1 YHVH said to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho,
2 "Command the people of Israel, that they give to the Levites, from the inheritance of their possession, cities to dwell in; and you shall give to the Levites pasture lands round about the cities.
3 The cities shall be theirs to dwell in, and their pasture lands shall be for their cattle and for their livestock and for all their beasts.
4 The pasture lands of the cities, which you shall give to the Levites, shall reach from the wall of the city outward a thousand cubits all round.
5 And you shall measure, outside the city, for the east side two thousand cubits, and for the south side two thousand cubits, and for the west side two thousand cubits, and for the north side two thousand cubits, the city being in the middle; this shall belong to them as pasture land for their cities.
Just as people represent ideas in the Bible, cities represent aggregations of thoughts. Since we don’t know the names of these cities, we can look at the purpose to determine the nature of these thought groups. The Levites were the priests who received no division of the Promised Land. This is because the spiritual thoughts are not rooted in the material, physical world; but in the unseen, non-physical realms of consciousness. We are being told to put aside a part of our consciousness, our time, our attention, for spiritual matters - devote a part of our lives to spiritual goals and aspirations.
6 The cities which you give to the Levites shall be the six cities of refuge, where you shall permit the manslayer to flee, and in addition to them you shall give forty-two cities.
7 All the cities which you give to the Levites shall be forty-eight, with their pasture lands.
8 And as for the cities which you shall give from the possession of the people of Israel, from the larger tribes you shall take many, and from the smaller tribes you shall take few; each, in proportion to the inheritance which it inherits, shall give of its cities to the Levites."
10 "Say to the people of Israel, When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan,
11 then you shall select cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person without intent may flee there.
12 The cities shall be for you a refuge from the avenger, that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment.
13 And the cities which you give shall be your six cities of refuge.
14 You shall give three cities beyond the Jordan, and three cities in the land of Canaan, to be cities of refuge.
15 These six cities shall be for refuge for the people of Israel, and for the stranger and for the sojourner among them, that any one who kills any person without intent may flee there.
The six cities of refuge designate six centers in the body which are developed gradually through the process of spiritualization - three on either side of the Jordan to indicate the separation of the Work into the three Lesser and three Greater stages of the work of transmutation. All are to be transmuted, the Israelites as well as the strangers (new or unregenerate thoughts.)
16 "But if he struck him down with an instrument of iron, so that he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death.
17 And if he struck him down with a stone in the hand, by which a man may die, and he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death.
18 Or if he struck him down with a weapon of wood in the hand, by which a man may die, and he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death.
19 The avenger of blood shall himself put the murderer to death; when he meets him, he shall put him to death.
20 And if he stabbed him from hatred, or hurled at him, lying in wait, so that he died,
21 or in enmity struck him down with his hand, so that he died, then he who struck the blow shall be put to death; he is a murderer; the avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death, when he meets him.