Joshua 20 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
Around 1400 to 1370 BC by the earlier dating of the conquest, or around 1200 BC by the later dating, after the main fighting had ended and the land was being divided
Location
Shiloh in the central hill country, where the tent of meeting stood, with six named towns set aside across the land: Kedesh in Galilee, Shechem in the hills of Ephraim, and Hebron in the south, plus Bezer, Ramoth and Golan east of the Jordan River
Audience
Israelites of a later generation reading the account of how their tribal lands and their legal customs were established
Situation
The Lord tells Joshua to designate the cities of refuge that Moses had commanded, and six towns are named, spread so that no part of the country is far from one. Anyone who kills another person accidentally can flee there and be safe from the victim's family until a proper hearing is held.
Key Background
Across the ancient Near East, a killing was avenged by the dead person's nearest male relative, called the redeemer of blood, and he was expected to act quickly, before anyone asked whether the death was deliberate. The cities of refuge interrupt that chain by giving the accused a guarded place to stand while the community's elders hold a hearing. The killer stays in the city until the death of the serving high priest, which functions as a public marker ending the case rather than as a prison sentence.