REFUGE. Cities of Refuge: In order to provide for the Security of those, who by Chance, and without any Design, should happen to kill a Man, in whatever manner Exod. xxi. 13. Numbers xxxv. 11,it should be; the Lord commanded Moses to appoint Six Cities of Refuge, or Asyla, that whoever against his Will should spill the 12,13,&c. Blood of a Man, might retire thither, and have time to prepare for his Defence and Justification before the Judges, so that the Kinsman of the Deceased might not pursue him thither and kill him. Of these Cities there were three on each Side Jordan. Those on this Side Jordan were Kedesh of Naphtali, Hebron, and Shechem. Those beyond Numbers xxxv. 15.Jordan were Bezer, Golan, and Ramoth-Gilead. They served not only for the Hebrews, but for all Strangers also, that should dwell in their Country. The Rabbins confined the Name Strangers only to such as were Proselytes; but in this I think they depart from the Design of the Law. Deut. xix. 8.The Lord also commanded, That when the Hebrews should multiply, and should enlarge the Limits of their Country, they should add three other Cities of Refuge to those now mentioned. And as this Command was never fulfilled, the Rabbins say, that the Messiah will accomplish what God has commanded in this respect.
Maimonides from the Traditions of the Antients, assures us, that all the Forty-eight Cities, appointed for the Habitation of the Priests and Levites, were also Cities of Refuge; and that all the Difference between them was, that the six Cities appointed by the Law, were obliged to receive and lodge for nothing all that should fly to them; whereas the other two-and-forty Cities might refuse to admit such as fled to ‘em, and were not obliged to lodge them gratis. Besides the Cities of Refuge, the Temple of Philo Legat. adthe Lord, and especially the Altar of Burnt-offerings, enjoy’d the Privilege of being an Caium. Asylum. The Rabbins say, that generally the Altar was only for the Priests. Those that took Sanctuary in the Temple, were presently judged by the Judges; and if they were found Guilty of wilful Murder, they were forc’d away even from the Altar, and put to death without the Temple. But if they were found innocent, they had a Guard appointed them to conduct them safe to some City of Refuge.
These Cities were to be of easy Access, and to have smooth and good Roads to ‘em, and Bridges where-ever there shou’d be Occasion. The Width of these Roads was, at least, to be two and thirty Cubits, or eight and forty Feet. When there were any Cross -Roads, they took care to set up Posts, with an Inscription, directing the Way to the City of Refuge. Every Year, on the fifteenth of the Month Adar, which answers to our February Moon, the Magistrates of the Cities visited the Roads, to see if they were in good Condition. The City was to be well supply’d with Water, and all kind of Provisions. It was not allow’d there to make any Weapons, that the Relations of the Deceased might not be furnish’d there with Arms to gratify their Revenge. Lastly; it was necessary, that whoever took Refuge there, should understand a Trade or Calling, that he might not be chargeable to the Inhabitants. They us’d to send some prudent and moderate Persons, to meet those who were pursuing their Revenge for their Relations, that they might dispose them to Clemency and Forgiveness, and might persuade them to await the Decision of Justice.
Tho’ the Manslayer had fled to the City of Refuge, yet he was not thereupon exempt from the Pursuits of Justice: An Information Numbers xxxv. 12.was preferr’d against him; he was summon’d before the Judges, and before the People, to clear himself, and to prove the Murder was merely casual and involuntary. If he was found innocent, he dwelt safely in the City to which he had retired; if otherwise, he was put to Death, according to the Severity of the Law. The Texts of Scripture Compare Deut. xix. 11, 12. Josh. xx. 4,5,6. Numbers xxxv. 25.are not very express, whether the Affair was under the Cognizance of the Judges of the Place where the Murder was committed, or of the Judges of the City of Refuge, to which the Murderer had fled; and the Commentators are at Variance in this Matter. But it appears to us, from a Passage of Joshua, that they were to undergo two Trials: First in the City of Refuge, where the Judges summarily examined the Affair, and heard his Allegations at his first Arrival: Secondly, when he was taken back to his own City, to be judg’d by the Magistrates of the Place, who took the Cause into a more strict and scrupulous Examination. If the1 latter Judges declared him Innocent, they had him re-conducted under a good Guard to the City of Refuge to which he had fled.
He was not therefore immediately set at Liberty: But to inspire the greater Horror, even of involuntary Murder, it seems as if the Law would punish it by a kind of Banishment; for he was obliged to dwell in this Numbers xxxv. 25, 26,27,28.City, without going out of it, ‘till the Death of the High-Priest: And if before this time he should anywhere go out of the City, the Revenger of Blood might safely kill him: But after the High-Priest’s Death, he was free to go where he pleas’d, and no one had any Right to molest him on this Account. See the Commentators upon Numb. xxxv. and Josh. xx.
As to the Places of Refuge among the Greeks and Romans, we have already mention’d something of them under the Article AZYLUM: We have there spoke of the Azylum set up at Athens by the Heraclidæ, in the Temple of Misericordia. Theseus built one in the same City, in favour of the Slaves and poor People that should fly thither, from the Oppression of the Rich. There was also one in the Isle of Calauria. The Temples of Apollo at Delphos, of Juno at Samos, of Æsculapius at Delos, of Bacchus at Ephesus, and many others in Greece, had the Privilege of being Asyla2. Romulus gave this Right to a Wood adjoyning to the Temple of Vejovis3. Ovid speaks of a consecrated Wood near Ostium, that enjoy’d the same Prerogative4. St. Austin observes5, that the whole City of Rome was an Asylum open to all Strangers. The Number of these Privileged Places was grown so great in Greece, under the Emperor Tiberius, that he was obliged to recall their Licences, and to suppress them all6: But his Decree was little observed after his Death.
The Right of being an Asylum, pass’d from the Temple of Jerusalem to the ChristianCod. Justin. l. 9. tit. 29. Churches. The Emperors Gratian, Valentinian, and Theodosius the Great, condemned to Banishment, to Whipping, to the Loss of Hair and Beard, all those that, of their own Authority, should take a Man out of a Church, who had fled thither for Cod. Justin. l. 1. tit. 11.Refuge. Honorius and Theodosius the Younger order’d, that all such Offenders should be punish’d as if guilty of Treason. But afterwards they were obliged to retrench these Privileges, and to exempt certain Crimes from the Benefit of an Asylum. The Emperor Justinian allow’d, that they might take from the Asylum all wilful Murderers, Adulterers, Ravishers, or those that carry away Virgins. Innocent III. also excepts publick Robbers, and those that spoil the Fields in the Night-time. The Right of Azylum subsists still in Italy, and in some other Places. See Masius and Serrarius upon Josh. xx.
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