Catholic Commentary
Summary: Refuge Available to All, Including Foreigners
9These were the appointed cities for all the children of Israel, and for the alien who lives among them, that whoever kills any person unintentionally might flee there, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until he stands trial before the congregation.
Joshua 20:9 concludes the legislation establishing six cities of refuge throughout Israel where those who kill unintentionally can flee to avoid execution by the avenger of blood until trial before the congregation. These sanctuaries were open equally to native Israelites and resident foreigners, ensuring protection without ethnic distinction and suspending vengeance until justice could be properly determined.
God's refuge belongs to everyone equally — the foreigner has the same right to mercy and due process as the native Israelite, and nothing but guilt disqualifies you from it.
Typological Sense — The Church Fathers consistently read the cities of refuge as types of Christ and the Church. Origen (Homilies on Joshua, Homily 10) identifies the cities as figures of Christ Himself: as the manslayer fled to the city for safety from death, so the sinner flees to Christ to escape the just penalty of sin. The number six also drew patristic interest, linked to the six days of creation and the sixth age of the world in which Christ came. The inclusion of the gēr in the asylum is read typologically as the inclusion of the Gentiles in the Church's saving embrace — a foreshadowing of the "one body" of Ephesians 2:16, where the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile is broken down.
Catholic tradition illuminates Joshua 20:9 at multiple levels of depth.
The Church as Universal City of Refuge. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that the Church is the "universal sacrament of salvation" (CCC §776), the sign and instrument of communion between God and all people. The deliberate inclusion of the gēr — the outsider, the resident alien — in the protection of the cities of refuge is a genuine type of this universality. Just as no ethnicity disqualified a person from fleeing to Kedesh or Hebron, no human origin disqualifies a soul from the refuge of Baptism and the Church's sacramental life.
Origen and the Fathers on Christ as Refuge. Origen (Homilies on Joshua 10.1) wrote with characteristic boldness: "That city is Christ; run to Him, you who are laden with sin, you who bear the guilt of blood, flee to that city." Augustine (City of God 1.35) similarly reflects on the distinction between those who sin through passion or weakness and those who sin with deliberate malice — a distinction that maps closely onto the intentional/unintentional division in Israelite law, and which Catholic moral theology preserves in its doctrine of degrees of culpability (CCC §1735).
Due Process and Human Dignity. The verse's insistence on a trial "before the congregation" resonates with the Church's consistent teaching on the right to a fair trial as grounded in human dignity (cf. Gaudium et Spes §29; CCC §2237). Mercy does not bypass truth; the city of refuge creates space for truth to emerge.
The Alien and Catholic Social Teaching. Pope John XXIII in Pacem in Terris (§25) and subsequent Magisterium documents have affirmed the rights of migrants and refugees. Joshua 20:9 stands as a scriptural anchor for this teaching: God's own appointed law made explicit provision for the foreigner's safety and legal standing.
Joshua 20:9 speaks with startling contemporaneity on two fronts.
On refugee and immigration policy: At a time when debates over borders and the treatment of migrants can become abstract and ideological, this verse reminds the Catholic reader that the provision of refuge to the foreigner is not a modern political invention — it is woven into the very fabric of God's covenant law. The gēr had the same right to the city as the native Israelite. Catholics engaged in debates over immigration policy, working in refugee assistance ministries, or simply forming their own conscience on these matters are called to remember that making provision for the alien is not charity added on top of justice — it is justice in the biblical sense.
On the Sacrament of Reconciliation as City of Refuge: On a personal level, Joshua 20:9 invites every Catholic to see the confessional not as a courtroom of condemnation but as a city of refuge. The penitent who has "shed blood" through sin — however unintentionally or through weakness — can flee there before the "avenger" of guilt and despair closes in. The Church does not wave away guilt; like the congregation of elders, she examines it honestly. But she receives first — and condemns no one who has sought the city in faith.
Commentary
Joshua 20:9 — The Closing Summary of the Cities of Refuge
Joshua 20:9 functions as the formal conclusion and legislative summary of the entire cities-of-refuge institution (Joshua 20:1–9), deliberately repeating and crystallizing its essential terms. Several elements demand close attention.
"These were the appointed cities" — The Hebrew root mûʿad (appointed, designated) is the same root used for the Tent of Meeting (ʾōhel môʿēd), Israel's central sanctuary. The repetition is almost certainly not accidental: the cities of refuge share a liturgical vocabulary with sacred space, suggesting that running to the city of refuge is, at some level, an act of approaching the holy. The six cities — Kedesh, Shechem, Hebron, Bezer, Ramoth-Gilead, and Golan — were carefully distributed on both sides of the Jordan so that no corner of the land was more than a half-day's journey from refuge.
"For all the children of Israel, and for the alien who lives among them" — This is the verse's most theologically charged phrase. The Hebrew gēr (alien, sojourner) denotes a resident foreigner who has attached himself to Israel but is not a native-born Israelite. The Torah repeatedly shows concern for the gēr (Leviticus 19:33–34; Deuteronomy 10:19), often linking it explicitly to Israel's memory of being aliens in Egypt. But here the extension is remarkable in its legal force: the gēr enjoys the identical protection as the native Israelite. There is no second tier of mercy. The God who appoints these cities makes them available without ethnic qualification.
"Whoever kills any person unintentionally" — The phrase deliberately echoes the original Mosaic legislation in Numbers 35:9–15 and Deuteronomy 19:1–10, where the distinction between intentional murder (rāṣaḥ) and accidental homicide is foundational. The cities of refuge do not provide impunity for deliberate violence; they provide a space where guilt can be soberly assessed. The institution thus upholds both the sanctity of human life (the avenger of blood system) and the demands of justice (the trial before the congregation).
"Not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until he stands trial before the congregation" — The gōʾēl haddām (avenger/redeemer of blood) was a near kinsman with the duty to vindicate a slain relative (cf. Numbers 35:19). The city of refuge does not abolish this institution but suspends its operation until due process can occur. The phrase "stands trial before the congregation" () signals the communal, juridical nature of the proceeding. No one is condemned or acquitted by flight alone; the city offers breathing space for truth.