Numbers 35:26

“But if the slayer shall at any time come without the border of the city of his refuge, etc.] Which seems to be the three thousand cubits assigned to every city of the Levites, and so to the cities of refuge; and which, according to the Jewish writers, were a refuge, as the city itself; and it is said f523, “he, that kills a man there, is killed for him, but though the border is a refuge, the slayer does not dwell in it, as it is said. (<043525>Numbers 35:25), “he shall abide in it”, but not in its borders:” whither he was fled; on account of manslaughter.”

“He shall abide in it - Be confined to it, partly to shew the hatefulness of murder in God's account by so severe a punishment, inflicted upon the very appearance of it, and partly for the security of the man - slayer, lest the presence of such a person, and his conversation among the kindred of the deceased, might occasion reproach and blood - shed. The death of the high - priest - Perhaps to shew that the death of Christ (the true High - priest, whom the others represented) is the only means whereby sins are pardoned and sinners set at liberty. Numbers 35:27”

“35:26-29 The slayer still suffered a penalty for the death he had caused since he was restricted to a city of refuge until he or the high priest died. But after the death of the high priest, the slayer was free to return to his own home, and the avenger was not to seek revenge.”

“After the manslayer had been received into the city of refuge, the avenger of blood could only act as prosecutor; and the magistrates, in the presence of the people, were appointed to decide the cause according to the rules here laid down. Probably the accused person was tried at or near the place where the deceased had been slain, and where evidence could most easily be brought, and in case he was acquitted by the decision of the judges, and with the approbation of the people, he was conveyed back to the city of refuge, where he was protected as a kind of prisoner at large, till the death of the high priest; when the public loss, and the grief occasioned by it, might be supposed to swallow…”

“If he left the city of refuge before this, and the avenger of blood got hold of him, and slew him outside the borders (precincts) of the city, it was not to be reckoned to him as blood (דּם לו אין, like דּמים לו אין, Exo 22:1). But after the death of the high priest he might return "into the land of his possession," i.e., his hereditary possession (cf. Lev 27:22), sc., without the avenger of blood being allowed to pursue him any longer. In these regulations "all the rigour of the divine justice is manifested in the most beautiful concord with His compassionate mercy. Through the destruction of life, even when not wilful, human blood had been shed, and demanded expiation. Yet this expiation…”