Cities of Refuge
Numbers 35:9-29
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, When you be come over Jordan into the land of Canaan; then you shall appoint you cities to be cities of refuge for you; that the slayer may flee thither, which kills any person at unawares. And they shall be to you cities for refuge from the avenger; that the manslayer die not, until he stand before the congregation in judgment. [The elders of the city of refuge were to judge each case, for there was no police force or legal system as we know it in God’s kingdom].
And of these cities which you shall give [to the people] six cities shall you have for refuge.
You shall give three cities on this side Jordan, and three cities shall you give in the land of Canaan, which shall be cities of refuge. [All within easy reach of a fugitive.] These six cities shall be a refuge, both for the children of Israel, and for the stranger, and for the sojourner among them: that every one that kills any person unawares may flee there [and be protected].
And if [after investigation, you find that] he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death [by being put out of the city]. And if he smite him with throwing a stone, wherewith he may die, and he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death. Or if he smite him with an hand weapon of wood, wherewith he may die, and he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death.
The revenger of blood himself [a close relative of the slain one] shall slay the murderer: when he meets him, he shall slay him. [There was no public executioner - the system worked on the eye for an eye principle].
But if he thrust him of hatred, or hurl at him by laying of wait, that he die; or in enmity smite him with his hand, that he die [murder in the first degree]: he that smote him shall surely be put to death; for he is a murderer: the revenger of blood shall slay the murderer, when he meets him [outside of the city of refuge].
But if he thrust him suddenly without enmity, or have cast upon him any thing without laying of wait, or with any stone, wherewith a man may die, seeing him not, and cast it upon him, that he die, and was not his enemy, neither sought his harm [a case of manslaughter]: then the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the revenger of blood according to these judgments: and the congregation shall deliver the slayer out of the hand of the revenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to the city of his refuge, where he was fled: and he shall abide in it to the death of the high priest, which was anointed with the holy oil. [Then he could go free].
[Either way there had to be a judgment if he had reached a city of refuge].
But if the [protected] slayer shall at any time come without the border of the city of his refuge, where he was fled; and the revenger of blood find him without the borders of the city of his refuge, and the revenger of blood kill the slayer; he shall not be guilty of blood: because he should have remained in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest: but after the death of the high priest the slayer shall return into the land of his possession [without fear of punishment].
So these things shall be for a statute of judgment to you throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
[As well as a practical way to handle violent killings, this was a picture of Jesus Christ as a "city of refuge" to whom we may fly while the devil goes about like "a roaring lion" to kill us. While we remain in Him we cannot be hurt. See 1 Peter 5:8.]
Leviticus 24:19-22 Civil (NOT religious) penalties
And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbour; as he has done, so shall it be done to him; breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he has caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again.
And he that kills a beast, he shall restore it: and he that kills a man, he shall be put to death.
You shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country: for I am the LORD your God [and have no respect of persons (or favourites)].
Numbers 15:29-31 Presuming its OK
You shall have one law for him that sins through ignorance, both for him that is born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourns among them.
But the soul that does anything presumptuously, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproaches the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from among His people. Because he has despised the word of the LORD, and has broken His commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him.
Deuteronomy 1:41-45 A sin of presumption
[Moses said to his people] Then you answered and said to me, "We have sinned against the LORD, we will go up and fight, according to all that the LORD our God commanded us." And when you had girded on every man his weapons of war, you were ready to go up into the hill.
And the LORD said to me, Say to them, "Go not up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest you be smitten before your enemies."
So I spoke to you; and you would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD, and went presumptuously up into the hill [God had said to do this earlier, verses 19-28, but now it was not right or safe]. And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even to Hormah. And you returned and wept before the LORD; but the LORD would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear to you.
Matthew 12:31-32 The unpardonable sin
Wherefore I say to you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven to men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost [believing His voice to be that of Satan, or worse still, ignoring Him] shall not be forgiven to men. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whoever speaks against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come [for only through Him comes the knowledge of salvation and forgiveness].