Editing Feud (section)

===== Hebrew Law =====
In ancient [[Hebrew law]], it was considered the duty of the individual and family to avenge unlawful bloodshed, on behalf of God and on behalf of the deceased. The executor of the law of blood-revenge who personally put the initial killer to death was given a special designation: ''[[go'el haddam]]'', the blood-avenger or blood-redeemer ([[Book of Numbers]] 35: 19, etc.). Six [[Cities of Refuge]] were established to provide protection and [[due process]] for any unintentional manslayers. The avenger was forbidden from harming an [[:he:רוצח בשגגה|unintentional killer]] if the killer took refuge in one of these cities. As the ''Oxford Companion to the Bible'' states: "Since life was viewed as sacred ([[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] 9.6), no amount of [[blood money (term)|blood money]] could be given as recompense for the loss of the life of an innocent person; it had to be [[lex talionis|"life for life"]] ([[Book of Exodus|Exodus]] 21.23; [[Deuteronomy]] 19.21)".<ref>{{citation |title=The Oxford Companion to the Bible |first1=Bruce M. |last1=Metzger |first2=Michael D. |last2=Coogan |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1993 |page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195046458/page/68 68] |isbn=978-0-19-504645-8 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195046458/page/68 }}</ref>