RIFUGIO, City of. - One of the Mosaic laws dating from the period of the stay in the "steppes of Moab" (Num. 21:1 ff.; 35:1 ff.) prescribes for Israel's future settlement in its lands the choice of the "Levitical cities" (ibid. 35:1-5) and, among them, of six cities, three east and three west of the Jordan, which were to have the right of asylum (v.) for those responsible for involuntary homicide (ibid. 35:9 ff.). Anyone in that condition who managed to enter the precincts of those free cities had to be protected and shielded from blood vengeance, "so that he should not die before appearing in judgment" (v. 12). This concerns involuntary homicide: in any other case the law itself decreed the death penalty (vv. 16-18), regulating its application in the case of vengeance, which, since it had to be applied only after a judgment, came in substance to be merely the execution of the sentence (v. 19 ff.).

In Deuteronomy the first applications of the law are narrated: for the region east of the Jordan the cities of Bosor (v.) in Reuben, Ramoth Gilead in Gad and Golan in Manasseh were designated (Deut. 4:41-43). Moses then recalled the obligation to choose three other cities in the part west of the Jordan (ibid. 19:1-14), adding new practical cases for the application of the law: the cities chosen on this side of the Jordan were Kedesh in Naphtali, Shechem in Ephraim and Hebron in Judah (Josh. 20:1-9).

This provision is one of the admirable singularities that raise the Mosaic law, by its spirit of moderation and humanity, above all the other codes of antiquity. The instinct of blood vengeance, so powerful among primitive peoples and particularly among the Semites (even today among certain Bedouin tribes it is like a duty, which it would be cowardice not to fulfill) could not be immediately uprooted: Moses in a certain way disciplined it, prescribing that it should take place only after a judgment. By instituting asylum at the altar for the desert period (Ex. 21:12-14), and, when this had become insufficient, in the cities of refuge, he placed a curb upon it, which many times annulled its effects (cf. Num. 35:25; etc.).

Bibliography5 works

BIBL.: J. Weismann, Talion und öffentliche Strafe im mos. Recht, in Festschrift Ad. Wach, Leipzig 1913, pp. 64-86; E. N. Hadad, Die Blutrache in Palästina, in Zeits. deuts. Pal. Vereins, 40 (1917), pp. 225-35; N. M. Nikolsky, Das Asylrecht in Israel, in Zeitschr. f. altt. Wissenschaft., 48 (1930), pp. 146-75; M. Löhr, Das Asylwesen im Alt. Test., Halle 1930; in general cf. R. Thurnwald, in Reallex. der Vorgesch., I, pp. 250-55.

Giovanni Rinaldi

@incollection{ec10_rifugio_citta_di, author = {Rinaldi, Giovanni}, title = {Rifugio, città di}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {X}, pages = {909--910}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1953}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/rifugio-citta-di} }

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Rifugio, City of

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