Numbers 35

third place, was so near to Judah, that they never separated when the ten tribes were rent from them. Dan was not far fromJudah; and the children of Joseph also were their neighbours. And the rest of the tribes, Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, are set down here just in the order wherein their lots fell to them in Canaan, (Josh. xix. 10. 17. 24.32.) An evidence that Moses was guided by a Divine Spirit in all his writings. Vcr. 1. Jx. ND the Lord spake unto Moses, in the plains of Moab, by Jordan, near Jericho, saying.] Sec xxii. 1. Hitherto nothing had been said of the Levites; but that, they should have no lot in the land of Canaan. But now God provides that they should have habitations assigned them to dwell in, though they had no fields, nor olive-yards, &c. as the rest of their brethren had. Theymight, indeed, have been able to purchase houses for themselves out of the tithes, and other things, which God had long ago bestowed upon them for their portion: but it was not fit that God’s ministers should be left without any certain dwelling. And besides, God would have’them live comfortably, and not only have houses, but a little ground about them, for their more commodious subsistence. Vcr. 2. Command the children’ of Israel, that they give ttnto the Levites of the inheritance of their possession/] Out of their share that shall fall to them in tteland of Canaan, and on this side Jordan… r v " * Cities to dwell m.] That they might not be in danger to, wander up and down to seek a habitation. And ye shall give also to the Levites suburbs for the cities round about them.] Some ground lying round about their cities, the reason of which is given in the next verse. place pf i;cf^go! ficcor^ingto Efod. xxi. 14. but ^ith ma^y exception^; both wi^h relation to the par^s c£ (he aha?,, ^nd to. \Jic pqspjjs ^yho fled thither, anc\ to the quality of the oflfence, and their st^y there; which verj much lessened the privilege of this refuge,. Vcr. 7. So all the cities xyhich ye shqll give to th% Levif#s„ shall beforjy-eight cities, &c] Accordingly \y$ jead Joshua gave them so many, Josh. xxi. 41. Thirteen of A\hich the priests had; and the rest the Levites. And in the days, of the Messiah (whom they vainly still expect), other cities shall bo added to them (saith AJaimonides), which., shall belong to the Levites. Vcr. 8. And the cities which ye shall give them shall be qf the possession of the children of Israel.], And so it e is said, Josh, xxi. 3. tha£ “the children of Jsrael g$iye unto tho Myites, out of their inheritance, these cities and their suburbs.” Where we read also, they>yerc given them by lQt, as the children of Israel had their inheritance given them. From them which have many ye shall give many, and. from them that have few ye shall give few.] According to the, rule in distributing their inheritances to the Israelites, xxxiii. 54. Every one shall give of his cities jfnto tlie Levites.according to the inheritance which he shall inherit.] Thus they gave nine cities out of the two tribes of Judah and Simeon, (Josh. xxi. 16.) and but four out of Benjamin, which was a small tribe, (ver. 18.) out of the tribes, of Issachar and Asher, four a-piece, (ver. 28. 31.) and put of Naphtali, no more than three, (ver. 32.) Ver.9. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying J] This be-, ing a matter of great importance, that guiltless men should not suffer, nor the guilty escape punishment, the Lord gives Moses further direction about it, as he promised he would in Exod. xxi. 13. Yer. 12. And they shall be unto you cities for refuge from th$ vvmger.] From him who had a right to call a murderer tp ^ccpunt for the blood he had shed, and is therefore palled the avenger of blood, ver. 19. who, being stimiw lated with anger and grief for the death of a neur relation, flight, in a heat of rage, hastily kill him who was not guilty pjfraurder. And therefore this provision is made for tho preservation of an innocent person against the violent prosecution of the avenger. In the Hebrew, the word for avenger is goel, which signifying a redeemer, plainly denotes that the next of kin to him, that was slain is here meant. For to that person belonged the right of redemption of estates, (Lev. xxv. 25.) and ofmarrying the wife of a kinsman deceased without issue,, (£uth iii. 12, 13.) And consequently such a person, that is the* nearest of kin, is, here intended to Ije the revenger of bipod: arid thercfprc.no man might undertake this office, but he alone who was; the next heir to him that was slain; as Mr. Selden, observes, lib. iv. de Jure Nat. et Gent. cap. 1. p. 4G9. Grotius observes, tho. like custom among the ancient Greeks, of private men. taking revenge for the death of their relations or friends, (lib. ii. de Jure Belli et i^acis, cap. 20, sect. 8. n. 6.) That the manslayer die not.] By a sudden heat, of passion. This was a merciful provision (us Maimonides. observes), both for the manslayer, that he might be pre-, served, and for the avenger, that his blood might be cooled, by the removal^ of the manslayer out of his sight, by his flight to another place, (More Nevochim, pax, iii, cap. 40.) Until he stand before the congregation.] Tho city of refuge protected him that fled thither, “Salvo tamen juris et justitiae examine” (as the lawyers speak), yet so that the matter should be brought to a fair trial before proper judges. They of the city of refuge examined him before his admittance into the place, (Josh. xx. 4.) But they were not judges, nor could, they examine witnesses. And therefore he was delivered, upon demand, to the senate, or court of judgment^ of that city where the fact was committed, that they might try whether he. were guilty or not of wilful murder. So the Hebrews understand the word edah, congregation, in this place (as in many others), to signify the Sanhedrin of Twenty-three, as Mr. Selden observes, (lib. ii. de Synedr. cap. 5. n. 2. and lib. iii. cap, 8. n.3.) And as by congregation is meant the court where causes were tried, so it is reasonable to interpret it of that court which sat in the city where the fact was committed, and not that in the city of refuge, because there the witnesses were; and it is expressly said, ver. 25. that if the congregation’found.him to be innocent, ho should be restored to the city of refuge. Which evidently supposes he was not judged there, but in another place; and none so proper as that before mentioned. the proceedings so manifest, and so to preserve theunity of the chnrch. And from this interest of the people in such acts it is, at this day, that the people of the church of England are demanded, what they have to say against ordinations and marriages to be made. (See Mr. Thorndike, in his Rites of the Church in a Christian State, chap. iii. p; 159, &c.) And the congregation shall restore him to the city of his refuge, ivhither he toasfledJ] They were to send him back again, from the place where he was tried, to the city where he had taken refuge, there to remain till the time prescribed in the next words. This was more merciful than the punishment inflicted by the Attic laws (which plainly shew they were borrowed, in great part, from Moses), for he who slew a man involuntarily was forced to fly his country. So the scholiast upon the last of Homer’s Iliads, “ESoe?> 7rapd foTc irakaioig rbv aKOvariov fyovov ipyaaafitvov, tptvyttv cic T>/e irarpioogi &c. It xoas the manner 3 in ancient times, for a man that had killed another involuntarily, to flee his country; and, betaking himself to some neighbouring place, to sit with his face Covered, begging to be expiated. But this was only for a certain time, as Demosthenes tells us (in his oration in Aristocratem): 6 vo/ioc Ktktvu rbv aXovra In aKovoiq fopy tv Ttmv oypiarfiivoig XpovoiQ cnreXSttv TdKrrjv oSbv, ical tptvyeiv^ &c. Tlie law requires him that is condemned of killing a man involuntarily, for some limited time to go away, and keep at an appointed distance, till he can make his peace with the kindred of him that teas slain: after which he may return again, &c. And he shall abide in it.] Not stir out of the limits of the city, that is, beyond the suburbs/arid the two thousand cubits which encompassed them; (ver. 4, 5.) within which bounds he was to’ keep. • Unto the death of the high-priest, which ivas anointed with oil] This looks like a punishment to the manslayer; whereby others were taught to bo very watchful over themselves, lest by negligence they chanced to kill any body, and so be forced to leave their own home. But Maimonides takes it for " a prudent charity to the manslayer, and to the relations of him that was slain: foT by this means the manslayer was kept out of the sight of the avenger of blood, who might have been tempted, some time or other, to fall upon him, if he had come in his way: but by long absence his anger might be mitigated, at least by the death of the high-priest, the most excellent of all other persons, and most dear to every one in the nation. Which made the public grief so great when he died, that men forgot their private resentments: for nothing could fall out more grievous to all people (saith he) than the death of the high-priest, which swallowed up all other grief.” (More Nevoch. par. Hi. cap. 40.) And in the mean time the Jcw r s say, that the citizens of the place were bound to teach him some trade, whereby he might provide himself with necessaries: and he had this comfort also," during his absence from his own family, that the mother of the high-priest sent him many gifts, that he might remain there more contentedly, and not pray for the death of the high-priest. So they tell us, in the place forcmentioned, Maccoth, cap. 2. sect. G. where they also observe, that if a man killed the high-priest, or the highpriest himself happened to kill a man involuntarily, they were to stay in the city of refuge as long as they lived: yet they found this temperament, that if one who had been high-priest, but removed from his office, was alive wlien tho slaughter was committed; after his death, bo tlf he that killed the high-priest, or any other uh’awares/and the highpriest himself, who had done the same, were setfree from the city of Tefiige. (See Sclden, lib. ii. <le Synedr. cap. 9. sect. 6. and lib. iii. cap. 8. sect. 3.)’ There niayscem to be some inequality in this law, because, as some high-priests lived long, and others but a Short time, so some menslayers fled to the city at’the beginning of their priesthood, and others just before their death. But it must be considered, that this could not be better ordered than to make the irianslaycr’s liberty depend upon the death of the high-priest, whensoever it fell out, that a higher value might be set upon him; and that it might represent our deliverance only by the death of the Son of God: of which many great men look upon this as a type, or shadow; though it must be confessed, there is not the least signification of this in the New Testament. And since the great expiation, which the high-priest made every year on the day, of atonement, did not procure such men their liberty, I caunot look upon it as the effect of thehigh^ priest’s death,’ but only as that which followed upon it, by, virtue of this law. For the high-priest having a great power every where, and particularly in these cities of the priests and Levites^ over whom he was the chief, it is pos: siblc the manslayer might be confined here by some peculiar act of his authority; which expiring together with himself, he was released. *.

Numbers 35:3

And the cities they shall liave to dwell in. .That they may build houses for themselves to dwell in.. Which did not make it unlawful for them to hire or purchase houses in any other city, particularly at Jerusalem, or the place where the tabernacle was settled; for we find in Scripture many proofs of their dwelling in other cities, beside these which arc here assigned to them. And, in like manner, other people,‘with their permission, might dwell with them in these cities, without any breach of this law. And the suburbs shall be for their cattle.] To afford pasture for their oxen and sheep. And for their goods.] The Hebrew word signifies, not only all kind of household stuff, but whatsoever was necessary for them and their cattle without doors. And for their beasts.] Horses, asses, mules, and all sorts of living creatures, as. the Hebrew word signifies. But it was not lawful for them to build houses in these fields, nor plant vineyards, nor sow corn: but they were given them only to make their dwellings more sweet; and that they might have the convenience of cattle aljout them, for provisions, and all other uses. Vdr. 4. And the suburbs and cities which ye shall give unto the Levites.] To be their possession, by as good and full a right, as their brethren of the other tribes had in their laiids, which fell to them for their inheritance by lot: sec Lev. xxv. 31. — 33. where they themselves are disabled to alienate cither the houses or fields of their cities. But if they sold a house, it was to revert at the jubilee; and the fields thfey could not so much as sell till that time: Shall reach from the wall of the city and outward a thousand cubits round about.] This space was for their outhouses; as stables, places for hay and straw, and such-like’ things, and perhaps for gardens of herbs and flowers. The Gemara, upon the ninth chapter of Sota, sect. 9. saith, that/ under the second temple, the Levites had no suburb’s;: which were not restored to them after the captivity of Ba-* bylon. Butthere being great care taken that the people shall pay all the tithe of their ground unto the Levites, (Nehem. x. 37.) it is unreasonable to think that care was not taken for places to lay them in. •

Numbers 35:5

And ye shall measure from without the city. Itis; not said, as in the foregoing verse, from the wall of the’ city; therefore I take it to signify from the outside of the suburbs beforementioned. • On the east side two thousand cubits, and on the south side 1 two thousand cubits, &c] So there was in the whole three thousand cubits round about the city: a thousand for the. suburbs, properly so called; and two thousand morefor? their pasture, called properly the fields of the suburbsrhev. xxv; 34. This is the most natural and easy explication of this place. > ■ And the city shall bein the midst.] So that there was exactly, everyway, such a circuit of ground about it. This shall be the suburbs of the 1 cities.]’-Here the word; suburbs comprehends the fields also. < And Maimonidcssaith, that, by the constitution of the elders, they set forth also a burying-placc for’ every city beyond these limits: for they might not bury their dead within the suburbs’ or* - fields; which they ground upon the foregoing verse, which * appoints them for other uses, (Schemita ve Jobel, cap. 13.) Ver. G. And among the cities which ye shallgive unto the* Levites, there shall be six cities for refuge.] Three in the land of Canaan, and three on the other side Jordan, (ver/* 14.) the names of which are set down, Josh. xx. 7, 8. and * those on the other side Jordan were set apart by Moses himself before he died, (Deut. iv. 43.) The reason of their’ being called cities of refugees given in the ncxt’words. JVliich ye shall appoint for the manslayer.] Such & manslayer as is afterward described; who killed another against • his will. That he may flee thither. ] And there be preserved, and - kept in safety, if he was not found guilty of wilful murder. The cities of the Levites were appointed for this purpose, - rather than any other, because they were a kind of sacred places, inhabited by sacred persons. And here men mightspend their time better than in other cities>’.being among" I God’s ministers; who might make them sensible of the negligence which men were commonly guilty of in such cases, and of such sins as they might have otherwise committed. And to them ye shall add forty-two cities.] Which had all the tsamc privilege, if wo may believe the Hebrew doctors; but not equally with the six. For in the six a manslayer was to have ahouse to dwell in for nothing; but. in* the other forty-two, he was to pay for it. And the Levites, could not refuse him entrance into the six; but as for the^ rest, it wasin their choice whether they would receive him..: or not. Thus Maimonidcs, out of their, ancient authors..; See Sclden, lib. iv. de Jure Nat. et Gent, juxta Discipl.. Hebr. cap. 2. where he observes, that the altar also was a.

Numbers 35:10

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto tliem. Repeat this command to them; which God himself repeated to Joshua, xx. 1. 2. Wlien ye be come over Jordan into the land of Canaan.] When they had possession of it, and divided it, and. were settled in it: so it is explained Deut. xix. 1; 2. •Ver. 11. Then shall ye appoint you cities to be cities of refuge for you] This seems to signify, that all the cities of the Levites were in some sort a protection to the manslayer, as I said upon ver, 6. Such places the temples ?ere among tjie Athenians, as Sam. Petitus observes in Leges Atticas, p. 12, 13. yet not all of them; for he can., find only six; that of Mercy, and that of Eumenides.and Minerva, and those dedicated to Theseus (one of them within tho city, the other without the walls), and that in ^ Munychia. That the manslayer may flee thither, which Mlleth any person at unawares.] Or, as it is Josh. xx. 3, unwittingly, Dent. xix. 4. ignorantly; that is, besides his intention, having no such design, nor hatred to him, as is there expressly said, and here below, (ver. 22.) This is repeated « ver. 15. And the instances of it aTe such as these, mentioned by Georg. Ritterhusius de Juro Asylorum, cap. 4. If a man cutting wood, the hatchet flying from the helve, should hit a man, and kill him; or a huntsman shooting at a deer in a thicket, should kill a man, whom he did not see lying there; an example of which we have in Adrastus, mentionedtby Herodotus, lib. i.

Numbers 35:13

And of these cities which ye shall give, six cities ye shall have for refuge. They might flee unto auy other cities of the Levites; but in these six they were most certain to find protection. (See ver. 6.) And tho best^provisipn was made for the raanslayer’s easy and safe flying thither: for the ways that led thither were to be, made very plain and broad (thirty-two cubits wide), and to be kept in good repair; for which they alleged (in the title Maccoth, cap. 2, sect. 5.) those words I)eut. xix. 3. " Thou shalt prepare the way," &c. And two students in the law were to ac- CHAP. XXXV.] UPON NUMBERS. company him; that if the avenger of blood should overtake him, before he got into the city, they might endeavour to pacify him by wise persuasions; and that he might not miss his way to the place whither he intended to flee, there were posts erected, where two or three ways met, with this inscription, MIKLAT, i. e. the city of refuge, to direct him into that road which led to it. A certain day also was appointed, which was the fifteenth of February, for the repairing of the highways, and of the bridges, which might have been broken by the winter rains or floods.

Numbers 35:14

And ye shall give three cities <m this side Jordan, and three cities in the land of Canaan. This seems not to be an equal partition; the land of Canaan being far bigger than the territory beyond Jordan; for it contained above three parts of four of the tribes of Israel. But it is to be considered, that the country beyond Jordan was as long as the land of Canaan, though not so broad: and they also beyond Jordan might flee to any of the cities in Canaan, if they were nearer to them. And besides, God commanded those in Canaan, if he enlarged their coast, to add three cities more, besides these, (Deut. xix. 8, 9.) Why six cities are appointed for this purpose, and no more; and why three on one side of Jordan, and three on the other, Philo alleges some mystical reasons; but so farfetched, that I do not think fit to mention them*

Numbers 35:15

These six cities shall be a refuge. They all began to be so at the same time, according to the Talmudists. For till those three in Canaan were set out, these three on the other side Jordan (though set out by Moses before.they went into Canaan, Deut. iv. 43.) did not receive any manslayer. Which they prove in the forenamed title, Maccoth, cap. 2. sect. 4. from these very words, these six shall be cities of refuge; that is, when the other three were appointed, then they all received those that fled to them, - Both for the children of Israel, and for the stranger, and for the sojourner among them.] Both strangers and sojourners had renounced idolatry, but had not equally embraced the Jewish religion; yet both of them had the sameshare in this benefit, with the native Israelites; it being a natural right, that every man who was innocent should be protected. The difference between a stranger and a sojourner hath been often observed, particularly upon Lev. xix. 33, 34. Numb. xv. 15, 16. That every one that killeth any person unawares may flee thither.] That is, every one beforementioned, whether Israelites, strangers, or sojourners. But as for such as were mere gentiles, and not so much as proselytes of the gate, if they killed another, though a gentile, they had not the benefit of this law; because they were notsuffered to dwell among them, though they trafficked in the country. And if a proselyte of the gate killed an Israelite, or one that was circumcised, he also, if we may believe the Jewish doctors, was denied protection in these cities. But if he killed one like himself (i. e. a proselyte of the gate), then he had the same privilege with the Israelites, as they explain it. (Sec Selden, lib. iv. de Jure Nat. et Gent. cap. 2. p. 477.)

Numbers 35:16

And if he smite him. Or rather, bitt if he smite him. With an instrument of iron, $o that he die, he is a murderer.] For it was to be presumed, that he who run at a man with a sword, or any such weapon, intended to do him a mischief; though perhaps he had no malice to him beforehand, but did it in a passion. So tliat he die.] He never going abroad after he was wounded, (Exod. xxi. 19, 20.) The murderer shall surely be put to death.] Be taken away by the judges, though he were in a city of refuge;- and, the fact being proved, condemned to die for it.

Numbers 35:17

And if he smite him with throwing a stone. -In the Hebrew it is, with a stone of the hand. That is^ say< the Jews, with a great stone that fills the hand; not with a small stone, with which he could not be presumed to intend to kill him; though he chanced to do it, by hitting him in the eye, or some other very tender part. Wherewith he may die.] With a stone big enough to kill him. And he die.] So that it appears he died of that blow.. He is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to’ death.] He is as guilty as the forenamed person, who smote with an instrument of iron; and his fleeing to the city of refuge shall not protect him from death.

Numbers 35:18

If he smite him with a hand-weapon of ivood. Such as a batoon(as we now speak), or a club, o* any such kind of instrument, as is likely to kill him; Wherewith he may die, &c] It made no difference with what kind of weapon or instrument he was killed, whether it were of iron, wood, or stone; if he were killed wittingly and knowingly, it was murder; and the guilty person was to suffer for it. Aul. Gellius hath collected the names of the several weapons, which were mentioned in ancient history; of which there are near thirty, (lib. x. Noct. Attic. cap. 25.) one of which, called ligula, he is pleased to ex** plain, being then not common; and saith, it was a little sword, in the form of a tongue, like our poniard,\I suppose, or dagger, or long knife; which was a dangerous weapon; because men might hide it under their clothes, and’kill others while they were in familiar discourse with triein.’ - Ver. ID. The avenger of blood himself] See ver. 12.. \ Shall slay the murderer.] This is thought by many to be a mere permission, not a precept; but the Jews think otherwise: that the next kin (. e. the heir of him that was slain) stood bound to do his endeavour to avenge his blood. If he would not (saith Maimonides), or if he.was not able; of if no such avenger was to be found (i. e. the murderer him- self was the next heir,, or the man slain was a proselyte of •justice without issue), he was to bo prosecuted, and put to death, by the court of judgment, and that by the sword* (See Selden, lib. iv. de Jure Nat. et Gent. cap. 1.). When he meeteth him he shall slay him.] He was not bound to stay for the sentence of the court, but might kill him wheresoever he found him., (See ver. 31.)

Numbers 35:20

But if he thrust him of hatred, &c. Or rather, for if he thrust him, &c. that is, if by any other means, besides those mentioned ver. 16 — 18. he killed a man wit? tingly, either by pushing, him down violently from a high or steep place; or throwing him into the water; or hurling a stone at him; or letting any thing fall down upon his head, though never so slily; if death followed, and it appeared he bore a hatred to him, he was to suffer death, as in the former cases.. (See Deut. xix. 11.) Now this was a sufficient proof of hatred to him; if being a neighbour, and they having some difference, he had not spoken to him for three whole days together. Microsoft® [chap. XXXV.

Numbers 35:21

Or in enmity sinite him with his hand that he die, he that smote him shall surely be put to death. If he gave him only a blow with his fist, of which he died, and it was proved he had enmity to him, it was sufficient to make him a murderer; and it warranted the avenger of blood to kill him, or obliged him to prosecute him, so that the. city of refuge should not save him. Tlie revenger of blood shall slay the.murderer when he meeteth him.] The civil law declared him to be unworthy to enjoy the inheritance of one that was murdered, if he neglected to. prosecute the person that killed him in some court of justice., But the Jewish law allowed, or rather required, a great deal more; that the next of kin should kill the mur-. derer with his own hands, if he met him. And thus the Ahyssines, at this day (as Rittcrhusius observes out of Alva-, rez), deliver the murderer into the hand of the next kinsman, to torture him., The reason of which law,. among the Jews, was, (as the same llitterhusius. observes, de Jure Asylprum, cap. 4.) because they being all descended from, one and the same stock, and equally taking of the same right, they were all concerned in the shedding of. the blood of any one of them, especially they who were nearest to. him in blood, who seemed to be all struck at and injured in him. So that the law, with great reason,. allowed them to avengq the blood. of him that was slain. With.. which thesejrerses of Ovid, he thinks, agree: " Cum tibi sint fratres, fratrcs ulciscere laesos. Cumque pater tibi sit, jura tuere patris." Ver.. 22. But if he thrust him suddenly without enmity.] Killed him (after the manner forementioned, ver. 20.) in a violent passion, having no such intention, and being perhaps highly provoked by him, or by chance, as we speak, and unawares, it being proved that there was no enmity between them, no signs of hatred before this fact.. Or cast upon him any thing, without laying in wait.] Happen. to hit him with any thing,. without design to hurt him: (see Exod.xxi. 13. Deut. xix. 5.) • Ver. 2t3. Or with any stone wherewith he may die.] See ver. 17. Seeing him not, and casting it upon him, that he die.] Throwing it at something else, or playing with it;, and having no thought of him, because he did not see him. And was not his enemy, neither sought his harm.] Not having any quarrel with him, not threatening, or any other way discovering that he sought to do him mischief.

Numbers 35:24

Then the congregation. That is, the judgment to whom the trial of such causes belonged; see ver. 12. where I observed, that the ciders, of the city of refuge judged whether the.manslayer, who fled thither, should be received or’not, upon a summary hearing of the cause, and such examination as they could make at present. But the full examination of it was reserved to. the judges of the place where the fact was committed. Shall judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood.] They sent for him out of the city of refuge, to be brought, before them; who heard what could be alleged against him, and what he could say for himself. According to thesejudgments.] Upon trial they proceeded to give judgment according to the foregoing rules; which, in brief,.arc. these: if a man had no intention to kill another, but it was purely involuntary, he was to be acquitted. If there appeared any design uponjiis life,- or such hatred and enmity as might move them to conclude he had an intention to kill him, he was to be put to death. But here the Hebrew doctors (as Mr. Scldcu observes) distinguish the killing of a man into three kinds: the first was, when, though it was from pure ignorance and error, yet there was some negligence in it, which a prudent man might have avoided. The second, when a man kills another ignorantly, and cannot be blamed for any negligence, because such a thing seldom happens. An example of the first they make, to be, when a man, coming down a ladder, falls upon another and kills him. An example of the second, when going up a ladder, a man happens to do the same. The former is.more frequent, and.therefore they say hath some kind of blame in it; the other seldomer, and therefore hath none. A third kind, when any man kills another out of ignorance and error also; but it approaches nearer" to, voluntary, murder: as.when a man, intending to kill one man, happens to kill another with a stone, or otherwise. In none of these cases, they say, the court of judgment could put any man to death. And the cities of refuge were not, pro-, vided for the second or third sorts, but only for the.first; and that when the man died presently, and did not lie and languish of the wound; for if he did, it might be supposed he died by his own negligence, or otherwise, as well as by the wound. In which case, there.was no need that the man who wounded him should flee to the city of refuge; nor could the avenger of blood meddle with him, no more; than he could with a father, when he. gave his son, or a master, when he gave, his scholar, correction, and happened to kill him.. The same was the case of him, whose office it was to arrest men, by public authority, and bring them before the judges, if he struck a man that refused.to go along with him, and killed him: (see Selden, lib. iv. de Jure Nat. et Gent juxta Disciplin. Heb. cap. 2.)

Numbers 35:25

And the congregation shall deliver the slayer out of the hands of the avenger of blood. If the court found the man was killed casually, as the person accused pretended, (Josh. xx. 4.) then they charged the avenger of blood not to prosecute any further. - Both here, and in the foregoing verse, and in the jicxt words to these, by congregation is meant the judgcs.of the city, (as I observed, ver. J2.) who were to determine in the presence, and in the behalf of the people, whether the man-: slayer w r ere capable of the privilege of the city of refuge or not; as we read Josh. xx. 4. G. Now these things (as a very learned person of our own argues), which were done by the elders (or judges), being said to be done by the congregation, or assembly of the people, in whose.behalf they were done; it is no wrong, to the Holy Scriptures, when we say, that which they report to have been done by the, church was acted by the chief power of the apostles and. elders, with the consent of the people. For ft is manifest in the New Testament,.that in the apostles* time all the public acts of tho church were passed at the public assemblies of the same. Ast ordinations, (Acts i. 23. v. 36.) excommunications, (Matt, xviii. 18—20. 1 Cor. v. 4. 2 Cor. ii. 10.) councils, (Actsxv. 4. 22.) and other acts, (2 Cor. vii. If).) And herewith agrees the primitive custom, of tho church for divers ages;, /whereby, they gave satisfaction to the people of the. integrity of their proceedings, and by tho same means obliged superiors to that integrity, by making

Numbers 35:26

Butif the slayer shall at any time. During the life of’the high-priest. * Come without the border of the city of refuge, whither he was fled.] If he went beyond the bounds of the fields,‘in which he had liberty to walk, and might not be touched. For if a tree was planted (as the Mischna resolves in Maccoth) within the borders of the fields of tlie city; though the boughs stretched themselves beyond the borders, yet the manslayer was safe under the tree. In like manner, when churches became places of refuge, the civil law allowed tlie privilege to extend to the chuTch gate:; and thg council of Toledo to thirty paces from the church; which pope Nicholas enlarged to forty. Thus, among the heathen, the bounds of the refuge at the temple of Diana at JEphesus were sometimes more, and sometimes-less, as Ritterhusius observes in his book beforenamed, where he shews how far it was extended by Alexander, and afterward farther by others. And Tacitus, lib. iii. Annalium, mentions a temple of hers, to which was granted^ by several emperors, “duobus millibus passuum eandem sanctitatcm,” the same Sanctity for two miles round about it.

Numbers 35:27

And the avenger of blood find him without the bordersof the city of his refuge, and the avenger of blood kill the slayer, he shall not be guilty of death.’) The court of judgment were not to put him to death; though perhaps he was obnoxious to the judgment of God,.becausc he had killed an innocent person: but he was free from the punishment of the law, that menslayers “might be the more careful to keep within their bounds; which was a profitable restraint upon them, for* the public good. All men seeing howmuch’God hated murder, by the confinement of him who had slain a man unawares, to akind of imprisonment. But it may be said, on the other side, that he who Jcilled a manslayer in this case was perfectly guiltless; because Microsoft ® [chap* XXXV. he did not herein act as a private person, but executed a sentenco against him, who was condemned by public authority. Which gave no protection to the manslaycr, but within the borders of his city of refuge; leaving him to the avenger of blood, if he came out of those bounds, till tho death of the high-priest. After which, if the avenger of blood killed him, no doubt he was to be punished as a murderer.

Numbers 35:28

Because he should have remained in the city of his refuge, until the death of the high-priest. These words give the reason, why the avenger of blood was not to be punished in this case; because the manslaycr was guilty of breaking another law, and so in somb sort accessory to his own death; for he might have been safe, if he had pleased., But after the death of the high-priest, the slayer shall return to the land of his possession.] Where he was not only to remain safe, but to be restored to all his honours, if he •had any before he fled to the city of refuge..

Numbers 35:29

So these things shall be for a statute of judgment unto you. A rule whereby to judge between manslayers and murderers. Throughout all generations.] The like clauses are usual in the ancient civil law: " Hoc pcrpetua lege sancimus. Hoc gencrali et in perpetuum valitura lege decernimus/’&c.. In all your dwellings.’] This the Jews interpret as an obligation upon them to have courts of judgment wheresoever they dwell. ThusR. Solomon, upon these very words: “They teach us (saith he) the use of courts of judgment, which ought to be even out of the land, all the time that they were used in the land.” So the ancient book Siphri, and many others mentioned by our most learned Selden, lib. ii. de Synedr. cap. 5. n.,1.

Numbers 35:30

Whoso killeth any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the inouth of witnesses. This direction for their proceedings in this case, was to be the rule in all others of like nature, by examining witnesses, who were to be competent.. Upon which account ten sorts of persons >vcrc incapable to be witnesses, according to the Hebrew doctors;viz. women, servants, minors, fools, the deaf and dumb, the blind, impious, and audacious people, dear relations, and those that had been convicted of bearing false witness: and they endeavour, after their manner, to find reasons against all these in the law itself. (See Selden, lib. ii. de Synedr. cap. 13. n. 11.). But one witness shall not testifyagainst any person, to cause.him to die.] This was such an established rule in the civil law, that it saith, ^ubinumerus testium non adjicitur, sufficiunt 6no’” -where the number ofivitnesses is not mentioned, two suffices. " Pluralis enim locutio, duorum numcro contenta est:" for where witnesses in the plural number are spoken of, two are enough to answer the intention of the law; Which number, therefore, is frequently mentioned expressly in Scripture, as necessary, in all cases, (Deut; xviL C.) particularly in this of murder, (xix. 15.) Yet, where.there was but one witness, or not two who both together?awthe man killed; sothathc who was accused of the murder could not be put to death, he was thrown into a very strait prison, and there fed with.bread and water of affliction, till his bowels were sorely pinched, &c. if we may believe the Jewish doctors, mentioned by Scldcn,,lib. iv. de Jure Nat. ct Gent. cap. 1.

Numbers 35:32

And ye sliall take no satisfaction for Mm that is fled to the city of refuge, that he may come to dwell in tlie land, until the death of the high-priest. No money was to< purchase his liberty to dwell any where else but there, till the time appointed by the law: but this punishment for manslaughter, was as indispensable as death for murder. And therefore, if any man happened to kill another in the city of refuge, to which he was confined, ho was forced to flee to another city of refuge, and there abide till the death of the high-priest.

Numbers 35:33

So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are; for blood defileth the land. By this it appears, that the next of kin was bound to prosecute the murderer unto death,, for the good of his country, which otherwise would have had a guilt upon it, and that very, grievous. For they are the greatest crimes, as Maimonidcs observes, which aro said to pollute the land, or them, or God’s sanctuary, viz. idolatry, (Lev. xx. 3.)* allthe filthincss that is forbidden, xviii. 24, 25. and murder, here mentioned, (More-Nevoch. par.iii. cap. 47>) And the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed’ therein, but by the blood of him that shed it.] The same* Maimonidcs observes, in the forty-first chapter of that book, “That it is a piece of universal justice, to make a man. suffer what he hath made another suffer. If he hath hurt his body, he must suffer for it in his own body,;, if in his money, his own purse must pay for it; if he have taken away his life, he must die for it himself. And the punish-,mcnt can neither bemitigatcd, nor any compensation accepted for it. For which he quotes these words; and upon this account resolves, that if he that was murdered should live a few days or hours after his deadly wound, and, being in sound understanding, should desire he that killeth him might not die for it, declaring that he freely forgave him, his desire was not to be granted, but blood w r as to be punished with blood: whether he that was slain was a great man or a mean, a freeman or a slave, a wise man or a fool; because thero is no sin committed by men greater than this is.” Ver. 34: Defile not therefore the Icuid which ye shall inliabit,] By suffering a.murderer to live. Wlierein I dwell.] This is given as a reason elsewhere,, (sec ver. 3.) why they should put all polluted people out of their camps, because God dwelt in them, viz. in his sanctuary, which made this land bo called the Holy Land, and God’s possession, (2 Chron. xx. 11.) For I the Lord dwell among the children of Israel.] See Exod. xxv. 8^ Tho very same was practised among the Athenians,, with some little alteration. For Demosthenes says, it was one of their laws rbv itc wpovoiag inrokTttvavTa ^avary ZnfxtovaScuy’that he who out of forethought killed a man, should be put to death. And he tells us also, that it was not lawful for the judges to take money to remit the

Moreover, ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer. If a murderer would have given all his estate to save his life, or the avenger of blood would have accepted a compensation, or freely let him go, the judges (when they had found him guilty) could not restore him to the city of refuge, but he.was to suffer death. For the life of him that was slain, was not (as Maimonidcs speaks) part of the goods of the avenger of blood, but belonged to Almighty God; who set such a value on a man’s life, that ho would not suffer any price to be taken for it. (See Selden in the same chapter, p. 470.)