Numbers 35:23
Or with any stone, wherewith a man may die, seeing him not, and cast it upon him, that he die, and was not his enemy, neither sought his harm: Or with any stone, wherewith a man may die, seeing him not, and cast it upon him, that he die, and was not his enemy, neither sought his harm:
The verse describes an accidental killing, where a person throws a stone capable of causing death without seeing the victim, having no enmity against him and seeking him no harm, and this distinguishes the unwitting slayer from an intentional murderer. The law gave such a person a place to flee from the avenger and find asylum in a city of refuge until a fair trial before the congregation could decide whether he acted accidentally or deserved punishment as a murderer, thus restraining blood vengeance without allowing a murderer to buy freedom. The cities of refuge are a type of the refuge found in Christ Jesus, in whom the sinner is safe from the law's demand for life. The slayer was safe only while he remained in the city until the death of the high priest, but because Christ lives to intercede and never dies again, those who remain in Him are eternally safe from wrath, which is God's provision of life for transgressors who repent and return to obedience, not permission to continue in sin.
Accidental Killing Defined
The verse defines accidental killing by the case of one who casts a stone capable of causing death and strikes a person he does not see, so that the person dies. It requires further that the one who threw was not the victim's enemy and was not seeking his harm. Such a death is not intentional murder but the act of an unwitting slayer. The distinction turns on enmity and intent to harm, separating a killing done unawares from murder.
Causing death does not by itself make a killing a crime, since criminal guilt depends on intent. Carelessness in such an unintentional killing may still leave the offender liable to pay damages.
Refuge Law Administered
The law provided cities of refuge so that one responsible for such a death could flee from the avenger and find asylum while the case awaited a proper trial. The case in view is causing death by casting a stone capable of causing death without seeing the victim, when the thrower was not his enemy and had not sought his harm. That asylum secured an unwitting slayer a fair trial before the congregation to determine whether he had acted accidentally. If the killing was proved accidental he was not to be punished as a murderer, but if proved deliberate he deserved punishment as a murderer subject to execution.
This arrangement mitigated the custom of blood vengeance rather than abolishing it outright. It held the avenger back until the facts could be judged, yet it left vengeance in place against the guilty. At the same time the law distinguished such an unwitting killing from murder and gave a murderer no way to buy freedom.
The cities were appointed among God's own people of old as true cities of safety. They were safer than the strongly fortified cities of the world such as Babylon. They provided escape from death for those who had sinned unintentionally through incapacity or ignorance.
Christ Typified as Refuge
The law of the unwitting slayer who causes death by casting a deadly stone without seeing the one struck, when he was not his enemy and sought him no harm, belongs to the chapters appointing the cities of refuge, and those cities are a type of the refuge found in Christ Jesus. In that type the sinner fleeing for life is made safe in Christ from the law's demand for life.
The safety thus typified was measured by abiding in the appointed place, for the unwitting killer could remain safe in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest. To leave the city before that time was to step outside its protection and to live exposed to judgment and in fear of the avenger.
Because Christ dies no more but ever lives to intercede, those who remain in Him are eternally safe and saved from wrath. Those who turn away from Him as their refuge face judgment, for departure forfeits the shelter that continuance secures. In this way the escape from death granted to those who sinned unintentionally through incapacity or ignorance illustrates God's provision of life for transgressors who repent and return to obedience, not permission to continue in sin.