Verse 3
3. Unawares and unwittingly The design of the city of refuge was not to screen criminals, but to afford an opportunity to all accused of so grave a charge to show the absence of a guilty intent. In order to do this the guilty must be temporarily received as well as the innocent.
Avenger of blood The next of kin, or the Goel, as he is styled in the Hebrew, and still called in the East. In Genesis 9:5, Jehovah says, “Your blood in return for the lifeblood which you have shed will I require.” He here expresses his estimate of the sacredness of human life. The avenger of blood is his agent for searching out and punishing murder. In the absence of magistrates and tribunals, one man in each family was required to act as a sheriff for the redress of his kindred and the protection of the body politic. In ancient Greece the land was regarded as defiled and accursed of the gods so long as a murderer dwelt therein unpunished.
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