Other ancient Near Eastern civilizations allowed the payment of a ransom following death, but this was not to be the case in Israel.1 According to Numbers 35:33–34, the shedding of innocent blood pollutes the land and can only be atoned for when the blood of the guilty person is also shed. When it is not known who killed the person, the bloodshed can be atoned for through the death of a heifer (a young cow who has not had a calf, see Deuteronomy 21:1–9). In the case of accidental murder, the only blood that can atone for the killing is either the blood of the killer (if he leaves the city of refuge prematurely) or the blood of the high priest. Because the high priest represented the sacrificial system,2 in this instance the high priest’s death can be viewed as substitutionary.3 He dies in the place of the killer so that the killer can go free.
The high priest was the person who had the responsibility (at least symbolically until the coming of Christ) of bearing the iniquity and guilt of God’s people. His natural death pays the guilt of the accidental death. His death satisfies the claims of the blood redeemer, it cleanses the land and absolves the killer.
6 And he shall remain in that city until he has stood before the congregation for judgment, until the death of him who is high priest at the time. Then the manslayer may return to his own town and his own home, to the town from which he fled.’”