I was for no particular reason thinking about this topic. I search on Google if the concept of Cities of Refuge is also documented outside the bible. I did not really find it. Is it not strange as this was presumed a legal concept? You'd expect more documentation about this outside the bible. Should I now assume this so-called legal concept was only mentioned in the bible and as such, the concept becomes an issue of faith and not facts?
Cities of Refuge
by menrov 5 Replies latest watchtower bible
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Phizzy
Could well be just part of the Myth created when the Bible was compiled after the return from Babylon. They wrote a lot of stuff that was not Fact, the Exodus etc and made up stuff about the conquest of Israel and the extent of the Kingdom of Solomon etc, so maybe made these Cities up ?
If you have the time, you could check the real History of the named Cities, or have you done that ?
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dropoffyourkeylee
I've read somewhere that the cities of refuge, though spoken about in the Bible, were never used much in Israel, or maybe not at all. I'm not sure where I read that, maybe in BAR or someplace like that.
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TD
So you Googled and found nothing?
You didn't by chance, go to a Jewish Encyclopedia and follow the references to Rabbinic and Talmudic sources?
I'm not sure if that would satisfy you, but then I'm not sure what your were looking for that you couldn't find
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menrov
TD, these sources did not come up. Nevertheless, such concept could only work with the support of the (political) leaders of these cities. Hence, you would expect some reference in non-biblical or even non-religious documents.
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TD
A good general discussion of the concept of asylum can be found here:
https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/2067-asylum
I'm not sure it's reasonable to expect to find references in non religious sources. Not given the fact that evidence for most of the people and places in the OT is slim to none.