What ensues rests on the authority of the Rab bins. In order to give the fugitive all possible advantage in his flight, it was the business of the Sanhedrim to make the roads that led to the cities of refuge convenient by enlarging them and remov ing every obstruction that might hurt his foot or hinder his speed. No hillock was left, no river was allowed over which there was not a bridge, and the road was at least two and thirty cubits broad. At every turning there were posts erected bearing the words Refuge, Refuge, to guide the unhappy man in his flight; and two students in the law were appointed to accompany him, that if the avenger should overtake him before he reached the city, they might attempt to pacify him till the legal investigation could take place.
When once settled in the city of refuge, the manslayer had a convenient habitation assigned him gratuitously, and the citizens were to teach him some trade whereby he might support him self. To render his confinement more easy, the mothers of the high-priests used to feed and clothe these unfortunate fugitives, that they might not be impatient and pray for the death of their sons, on whose decease they were restored to their liberty and their property. If the slayer died in the city of refuge before he was released, his bones were delivered to his relations, after the death of the high-priest, to be buried in the sepulchre of his fathers (Lewis, Origines Hebraicer).
That the right of asylum among the Jews was in later periods of their history so extended as to open the door to great abuses may be inferred from Maccab. x. 43, where unqualified impunity and
exemption from both liabilities and penalties are promised under the influence, not of the Mosaic law, but of heathen morals and ambition, to who soever they he that flee unto the temple at Jerusa lem, or be within the liberties thereof.' In the words now cited reference appears to be made to a custom which prevailed from very early times, both among the chosen people and the nations of the world, of fleeing, in case of personal danger, to the altar. With the Jews it was cus tomary for the fugitive to lay hold of the horns of the altar, whether in the tabernacle or temple ; by which, however, shelter and security were ob tained only for those who had committed sins of ignorance or inadvertence ; thus true did Moses remain to his principle that the wilful shedding of human blood could only by blood be atoned—a principle which the advances of civilization and the spread of the gentle spirit of the Gospel have caused to be questioned, if not exploded (Exod. xxi. 14; r Kings i. 50 ; ii. 28). From the two last pas sages it seems that state criminals also sought the protection of the altar, probably more from the force of custom than any express law. Their safety, however, depended on the will of the king ; for in the passages referred to it appears that in one case (that of Adonijah) life was spared, but in the other (that of Joab) it was taken away even by the altar.' Compare Matt. xxiii. 35.—J. R. B.