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Commentary on "Cities of Refuge"
Day 4: Tuesday, December 22, 2009
What is being established in the Numbers 35:6,9-12? And why? And how do we understand this form of justice in light of the Gospel?
This is answered so well by Warren Wiersbe in his commentary Be Counted:
The six cities of refuge were Kedesh, Shechem, and Hebron on the west side of the Jordan, and Golen, Ramoth, and Bezer on the east side. If you look at a map of ancient Israel, you will see that these cities were so located in the land that nobody would be too far away from an appointed city who needed to flee for refuge.
The nation of Israel had an army, but it didn’t have anything equivalent to our modern police system. If somebody was murdered, the members of the family and clan saw to it that the murderer was punished. However, if a man accidentally killed someone, that was a case of manslaughter, not murder; and it would have been wrong to make him pay with his life.
The man could flee to one of the cities of refuge and present his case to the elders who would hear him and the witnesses. If they thought he was guilty of murder, they would turn him over to the family and the authorities for punishment. If they concluded that he was innocent, they allowed him to stay in the city of refuge under their protection until the death of the high priest. Then he was free to return home. He was not allowed to pay a ransom and be freed sooner (v. 32).
If the man was guilty, he was stoned to death. Murder was a capital crime in Israel for which there was no ransom (v. 32). The blood of innocent victims polluted the land, and the land belongs to the Lord (vv. 33-34; see Gen. 4:10; 9:5). The only way the land could be cleansed was by the death of the murderer.
Guilty sinners today can flee by faith to Jesus Christ and find refuge from the judgment of God (Heb. 6:18). Because Jesus is the ever-living High Priest, salvation is secure forever; for “He ever lives to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25, nkjv). He bore the guilty sinner’s punishment; therefore, there can be no condemnation (Rom. 8:1). Warren Wiersbe’s “Be” Series: Old & New Testaments Electronic Edition STEP Files Copyright © 2004, QuickVerse, a division of FindEx.com, Inc.
In answering the last question the words of Jesus ring out…
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?” (Matthew 5:43-46 NASB)
Summary
- God provided temporal refuge in the Old Covenant.
- Jesus’ sacrifice provides eternal refuge.
- If we are forgiven all…how can we not forgive?
GO TO DAY 5
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