Cities of Refuge

(Deuteronomy 4:41 - 4:43)
Moses then designated three cities of refuge east of the River Jordan.  Anyone guilty of killing someone unintentionally (without there being any past enmity against the victim) might flee there and live safely.  These are: for the tribe of Reuben, Bezer on the desert plateau, for the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead, and for the tribe of Manasseh, Golan in Bashan.

Notes
1. Why the author chooses to interrupt Moses' address at this point with what is a relatively unimportant matter, designation of the cities of refuge, is baffling.  In Numbers it was established that three cities of refuge would be established east of the Jordan (and three west of the Jordan).  Here they are specifically named.

2. Bezer, the Reubenite city, was probably situated 12 miles north of Heshbon, in the northeast part of Reubenite territory, although its location has not been positively determined.  Ramoth, the Gadite city, is also far to the east on about the same parallel as the southern shore of the Sea of Galilee. Golan in Gilead, the refuge in Mannasseh's territory, about even with the northern coast of the Sea of Galilee, is not far to the northwest of Ramoth.  All of these sites seem a bit off the beaten path and pretty far from the River Jordan.

3. The reason for these cities of refuge is this: according to Jehovan law killing someone accidentally, unintentionally, is not a capital offense, but, according to traditional law, it is.  Apparently, enforcement of Jehovah's law was insufficient to thwart the longstanding custom of blood vengeance, family members avenging deaths irrespective of whether the killer was morally and legally culpable.  If someone caused a death, no matter how, a member of the victim's family was charged with avenging that death by taking the life of the perpetrator.  There was dishonor in not doing so.  The practice is commonly found in traditional societies around the world, and despite inevitable conflict with institutionalized legal systems, it has persisted into modern times.  Such ingrained, atavistic attitudes have always been difficult to uproot.  Imposing upon a people a new set of laws, or a new religion, will rarely displace them totally.  Even Jehovah and Moses recognized this.