Joshua · WEB-C
Joshua
20
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The LORD spoke to Joshua, saying, See also: Joshua 13:1-7Joshua 6:2Joshua 5:14“Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘Assign the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you by Moses, See also: Deuteronomy 19:2-13Numbers 35:11-24Numbers 35:6that the man slayer who kills any person accidentally or unintentionally may flee there. They shall be to you for a refuge from the avenger of blood. He shall flee to one of those cities, and shall stand at the entrance of the gate of the city, and declare his case in the ears of the elders of that city. They shall take him into the city with them, and give him a place, that he may live among them. See also: Jeremiah 38:7Ruth 4:1-2Proverbs 31:23If the avenger of blood pursues him, then they shall not deliver up the man slayer into his hand; because he struck his neighbor unintentionally, and didn’t hate him before. See also: Numbers 35:12Numbers 35:25He shall dwell in that city until he stands before the congregation for judgment, until the death of the high priest that shall be in those days. Then the man slayer shall return, and come to his own city, and to his own house, to the city he fled from.’” See also: Numbers 35:12Hebrews 9:26Numbers 35:24-25They set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath Arba (also called Hebron) in the hill country of Judah. See also: Joshua 21:11Luke 1:39Joshua 21:32Beyond the Jordan at Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness in the plain out of the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh. See also: Joshua 21:361 Chronicles 6:78Joshua 21:38These were the appointed cities for all the children of Israel, and for the alien who lives among them, that whoever kills any person unintentionally might flee there, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until he stands trial before the congregation. See also: Numbers 35:15Joshua 20:6Joshua 20:4
See also: Cross references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), derived in part from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
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Notes · Haydock (1859, public domain)6 notes
Notes in English 19th-century Catholic commentary by Fr. George Leo Haydock, shown as published.
These notes keep the polemics of their time: some speak harshly of the Jewish people or of other Christians. The Church teaches otherwise today. The Jewish people may not be blamed for the death of Christ (Nostra Aetate 4; Catechism 597–598), and Christians of other communities are our brothers and sisters in the Lord (Unitatis Redintegratio 3). Christian unity
Joshua 20:3
Ver. 3. Of blood, and authorized to kill the manslayer, (M.) if he find him out of one of these cities. See Num. xxxv. 6. Deut. xix. 4. Revenge was never lawful: but to prosecute offenders in the courts of justice, (C.) or agreeably to the law of God, can never deserve blame. H. --- If some of the saints of the old law seem to have taken delight in revenge, their expressions must be explained in a favourable sense. David, who is accused of this crime, (C.) repels the charge with horror. Ps. vii. 5. The evils which he denounces to his adversaries, were predictions of what they had reason to expect. Ps. lvii. 11. Jer. xi. 20. H. --- If some of the Jews looked upon vengeance as lawful, it cannot be a matter of surprise, when we reflect that even some, who have been taught the mild law of the gospel, think themselves bound, in some cases, to revenge an affront.
C. ---
So far have the maxims of the world supplanted Christianity in their breasts!
How severely does Jacob rebuke his children for what they had done to the Sichemites, though they falsely thought that the affront offered to their sister, would justify them! Gen. xxxiv. H.
↑ 3Joshua 20:4
Ver. 4. Gate, where justice was administered. M. --- Here the ancients heard what the manslayer had to say in his own defence; and if they thought his account plausible, they gave him a retreat till he might be safely brought to answer the charges of the avenger, who might endeavour to prove that the murder was wilful.
↑ 4Joshua 20:5
Ver. 5. Before. This is generally taken literally. But if sufficient proof could be brought that the contending parties were at variance, or reconciled some time before the accident happened, the person who had taken refuge, would be judged accordingly. It might lawfully be presumed that they were enemies, if, after being at variance, they had given no signs of reconciliation. C.
↑ 5Joshua 20:6
Ver. 6. Fact. Sept. "before the synagogue for judgment." H. --- Whether this took place in the same city, or where the murder was committed, (see Num.
xxxv. 12. and v. 25.) the reasons are given why the manslayer was released at the death of the high priest. C. --- By the death of Christ, the greatest criminals are redeemed. M.
↑ 6Joshua 20:7
Ver. 7. Cedes and Gaulon lay on the north, Sichem and Ramoth in the middle, Hebron and Bosor on the south of the country. H.
↑ 7Joshua 20:9
Ver. 9. Strangers. The limitations of the Jews in favour of their own nation are rejected. The civil and criminal law should affect all alike, except, God order it otherwise. --- Stand. This was the posture of the people accused, while the judges sat. Drusius. C.
↑ 9License: Notes by Fr. George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), from the Douay-Rheims Bible with Haydock's commentary (first ed. Thomas Haydock, Manchester/Dublin, 1811–1814; New York: Edward Dunigan & Brother, 1859); New Testament notes compiled with Fr. Benedict Rayment. Public domain. Digital text: "The Haydock Bible", Internet Archive (archive.org/details/TheHaydockBible), uploaded 2011 under the Public Domain Mark. · Credits and licenses