As when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbour to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth from the helve, and lighteth upon his neighbour, that he die; he shall flee unto one of those cities, and live: (Deuteronomy 19:5)
Probably hillside thickets. According to Egyptian records Canaan was heavily wooded during patriarchal times. This is a case of unpremeditated homicide (see Num. 35:22). The man was engaged in a lawful pursuit, and the death of his companion was altogether accidental.
Fetcheth a stroke.
“Swings the axe” (RSV).
The helve.
Some think this means that the ax flew off from the tree, since the word for tree is the same as the one here translated “helve.” But it is perhaps better to understand it as given in the KJV, that the axhead flew off the handle as the man was in the process of cutting down a tree.
Live.
Compare Joshua 20:1-4 for additional details. This is a vivid symbolic word picture of the security the sinner may find in Christ Jesus. The bloodstained person is cleansed in Jesus (1 John 1:7). There is “no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1); for, “being justified by faith,” they have “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1).