13. Kirjath-jearim, where the Ark remained so long, 1 Sam. 7:2, was seven miles west by north of Jerusalem. In this connection it is necessary to say that, while the statement in 1 Sam. 7:2 leaves the impression in the English translation that 20 years was the whole time during which the Ark remained at that place, yet“the sense clearly expressed in the original” is that from the first placing of the Ark at Kirjath-jearim 20 years transpired of anxious expectation that Jehovah would interpose for the deliverance of his people before that Samuel gave them any hope.[75]
The Ark remained at Kirjath-jearim from about the time of Eli’s death through the reign of Saul and until David took it from thence to Jerusalem, with the exception of the three months during which it was at the house of Obed-edom, 2 Sam. 6. That was from about B. C. 1140 to B. C. 1042, or nearly one hundred years.
14. The next great work performed at Shiloh was the division of the land among the tribes of Israel. At this time, about 1444 B. C., we have the first recorded survey, and this was described by the cities then existing and “in a book,” which was probably attended with the first map of the land.
Of the twelve tribes, the Levites received no district in the division, they having been devoted to the service of the Tabernacle. Of the remaining eleven tribes, Manasseh had a section of land east of the Jordan as well as one west.
15. After this division the appointment of six cities of refuge was made both east and west of the Jordan, and very nearly equally distributed north and south. Of these six cities only the three west of the Jordan have been identified with present towns. One was Kedesh, now called Kades, four miles west by north of the “waters of Merom.” It was on a hill overlooking the plain on the west of the “waters,” which are now known by the name of the Lake of el-Huleh. The second city of refuge west of the Jordan was Shechem, sixty-three miles towards the south; and the third Hebron, eighteen miles south of Jerusalem and about fifty south of Shechem. Those east of Jordan were probably very nearly on the same latitude, namely, Golan, east of Kedesh; Ramoth in Gilead, east of Shechem, probably identified with the town now called es Salt, twelve miles east of Jordan on an elevation 2,500 feet above the Mediterranean and twenty miles north of the Dead Sea; and Bezer, not yet identified, but east of the Dead Sea, on the plains of Reuben.
16. The object of this appointment of cities of refuge was to protect the unintentional manslayer from the vengeance of his pursuer. Any one who had “unwittingly” Josh. 20:3, slain a man might flyto the nearest city of refuge and “declare his cause in the ears of the elders of that city,” and dwell there until his case was decided by “the congregation for judgment” and until the death of the high-priest. The guilty party, if an intentional manslayer, was delivered up to the avenger. See Deut. 19:11.
The cities of refuge, as we have seen, were as equally distributed throughout the land as the positions of important and accessible cities would admit.
17. The blood feud had existed for centuries under the traditionary demand of “a life for a life,” and this demand, without the slightest regard to the intention of the manslayer, was customary and even obligatory, so that the nearest relative of the slain man was charged with the duty of destroying the manslayer whenever a favorable opportunity presented itself. This custom was modified by the appointment of the cities of refuge and by the institution of laws associated with their appointment, so that thereafter the innocent slayer should not suffer equally with the guilty, although the fact that he had shed blood even unintentionally would subject him to the inconvenience of separation from his family for a time.
18. The rehearsal of the Law at the great convention at Shechem, the division of the land among the tribes,and the appointment of cities of refuge[76] were equally in accordance with the directions ofMoses, and they followed upon the entrance and conquest as soon as it was possible to carry them into execution. The three events are therefore in accordance with the spirit of the times and the provisions of the law, and are properly connected with the age of Joshua, although some writers have thought that the appointment of the cities of refuge took place some centuries later.