Exodus 21:12-14

THE RIGHTS OF THE ACCUSED

"He that smiteth a man, so that he dieth, shall surely be put to death. And if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand; then I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee. And if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbor, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may, die."

This is the first of several protections given to assure the just enforcement of God's law. The law under consideration here was first reiterated in Exodus 21:12, capital punishment for murderers, but one accused of murder was not always guilty. There were instances of accidental, or of unintentional homicide, and to protect against the unjust punishment of one who had committed a "crime" like that, God appointed a place where the man could flee until the true facts were determined by proper authority, after which the guilty would be punished and the innocent spared. Also, Exodus 21:12 may be viewed as a limitation of the number of capital offenses. Only three were mentioned here, although more were specified later: (1) murder (Exodus 21:12); (2) striking or cursing father or mother (Exodus 21:15,17); and (3) kidnapping (Exodus 21:16).

"A place whither he may flee ..." God, through Moses, gave more complete and definite instructions regarding this in Numbers 35:9-34, where it was revealed that "after Israel entered Canaan" six cities of refuge were to be appointed, and specific rules established regarding their use and the rights and restrictions applicable to the manslayer. We know now, of course, that those cities of refuge were: Kedesh, Shechem, Hebron, Bezer, Ramoth, and Golan. They were apparently appointed by Joshua (Joshua 20:1-9).

There is no mention here of the place to which inadvertent slayers could go, but the mention of "mine altar" so closely in this connection probably indicates the altar of the tabernacle (soon to be established) which would serve until Israel entered Canaan and Joshua appointed the cities. Certainly, the idea was well known long before Moses that guilty men could claim immunity from punishment by fleeing to the altar of some holy place. The gross abuse of that pagan idea had turned the great cities of the pagan world into vast concentrations of the most evil men on earth. At a time long after Moses, the Temple of Diana at Ephesus extended their sanctuary for a full half-mile in all directions from the temple area, and that, in the times of the apostles, was probably the most concentrated population of grossly wicked men ever known on earth. Here God specifically denied the efficacy of such places of refuge. That, however, did not keep Joab from attempting to make use of it. He and Adonijah both fled to the altar, but Solomon ordered both of them slain (1 Kings 2:24-32).

"But God deliver him into his hand ..."

"This is the Biblical way of saying that the death was not planned. Since the Bible does not deal with secondary causes, "chance happenings," anything which man did not specially plan must have been caused by God's action."[20]