The Pentateuchal laws prohibit murder—which is defined as the illegitimate and malicious taking of another person's life—but recognizes that incidences in which people are killed without malicious intention and accidents do happen (Deut 19:5 cites the case of a man who goes "into the forest with his neighbour to cut wood, and as he swings his axe to fell a tree, the head may fly off and hit his neighbour and kill him"). In cases such as these, the killer should be protected from the vengeful appetite of the family of the person killed. For this purpose Moses set aside six "cities of refuge" to which the killer may flee and provided protection until the case was settled. Spread out across the country so that they may be gotten to quickly and easily, they included Bezer on the plains of Moab (Deut 4:43; Jos 20:8), Ramoth in Gilead (Deut 4:43Jos 21:38), Golan in Bashan (Deut 4:43; Jos 21:27) in the Transjordan territories and—after the conquest of Canaan—Kedesh in Galilee (1 Chron 6:76), Shechem in Ephraim (Jos 21:21), Hebron in Judah (Jos 21:21). Moses was emphatic in the demand for the protection of such innocent persons waylaid by accidents: "Do this so that innocent blood will not be shed in your land, which the Lord your God is giving you as your inheritance, and so that you will not be guilty of bloodshed" (Deut 19:10). Any murderer thinking that he could abuse this wonderful scheme to shelter the innocent is, however, in for some surprise: "But if a man hates his neighbour and lies in wait for him, assaults and kills him, and then flees to one of these cities, the elders of his town shall send for him, bring him back from the city, and hand him over to the avenger of blood to die. Show him no pity. You must purge from Israel the guilt of shedding innocent blood, so that it may go well with you" (Deut 19:11-12). Following Moses's injunction to "build roads to them [the cities of refuge]" (v3), later Jewish laws, "in order to aid the fugitive it was the business of the Sanhedrin to keep the roads leading to the cities of refuge in the best possible repair. No hills were left, every river was bridged, and the road itself was to be at least thirty-two cubits broad. At every turn were guideposts bearing the word 'Refuge,' and two students of the law were appointed to accompany the fleeing man and to pacify, if possible, the avenger, should he overtake the fugitive" (sv., The New Unger's Bible Dictionary).
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