“The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed…”

As neighbors they had worked their respective fields together at harvest time. They didn’t share their take at the market, because that violated the family business rules. But because they were neighbors they had had an occasional squabble or two, usually about whose plants were whose along the boundary between them. Over the years, however, they got along fine. Until that one fateful day when they were back in the fields harvesting. The one man threw a single-ox yoke to the other. Unfortunately, the other man wasn’t looking and it hit him on the head and killed him. Naturally the family of the dead man accused the other of intentionally killing him because they alleged another dispute between them over the crops. The pattern already existed, but the accused denied killing him intentionally. Add to that the fact that there were no witnesses, and the families hit an impasse. In the days of Israel one member of the deceased’s family could then become “the avenger of blood” (Numbers 35:19) and “put the murderer to death” to fulfill the law of “life for life” (Exodus 21:12, 23).

But what if the murderer didn’t intend to kill the deceased? What if it really was a terrible and unfortunate accident? With an avenger of blood living next door, the accused must find justice not only for himself and his family, but also for the family of the deceased. In cases such God made a provision of the cities of refuge. Scripture tells us they were to be six of them, three west of the Jordan River, and three on the east side (Numbers 35:14). As soon as the death of someone occurred, the accused was to flee to the closest city of refuge to await trial that would either prove his innocence or guilt (vs. 22-25). If guilty, the city leaders would remove him from the city, at which the avenger was just in killing him. If innocent, the accused must remain inside the city of refuge’s limits (v. 26). Wandering outside for any reason at any time meant certain death at the hands of the avenger should he be lurking around. Thus he would be safe in the city of refuge and needed to stay there “until the death of the high priest” (vs. 25, 28). Once the high priest died, the acquitted person was free to leave the city and return to his family without any fear of retribution from the deceased neighbor’s family or avenger of blood.

The concept of the cities of refuge was important enough that they are mentioned in four books of the Old Testament. We first see that God reveals them to Israel before they entered the Promised Land (Numbers 35), repeated before they entered the land (Deuteronomy 19) and recorded when they built them (Joshua 20). I Chronicles 6:57 notes that Hebron is one city of refuge.

The significance of these cities should not be lost on us, given the fact that they symbolize the Lord as our refuge. While the colorful Hebrew language employs only one word for refuge when speaking about the cities of refuge, it uses no less than 8 other words with various meanings that include protection, shelter, asylum, covering, safety, support, defense and shade. It is in the Lord that we find our salvation, our defense against the avenger of blood, which for us is the law. When Jesus died, he “forgave all our sins, having canceled the written code [the law], with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 3:13-14). Moreover, our accuser (Revelation 12:10) and his followers (Colossians 2:15) have likewise failed in their charges against us.

As we have seen, the death of the high priest allowed the acquitted to return home never to face accusations or threats from the deceased’s family. Since Jesus is our High Priest (see the book of Hebrews), as well as being our “city” of refuge, his death liberates us from confinement and sets us free to return to our homes and work and circles of influence to point others to the city. The NIV misses the only place in the New Testament where refuge is used, thus the NKJV: “Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us” (Hebrews 6:17-18).

A city of refuge is a place for refugees. You’ve been there; so have I. The High Priest has died freeing us to serve. Are you encouraging others to flee to the city?