Numbers 35:28 –
The slayer should have stayed inside the city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest, the slayer may return to his own property.
This chapter is dedicated to defining the towns and how they should be laid out. It first talks about how they should dedicate towns for the Levites and then the remaining chapter talks about cities of refuge and the laws pertaining to murder. This quickly becomes one of those chapters where you can easily get lost in the nuts and bolts of how this and that occur.
I find the city of refuge interesting since people will honor that and not avenge the death of another. I can see where a real murderer could “fake” his way into the city if he was only seen by one other person. When you put your lawyer hat on, once can find many holes in these rules. At the same time they are simple, you murder someone and you die, but you must have substantial evidence before you can be put to death.
Today Troy Davis is on “death row” here in Georgia for the 1989 murder of an off duty police officer. I could spend days talking about this alone, but listening to the arguments is interesting when applying it to this chapter. He was tried, convicted and sentenced with 9 witnesses, but he claims innocence. Amnesty International says we need to stop this “barbaric” form of punishment, 7 witnesses recanted and ballistics are in question. Even after reading this I question what the ultimate will of God is in any of these cases.
One final note is on the time the slayer must stay in the city of refuge. Why is it until the high priest dies? What if the victim’s family forgives the slayer and understands it was an accident? Would he be allowed to leave? What happens if they leave under this premise and a friend wrongfully avenges the death? Would they be a murderer or would it be justified? Would this be considered manslaughter? Would Jesus punish the person if they asked for forgiveness? Or would they be forgiven for the sin, but still have to be punished for the sin? This is where it becomes difficult to understand what part of the law did Jesus change and what still applies today.