Shortly after arriving in Chicago I saw Illinois put the death penalty on hold.  In England the death penalty has been abolished for years.  It seemed to be progressive to me for America to abolish antiquated procedures that frequently killed the wrong man (or woman).  My views on crime and punishment have changed since arriving in America and trying to understand the thinking behind passage like Numbers 35-36.  Remediation is not always the goal of the law.  Sometimes punishment ascribes value.  In the case of the death penalty the statement coming from the Bible is that the life of each person is equal to the life of another.  We instinctively are aware of the value of our own lives, but we are not always aware of the value of another’s life.  A law which tells you that your own life is forfeit if you murder establishes an understanding of the value of human life.  The rules for trying a murderer in the Bible are quite different than laws in states like Illinois.  For example, if you give false evidence in a murder case and are caught your own life is forfeit.  This would greatly reduce the draw of falsely accusing a rival or enemy to get revenge.  Do you think that the eath penalty is appropriate?

Numbers 35-36

 On the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho, ^[a] the LORD said to Moses, ² “Command the Israelites to give the Levites towns to live in from the inheritance the Israelites will possess. And give them pasturelands around the towns. ³ Then they will have towns to live in and pasturelands for their cattle, flocks and all their other livestock.

 ⁴ “The pasturelands around the towns that you give the Levites will extend out fifteen hundred feet ^[b] from the town wall. ⁵ Outside the town, measure three thousand feet ^[c] on the east side, three thousand on the south side, three thousand on the west and three thousand on the north, with the town in the center. They will have this area as pastureland for the towns.

Cities of Refuge

 ⁶ “Six of the towns you give the Levites will be cities of refuge, to which a person who has killed someone may flee. In addition, give them forty-two other towns. ⁷ In all you must give the Levites forty-eight towns, together with their pasturelands. ⁸ The towns you give the Levites from the land the Israelites possess are to be given in proportion to the inheritance of each tribe: Take many towns from a tribe that has many, but few from one that has few.”

 ⁹ Then the LORD said to Moses: ¹⁰ “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you cross the Jordan into Canaan, ¹¹ select some towns to be your cities of refuge, to which a person who has killed someone accidentally may flee. ¹² They will be places of refuge from the avenger, so that a person accused of murder may not die before he stands trial before the assembly. ¹³ These six towns you give will be your cities of refuge. ¹⁴ Give three on this side of the Jordan and three in Canaan as cities of refuge. ¹⁵ These six towns will be a place of refuge for Israelites, aliens and any other people living among them, so that anyone who has killed another accidentally can flee there.

 ¹⁶ ” ‘If a man strikes someone with an iron object so that he dies, he is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death. ¹⁷ Or if anyone has a stone in his hand that could kill, and he strikes someone so that he dies, he is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death. ¹⁸ Or if anyone has a wooden object in his hand that could kill, and he hits someone so that he dies, he is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death. ¹⁹ The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death; when he meets him, he shall put him to death. ²⁰ If anyone with malice aforethought shoves another or throws something at him intentionally so that he dies ²¹ or if in hostility he hits him with his fist so that he dies, that person shall be put to death; he is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he meets him.

 ²² ” ‘But if without hostility someone suddenly shoves another or throws something at him unintentionally ²³ or, without seeing him, drops a stone on him that could kill him, and he dies, then since he was not his enemy and he did not intend to harm him, ²⁴ the assembly must judge between him and the avenger of blood according to these regulations. ²⁵ The assembly must protect the one accused of murder from the avenger of blood and send him back to the city of refuge to which he fled. He must stay there until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.

 ²⁶ ” ‘But if the accused ever goes outside the limits of the city of refuge to which he has fled ²⁷ and the avenger of blood finds him outside the city, the avenger of blood may kill the accused without being guilty of murder. ²⁸ The accused must stay in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest; only after the death of the high priest may he return to his own property.

 ²⁹ ” ‘These are to be legal requirements for you throughout the generations to come, wherever you live.

 ³⁰ ” ‘Anyone who kills a person is to be put to death as a murderer only on the testimony of witnesses. But no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.

 ³¹ ” ‘Do not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer, who deserves to die. He must surely be put to death.

 ³² ” ‘Do not accept a ransom for anyone who has fled to a city of refuge and so allow him to go back and live on his own land before the death of the high priest.

 ³³ ” ‘Do not pollute the land where you are. Bloodshed pollutes the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it. ³⁴ Do not defile the land where you live and where I dwell, for I, the LORD, dwell among the Israelites.’ “

Numbers 36

Inheritance of Zelophehad’s Daughters

 ¹ The family heads of the clan of Gilead son of Makir, the son of Manasseh, who were from the clans of the descendants of Joseph, came and spoke before Moses and the leaders, the heads of the Israelite families. ² They said, “When the LORD commanded my lord to give the land as an inheritance to the Israelites by lot, he ordered you to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters. ³ Now suppose they marry men from other Israelite tribes; then their inheritance will be taken from our ancestral inheritance and added to that of the tribe they marry into. And so part of the inheritance allotted to us will be taken away. ⁴ When the Year of Jubilee for the Israelites comes, their inheritance will be added to that of the tribe into which they marry, and their property will be taken from the tribal inheritance of our forefathers.”

 ⁵ Then at the LORD’s command Moses gave this order to the Israelites: “What the tribe of the descendants of Joseph is saying is right. ⁶ This is what the LORD commands for Zelophehad’s daughters: They may marry anyone they please as long as they marry within the tribal clan of their father. ⁷ No inheritance in Israel is to pass from tribe to tribe, for every Israelite shall keep the tribal land inherited from his forefathers. ⁸ Every daughter who inherits land in any Israelite tribe must marry someone in her father’s tribal clan, so that every Israelite will possess the inheritance of his fathers. ⁹ No inheritance may pass from tribe to tribe, for each Israelite tribe is to keep the land it inherits.”

 ¹⁰ So Zelophehad’s daughters did as the LORD commanded Moses. ¹¹ Zelophehad’s daughters—Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah and Noah—married their cousins on their father’s side. ¹² They married within the clans of the descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in their father’s clan and tribe.

 ¹³ These are the commands and regulations the LORD gave through Moses to the Israelites on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho.

Questions:

1.  How far from the walls of the Levite cities should their land extend?
2. Who runs to a city of refuge?
3. Who may Zelophad’s daughters marry?
4. How would a modern girl react to being told whom she could marry?
5. What does arrange marriage teach us about loving our spouse?