But if he have thrust at him suddenly without enmity, or have cast upon him anything unintentionally,
This chapter draws a line between murder and accident. This verse describes the second case: a sudden shove, a thrown object, no hatred, no ambush. For the man who caused the death, his life, his freedom and his land all hung on which side of that line he fell.
This verse is not a general offer of shelter. It is an exact description, and the description decides the case:
Here we have a most detailed description of the man for whom the city of refuge was provided. If he did not match this description, the city was not for him. But if he did, he could feel the most perfect assurance. A gracious God had thought of him, and had found a refuge for him where he might be as safe as the hand of God could make him.
An onlooker could not always tell the two cases apart, so the assembly had to judge:
Sometimes it was not clear whether the man meant to cause harm. When such a manslayer came to the city of refuge, "then the congregation shall judge between the manslayer and the avenger of blood according to these judgments" (v.24). "These judgments" concern whether the case was murder, as seen in verses 16-21, or unintentional manslaughter, as in verses 22-23.
The same chapter that opens a door here slams it shut on the murderer. Both belong to one character:
The holiness of God shows in this: He would not shield the guilty. When competent judges and witnesses had examined the case, the guilty man was to be handed over. The grace of God shines brightly in preserving the unintentional slayer within the refuge, so that the avenger of blood could not lay hands on him.
The man in this verse had no time to plan. God had planned ahead for him:
He ordered that the cities meant as a merciful provision for the slayer should be placed so that wherever a shelter was needed, that shelter was near at hand... If any slayer fell into the hands of the avenger of blood, it was not because no refuge stood near, but because he had failed to use it. Everything necessary was provided: the cities were named, clearly marked, and publicly known.
Commentators read this distinction as the key to how God has dealt with Israel since the crucifixion:
God was prepared to treat their dreadful crime as a sin of ignorance — as manslaughter, for which a city of refuge is provided, and not as murder. This was a direct answer to the prayer on the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
Being a slayer rather than a murderer spared the man's life. It did not make him innocent:
They were ignorant of what they were doing, and that is why He prayed for them. Yet their ignorance was no valid plea for acquittal in God's sight, so the Lord's intercession was needed. God does show mercy to those who sin seriously in ignorance of what pleases Him. Take Paul, who thought he ought to do many things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth. "I received mercy," he writes, "because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief." God could be gracious, but He could not gloss over his wrongdoing.
Mercy still came at a cost:
Where there was no intent to kill, the mercy of God stepped in to save the man out of the hand of the avenger of blood. Yet it did so with a seriousness that shows what human life is to Him. Even after being judged innocent in this way, he could not simply go free. He had to stay in the city of refuge until the high priest died. Only then could he return to his inheritance in the land.
Commentators differ here. Some stretch the picture to every believer: "in what the gospel ministry provides, he finds his city of refuge" (Numerical Bible Notes). Others hold back:
Suppose we view it as applying to the case of a sinner taking refuge in Christ. It could only fit in a very limited way, since we would find ourselves surrounded on all sides by contrasts rather than likenesses. For in the first place, the manslayer in the city of refuge was not exempt from judgement... But for the believer in Jesus there is and can be no judgement. The reason is the simplest of all: Christ has borne the judgement instead.
- Enmity decides. No hatred, no ambush — that is what parts this man from the murderer. The assembly had to weigh each case against that test.
- Grace without laxity. One law shelters the unintentional slayer and refuses to shield the guilty. Holiness and mercy work together.
- Refuge prepared beforehand. The cities were named, marked, and spread out, so no one who perished did so for lack of a place to run.
- A nation still spared. God treated the crucifixion as a sin of ignorance. He answered the prayer from the cross, judging Israel as slayer, not murderer.
- Spared, yet exiled. Ignorance won mercy, never acquittal. The man kept his life, but lost his inheritance until the high priest died.
or [have smitten him] with any stone wherewith one may die, without seeing him, and have cast it upon him so that he die, and he was not his enemy, neither sought his harm
Numbers 35:23 completes God's picture of the accidental killer. A stone falls on a man the thrower never saw. There is no hatred, and no wish to harm. The whole law turns on that one point: did an enemy kill the man, or did an accident? God treats each case differently.
The chapter sorts every killing by intent, not by result. One writer sets the two kinds side by side:
Two kinds of guilt are mentioned and dealt with here. One is the murderer who planned the killing. The other is the man who killed another suddenly, with no earlier hatred. The two were treated differently. The murderer was to be given up — his sin would find him out, even in the city of refuge. The unpremeditated slayer of blood was safe.
A real death still had to be answered. One writer sees two sides of God at work here:
In Numbers 35 we have a striking picture of the holiness and grace of God in His dealings with the slayer. Here, and in Deuteronomy 19, He told His people to set aside certain cities of the Levites on both sides of the Jordan. Anyone who killed a person without meaning to could flee there. God's holiness shows in this: He would not shield the guilty. When proper judges and witnesses looked into the case, the guilty man had to be handed over. And God's grace shines in keeping the unintentional slayer safe inside the refuge, where the avenger of blood could not lay hands on him.
The words "without seeing him" point to ordinary accidents at work. One writer, on the matching law in Deuteronomy, gives an example and names the man the killer had to escape:
It was a provision for a manslayer, not for a murderer. He might kill another without meaning to. A man might swing his axe to cut down a tree, and the axe head could slip off the handle and kill someone. In such a case he could flee to the city of refuge. There he would be safe from "the avenger of blood." This person would be a close relative or friend of the victim, and might feel he had a right to take vengeance on the manslayer.
Clearing a man of murder did not set him free. The law still held him, and that shows how God values a human life:
Where there was no intent to kill, God's mercy came in and saved the man from the hand of the avenger of blood. Yet even then God acted with a seriousness that shows what a man's life means to Him. Even when judged innocent, he could not simply go free. He had to stay in the city of refuge until the high priest died. Only then could he return to his inheritance in the land.
God did not leave the killer guessing where safety lay, and safety had a boundary:
He set those cities apart as a merciful provision for the slayer. He placed them so that wherever a shelter was needed, that shelter was near at hand. If a slayer did fall into the hands of the avenger of blood, it was not because no refuge was near. It was because he had failed to use it. God made every needed provision: the cities were named, well marked, and known to all. There was only one thing for the slayer to do: escape for his life and reach safety inside the gates of the city of refuge. Once there, he could breathe freely. Inside the gate he was perfectly safe; outside it, he was fully exposed.
Commentators read the whole arrangement as a picture. It points first to a nation that killed its Messiah without knowing who He was.
Six of the Levites' cities were to be refuges for those who had committed murder without meaning to. This is a precious picture of God's dealings with Israel, who killed the Christ in their ignorance. In this sense, God judges them to be innocent. They are guilty of blood which they could not bear, but guilty in their ignorance.
One writer widens that circle, since the cross was not the work of one nation only:
So the cross is the guilt of the whole world. But it is a world that "did not know Him" when He was in it. For that reason, the very thing their hands did to Him may still serve them as their atonement. The faith of the non-Jew can be accepted on this principle alone. In the cities of the Levites — in what the preaching of the gospel provides — he finds his city of refuge.
- Intent divides. God weighs a killing by the heart behind it. He gave up the man who planned it; He sheltered the man who struck suddenly, with no earlier hatred.
- Holiness with grace. God refused to hide a guilty man, and refused to leave an innocent one exposed — one law does both.
- Mercy, not excuse. Cleared of murder, the man still lost his home until the high priest died. God spares a life, yet He never treats shed blood as a small thing.
- Refuge within reach. The cities were named, marked, and close by. If the avenger caught a man, the fault was in his running, not in God's provision.
- The wider picture. Commentators see Israel, who crucified Christ in ignorance, treated as a slayer and not a murderer. The same refuge now stands open to a world that did not know Him.