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Numbers 35 Bible study: Cities of refuge
Six of the Levites' forty-eight cities were cities of refuge, open to Israel and to the stranger (35:6-7, 35:15). They sheltered the one who killed "without hostility" (35:22), not the murderer, and he went home only "after the death of the high priest" (35:28). Behind the whole law: blood pollutes the land, and the LORD dwells among his people (35:33-34).
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“You shall not defile the land which you inhabit, where I dwell; for I, the LORD, dwell among the children of Israel.’”
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“In Numbers 35, the six cities of refuge are among the cities given to the Levites.”
Is that in Numbers 35, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
Cities for the tribe with no land
The LORD had told Aaron, "You shall have no inheritance in their land" (18:20), and of the Levites, "Among the children of Israel, they shall have no inheritance" (18:23). Now, in the plains of Moab (35:1), he gives them a place to live: "Command the children of Israel to give to the Levites cities to dwell in out of their inheritance" (35:2). With the cities come "pasture lands", which "shall be for their livestock, and for their possessions, and for all their animals" (35:3). The total is "forty-eight cities together with their pasture lands" (35:7), given by every tribe in proportion: "from the many you shall take many, and from the few you shall take few" (35:8). Joshua records it done: "All the cities of the Levites among the possessions of the children of Israel were forty-eight cities with their pasture lands" (Joshua 21:41).
Where it leads to Jesus
The testimony of two
Numbers 35:30leads toJohn 8:17-18
"One witness shall not testify alone against any person so that he dies" (35:30), and Deuteronomy names the number: "At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death" (Deuteronomy 17:6). Jesus said, "It’s also written in your law that the testimony of two people is valid. I am one who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me" (John 8:17-18). Jesus doesn't name a verse, so tying his words to this one is a reading: some hear in "your law" the whole law on witnesses, Numbers 35:30 among it; others hear Deuteronomy's words, which name "two witnesses" (Deuteronomy 17:6, 19:15), while Numbers 35:30 says only "witnesses" and "one witness".
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Numbers 35
That was a taste
The rest of Numbers 35 is waiting in Favor
- The place to flee, named
- Where the line falls
- Until the high priest dies
- The cities, set apart
- Blood and the land
- Hatred, in the law and in John
- 15 questions as you read
- 12 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
Favor reads the Bible in order, so you'll reach Numbers 35 with everything before it in view. First week free, then $10 a month per person.
The Hebrew word behind it
מִקְלָטmiqlatsay mik-LAHT
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "refuge, asylum". Strong's: "an asylum (as a receptacle)". The word appears 20 times in the Hebrew Bible, and every one is about these cities: 11 times in this chapter, where it first appears, then in Joshua 20-21 and 1 Chronicles 6. It is "the six cities of refuge" (35:6), "cities of refuge for you" (35:11), and each man slayer's own "city of refuge, where he had fled" (35:25). Joshua is told to say to Israel, "Assign the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you by Moses" (Joshua 20:2).
For your group
Numbers 35 Bible study questions
- 1The law asked about intent: hatred and lying in wait on one side, "not his enemy and not seeking his harm" on the other (35:20-23). When you've been hurt by someone, how do you tell the difference between what was meant and what just happened?
- 2The cities of refuge were open to Israel, to the stranger and to the foreigner (35:15). Who around you needs a safe place right now, and what could you do to be one?
- 3The LORD's reason for the whole law is "I, the LORD, dwell among the children of Israel" (35:34). What would change in your week if you lived as though the LORD were living right beside you?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Numbers 35 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
What is Favor?
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home