Numbers 35:17
And if he smite him with throwing a stone, wherewith he may die, and he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death. And if he smite him with throwing a stone, wherewith he may die, and he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death.
Striking a person with a stone large enough to kill, when death follows, is counted as murder and requires that the murderer be put to death, with the decisive question being whether the killing was intentional and willful rather than accidental. The provision belongs to the cities of refuge, which restrained private blood vengeance by giving a slayer a place to flee and receive a fair trial with witnesses to determine intent. That shelter covers only the unintentional killer, while the convicted willful murderer is handed over for execution and not allowed to escape justice. Putting such a murderer to death is the penalty for breaking the sixth commandment, not a breaking of it, and it restrains further violence. The cities point to refuge in Christ Jesus for the unintentional sinner, who finds safety by remaining under that protection until the death of the high priest as the appointed limit of his confinement.
Meaning and Legal Setting
A fatal blow with a stone large enough to kill marks the striker as a murderer who must certainly be put to death. The killing with such a stone is counted among the cases treated as murder, so the killer is subject to the death penalty and is understood as willful murder. The law to which this rule belongs distinguishes intentional, willful, premeditated murder from accidental killing and from accidental death.
The rule stands in the chapter concerning the cities of refuge and explaining those cities. It belongs to the instructions about the cities given to the tribe of Levi, standing with the laws about the marriage of heiresses at the close of Numbers before the rehearsal of what God had done for Israel and the chief laws connected with Israel before crossing the Jordan into the promised land. That system mitigated the custom of blood vengeance by providing cities where a homicide could escape private vengeance and receive a fair trial to establish whether the killing was intentional or accidental.
The elders' initial decision admitted a fugitive to the city, but a regular trial came later after witnesses were summoned and the accusers had time to appear. That later trial was conducted under this rule with the other rules for deciding whether the slayer had committed intentional murder and should be handed over for punishment. The city protects only an accidental slayer, while refuge only held the manslayer until the question of intent was fairly tried. A willful murderer is not allowed to escape the legal consequences of guilt but, after fair trial and conviction, is handed over for execution.
Doctrine, Symbol, and Application
A fatal blow with a stone large enough to kill, when death follows, marks the striker as a murderer who must certainly be executed, with willful, premeditated killing carefully set apart from accidental death. Putting to death one whose guilt as a murderer is established beyond question is the prescribed penalty for breaking the sixth commandment rather than a breach of it. That execution also works as a restraint upon further violence.
The statute belongs to the provision of cities of refuge, where one guilty only of accidental homicide could find safety. Such a fugitive was required to remain there until the death of the high priest, and leaving that appointed protection exposed him to judgment. Those cities stand as a type of refuge in Christ Jesus. As with them, the shelter opened to the unintentional sinner shows that deliverance from death is given to lead the transgressor back to obedience, not to license continued sinning. By contrast with these divinely appointed places of refuge stands the vain trust placed in merely earthly cities regarded as safe.