"Unintentionally" (Numbers 35:11) and "Unwittingly" (Deuteronomy 19:4): Two Aspects of the Cities of Refuge. Issue 1 (24th April 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hadad, Eliezer
• Is Part Of: AJS review. Volume 41:Issue 1(2017)
• Page Start: 155
• Page End: 173
• Publication Date: 2017-04-24
• Subjects: Jews -- History -- Periodicals; Judaism -- History -- Periodicals; 296.05
• DOI: 10.1017/S0364009417000071
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0364-0094

Abstract

Abstract : Pericopes on the cities of refuge to which an unintentional manslayer may flee appear in the Pentateuch in two places: in Numbers 35 and Deuteronomy 19. This article demonstrates that the differences between these pericopes emerge from the differing internal logic of each text. In Numbers, the unintentional manslayer defiles the land where the Lord abides by spilling blood on it. In order to prevent the divine presence from departing, a manslayer must purge the land with his own blood. When the act was unintentional, the law commands removing the unintentional manslayer from the land, exiling him to a city of refuge until the land is purged by the death of the high priest. In Deuteronomy, an unwitting killer is untainted, and therefore anyone who kills him spills innocent blood. The Lord, watching from heaven, is concerned primarily with the human heart; if the killing was inadvertent, God considers the killer innocent. Therefore, the unwitting killer goes to the city of refuge to protect himself from the blood-avenger, only until the latter ceases to be a threat to his life.