Text: Deuteronomy 19:1
OT Text Referred to: Numbers 35:9
Subject: asylum city rationale
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): None
Significance: Numbers 35:9ff establishes the system of six cities of refuge (עָרֵי מִקְלָט, 'arey miqlat) -- three on each side of the Jordan -- for those who kill unintentionally. Deuteronomy 19:1ff recapitulates this legislation with additional pastoral detail, including the provision to add three more cities if God enlarges Israel's territory (Deut 19:8-9). Moses's Deuteronomy retelling emphasizes the humanitarian purpose: "lest the avenger of blood pursue the manslayer while his heart is hot and overtake him because the distance is great, and strike him dead, though the man did not deserve to die" (Deut 19:6). The Deuteronomy formulation reveals the theological rationale behind Numbers' institutional design: preventing innocent blood from being shed in the land.