After the manslayer had been received into the city of refuge,
the avenger of blood could only act as prosecutor; and the
magistrates, in the presence of the people, were appointed to
decide the cause according to the rules here laid down.
Probably the accused person was tried at or near the place
where the deceased had been slain, and where evidence could
most easily be brought: and in case he was acquitted by the
decision of the judges, and with the approbation of the
people, he was conveyed back to the city of refuge, where he
was protected as a kind of prisoner at large, till the death
of the high priest; when the public loss, and the grief
occasioned by it, might be supposed to swallow up all personal
regrets and resentments: and then he was permitted to return
to his house and estate. But if, in the mean while, he
ventured to leave the city, and the avenger met him and slew
him, he was supposed to merit his doom by thus neglecting the
appointment of God for his preservation, and the avenger must
not be punished. This shews that in other cases, if the
avenger slew an innocent man on surmise, he was liable to the
punishment of a murderer; but if, by the testimony of two
credible witnesses, the man who had fled to the city of refuge
was adjudged guilty, he must without fail be put to death.
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