When the land was divided up between all the tribes of Israel the Levites were given a portion of the cities. Chapter 35 denotes six of these cities as ‘Cities of Refuge’ for anyone who had accidentally killed someone or committed a crime. I wonder if there were ever life or death races to a refuge city. Could justice have been served for the innocent people in any other way? In a society where there were constant life and death struggles between one nation and another it seems like such a different life compared to today. But you still see people today that want to be a vigilante and take the law into their own hands and these cities of refuge would help protect people from such vigilantes.
The book of Numbers concludes with chapter 36 with more discussion on inheritance among the people of Israel, namely the families of the sons of Joseph. Would a woman who obtained an inheritance from her father marry into a different tribe and so take the inheritance away from her family? It seems like such a trivial question by todays way of life but when land is all that you have and it is a precious inheritance you want to keep that land intact for your descendants. Moses tells the people of Israel that women will marry only people from their tribe and families so that there will be no transfer of inheritances.
