Charles (Chuck) Kensinger

Preparations must be made for the move into Canaan. Numbers 35 tells of the cities that are to be established for the Levites. Six of these are to be cities of refuge. These cities are the ones that a person may go to in order to save themselves if they have accidentally killed another person. The law allows a family member to avenge that death, but not in a city of refuge. Once there the guilty person is secure from retribution. They must stay in that city to be safe.

Laws pertaining to deaths that are classified as murders are also dealt with. It is necessary to keep the land clean from innocent blood. What does that mean? The Canaanites and others who occupy this area would not hesitate to spill innocent blood. The Israelites are responsible for cleaning them out and keeping themselves clean. Like that would happen.

Numbers 36 ends the book with an objection to the daughters of Zelophehad inheriting their father’s land. Their problem is that the women may marry men from other clans and the land would go with them. Moses rules that they must marry within the clan to solve this problem.

We have now finished four of the five books of the law. Tomorrow we start the last of these, Deuteronomy. Much may seem like a repetition of the law from the other books we have previously read.

©Copyright 2020 by Charles Kensinger