“… a man goes into the forest with his friend to cut wood, and his hand swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron head slips off the handle and strikes his friend so that he dies …” Deuteronomy 19:5
“Imagine yourself as the Israelite whose axhead had escaped its handle in mid-swing and killed his friend. Instantly, you have become a killer – your hands tainted with blood, your soul black with guilt, your tidy life suddenly in tatters. The terrible damage has been done, and you face its terrible consequences. You stare at your bleeding, lifeless neighbor, and swirling panic yanks you back and forth. Your own grief pushes you toward him as if a simple hug will bring him back to life, but simultaneously a terrible dread pushes you to make a quick getaway. Instead, you calmly lift your friend over your shoulders and slowly walk toward town.
As you walk, you accept that there is no use in explaining, “It was an accident! I’m so sorry! I checked the tightness of the axhead but it just flew off as I chopped.” You imagine how the news will devastate the dead man’s family. You picture yourself facing his widow and children, your tearful apology and plea for forgiveness drowned out by the surging waves of their grief. You picture a shrouded body clutched by a wailing women whose sorrow drives and erratic rocking motion. You imagine the mystical sense of loss – the ugly tear in the family psyche- and the quiet outrage and urge for justice building among the man’s male relatives. You can expect revenge – family duty demands it. You curse God for letting it happen, but no reply comes. Inside boils a sinister stew of conflicting emotions – shame, guilt, self-doubt, dread, and above all, a desire to flee.”1
At this point, the scriptures give specific directions for this unhappy fellow. After informing the family of the death of his companion, and asking forgiveness, he was to run with all haste to the nearest city of refuge. He was to stand at the gate of the city and make his appeal to the elders of that city. If he failed to establish his innocence, he received no protection and in time would face the ‘avenger of blood.’ If he made a case for his innocence, he would be protected from the ‘avenger’ and would be provided with a place to live and some sort of work. On the side of penalty, he would no longer live in his ancestral home, he would no longer cultivate his own fields, he would probably no longer practice his trade (the skill that he learned from his father), and he would have lost his family and closest friends. And he would have to accept all this quietly with the assurance that, without this mercy, the seriousness of the crime surely required his own death.
Chapter 20 of Joshua mentions the final allotting of these ‘Cities of Refuge’ and this is related to the giving of cites for the public good. Six cities were to be set aside for this purpose—three on one side of the Jordan River and three on the other side. Moses previously set aside three cities on the east side of the River - Bezer, Ramoth Gilead, and Golan (Deuteronomy 4:41-43). In this chapter we see that Israel completes the rest of that task. On the east side of the Jordan they set aside the cities Kedesh in Galilee, Shechem, and Kiriath-arba (otherwise known as Hebron) as cities of refuge. These cities were strategically placed so that fugitives could travel to a place of refuge in a timely manner.
We see how they might serve justice for the individual but how do these Cities of Refuge serve the public good? Clearly, from Genesis 9:6 we know that killing another man was a serious matter that required judgment. Joshua 20 and Numbers 35 lay the ground work for the legal notion of accidental death, or what we call today, third-degree murder. First degree murder is killing someone intentionally. Second degree murder is the killing of a person unintentionally without premeditation but with malice. An example of second degree murder would be someone dying because of perhaps an argument resulting in the striking by another person with the intent to harm but not to kill (examples found in Numbers 35:16-21). The cities of refuge were not intended to protect those who had committed first or second degree murder (Deuteronomy 4:41-42). Third degree murder is due to an accident or a death resulting from perhaps negligence by another (see the examples given in Deuteronomy 19:4-13 & Numbers 35:22-24).
Cities of refuge allow a person involved in murder (the Bible calls them, manslayers) to flee to a safe city to await proper legal proceedings (Numbers 35:12). The good from this is that the family of the victim is prevented from wrongfully taking revenge before all the evidence is obtained and a trial is held (Numbers 35:12). Traditionally, this is called ‘blood revenge’ where the relatives of the deceased felt honor-bound to avenge their kin - the Bible condemns vigilante behavior (Leviticus 19:18). If there were no cities of refuge then it would be possible that the ‘avenger’, that is the victim’s friends and relatives, might be guilty of murder themselves.
The Bible calls manslaying murder, the command to Noah was, “the one who sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed” (Genesis 9:6); but the Bible provides the possibility that the killing was accidental. The taking of a human life always requires a penalty, but not all murder requires capital punishment. In the case of accidental murder (third degree) the penalty specified is confinement to a city of refuge. If the city fathers judged his or her case as accidental death, they were to sentence the accidental murderer to live in the city of refuge until the current high priest would die. If the case was judged as guilty of first or second degree murder, the guilty would be excluded from the city of refuge and turned over to the avenger. If the person’s case was judged as accidental, cities of refuge would be both a blessing and a punishment. That person’s life would be spared and at the same time his or her life would be indefinitely put on hold in what we might today call, ’house arrest.’ Depending on how long the high priest lived a person might live the rest of his life confined to that one city. He might never go home but live the remainder of his life in a city far from family and friends - but he would live! The Jews had a custom that if the ‘accidental murderer’ died before the high priest died, they would return his bones to his home.2 This merciful arrangement would hopefully comfort the victim’s family but also prevent an endless cycle of revenge such as was suggested in the case of Lamech (Genesis 4:23-24) who said, “...For I have killed a man for wounding me; and a boy for striking me; if Cain is avenged sevenfold, Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”
Furthermore, I think these cities of refuge were intended to be places where ‘accidental’ murderers might be surrounded with legal protection and sympathetic generosity. Legal in the sense that though he was guilty of causing the death of another, he would be granted mercy. This city would be sympathetic because this was a community which was set up for the specific purpose of providing a safe place of protective ‘sanctuary’ for the accidental murderer. In addition, I would expect the citizens of this city would be thoughtful about the possibility that, but for the grace of God, they might have committed a similar crime.
Since all Scripture was written for our instruction, it seems obvious that the Lord also desires His church to be a place of mercy and generosity. Mercy, demonstrated by the Lord Jesus Christ’s coming to satisfy the demands of justice for His people. Though we were guilty of the capital crime of cosmic treason liable to execution, we flee to Christ for protection. Mercy, in that Christ’s Church is to provide a city of refuge for those who are fleeing from the wrath to come. The church is to provide refugees (that is us!) with a community to live free and to provide the spiritual food necessary to flourish. Generosity, in that Christ Jesus not only satisfied the demands of the Law but also adopted us into his family. Sympathetic generosity should be demonstrated in the Lord’s Church by freely preaching the gospel and giving a hearty welcome to all who may come! Believers join together in little cites of refuge each Lord’s Day, entering into a city where Christ has provided both legal justification and protection! A place of sanctuary where fellow believers have a sympathetic understanding that we are all sinners saved by the grace of a merciful Lord and Master. Though our sins may differ, we understand both the conviction of sin and the blessing of forgiveness in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
1 Hubbard, Robert. The NIV Application Commentary – Joshua. Zondervan Grand Rapids, MI 2009
2 I used the Kindle book commentary recommended by bro Steve Martin for this information about this Jewish custom of returning the bones to home. Here is brother Steve’s note: the Kindle editions of the NIV Application Commentary set are on sale for just $4.99 each. This is considered a very good popular-level series. I've asterisked volumes especially recommended by the various experts I rely on to help me sort through commentaries: Genesis*; Leviticus, Numbers; Deuteronomy*;Joshua; Judges and Ruth*; 1 & 2 Kings; 1 & 2 Chronicles*; Esther*; Job; Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs*; Isaiah; Jeremiah, Lamentations; Ezekiel*; Daniel*; Joel, Obadiah, Malachi; Hosea, Amos, Micah; Jonah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah; Haggai, Zechariah; Matthew; Mark*; Luke*; John; Acts*; Romans*; 1Corinthians*;Galatians; Ephesians; Philippians*; Colossians & Philemon*; 1 & 2 Thessalonians; 1& 2 Timothy & Titus*; Hebrews*; James; 1 Peter*; 2 Peter & Jude*; 1, 2, & 3 John*;Revelation*.
