The Levites are not given land or territory in Israel as the other tribes are, but the Levites are given 48 towns which include the surrounding pastureland. These Levitical cities would be taken from the land of each of the tribes of Israel. In this way, each tribe would have Levites, which was the teaching tribe in charge of maintenance of the religion of Israel, living among them.
Out of the 48 cities given to the Levites, six cities are to be set aside for use as “Cities of Refuge.” This would be a safe haven for a person who had caused an accidental death. The manslayer would flee to one of these six cities immediately after the death in order to protect themself from a counter attack, a vigilantly force or a kinsman avenger.
These six cities are equally spaced with three on the west side of the Jordan and three on the east side. The names and use of these cities is further detailed in Joshua 20:1-9:
Then the Lord said to Joshua:
“Tell the Israelites to designate the cities of refuge, as I instructed you through Moses, so that anyone who kills a person accidentally and unintentionally may flee there and find protection from the avenger of blood. When they flee to one of these cities, they are to stand in the entrance of the city gate and state their case before the elders of that city. Then the elders are to admit the fugitive into their city and provide a place to live among them. If the avenger of blood comes in pursuit, the elders must not surrender the fugitive, because the fugitive killed their neighbor unintentionally and without malice aforethought. They are to stay in that city until they have stood trial before the assembly and until the death of the high priest who is serving at that time. Then they may go back to their own home in the town from which they fled.”
So they set apart (see map here):
1. Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali,
2. Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and
3. Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah.
East of the Jordan (on the other side from Jericho) they designated:
4. Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau in the tribe of Reuben,
5.
Ramoth in Gilead in the tribe of Gad, and
6.
Golan in Bashan in the tribe of Manasseh.
Any of the Israelites or any foreigner residing among them who killed someone accidentally could flee to these designated cities and not be killed by the avenger of blood prior to standing trial before the assembly.”
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