4:41-43 - Then Moses set aside three cities east of the Jordan, to which anyone who had killed a person could flee if he had unintentionally killed his neighbour without malice aforethought. He could flee into one of these cities and save his life. The cities were these: Bezer in the desert plateau, for the Reubenites; Ramoth in Gilead, for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites.

These sentences recount the setting aside of three cities by Moses as 'cities of refuge.' Of the three sites mentioned, only Ramoth Gilead can be identified with some certainty with Tel Ramith on the Wadi Shomer, a tributary of the Jabbok. It became an important Israelite outpost and a centre of contention between Israel and Syria in later years (1 Ki.22; 2 Ki.8f.). Y. Aharoni identifies, without much confidence, Bezer with modern Umm el-Amad, about twelve kilometres north-east of Medeba, and Golan with Sahm el-Jolan, located some twenty-nine kilometres east of the Sea of Galilee.1

The initial expression, "at that time" ('oz followed by an imperf.) suggests that the setting aside of the cities of refuge occurred at this juncture. It has often been noted that this account seems "strange at this point."2 Other scholars believe it is a later addition.3 Yet, the expression may mean no more than that Moses set apart the cities before his death, while in the course of his oration. Two factors, however, may have influenced the narrator's decision to record the event here. First, the conquest of the Transjordan land has played a major part in Moses' first address. The Transjordan tribes would not be mentioned again in Moses' address until the third speech (29:8), and then, only in passing. This seems an appropriate place to bring the story of the Transjordan tribes to a closure; the setting aside of the cities stamps the land as decidedly Israel's. In fact, the placement of the account here has the effect of enclosing the final section of Moses' first address ("The Call to Decision") within two bracketing recalls of the Transjordan accomplishments (3:12-20 and 4:41-43):

A. The Gains in the Transjordan plateau, 3:12-20,

B. The Call to Decision, 4:1-40,

A'. The Cities of Refuge in the Transjordan plateau, 4:41-43.

Secondarily, Moses' closing exhortation, in v.40, to keep the law and thus remain long in the land may have provided added impulse for placing the remark here. The setting aside of the cities picks up on that theme and drives home the point that no one following Moses' instructions will find himself inadvertently cut off from the possibility of longevity as the result of a tragic mishap.

While the allocation of the cities of refuge for the Transjordan tribes is recorded here, the narrator does not explain its precepts or the conditions for the use of the cities for this purpose. That he will leave to Moses in a latter speech (19:1-13).4

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