Numbers 35:1

Here we have the instructions regarding the cities of refuge and the provision of cities for the Levites, and also the rules governing the utility of the cities of refuge to protect the guiltless in instances of unintentional homicide. A careful distinction between murder and manslaughter is made.

"And Jehovah spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, Command the children of Israel, that they give unto the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in; and suburbs for the cities round about them shall ye give unto the Levites. And the cities shall they have to dwell in; and their suburbs shall be for their cattle, and for their substance, and for all their beasts. And the suburbs of the cities, which ye shall give unto the Levites, shall be from the wall of the city and outward a thousand cubits round about. And ye shall measure without the city for the east side two thousand cubits, and for the south side two thousand cubits, and for the west side two thousand cubits, and for the north side two thousand cubits, the city being in the midst. This shall be to them the suburbs of the cities."

One concern of the student here is the inevitable claims of "contradiction," "various traditions," and "conflicting sources" Biblical critics have been screaming about this chapter for generations. Of course none of such things is here. The most that could be said about the somewhat ambiguous directions for measuring the "suburbs" in Numbers 35:4,5, is that any man attempting today to follow these instructions would hardly know how to do it. To the thoughtful person, this presents no problem whatever. The instructions were not given to men today, but to Moses for the benefit of Joshua who eventually ordered the compliance with God's Divine order given here. Both Moses and Joshua were inspired men, and when the Cities of Refuge and the other Levitical cities were opened as God commanded, we do not have any record that the project was in any manner hindered by "inadequate, or contradictory instructions." They were all opened as God commanded! So where is the problem? That commentators today sitting in their ivory towers cannot imagine how this was done is of no concern at all. Sure! They could not follow these instructions, and neither could they have constructed the tabernacle! The Five Books of Moses were simply not given for the purpose of instructing men for all ages to come on how to do the things done by the Chosen People, and there is no set of blueprints here for the tabernacle, or for any of the sacred furniture within it. Such considerations as these, however, are ignored by the seekers of discrepancies and contradictions. Note:

"Numbers 35:4,5, are compatible with one another only if the size of the city be reduced to a point!"[1] Gray based his conclusion upon his assertion that Numbers 35:5 requires the understanding that the suburbs were laid in a perfect square, a conclusion that is ridiculous on the face of it. There is no mention of a "square" anywhere in the whole passage; and besides that, the text flatly declares that the marking out of those "suburbs" should be round about the cities! (Numbers 35:4). Of all the ancient cities ever known, who ever heard of any of them being laid out in a perfect square? For that matter, where is the city today that is a perfect square? So much for the critical wisdom (?) of 1903. We have cited it here only for the purpose of demonstrating how much the critics have learned about this in the 82 years since Gray wrote. Wade declared in 1924 that, "In the delimitation of the pasture grounds of the cities, there is a curious oversight; and if these instructions were followed, the city within the square is reduced to a point."[2] John Marsh writing in 1953 has this, "The measurements given in Numbers 35:5 leave the city itself a mere point."[3] Even as recently as 1968, Noth has this: "According to these (verses) the `city' with its `wall' must have been only a point."[4] This is a classical demonstration of how Bible critics keep shouting the same old discredited and outworn criticisms of the 19th century, despite the fact of the most effective refutation of their errors being currently available almost anywhere one may seek them. In all of the quotations above about the city "being reduced to a point" it is perfectly clear that every one of the `scholars' was merely parroting Gray's critical remark published in 1903, using exactly the same terminology, and not even bothering to give the source of their misinformation!

Believers have never had any problem whatever with this chapter. Robert Jamieson commented on the mention first of 1,000 cubits, and later of 2,000 cubits, saying that, "The statements of the two verses (Numbers 35:4,5) refer to totally different things. The 1,000 cubits refers to out-houses, accommodations for shepherds, servants, etc.; and the 2,000 cubits to the common pasture lands beyond the first thousand cubits![5] It is a good thing the children of Israel had a practical leader like Joshua, the current class of scholarly critics would never have been able to discharge this commandment at all. Yet it was simple enough. The surveyor merely took a few points, each 1,000 cubits from the walls of the city, and joined them with a rude circle, then he went out another 2,000 cubits and circumscribed another band around the first. It was that simple! More than 150 years ago Adam Clarke drew a diagram of exactly how this was done.[6] In our opinion, he should have used a diagram of a city somewhat different from the "exact square" model that he chose.