The Targum's version of (Numbers 35) contains one of the most radical theological claims in all of ancient Jewish literature. It explains why a manslayer confined to a city of refuge was released upon the death of the High Priest. The standard Torah text gives no reason—it simply states the rule. But the Targum provides a stunning explanation: the High Priest died "because he did not pray on the Day of Atonement in the Holy of Holies concerning the three great transgressions—that the people of the house of Israel might not be smitten for strange worship, or impure connections, or the shedding of innocent blood—when it was in his power to obviate them by his prayer, and he prayed not. Therefore he has been condemned to die in that year."
The High Priest's death was not coincidence. It was punishment. If someone was killed accidentally, the High Priest bore partial responsibility because he should have prayed for the prevention of bloodshed on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). His death was atonement for his failure of prayer, and that atonement freed the accidental killer.
The cities of refuge themselves are described as having "streets and houses of living"—the Targum calls them boarding houses, suggesting permanent residential infrastructure for those in exile. Six cities total: three beyond the Jordan, three in the land of Canaan, open to Israelites and sojourners alike.
The Targum sharpens the distinction between murder and manslaughter with precise legal categories. For murder, the weapon matters: iron instruments, stones "large enough to kill anyone," or wooden implements "sufficient to kill anyone." The phrase "filling his hand" describes the deliberate act of picking up the weapon. Intent is established by prior enmity, purposeful assault, or lying in wait.
For accidental killing, the Targum specifies that the object fell "without keeping of malice" and "without intention." The killer "had not hated or purposed to do him harm." The congregation would judge between the killer and the blood avenger, and if the death was truly accidental, the killer was returned to his city of refuge to remain "until the time that the High Priest die." The chapter closes with a warning: "Innocent blood which has not been avenged will overflow the land," and atonement comes only "by the shedding of the blood of him who shed it." Then: "Defile not the land, for My Shekinah (the Divine Presence) dwells in the midst of it."