Overall Question: What lessons should we learn from the cities of refuge?

Hebrews 6:18-19 CEV “18 God cannot tell lies! And so his promises and vows are two things that can never be changed. We have run to God for safety. Now his promises should greatly encourage us to take hold of the hope that is right in front of us. 19 This hope is like a firm and steady anchor for our souls. In fact, hope reaches behind the curtain and into the most holy place.”

Sunday – History Lesson
Numbers 33 NRSV (selected verses) “1 ¶ These are the stages by which the Israelites went out of the land of Egypt in military formation under the leadership of Moses and Aaron. 2 Moses wrote down their starting points, stage by stage, by command of the LORD; and these are their stages according to their starting places. 3 They set out from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the day after the passover the Israelites went out boldly in the sight of all the Egyptians, 4 while the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, whom the LORD had struck down among them. The LORD executed judgments even against their gods. 5 So the Israelites set out from Rameses, and camped at Succoth. 50 ¶ In the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 51 Speak to the Israelites, and say to them: When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 52 you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their figured stones, destroy all their cast images, and demolish all their high places. 53 You shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given you the land to possess. 54 You shall apportion the land by lot according to your clans; to a large one you shall give a large inheritance, and to a small one you shall give a small inheritance; the inheritance shall belong to the person on whom the lot falls; according to your ancestral tribes you shall inherit. 55 But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides; they shall trouble you in the land where you are settling. 56 And I will do to you as I thought to do to them.”
Numbers 33:50-56 COMMENTARY BY MATTHEW HENRY It was intended that the Canaanites should be put out of the land; but if the Israelites learned their wicked ways, they also would be put out. Let us hear this and fear. If we do not drive out sin, sin will drive us out. If we are not the death of our lusts, our lusts will be the death of our souls.
Ellen White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 543 – “God had placed His people in Canaan as a mighty breastwork to stay the tide of moral evil, that it might not flood the world. If faithful to Him, God intended that Israel should go on conquering and to conquer. He would give into their hands nations greater and more powerful than the Canaanites.”

Monday – Cities of the Levites
Numbers 35:1-8 Holman “1 ¶ The LORD again spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho: 2 “Command the Israelites to give cities out of their hereditary property for the Levites to live in and pastureland around the cities. 3 The cities will be for them to live in, and their pasturelands will be for their herds, flocks, and all their other animals. 4 The pasturelands of the cities you are to give the Levites will extend from the city wall 500 yards on every side. 5 Measure 1,000 yards outside the city for the east side, 1,000 yards for the south side, 1,000 yards for the west side, and 1,000 yards for the north side, with the city in the center. This will belong to them as pasturelands for the cities. 6 “The cities you give the Levites will include six cities of refuge, which you must provide so that the one who kills someone may flee there; in addition to these, give 42 other cities. 7 The total number of cities you give the Levites will be 48, along with their pasturelands. 8 Of the cities that you give from the Israelites’ territory, you should take more from a larger tribe and less from a smaller one. Each tribe is to give some of its cities to the Levites in proportion to the inheritance it receives.””
Numbers 35:2 COMMENTARY BY JAMIESON, FAUSSET, AND BROWN In point of fact, there was an extent of ground, amounting to three thousand cubits, measured from the wall of the city. One thousand were most probably occupied with outhouses for the accommodation of shepherds and other servants, with gardens, vineyards, or oliveyards. And these which were portioned out to different families (1Ch 6:60) might be sold by one Levite to another, but not to any individual of another tribe (Jer 32:7). The other two thousand cubits remained a common for the pasturing of cattle (Le 25:34) and, considering their number, that space would be fully required.
Ephesians 2 God’s Word to the Nations “1 ¶ You were once dead because of your failures and sins. 2 You followed the ways of this present world and its spiritual ruler. This ruler continues to work in people who refuse to obey God. 3 All of us once lived among these people, and followed the desires of our corrupt nature. We did what our corrupt desires and thoughts wanted us to do. So, because of our nature, we deserved God’s anger just like everyone else. 4 ¶ But God is rich in mercy because of his great love for us. 5 We were dead because of our failures, but he made us alive together with Christ. (It is God’s kindness that saved you.) 6 God has brought us back to life together with Christ Jesus and has given us a position in heaven with him. 7 He did this through Christ Jesus out of his generosity to us in order to show his extremely rich kindness in the world to come. 8 God saved you through faith as an act of kindness. You had nothing to do with it. Being saved is a gift from God. 9 It’s not the result of anything you’ve done, so no one can brag about it. 10 God has made us what we are. He has created us in Christ Jesus to live lives filled with good works that he has prepared for us to do. 11 ¶ Remember that once you were not Jewish physically. Those who called themselves "the circumcised" because of what they had done to their bodies called you "the uncircumcised." 12 Also, at that time you were without Christ. You were excluded from citizenship in Israel, and the pledges God made in his promise were foreign to you. You had no hope and were in the world without God. 13 But now through Christ Jesus you, who were once far away, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 ¶ So he is our peace. In his body he has made Jewish and non-Jewish people one by breaking down the wall of hostility that kept them apart. 15 He brought an end to the commandments and demands found in Moses’ Teachings so that he could take Jewish and non-Jewish people and create one new humanity in himself. So he made peace. 16 He also brought them back to God in one body by his cross, on which he killed the hostility. 17 He came with the Good News of peace for you who were far away and for those who were near. 18 So Jewish and non-Jewish people can go to the Father in one Spirit. 19 That is why you are no longer foreigners and outsiders but citizens together with God’s people and members of God’s family. 20 You are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Christ Jesus himself is the cornerstone. 21 In him all the parts of the building fit together and grow into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 Through him you, also, are being built in the Spirit together with others into a place where God lives.”

Tuesday – Cities of Refuge
Numbers 35:6 CEV “Six of the towns you give them will be Safe Towns where a person who has accidentally killed someone can run for protection. But you will also give the Levites forty-two other towns,”
Numbers 35:9-21 NLT “9 ¶ And the LORD said to Moses, 10 "Say this to the people of Israel: ‘When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 11 designate cities of refuge for people to flee to if they have killed someone accidentally. 12 These cities will be places of protection from a dead person’s relatives who want to avenge the death. The slayer must not be killed before being tried by the community. 13 Designate six cities of refuge for yourselves, 14 three on the east side of the Jordan River and three on the west in the land of Canaan. 15 These cities are for the protection of Israelites, resident foreigners, and traveling merchants. Anyone who accidentally kills someone may flee there for safety. 16 "‘But if someone strikes and kills another person with a piece of iron, it must be presumed to be murder, and the murderer must be executed. 17 Or if someone strikes and kills another person with a large stone, it is murder, and the murderer must be executed. 18 The same is true if someone strikes and kills another person with a wooden weapon. It must be presumed to be murder, and the murderer must be executed. 19 The victim’s nearest relative is responsible for putting the murderer to death. When they meet, the avenger must execute the murderer. 20 So if in premeditated hostility someone pushes another person or throws a dangerous object and the person dies, it is murder. 21 Or if someone angrily hits another person with a fist and the person dies, it is murder. In such cases, the victim’s nearest relative must execute the murderer when they meet.”
Numbers 35:11 COMMENTARY TREASURY OF SCRIPTURE KNOWLEDGE As the goel or kinsman, had a right to avenge the death of his relation, by slaying the murderer wherever he found him, the appointment of these cities was a humane institution for the protection of the involuntary homicide; for they were designed only for the protection of such.
Numbers 35:12 COMMENTARY BY ADAM CLARKE one of these cities was not a perpetual asylum; It was only a pro tempore refuge, till the case could be fairly examined by the magistrates in the presence of the people, or the elders their representatives; and this was done in the city or place where he had done the murder, Jos 20:4,6. If he was found worthy of death, they delivered him to the avenger that he might be slain, De 19:12; if not, they sent him back to the city of refuge, where he remained till the death of the high priest, Nu 35:25.


Wednesday – Cities of Refuge
Numbers 35:22-34 ESV “22 "But if he pushed him suddenly without enmity, or hurled anything on him without lying in wait 23 or used a stone that could cause death, and without seeing him dropped it on him, so that he died, though he was not his enemy and did not seek his harm, 24 then the congregation shall judge between the manslayer and the avenger of blood, in accordance with these rules. 25 And the congregation shall rescue the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge to which he had fled, and he shall live in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil. 26 But if the manslayer shall at any time go beyond the boundaries of his city of refuge to which he fled, 27 and the avenger of blood finds him outside the boundaries of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the manslayer, he shall not be guilty of blood. 28 For he must remain in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest, but after the death of the high priest the manslayer may return to the land of his possession. 29 And these things shall be for a statute and rule for you throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. 30 "If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the evidence of witnesses. But no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness. 31 Moreover, you shall accept no ransom for the life of a murderer, who is guilty of death, but he shall be put to death. 32 And you shall accept no ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may return to dwell in the land before the death of the high priest. 33 You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it. 34 You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell, for I the LORD dwell in the midst of the people of Israel."”
SDA BIBLE DICTIONARY, art. “City of Refuge"- The so-called law of the avenger required the eldest male relative of the slain man to avenge the death. A fugitive claiming the protection of one of the cities of refuge received a fair trial, and if found innocent was to remain there until the death of the high priest. Apparently, the accession of a new high priest inaugurated a new era that was considered to erase any possible legal claims of the preceding era (Num 35:28, 32)—a wise provision that would prevent family feuds going on from generation to generation.

Thursday – Christ, Our Refuge
2 Samuel 22:3 NLT “my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the strength of my salvation, and my stronghold, my high tower, my savior, the one who saves me from violence.”
John 8:10-11 NIV “10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" 11 "No one, sir," she said. "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."”
Ephesians 1:7 NKJV “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace”
Colossians 1:14 KJ21 “in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins.”
Hebrews 6:18 “NRSV so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible that God would prove false, we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to seize the hope set before us.”

Jim, since you didn't really mention the other cities/countries/judicial system of the pagan world, I can only think that the system of the 'cities of refuge' was what was unique. Perhaps later in the week, I will find the answer should it be different.

The other (pagan) cities of refuge accepted everyone, not just the innocent.

Thanks for that insite James, I didn't know that pagans had cities of refuge! I thought it was a 'God' idea.

JAMES423

THAT is interesting about the pagans having cities of refuge

dgrimm60

I believe that many of the things that God taught and had the Israelites do, were based on things that they had some idea about, so that it wouldn't be to forniegn to them.


pk