Joshua 20:9

9 These are the cities appointed for all the Israelites and foreigners among them, so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood prior to standing trial before the assembly.

Joshua 20:9 Meaning and Commentary

Joshua 20:9

These were the cities appointed for all the children of
Israel
For the common use of them all, and not for that tribe only in which they stood:

and for the stranger that sojourneth among them;
not only for the proselytes of righteousness, but for the proselytes of the gate also, as well as for the natives of Israel; Christ is a refuge for Jews and Gentiles, for all sinners that flee to him:

that whosoever killeth any person unawares might flee thither;
and find shelter and safety:

and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood;
getting thither before he could overtake him:

until he stood before the congregation:
either before the congregation, the elders of the city, or court of judicature in the city of refuge, or before the court of his own city, from whence he fled, if summoned thither.

Joshua 20:9 In-Context

7 So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah.

8 And beyond the Jordan, east of Jericho, they designated Bezer on the wilderness plateau from the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan from the tribe of Manasseh.

9 These are the cities appointed for all the Israelites and foreigners among them, so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood prior to standing trial before the assembly.