SET FREE FROM THE CITY OF REFUGE – Numbers 35:9-28

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on March 3, 2019 under 2019 |

Bethany Bible Church Sunday Message; March 3, 2019 from Numbers 35:9-28

Theme: The Old Testament provision of ‘the cities of refuge’ illustrates to us the New Testament redemption that is ours in Christ.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

Imagine that you were a pick and shovel worker. Not a pick and shovel worker today, however. I mean a pick and shovel worker three-thousand, five-hundred years ago in ancient Israel.

Suppose that you and a partner were digging some trenches in the hot sun in a far-away work site—all alone—just outside of town. You worked the pickax, and he shoveled out the dirt. It’s hard work; but you are a pretty good team. And imagine the soil was particularly hard and stubborn; and so you really reared back hard for a good,strong swing to break up a large, stony clod of earth—only to feel the head of the ax suddenly fly off the handle behind you. You turned backward to see where the ax-head went; and are shocked to see your partner laying on the ground—unmoving. The heavy ax-head had flung off the handle and struck him on the head. You ran to him and tried to revive him; and found, to your horror, that he was dead.

What do you do now? If he were only injured, you would quickly run into town for help. But he was dead; and you’ve killed him; and such things were not dealt with back then as they would be today. You lived in an eastern culture—one in which such bloodshed meant that your own life was now subject to threat by an avenging member of that man’s family. You had shed this man’s blood; and now, a member of this man’s family would atone for it by putting you to death. It would most likely be that you’d be able, in a court of law, to prove that this was an innocent act of accidental homicide. But that would not be your most immediate concern. Instead, your first concern would be to go—as quickly as possible—to one of the six ‘cities of refuge’ established in the land of Israel. You’d flee to the closest one to you. And once there, you would make your plea at the city gate, be allowed by the Levites who lived there to enter in, and thus escape from the hand of ‘the avenger of blood’.

This all may sound very strange to our ears today. But it is based on an actual provision that God made for the Jewish people through the law of Moses. The provision of these ‘cities of refuge’ is one of the most fascinating of God’s Old Testament ordinances.

And I ask that we consider it this morning—particularly as we prepare to come to the Lord’s table; because I believe this Old Testament provision was intended by God to give us a picture of our New Testament redemption through Jesus Christ.

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Now; you can clearly tell that the provision of these ‘cities’ was very important to God. He spoke of it and commanded it in several places of the Old Testament Scriptures. And the fullest description of it is found in Numbers 35.

Let’s turn there together and learn more about …

1. THE OLD TESTAMENT PROVISION OF ‘CITIES OF REFUGE’.

In Numbers 35:9-12—at a time when the people of Israel had completed their 40 years of wandering in the desert, and were about to enter the promised land—we read;

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall appoint cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person accidentally may flee there. They shall be cities of refuge for you from the avenger, that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation in judgment” (Numbers 35:9-12).

People talk often today of ‘sanctuary cities’. But please don’t confuse that subject with what God’s word is talking about here. To use this passage to defend the idea of ‘sanctuary cities’ for illegal aliens would be to take it out of its context. The ‘cities of refuge’ spoken of in the Bible were for the citizens of the land of Israel; and they were established from within the portions of the land allocated to the Levites, the priestly tribe. They were set aside specifically for the safety of those who were fleeing for their lives in the case of accidental manslaughter. They were where an innocent person could go to escape the hand of the ‘avenger’, and could be kept in protective custody until his or her case could be brought to a fair trial.

God went on to say in verses 13-15;

“And of the cities which you give, you shall have six cities of refuge. You shall appoint three cities on this side of the Jordan, and three cities you shall appoint in the land of Canaan, which will be cities of refuge. These six cities shall be for refuge for the children of Israel, for the stranger, and for the sojourner among them, that anyone who kills a person accidentally may flee there” (vv. 13-15).

We’re told about more about these cities in Joshua 20. After the people had entered the land and had conquered it, and after the boundaries of the twelve tribes had been drawn, and the cities of the Levites had been set aside, we’re told;

The Lord also spoke to Joshua, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Appoint for yourselves cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses, that the slayer who kills a person accidentally or unintentionally may flee there; and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood. And when he flees to one of those cities, and stands at the entrance of the gate of the city, and declares his case in the hearing of the elders of that city, they shall take him into the city as one of them, and give him a place, that he may dwell among them. Then if the avenger of blood pursues him, they shall not deliver the slayer into his hand, because he struck his neighbor unintentionally, but did not hate him beforehand. And he shall dwell in that city until he stands before the congregation for judgment, and until the death of the one who is high priest in those days. Then the slayer may return and come to his own city and his own house, to the city from which he fled.’” So they appointed Kedesh in Galilee, in the mountains of Naphtali, Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim, and Kirjath Arba (which is Hebron) in the mountains of Judah. And on the other side of the Jordan, by Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness on the plain, from the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead, from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan, from the tribe of Manasseh. These were the cities appointed for all the children of Israel and for the stranger who dwelt among them, that whoever killed a person accidentally might flee there, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood until he stood before the congregation (Joshua 20:1-9).

As you can see from that passage in Joshua 20, these were six strategically-situated cities—three set aside on the east side of the Jordan, and three set aside on the west side. No matter where someone was in all the land of Promise, if an accidental death occurred, there would be a city of refuge available to them to flee to within a half-day’s journey.

And as you can also see, these were not meant to be cities in which actual, intentional murderers could flee in order to find refuge. As Numbers 35:16-18 goes on to say;

“‘But if he strikes him with an iron implement, so that he dies, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. And if he strikes him with a stone in the hand, by which one could die, and he does die, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. Or if he strikes him with a wooden hand weapon, by which one could die, and he does die, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death’” (Numbers 35:16-19).

No exceptions for a murderer! In God’s law, bloodshed defiles the land. And so, if upon examination, the man who flees to one of these cities was found to have actually committed an intentional act of murder, he was not given protection in the city. He was not permitted to enter. Instead, he was left outside to be found and lawfully put to death by the ‘avenger of blood.’

Who was this ‘avenger of blood’, by the way? It was most likely a close family member of the person who had been killed. It was very common, in those days, for a family member to avenge the blood of another family member who had been killed. God had commanded in His word that whoever sheds the blood of man, it would be by man that his blood be shed. And it’s interesting to know that the Hebrew word that is translated “avenger” here is the same word that is translated “redeemer”. Just as a ‘redeemer’ buys someone from out of slavery by providing ‘satisfaction’ for their freedom, an ‘avenger’ here provides ‘satisfaction’ for the sin of bloodshed.

Verses 19-21 goes on to explain;

“’The avenger of blood himself shall put the murderer to death; when he meets him, he shall put him to death. If he pushes him out of hatred or, while lying in wait, hurls something at him so that he dies, or in enmity, he strikes him with his hand so that he dies, the one who struck him shall surely be put to death. He is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he meets him’” (vv. 19-21).

But when it comes to the innocent manslayer, ‘the city of refuge’ was a merciful provision from God. It was a way for him to be rescued from the avenger. This passage goes on to say;

“’However, if he pushes him suddenly without enmity, or throws anything at him without lying in wait, or uses a stone, by which a man could die, throwing it at him without seeing him, so that he dies, while he was not his enemy or seeking his harm, then the congregation shall judge between the manslayer and the avenger of blood according to these judgments’” (vv. 22-24).

Apparently, they were to take the manslayer to the town where the accident occurred and hold trial—to make sure that this act of homicide was truly an accidental and innocent one.

“’So the congregation shall deliver the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall return him to the city of refuge where he had fled, and he shall remain there until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil. But if the manslayer at any time goes outside the limits of the city of refuge where he fled, and the avenger of blood finds him outside the limits of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the manslayer, he shall not be guilty of blood, because he should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest the manslayer may return to the land of his possession’” (vv. 25-29).

The man’s stay in ‘the city of refuge’, then, was not to be seen as an act of punishment. Rather, it was seen to be as an act of protection. And it wasn’t to be seen as permanent either. His need for protection came to an end when a very specific thing happened. He was free to go when the high priest, who was serving at that time, died. His death was to be seen as an atoning substitute for the manslayer. He would then be free to return home—completely guiltless; and the ‘avenger of blood’ was not to lay a hand on him, lest he himself become guilty of bloodshed.

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What an amazing Old Testament ordinance! And it’s interesting that, for as many times as it is described in Scripture, we’re not told in the Bible of any occasion in which this provision was actually used. It’s as if it was meant to serve as an illustration of something else. And I believe it absolutely was! I believe it is meant to teach us about the sacrifice of Jesus for us.

And so now, let’s look at each specific item in this ordinance—along with several other passages—to see …

2. THE ILLUSTRATIONS IT GIVES US OF NEW TESTAMENT REDEMPTION.

First, let’s consider the innocent manslayer. He is meant to be seen as a picture of you and me. We are sinners in need of redemption. It may not be that we ourselves have committed an actual act of physical bloodshed. But we are, nevertheless, sinners who are guilty before a holy God. We are guilty because we were in our father Adam when he sinned; and we share in his guilt. And because we are born with a sinful nature that we inherited from him, we are also guilty of our own personal sins of breaking God’s law. As the apostle Paul put it in Romans 3;

For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. As it is written:

“There is none righteous, no, not one;
There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one.”

“Their throat is an open tomb;
With their tongues they have practiced deceit”;
“The poison of asps is under their lips”;
“Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;

Destruction and misery are in their ways;
And the way of peace they have not known.”

“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin (Romans 3:9-20).

All we have to do is read the commandments of God’s law to see that we are guilty before Him. We have broken His law. And that leads us to next consider the avenger of blood. He is an illustration to us the just judgment of God for our sins. The Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death; and when we see our guilt under the law, we see very clearly that we are worthy of the just penalty of death under God’s holy law. As Paul put it in Romans 7;

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, taking the opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good (Romans 7:7-12).

God’s law is good and holy. But it condemns me as a sinner worthy of death. What can I do? Well; in the times of the Old Testament, God’s law allowed for a provisional atonement through sacrifices and offerings and ceremonies and rituals. Those offerings and rituals—commanded in God’s law—could not have actually taken away my sin. Rather, they pointed ahead to the ultimate sacrifice that God would one day provide that would completely take away my sin. I would have kept those offerings and rituals as an act of faith in that promised future provision from God. And that’s what is represented to us in the cities of refuge. They serve as an illustration of the preserving function of Old Testament faith. In Galatians 3:19-25, Paul wrote;

What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor (Galatians 3:19-25).

Every one of those Old Testament offerings and sacrifices that God ordained—everyone of those ritual and ceremonies that God’s law commanded to be observed—were intended to keep God’s people in ‘protective custody’ until the time when the Son of God would be born into the world and completely atone for all their sins on the cross. And so; those ‘cities of refuge’ were a picture of the faith that would be demonstrated through keeping those sacrifices and rituals—a faith that looked ahead to the promise of the coming of the Lord Jesus on our behalf.

And that leads us to the next illustration that this passage gives us; and that is the death of the high priest. The man or woman who was kept in ‘protective custody’ in the city of refuge could not leave that city until the high priest had died. But once he died, his death provided atonement for them; so that they could now leave the city without having the price of blood on their heads. What an illustration this is of the atonement provided for us through the death of our Lord Jesus! In that old covenant, we would have been kept under the ‘protective custody’ of the laws and sacrifices and rituals of the law. And now, as it says in Hebrews 9:11-15;

But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason, He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance (Hebrews 9:11-15).

You know, dear brothers and sisters; if someone had to be kept in the city of refuge because of some accidental homicide—kept far away from home, and from their work, and from the family they loved—do you know what I suspect they’d be wishing for every day? You guessed it! They’d be wishing for the high priest to … well … hurry up and die! It wouldn’t be because they didn’t like the high priest. Rather, it would be because the high priest’s death would have provided atonement for them. And if the ancient people of Israel had understood the promises of Scripture correctly, they would have been praying for the promised Messiah to come, and to die on the cross for them, and to provide atonement for their sins. His death would have set them free from the ‘protective custody’ of the forms and patterns of the old covenant—the ceremonies and rituals that kept them from the judgment of death until they could be set free.

And that leads us to consider one more thing that is illustrated to us in this Old Testament passage. The freedom to return home guiltless is a picture for us of full justification before God—a full, legal declaration of ‘not guilty’—through Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul wrote, in Romans 8:1-4;

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Romans 8:1-4).

What a blessing it is to walk in the liberty of the redeemed! What a blessing it is that the law can no longer bring us under the judgment of death! What a blessing to be declared righteous in the sight of God! What a blessing it is to be ‘set free’ as it were to go home without guilt; because our High Priest has died in our place!

What a great picture it is, then, that this story of ‘the cities of refuge’ is meant to teach us.

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And what about you? You will not have responded to this story rightly—and it will not have served its intended purpose in your life—if you do not admit that you are a guilty sinner before a holy God, who is fully deserving of the death penalty for sin.

Don’t run to the wrong place though. Don’t hide from God’s righteous judgment for sin by going back to the rituals and ceremonies of mere religion. Don’t try to find any protection there; because there’s no help for you in those things any longer. The old ‘cities of refuge’ are closed down. They were just a picture to us of the High Priest—Jesus–who has already died, and has already paid the price of atonement for you on the cross. Run to Him instead! Place your full trust in what He has done! Take your refuge in Him alone! And then—and only then—are you set free and declared ‘not guilty’.

Believe on Him; because just as it says in Hebrews 6:18, it’s only through the promises of God through Jesus Christ that

we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us (Hebrews 6:18).

EA