Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comThrough the Bible Day by Day - Numbers 35:16 - 35:16
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
the Penalty for the Murderer
Num 35:16-34
For murder the penalty was death, Num 35:30-31; 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 Num 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 Eze 48:35; Mat 18:20; 2Co 6:16; Rev 21:3.
For Review Questions, see the e-Sword Book Comments.