את שלש הערים מעבר לירדן ואת שלש הערים בארץ כנען. ובפר' שני דמכות מקשה בעבר הירדן תלת ובארץ ישראל תלת ומשני בגלעד שהוא מעבר לירדן שכיחי רוצחים דכתיב גלעד קרית פועלי און עקובה מדם א"ר אלעזר שהיו עוקבים להרוג נפשות וקשיא מאי קא משני והא לא מהני ערי מקלט אלא להורגים בשוגג ובגלעד דשכיחי רוצחים דקאמר היינו במזיד. וי"ל דכיון דשכיחי רוצחים במזיד הקב"ה מביא שם רוצחים בשוגג בלא עדים כדי שיהרגו הרוצחים במזיד ויהיו שם עדים ויגלו כדאמרינן התם בסמוך מרשעים יצא רשע במה הכתוב מדבר בשני בני אדם שהרגו את הנפש אחד הרג שוגג ואחד הרג מזיד לזה אין עדים ולזה אין עדים הקב"ה מזמנן לפונדק אחד זה שהרג מזיד יושב תחת הסולם וזה שהרג שוגג עולה בסולם ונופל עליו והורגו ויש שם עדים זה נהרג וזה גולה: את שלש הערים וגו'...מעבר לירדן ואת שלש הערים וג' בארץ כנען “the three towns etc.; and the three towns etc.; in the land of Canaan.” The Talmud tractate Makkot folio 9 raises the question why it was that both on the west bank of the Jordan and on the east bank three towns of refuge for potential inadvertent killers were provided when more than 80% of the population resided on the west bank of the Jordan? The answer given by the scholar Abbaye is that the area known as Gilead on the east bank was known to harbour many murderers. He based himself on what is written in the Book of Hoseah 6,8: גלעד קרית פועלי און עקובה מדם, “Gilead is a city of evildoers, tracked up with blood.” Rabbi Elazar there adds that the word עקובה used by the prophet means that people lay in wait, and ambushed those whom they planned to kill. How do these statements answer our question seeing that the cities of refuge were not provided for intentional murders? The prophet accused the people Gilead of committing deliberate murders! The answer is that the fact that seeing that unintentional killings were common place in Gilead, this encouraged intentional killers to pretend that they had committed unintentional killing. G–d arranged for unintentional killers to be residents of that area in order to be able to tell between deliberate murders committed in the absence of witnesses, and unintentionally committed killings. Their victims would be the ones who had previously committed intentional killings but could not be brought to court due to absence of witnesses. The Talmud on the folio next to the one we quoted uses Samuel I 24,14: מרשעים יצא רשע, “wicked deeds have a habit of being performed by wicked people.” [a quote from David who after having cut off a piece of King’s Shaul’s cloak instead of killing him as his pursuer, wanted to convince him that the people who had accuse him as being his enemy had evil intentions. Ed.] If one person had killed unintentionally, without there being any witnesses, so that he did not bother to go to a city of refuge, G–d arranges that he will do something similar with witnesses, but the victim having previously guilty of intentional undetected murder.