Joshua 20
RileyJoshua 20:1-9
THE OF REFUGE CITIESJos_20:1-9.THE establishment of refuge cities is an event of such historical and also spiritual import as not to be passed over in silence.This twentieth chapter contains at once a complete record of their appointment, and the perfect fulfillment of the Moses’ plan. By referring to Numbers 35:1-6, we learn that the establishment of such cities is no novel decision. To the Levites were to be given a large number of cities, together with their suburbs, for their cattle and all their beasts, and out of these, six were to be chosen as cities of refuge. Here we have the execution of that Divine command, and the six cities selected to this lot were, on the east of Jordan, three: Bezer, in the lot of Reuben, Ramoth-Gilead in the lot of Gad, and Golan in the territory of Manasseh; on the west side of Jordan, they were: Hebron in Judah, Shechem in mount Ephraim, Kedesh in Naphtali.They were appointed as a refuge from mob law. They were not intended for the employment of the wilful murderer. They were not to become the rendezvous of bloody criminals.
The language of Scripture is clear as to their intent, “The slayer that killeth any person unawares and unwittingly may flee thither”. They were to the man-slayer of that time what the modern jail is to the man-slayer of this time.
Many people forget that a jail has a twofold function. They think of it as a place of judgment only, and feel that incarceration behind iron bars as an execution of social vengeance, but in every instance of certain forms of crime, particularly the crimes, brutal beating, rape and manslaughter, the prison bars become a protection, and, in fact, are the friends of the accused, and assure him of a fair and legal trial before final condemnation is passed. That was the exact objective of the city of refuge. The custom of the Orient in this Joshua period was for the nearest relative to avenge blood, and the refuge city was intended to provide protection against that relative until the measure and character of the guilt could be determined. If the killing were unwitting and accidental, the protection was made permanent, but if proven to be with malice aforethought, the elders of the city delivered up the subject to the avenger’s will.This Divinely established law has its spiritual suggestions. The judge of all the earth will do right.
He will not have the innocent condemned and killed, nor will He let the guilty go free. If He permitted the first, it would discredit His compassion; if He privileged the second, it would disparage His justice.
It is enheartening to know that God never pronounces judgment Himself until all the ameliorating circumstances are considered. “He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust”. He takes into consideration the conditions of the moment that distinguish clearly between the lust of the members and the law of the mind. He is more considerate of us than we are of ourselves. “If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things”.The social codes of society are seldom conformable to the plain teachings of Scripture, and even the laws of the state are often far removed from the law of God. It is not unusual for the righteous to suffer an unjust public judgment, nor for the innocent to be condemned by the judges of state; but neither of these blunders will ever be made by God. He doeth all things well; He doeth all things justly and right.This day’s mail brought us a letter viciously condemning the ninth article of the Fundamentalist doctrinal statement, “The everlasting felicity of the saved, and the everlasting conscious suffering of the lost”. The writer insisted that such a God would be worse than any Moloch ever known to the human mind.
Just what the language of Scripture concerning the eternal future of man may mean will be forever a matter of debate as between interpreters. There is one thing upon which all true believers may depend, and that is that the God of heaven will never do wrong, and will never execute any act of judgment that is not tempered with mercy.These cities of refuge were easily accessible.
Their gates, like the twelve gates of the Eternal City, were open in every direction, and even better, there was a strip two thousand cubits in length, known as a suburb, and when the man-slayer had crossed that, the avenger of blood was forbidden to follow.This, also, has its spiritual import. Christ has closed the way of salvation against no man. He Himself is the Way, and His Word is, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out”. There is no time, day or night, when the provisions of salvation are impotent, and there is no crime so crimson as to render Christ repellent. The thief on the cross confessed that his judgment was just, and his crucifixion was the legal consequence of his crime, and yet, when he turned to Christ, Christ turned him not away. The woman taken in adultery and brought to Jesus for condemnation was not justified, but heard from His lips a word of pardon and an earnest plea that she cease from her sins and live.
In essential senses these refuge cities were symbols of our Saviour. When we have transgressed, He is our hope, and when our sins threaten us with slaughter, He is our salvation.Again, these cities provided a sufficient shelter.
Once received into them and justified by their elders, they became not only a home of the saved, but his full defense for all the days of the high priest’s life. This also is a symbol. Once the sinner is received by Christ, our refuge, his security is assured while Christ, our High Priest, lives. It was this to which the Apostle referred when in his Epistle to the Hebrews 6:18-20, he said,“That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:“Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the vail;“Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an High Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec”.Men write on the eternal security of the saints. The Scriptures justify what they say. Van Alstyne had occasion to sing: “Safe in the arms of Jesus, Safe on His gentle breast,There by His love o’ershaded, Sweetly my soul shall rest.
Hark! ’tis the voice of angels, Borne in a song to me,Over the fields of glory, Over the jasper sea.“Safe in the arms of Jesus, Safe from corroding care,Safe from the world’s temptations, Sin cannot harm me there.Free from the blight of sorrow, Free from my doubts and fears;Only a few more trials, Only a few more tears.“Jesus, my heart’s dear refuge, Jesus has died for me;Firm on the Rock of Ages Ever my trust shall be.Here let me wait with patience; Wait till the night is o’er; Wait till I see the morning Break on the golden shore.”