The congregation shall deliver the man slayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge, where he had fled. He shall dwell therein until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 25. Delivered. Hebrew “the multitude shall deliver the slayer.” It seems the judges pronounced sentence, according to the votes of the people assembled; ( Calmet.) or the plurality of voices among the 21 judges decided the matter. Grot. Bible.—High priest. This mystically signified that our deliverance was to be effected by the death of Christ, the high priest and the anointed of God. Challoner.—He rescued us from the hand of the revenger, the devil. Theod. q. 50. 51.—Before his death, the way of our true country was not open, nor secure. Saint Gregory hom 6. in Ezec. Worthington.—By this law, Moses shewed a horror for murder, and the respect due to the person of the high priest, during whose life even the involuntary murderer was obliged to keep himself retired in a city of refuge. Masius.—At the death of the pontiff, all Israel put on mourning, so that private injuries were to be forgotten, when the public had such cause for sorrow; and in the mean time the vengeance of kinsmen would relent. Maimon. More. iii. 40.—Murder was punished by the Greeks, in the days of Homer, with banishment, though sometimes this was remitted by the relations, for a sum of money. Iliad ix. Calmet.