Numbers 35 in the early church

Again the LORD spoke to Moses on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho:

“Command the Israelites to give, from the inheritance they will possess, cities for the Levites to live in and pasturelands around the cities.

Six of the cities you give the Levites are to be appointed as cities of refuge, to which a manslayer may flee. In addition to these, give the Levites forty-two other cities.

designate cities to serve as your cities of refuge, so that a person who kills someone unintentionally may flee there.

The cities you select will be your six cities of refuge.

Select three cities across the Jordan and three in the land of Canaan as cities of refuge.

The assembly is to protect the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood. Then the assembly will return him to the city of refuge to which he fled, and he must live there until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.

because the manslayer must remain in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. Only after the death of the high priest may he return to the land he owns.

Do not pollute the land where you live, for bloodshed pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land on which the blood is shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it.