Blood, Revenger of

The blood avenger (Hebrew go'el haddam, 'redeemer of blood') was the nearest male kinsman authorized and obligated under ancient Semitic customary law to kill the person responsible for a relative's death. The institution of blood vengeance expressed the deep conviction that a murdered person's blood 'cried out' from the ground for justice (Gen. 4:10) and that the obligation to answer that cry fell upon the family. Mosaic law acknowledged this institution while significantly modifying it to prevent unlimited cycles of revenge.

Numbers 35:9-28 and Deuteronomy 19:1-13 established six cities of refuge to which a person who had killed accidentally could flee before the blood avenger overtook them. A congregation would adjudicate: if the death was ruled premeditated murder, the slayer received no protection; if accidental manslaughter, the slayer could remain in the city of refuge until the death of the reigning high priest, after which he could return home free from the avenger's claim. Leaving the city of refuge before the high priest's death removed all protection. This system institutionalized due process, protecting the innocent from vendetta while maintaining the moral weight of human life. The writer of Hebrews uses the imagery of the city of refuge to describe the certainty available to Christians who 'flee for refuge' to the hope set before them in Christ (Heb. 6:18).