Read Joshua 20
Cities of Refuge
1 Then the Lord said to Joshua: 2 “Tell the Israelites to designate the cities of refuge, as I instructed you through Moses, 3 so that anyone who kills a person accidentally and unintentionally may flee there and find protection from the avenger of blood. 4 When they flee to one of these cities, they are to stand in the entrance of the city gate and state their case before the elders of that city. Then the elders are to admit the fugitive into their city and provide a place to live among them. 5 If the avenger of blood comes in pursuit, the elders must not surrender the fugitive, because the fugitive killed their neighbor unintentionally and without malice aforethought. 6 They are to stay in that city until they have stood trial before the assembly and until the death of the high priest who is serving at that time. Then they may go back to their own home in the town from which they fled.”
7 So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah. 8 East of the Jordan (on the other side from Jericho) they designated Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau in the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead in the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan in the tribe of Manasseh. 9 Any of the Israelites or any foreigner residing among them who killed someone accidentally could flee to these designated cities and not be killed by the avenger of blood prior to standing trial before the assembly.
Go Deeper
In this passage, we see Joshua carrying out God’s plan that He gave to Moses in Numbers 35 and Deuteronomy 19 when God instructed Moses to establish “six cities of refuge for my people.” Quite a bit is written in the Old Testament about these cities of refuge, which seems a bit strange. Why such an elaborate plan just for the unlikely event that one person accidentally kills another person?
Because, thankfully, God plans ahead. And in His plans, He wants us to recognize and understand His character. With these cities of refuge, God established a protocol that provided safety for His people in a time of danger. As one author puts it, these cities were a place for those who were guilty of hand, but not of heart. Can you imagine how those people felt as they ran for safety? Surely they were panicked, literally running for their lives and thinking, “If I can just make it to the place of refuge, I am saved.” They were thankful beyond measure for a plan that would protect them from death and for the opportunity to return home and rest in full freedom after the death of the high priest.
Sound familiar? As soon as Adam and Eve took that forbidden bite, God needed a plan to save us from the danger of eternity without Him. And this plan weaves its way through the Old Testament while consistently pointing us to the one ultimate place of refuge: Jesus Christ. Hebrews 6:18 tells us that while our sins might differ from those seeking the city of Kedesh, we can run to Jesus, our High Priest, for refuge. Belief in His death and resurrection will fill us with the strength and encouragement we need to hold fast to the hope set before us: eternity with Him.
In the book of Psalms alone, God is described as our “refuge” in times of trouble more than 15 times. So whatever it is today that is weighing you down—guilt, anxiety, despair, stress, worry, finances, shame—run to Him just like those running to Kedesh. He has planned ahead, knowing exactly what danger it is that you are trying to escape. Take hope and find rest and safety in knowing that no matter what you are fleeing, God is your refuge and strength, an ever-present help in any kind of trouble. He has planned ahead and is waiting to take you in.
Questions
- When you experience a time of trouble, who or what do you run to first?
- If your answer to the question above is not God, why do you think that is?
- What is weighing you down that you need to give over to God so that He can fill you with strength and encouragement for today?
Did You Know?
If you were to look on a map, the six cities of refuge were well spaced out across the land. Anywhere you were in Israel there was a city of refuge nearby.
3 responses to “Joshua 20”
God is amazing
He has layed out parallels in His Word. “God has laid out physical processes, protocols, procedures, rituals, observances, and laws that we find in the Bible are direct parallels of spiritual realities that have existed since eternity past. The Wilderness Tabernacle is a very limited earthly model of God’s heavenly dwelling place. The Levite Priesthood is a very limited earthly model of God’s spiritual servants (angels and cherubim) and their hierarchy as established in heaven. And the Cities of Refuge are a very limited earthly model of a spiritual place of safety for those who love the Lord, and at the same time these cities demonstrated a central part of God’s plan of redemption for humankind.” (Torah Class)
We also have to remember that in the cultural we are reading about there were no police, ect just a tribal form of justice. So they did what they do and God made the way for them.
BUT GOD! He showed us kind of righteousness that man cannot attain, it must simply be imputed to him; we can’t attain it, we can’t purchase it, we can’t merit it by works or deeds or even by obedience to the Law. It is a righteousness that is so high and perfect that only one man ever displayed it: Jesus of Nazareth
God I am so thankful for learning about all that You have done and are doing for me. Thank You for Jesus and all that He made available for me. God thank You for Holy Spirit dwelling within me and that I can come to You at anytime or place with prayer and supplication, making my request be made know. God thank You for today and these minutes of this day to glorify and honor You. God help me be obedient to follow Your lead. I ask You God for my witness to be pleasing to You in all I say and do today in these minutes of this day. Oh God, breath in me, act in me, and draw my heart to love what is holy today in Jesus name amen.
WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
God truly makes a way, even when all seems lost in our mistakes and missteps his goodness and kindness are chasing us down. He becomes our sanctuary, our hiding place, as we surrender ALL our blessed Savior restores and redeems and carries our burdens. It’s because of God’s grand plan in 2 Corinthians 5:21 that we are covered in our sin and shame, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
2 “Tell the Israelites to designate the cities of refuge“
What a fascinating concept and wise buffer against the mob justice present at that time. In our present era, we are blessed with a legal system that presumes one is innocent until proven guilty.