Numbers 35:16-34

the Penalty for the Murderer

Numbers 35:16

For murder the penalty was death, Numbers 35:30; but for accidental homicide there was freedom within the city limits until the death of the high priest, when all these refugees might return to their homes with impunity. The institution of the blood-avenger was almost a necessity in those lands of scattered population and without communal organization. Here, without destroying the practice, it has been placed under careful limitations. We are our brethren's keepers, and instead of passing on a slander, we should stand for them against those who have wrongfully maligned them.

What an exquisite promise is contained in Numbers 35:34! To think that Jehovah actually dwelled in the Holy Land! He dwells also in each assembly of His saints and in our hearts. See Ezekiel 48:35; Matthew 18:20; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Revelation 21:3.

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