Cities of Refuge

The Cities of Refuge were towns in the Kingdom of Israel and Kingdom of Judah in which the perpetrators of manslaughter could claim the right of asylum; outside of these cities, blood vengeance against such perpetrators was allowed by law. The Torah names just six cities as being cities of refuge: Golan, Ramoth, and Bosor, on the east of the Jordan River, and Kedesh, Shechem, and Hebron on the western side.

Read more about Cities Of Refuge:  Origin and Development, Asylum in Classical Judea

Famous quotes containing the words cities and/or refuge:

    “Today as in the time of Pliny and Columella, the hyacinth flourishes in Wales, the periwinkle in Illyria, the daisy on the ruins of Numantia; while around them cities have changed their masters and their names, collided and smashed, disappeared into nothingness, their peaceful generations have crossed down the ages as fresh and smiling as on the days of battle.”
    —Edgar Quinet (1803–1875)

    “When science drove the gods out of nature, they took refuge in poetry and the porticos of civic buildings.”
    —Mason Cooley (b. 1927)