Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joshua 20:5
And if the avenger of blood pursue after him, then they shall not deliver the slayer up into his hand; because he smote his neighbor unwittingly, and hated him not formerly.
5. And if the avenger of blood pursue ] “And when the blood wreker him pursue,” Wyclif. The steps are now prescribed which were to be taken, in the event of the Avenger of Blood pursuing the homicide. He was not to be delivered up into his hands, but kept securely.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And if the avenger of blood pursue after him,…. To the city of refuge, whither he is fled, and demand him:
then they shall not deliver the slayer up into his hands; to be slain by him, but shall protect him:
because he smote his neighbour unwittingly, and hated him not beforetime; [See comments on Nu 35:22],
[See comments on Nu 35:23], and
[See comments on De 19:6].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
‘ And if the avenger of blood pursue after him, then they shall not deliver the manslayer up into his hand, because he smote his neighbour unwittingly, and did not hate him beforehand.’
The man who escapes to a city of refuge and claims innocency of intent must be protected until tried and only handed over to the avenger of blood if found guilty.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
“Handfuls of Purpose”
For All Gleaners
“The avenger of blood.” Jos 20:5
The text of course is limited by a local reference, but its suggestions spread themselves over the whole area of life and society. Recognise the fact that there is in all civilisation an avenger of blood. This indeed is necessary to the complete idea of civilisation. If blood could be shed with impunity, civilisation itself would be a continual prey to passion. God has set a high price upon blood; its quality would seem to be kindred to his own; it is full of fire, vitality; it is the very alphabet of immortality. Every human creature is of inexpressible consequence to God. Given a globe consisting of twelve hundred millions of human beings, and who can assign the exact importance to any one of them? What is he but as a fleck of snow upon a landscape, a drop in the Atlantic, an insect hardly visible in the sunbeam in which it dances for a moment? Not such is the divine view; the very hairs of your head are all numbered; the providence of God is minute, personal, critical, exacting the uttermost farthing, and ruling all things with the severest economy. Civilised society takes in its degree the same view of human life, for not a single child may be touched without society instantly arising as an avenger of blood. Surely there can be no great offence in destroying an unconscious life, in putting an end to an infancy which has barely begun, what can be the loss? Yet even society itself instantly demands an answer to the accusation of child-murder: no excuse would be tolerated: no fine theory of limiting the population would be admitted for one moment: organised society instantly becomes as it were the parent of the child, and demands an account of its life and recompense for its loss. This being so with regard to the body, are we not entitled to lift the argument to a higher level, and to contend that there should be an avenger of mind, thought, purpose, as well as an avenger of blood? They that kill the body can do but little; they are indeed hardly to be feared in comparison with those who can sow the seed of wickedness in the opening heart, and suggest evil thoughts to the awakening mind. If we slay him who slays the body, what should be done to him who takes away the life of the soul, who perverts the operation of motive and purpose, and who drags down the whole life to shame and infamy? All this anxiety about the body, its protection and its prerogatives, is but the beginning of an infinitely higher argument, if we are just to its logic. He would be accounted a fool who cared for the child’s clothing, but paid no attention to the child’s health: how much greater a fool is he who pays attention to the child’s health of body and utterly neglects the child’s health of mind! Consider how the avenger steadily proceeds in his task: men cannot sin with impunity: they are made to feel the result of their wickedness in their health, in their property, in their whole outlook of life; their fellow men shrink from them; they are distrusted, and handed over to reprobation, if not always openly, and as it were by public demonstration, yet more or less secretly, silently, but surely: whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. There is an avenger of blood upon the track of every bad man; as to when he shall be discovered and punished no man can tell the exact time, but God fixes it, and by the decree of Heaven, though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Jos 20:5 And if the avenger of blood pursue after him, then they shall not deliver the slayer up into his hand; because he smote his neighbour unwittingly, and hated him not beforetime.
Ver. 5. And if the avenger of blood pursue after him. ] Sanguinem pro interfecto posuit, saith Vatablus. If he in the heat of revenge, without taking leisure to consider the fault as well as the fact, and the degree of it, &c., for all faults are not equal, as the Stoics hold, neither are they to be alike punished. If the guilt of an evil conscience pursue after us, as it will, let us run to Christ our rock of refuge, our sanctuary of safety, and none shall be able to take us out of his hands: he and the Father are one. Joh 10:30
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Num 35:12, Num 35:25
Reciprocal: Num 35:19 – General Num 35:22 – General Deu 19:6 – the avenger Rom 13:4 – revenger
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
20:5 And if the {b} avenger of blood pursue after him, then they shall not deliver the slayer up into his hand; because he smote his neighbour unwittingly, and hated him not beforetime.
(b) That is, the nearest kinsman of him that is slain.