The Holy One Arranges the Inn for Two Killers

"And one who did not lie in wait, but God brought it to his hand" (Exodus 21:13). As the proverb of the ancients says: "From the wicked comes forth wickedness" (1 Samuel 24:13). Of what does Scripture speak? Of two people who each killed a person, one who killed unintentionally and one who killed intentionally, and for this one there are no witnesses and for that one there are no witnesses. So the Holy One, blessed be He, arranges for both of them to come to a single inn. The one who killed intentionally sits beneath a ladder, and the one who killed unintentionally comes down the ladder and falls upon him and kills him. It turns out that the one who killed intentionally is killed, and the one who killed unintentionally goes into exile [to a city of refuge]. Thus each receives his due measure without human witnesses. "And I will appoint for you a place" - "and I will appoint for you," in your lifetime. "A place," in your own place. "To which he may flee" - this teaches that the Israelites went into exile in the wilderness. To where did they go into exile? To the camp of the Levites. From here they said: a Levite who killed goes into exile from one district to another. And if he went into exile within his own district, his own district takes him in. Rav Acha the son of Rav Ika said: What is the verse for this? "For in the city of his refuge he shall dwell" (Numbers 35:28) - for it had already taken him in before.