is enounced with minute particularity that it might be distinctly understood. -¶ At unawares. Heb. bishgâgâh, by error, i. e., ignorantly, unadvisedly, (under whom the priests are included), six were to be set apart as cities of refuge or asylums, to which any person who had accidentally, or by chancemedley, killed another, might immedi- | unintentionally. See Note on Josh. ately repair, and take sanctuary in the manner just about to be described.¶ Cities for refuge. Heb. miklat, of gathering, or retention, because the man-slayer was there gathered or detained. Gr. “A place of flight and exile." Chald. "A place of deliverance and preservation." These cities were to be assigned out of the portions of the several tribes, more out of some, and fewer out of others, according to the extent of the territory allotted to each. General Law respecting Homicide. Vs. 9-14. The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, etc. As the law here given was one fraught with most important consequences to the parties concerned and to the welfare of the nation at large, it 20: 3.—¶ For refuge from the avenger. That is, from the avenger of blood, the next of kin, or the Goël, as he is termed in the East, where the institution of blood-revenge has always been rigorously observed. Of this law of Goelism we have already treated at some length in the Notes on Gen. 9:5. Josh. 20: 3, to which we refer the reader, as also to what will be said further upon it in our remarks on Deut. 19:4-13. T Until he stand before the congregation in judgment. The man who had been guilty of involuntary homicide was to flee to the nearest city of refuge, where his case was stated to the elders at the gates or entrance to the city. He was then received and retained there till sent for and taken home to the place where the act was commit ted, and there it was that he "stood before the congregation." If found worthy of death upon his trial, he was delivered over to the avenger of blood to be put to death; if otherwise, he was returned to the city of refuge, where he lived in a kind of durance and exile until the death of the high-priest, when he was fully released and permitted to live where he pleased. V. 15. These six cities shall be a refuge, etc. The privileges of this institution were to be extended equally to all the inhabitants of the Holy Land, whether Israelites or proselytes in whole or in part, in fine, to all who were not absolute heathen and idolaters. These six cities are specified in Josh. 20, and an inspection of the map will show how wisely those places were chosen so as to make a city of refuge easy of access from all parts of the land. The roads leading to these cities were to be kept in good repair; no hillock was left, no river or stream was allowed over which there was not a bridge; the road was to be at least two-andthirty cubits broad, and every kind of obstruction was to be removed that might hurt his foot or hinder his speed. At every turning or branching of roads, posts were erected bearing the words, REFUGE! REFUGE! to guide the fugitive in his flight; so benign and considerate was the provision made for the benefit of the accidental slayer of his fellow-man. Discriminations of Manslaughter and Murder. Vs. 16–23. And if he smite him, etc. The main distinctions here made by the law between manslaughter and murder, and which the judges were especially to regard in deciding upon the cases that came before them, were the following: If the slayer appeared put to death; for he is a murderer: the revenger of blood shall slay the murderer when he meeteth him. 25 And the congregation shall deliver the slayer out of the hand of the revenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to the city of his refuge, whither he was fled: and he shall abide 22 But if he thrust him suddenly without enmity, or have cast upon him any thing with-in it unto the death of the high out laying of wait, priest which was anointed with the holy oil. 23 Or with any stone, wherewith a man may die, seeing him not, and cast it upon him that he die, and was not his enemy, neither sought his harm; 24 Then the congregation" shall judge between the slayer and the revenger of blood according to these judgments; r ver. 12. Josh. 20. 6. 26 But if the slayer shall at any time come without the border of the city of his refuge, whither he was fled 27 And the revenger of blood | find him without the borders of the city of his refuge, and the revenger of blood kill the slay s Ex. 29. 7. Lev. 21. 10. V. 25. The congregation shall deliver, city of refuge to which he had betaken himself, and was there to live retired without stirring out of the place till the death of the then living high-priest. There was doubtless a degree of severity in this enactment, considering that the man had been pronounced guiltless, but it would naturally have the effect of a warning to all men, lest by heedlessness or negligence they should endanger the life of a fellow-being. Moreover, the retirement and absence of the slayer would tend to soften the resentments of near relations and friends, and prevent the execution of revenge. to have struck the person slain with an unlawful and unsizable weapon, ob- | etc. After trial and acquittal the involviously sufficient to cause death by auntary man-slayer was sent back to the single blow, as a sword, crowbar, huge club, or a great stone, etc., it was to be looked upon as a design upon life, and to be adjudged wilful murder. In all such cases the nearest relation of the person slain might kill the murderer wherever he met him, nor should his flying to a city of refuge be of any avail to him. So again, in like manner, any other mode of taking life by violent means, as by a forcible thrust, push or stroke, evidently prompted by a spirit of enmity and with malice prepense, was to be adjudged murder, and to remain unrelieved by the provisions of the present law. But if, on the contrary, the outrage were apparently committed in a sudden fit of passion, without premeditation or antecedent threat, grudge or malice, then it was to be pronounced mere manslaughter, and the righteous judgment of the congregation was to absolve the slayer from the guilt of blood. Vs. 26-28. If the slayer shall at any time, etc. If through impatience of confinemtent, or other cause, he should venture beyond the prescribed limits, and the relations of the deceased should then find him, they might put him to death without being answerable for murder, though still in the sight of God he might not be accounted guiltless as having er; he shall not be guilty of blood; 28 Because he should have remained in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest: but after the death of the high priest the slayer shall return into the land of his possession. 29 So these things shall be for a statute of judgment unto you, throughout your generations, in all your dwellings. 30 Whoso killeth any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses" but one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die. 31 Moreover, ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a slain an innocent man. This enactment goes on the supposition that the man was accessory to his own death, which he might have avoided by keeping within the bounds set for him. "He should have remained in the city of his refuge."-Jarchi. V. 30. By the mouth of witnesses. No evidence should be sufficient to convict a man of wilful murder but that of living, competent, and sufficient witnesses, of which there should always be at least two; it being unreasonable to put a man's life to hazard solely on what might be the prejudice, passion, ignorance, or caprice of a single person. See Deut. 17:6. 19:15. V. 31. Ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer. A murderer once legally convicted shall be incapable of pardon. Neither interest nor influence of any kind was to be available to the purchase of his life. murderer, which is guilty of death; but he shall be surely put to death. 32 And ye shall take no satisfaction for him that is fled to the city of his refuge, that he should come again to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest. 33 So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are, for blood it" defileth the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but "by the blood of him that shed it. V. 32. Ye shall take no satisfaction for him that is fled, etc. In like manner, the person guilty of manslaughter shall not be able by the proffer of any sum, even of his whole estate, to buy off his confinement to the city of refuge till the death of the high priest. Vs. 33, 34. So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are. Murder being the highest of all injuries against human society and against God, in whose image man is created, it is but just in itself that life should pay for life, and so therefore it is the will of God to have it. Accordingly, were any Israelite, but especially judges and magistrates, through a mistaken leniency or a culpable remissness, to fail in the execution of so important a law, the failure would be sure to bring a polluting stain upon the whole land, for the defilement of blood can only be cleansed by the blood of him who has shed it. If, CHAPTER XXXVI. the land for an inheritance by lot to the children of Israel: с AND the chief fathers of the and my lord was commanded families of the children of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came near, and spake before Moses, and be fore the princes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel: Law regulating the Inheritance of Daughters. V. 1. And the chief fathers, etc. Heb. "The heads of the fathers." Gr. "The princes." The regulation here recorded was consequent upon the case mentioned ch. 27, where we read of a special provision made for the female branch of the family of Zelophehad, who belonged to the tribe of Manasseh, the son of Joseph, but to that half of it which was to settle on the western instead of the eastern side of the Jordan. Moses had indeed secured them an ample inheritance among their brethren, but some of the heads of that family, foreseeing a great inconvenience likely to result in the case of the marriage of these women, came before Moses with a new petition bearing upon by the LORD to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother unto his daughters. 3 And if they be married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel, then shall their inheritance be taken from the inheritance of our fathers, and shall be put c c. 27. 1, 7. the point of the apprehended grievance. While gratefully acknowledging the provision kindly made for them by the commandment of the Lord, they represent that in case these female heirs should marry into other tribes, the inheritances accruing to them would of course be alienated from their own tribe, and be transferred to that into which they married. This would appear to be contrary to the divine arrangement, by which a certain portion of territory was assigned by lot to each tribe, and this would of course be diminished to the extent of whatever was taken out of it. This is now to be guarded against. Should it be objected that this is a case which the divine omniscience would have been expected to have foreseen and provided for without being previously applied to for the purpose, we deem it a sufficient reply to say, that he evidently preferred that his people should learn his will on many points only as the emergencies arose which prompted them to consult him. On this head we subscribe to the very appropriate remarks of Calvin :—“ God designedly withheld his decisions until they naturally arose out of the circumstances of the case. He allowed himself to be interrogated familiarly in regard to doubtful points of no primary |