Numbers 35:34

34 You shall not defile the land which you inhabit, in the midst of which I dwell: for I, the LORD, dwell in the midst of the children of Yisra'el.

Numbers 35:34 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 35:34

Defile not therefore the land which ye shall inherit
By the commission of such atrocious crimes, or suffering them to go unpunished, or by taking a compensation for the life of the guilty person:

wherein I dwell;
which is added to strengthen the exhortation, and as giving a reason why care should be taken not to pollute it, because the Holy God dwells there; as he did in the tabernacle erected for him, and in such a peculiar manner as he did not in other lands:

for I the Lord dwell among the children of Israel;
he now dwelt among them as their God, and their King; his tent or tabernacle being pitched in the midst of the camps of Israel; and so he would continue to dwell among them when they were come to the land of Canaan, so long as they observed his laws, statutes, and ordinances; and therefore it behoved them to be careful that they did not pollute themselves and their land, and cause him to depart from them.

Numbers 35:34 In-Context

32 You shall take no ransom for him who is fled to his city of refuge, that he may come again to dwell in the land, until the death of the Kohen.

33 So you shall not pollute the land in which you are: for blood, it pollutes the land; and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him who shed it.

34 You shall not defile the land which you inhabit, in the midst of which I dwell: for I, the LORD, dwell in the midst of the children of Yisra'el.