the wrath of the kinsman, who is the avenger of blood.
Lines 24468–24480
20:4. And when he shall flee to one of these cities: he shall stand before the gate of the city, and shall speak to the ancients of that city, such things as prove him innocent: and so shall they receive him, and give him a place to dwell in. 20:5. And when the avenger of blood shall pursue him, they shall not deliver him into his hands, because he slew his neighbour unawares, and is not proved to have been his enemy two or three days before, 20:6. And he shall dwell in that city, till he stand before judgment to give an account of his fact, and till the death of the high priest, who shall be at that time: then shall the manslayer return, and go into his own city and house from whence he fled.
Lines 24482–24489
20:7. And they appointed Cedes in Galilee of mount Nephtali, and Sichem in mount Ephraim, and Cariath-Arbe, the same is Hebron in the mountain of Juda. 20:8. And beyond the Jordan to the east of Jericho, they appointed Bosor, which is upon the plain of the wilderness of the tribe of Ruben, and Ramoth in Galaad of the tribe of Gad, and Gaulon in Basan of the tribe of Manasses.
Lines 24491–24497
20:9. These cities were appointed for all the children of Israel, and for the strangers, that dwelt among them, that whosoever had killed a person unawares might flee to them, and not die by the hand of the kinsman, coveting to revenge the blood that was shed, until he should stand before the people to lay open his cause.