Numbers 35:12
10 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you cross over the Jordan River into the land of Canaan, 11 you must then designate some towns as towns of refuge for you, to which a person who has killed someone unintentionally may flee. 12 And they must stand as your towns of refuge from the avenger in order that the killer may not die until he has stood trial before the community. 13 These towns that you must give shall be your six towns for refuge. 14 “‘You must give three towns on this side of the Jordan, and you must give three towns in the land of Canaan; they must be towns of refuge.
Joshua 20:4
2 “Have the Israelites select the cities of refuge that I told you about through Moses. 3 Anyone who accidentally kills someone can escape there; these cities will be a place of asylum from the avenger of blood. 4 The one who committed manslaughter should escape to one of these cities, stand at the entrance of the city gate, and present his case to the leaders of that city. They should then bring him into the city, give him a place to stay, and let him live there. 5 When the avenger of blood comes after him, they must not hand over to him the one who committed manslaughter, for he accidentally killed his fellow man without premeditation. 6 He must remain in that city until his case is decided by the assembly, and the high priest dies. Then the one who committed manslaughter may return home to the city from which he escaped.”
Notes and References
"... the sketch given here has only scratched the surface in regard to the many ways in which justice was rendered and judiciaries were perceived throughout ancient Israel. A more detailed examination would require a consideration of the ways in which priests were sometimes also involved in adjudicating cases (e.g., Numbers 27:21; Deuteronomy 17:8-12; 19:15-19; 21:5; 2 Chronicles 19:8; compare Joshua 8:33; Jeremiah 26:11, 16; Ezekiel 44:24; Micah 3:11), how trials could be brought before the congregation at large (e.g., Numbers 35:12, 24; Joshua 20:6; compare Psalm 1:5), and how kings could sometimes function as the final court of appeal (e.g., 2 Samuel 14:4–11). Yet what is patently evident from this sketch is that at every turn God is portrayed as the judge par excellence, the source of law, the ideal practitioner of justice, and the one to whom those who have suffered injustice may appeal. A return look at the wide-ranging texts discussed earlier will illustrate the point. In Genesis 31, though an earthly tribunal made up of kinsmen of both Laban and Jacob is to arbitrate between the two litigants (Genesis 31:37), Yahweh is called upon to be an ever-present sentry watching between the two parties “when they are absent from each other,” that is, when one mistrusts what the other is up to (Genesis 31:49). Each litigant is to act justly toward the other party in realization that Yahweh is a “witness” between them, not in the sense of a witness testifying on behalf of the defense or prosecution but as a divine witness who superintends the ongoing process and to whom they swear allegiance (Genesis 31:50; compare 1 Samuel 12:5–6; 20:12) ..."
Lewis, Theodore J. The Origin and Character of God: Ancient Israelite Religion through the Lens of Divinity (p. 528) Oxford University Press, 2020