CHAPTER XXXV _The Israelites are commanded to give the Levites, out of their_ _inheritances, cities and their suburbs for themselves and for_ _their cattle, goods, c._, 1-3. _The suburbs to be 3,000 cubits round about from the wall of the_ _city_, 4, 5. _The cities to be forty-two, to which si... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 35:4. _AND THE SUBURBS OF THE CITIES__ _- shall reach _from the_ _wall of the city and outward a thousand cubits round about_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 35:5. _AND YE SHALL MEASURE FROM WITHOUT THE CITY - TWO_ _THOUSAND CUBITS, C._] Commentators have been much puzzled with the accounts in these two verses. In Numbers 35:4 the measure is said to be 1,000 cubits from the wall in Numbers 35:5 the measure is said to be 2,000 from without t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 35:11. _YE SHALL APPOINT - CITIES OF REFUGE_] The cities of refuge among the Israelites were widely different from the _asyla_ among the Greeks and Romans, as also from the _privileged altars_ among the Roman Catholics. Those among the Hebrews were for the protection of such only as h... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 35:12. _UNTIL HE STAND BEFORE THE CONGREGATION IN_ _JUDGMENT._] So one of these cities was not a perpetual asylum; It was only a _pro tempore_ refuge, till the case could be fairly examined by the magistrates in the presence of the people, or the elders their representatives; and this... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 35:19. _THE REVENGER OF BLOOD_] גאל הדם _goel haddam_, the _redeemer of blood_; the next in blood to him who was slain. See on the preceding verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 35:30. _BUT ONE WITNESS SHALL NOT TESTIFY AGAINST ANY_] This was a just and necessary provision. One may be _mistaken_, or so violently _prejudiced_ as to impose even on his own judgment, or so _wicked_ as to endeavour through malice to compass the life of his neighbour: but it is not... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 35:31. _YE SHALL TAKE NO SATISFACTION FOR THE LIFE OF A_ _MURDERER_] No atonement could be made for _him, nor any_ _commutation_, so as to save him from death. All the laws of the civilized world have either adjudged the murderer to death, or to a punishment equivalent to it; such as p... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 35:32. _UNTIL THE DEATH OF THE PRIEST._] Probably intended to typify, that no sinner can be delivered from his banishment from God, or recover his forfeited inheritance, till Jesus Christ, the great high priest, had died for his offences, and risen again for his justification.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 35:33. _FOR BLOOD IT DEFILETH THE LAND_] The very land was considered as guilty till the blood of the murderer was shed in it. No wonder God is so particularly strict in his laws against murderers, 1. Because he is the author of life, and none have any right to dispose of it but himse... [ Continue Reading ]