City of Refuge

Scripture: Numbers 35: 9-25

Sermon: City of Refuge

Topics: justice, mercy, church

Preached: August 14, 2002

Rev. Mike Abma

Number 35: 9-25

9 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ¹⁰Speak to the Israelites, and say to them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ¹¹then you shall select cities to be cities of refuge for you, so that a slayer who kills a person without intent may flee there. ¹²The cities shall be for you a refuge from the avenger, so that the slayer may not die until there is a trial before the congregation.

13 The cities that you designate shall be six cities of refuge for you:¹⁴you shall designate three cities beyond the Jordan, and three cities in the land of Canaan, to be cities of refuge. ¹⁵These six cities shall serve as refuge for the Israelites, for the resident or transient alien among them, so that anyone who kills a person without intent may flee there.

16 But anyone who strikes another with an iron object, and death ensues, is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death. ¹⁷Or anyone who strikes another with a stone in hand that could cause death, and death ensues, is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death. ¹⁸Or anyone who strikes another with a weapon of wood in hand that could cause death, and death ensues, is a murderer; the murderer shall be put to death. ¹⁹The avenger of blood is the one who shall put the murderer to death; when they meet, the avenger of blood shall execute the sentence.²⁰Likewise, if someone pushes another from hatred, or hurls something at another, lying in wait, and death ensues, ²¹or in enmity strikes another with the hand, and death ensues, then the one who struck the blow shall be put to death; that person is a murderer; the avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when they meet.

22 But if someone pushes another suddenly without enmity, or hurls any object without lying in wait, ²³or, while handling any stone that could cause death, unintentionally drops it on another and death ensues, though they were not enemies, and no harm was intended, ²⁴then the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood, in accordance with these ordinances; ²⁵and the congregation shall rescue the slayer from the avenger of blood. Then the congregation shall send the slayer back to the original city of refuge. The slayer shall live in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.

This is the Word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

INTRODUCTION

Last fall I read Tolkein’s The Fellowship of the Ring to our kids. This is the first book of the Lord of the Rings trilogy that was recently made into a film. The book and the film begin with a dramatic chase. Frodo Baggins and his three hobbit friends, Sam, Merry, and Pippin, are chased by 9 black riders on black horses who are servants of the Dark Lord, Sauron. After a hair-raising chase, these hobbits finally make it to safety, to the city of the Elves, to the house of Elrond. It is their place of safety. In many ways, it is their city of refuge.

There is something about chase movies that captures our attention. I have always thought the Cities of Refuge in the Old Testament would make a fairly decent setting for a movie screenplay – something like an Old Testament version of The Fugitive.

Imagine yourself in this sort of script:

Say the son of an influential person accidentally died. It was an accident. He had fallen off the edge of a cliff. But only the two of you were present. Was he pushed or did he slip? Was it an accident or intentional? Once the dead man’s family discovered what happened, they would want revenge. What could you do? Where could you go? If you left quick enough, you might be able to make it — make it to a city of refuge. But wouldn’t running away make you appear guilty? Well, the court of elders in the city of refuge would have to decide on that. For now, you knew that every minute, every second you wasted wondering whether to go was another minute, another second his family had to catch you before you got to the city — the city of refuge, the possibility of safety.

CITIES OF REFUGE

The cities of refuge have their origins with the bronze altar that was in the Tabernacle. That bronze altar was built with four raised corners called horns. These corners were smeared with blood during the burnt offerings. While the Israelites were wandering around the desert for 40 years, if a person wanted to seek Divine Protection, he would grab on to the horns of the altar.

The end of the book of Numbers places Israel on the borders of the promised land, and the book of Deuteronomy basically lays out a blueprint for how things would go once Israel entered the Promised Land. The Tabernacle would no longer be very accessible to people seeking this Divine Protection. So God commanded the Israelites to establish these cities of refuge:

3 on the east side of the Jordan river and

3 on the west side.

They were to be centrally located in their region, and the roads to these cities were to be kept in good shape. What good would these cities be if you couldn’t get to them, or get to them on time?

JUSTICE SYSTEM

Some of you may be wondering, Is this justice?

What we need to remember is that Israelite society had no police force, per se.

Therefore communities regulated or policed themselves in family and clan units. The foundation of law was what was referred to as lex talionis –: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot, a burn for a burn, a wound for a wound, a life for a life (Exodus 21:23-24). The purpose of a city of refuge was to provide a safety feature, a place where people could escape to when it was revenge rather than retribution that people demanded.

Even with the safety feature of these cities of refuge, we might assume that the criminal justice system that Moses outlined for Israel in Deuteronomy was as loose and brutal as the wild west. However, we should realize how the Israelite principles of law were radically different from the principles of law of those that lived around them. There were features of Israelite law that reflected much different values than the cultures around Israel.

Let me outline at least two key ways the Israelite system was radically different from the people surrounding it.

1. Life was more important than Property

In the cultures surrounding Israel at this time, most crimes were punishable by death. If you stole someone’s camels, you were sentenced to die. If you vandalized someone’s well or property, you were sentenced to die.

In Israel, however, a person’s life was always worth more than any piece of property. If you stole someone’s camels, you had to return an equal number and equal quality of camels. If you vandalized someone’s well, you had to restore that well and repair all the damages. In God’s legal system, there was the assumption that property could be replaced, but someone’s life couldn’t be.

2. Punishment must fit the crime and apply to the criminal

The great respect for life also caused the criminal legal system of Israel to pay close attention to the principle that the punishment must fit the crime.

In other cultures of Israel’s day it was not uncommon that if a man killed another man’s daughter, than often the murderer’s daughter or son would be put to death as the punishment.

In Israel, the criminal had to take personal responsibility for the crime. So the man who killed another man’s daughter would himself be put to death — regardless of whether he was a tribal chief or clan leader.

The criminal system in Israel, then, placed a high priority on having the guilty punished, and protecting the innocent from being punished. The cities of refuge can be seen as a way of protecting the innocent from being punished, and keeping the law based on the principle of retribution rather than revenge. You can just imagine that if someone was accidentally killed, the family of the victim could easily be carried away with grief and the desire for revenge. God hated nothing more than the spilling of innocent blood.

And so the cities of refuge were created

If a fugitive arrived at the gates of a city of refuge, he would throw himself down and plead his case with the elders of the city to let him in. This was like a pre-trial.

If the elders thought the person deserved the protection of the city, they would let him enter. Once he entered, further arrangements would be made for a full inquiry and trial to determine if indeed the death was premeditated and thus murder, or whether it was accidental, and thus manslaughter. The whole idea of a fugitive, a refugee from a community throwing himself at the gate of the city of refuge for mercy and protection comes from the older practise of suspected criminals throwing themselves before the altar of the Lord and pleading for mercy.

The Cities of Refuge, then, acted like the horns of the altar – they represented the protection and mercy of God.

CHURCH – OUR CITY OF REFUGE?

Perhaps there are few times when we feel hotly pursued, chased, or threatened, because of what we’ve done or supposedly done. Perhaps the very idea of a city of refuge seems remote, distant, even archaic, more fitting for a movie screenplay than real life.

But perhaps we could stretch our imaginations for a moment to think about our spiritual lives. Think about the battle between the powers of good and of evil, of light and of darkness. Think about who Satan is – isn’t he described as the one who exposes our sin, who wants to punish us, the one who accuses us before God (Rev. 12:10) — isn’t that what the name Satan actually means in Hebrew — it means the accuser.

If anyone is hotly pursuing us, breathing down our necks, wishing for our eternal destruction, it is this accuser. In the threat and in the face of this accuser and avenger’s pursuit, where can we go, where can we flee for protection? What is our place of refuge, our city of refuge, our place where we can find the protection of God?

Do we even deserve the protection of God since we know in our hearts that

even if we have not murdered we have hated in our hearts;

even if we have not molested, we have lusted.

even if we have not stolen, we have envied, coveted, and been discontent

with our lives.

Where is our city of refuge? Where is our place of peace?

Maybe we are supposed to see the Church, the Body of Christ, as our City of Refuge. Let me ask you, “How did you come to through the doors of the church today? Perhaps we walked in here self-assuredly, even a little proud that we are here today. But perhaps a better posture would be to enter the way a refugee would enter a city of refuge –panting, and pleading and praying for mercy. Why? Because we know death, eternal death is nipping at our heels. And so we plead and we pray, knowing deep in our hearts, that should we have to stand trial, we would not be declared innocent — our hearts haven’t been pure, our thoughts have not been true, our actions have not been righteous.

But how can we get in and stay in this place of refuge if we do not have the innocence to stay ourselves.

CHRIST and the CITY OF REFUGE

The Church, the city of Refuge, drags us in, even though we are guilty. And the church sends Another out to the accuser, — the church sends out Another to the hoard that wants our destruction. This Other One stands to be punished, humiliated and killed in our place. The Church doesn’t send just any one. It sends a high priest, a high priest who is pure and innocent. And even though God has always hated the shedding of innocent blood, this innocent man’s blood is shed so that we might be let into this refuge, so that we might have this place of peace, so that we might live under the protection of God, so that we might live in freedom.

CONCLUSION

People of God, here we are, in this church, in this city of refuge. It isn’t like the Old Testament wilderness days when a person grabbed the blood-stained horns of the altar for mercy. But we still do grab onto something.

We grab the bread.

We grasp the cup.

We take, we remember,

we believe that the body of Jesus was given

so that we might know mercy,

We believe that the innocent blood of Jesus was shed

so that we the guilty might live.

Amen.