Why these (six) Cities of Refuge?

One reason: “That the slayer that killeth any person unawares and unwittingly may flee thither: and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood.” Joshua 20:3, today’s Text.

They have something to do with “killers!”

But not cold-blooded (with forethought and malice) “murderers!”

(There is no doubt what was to be done to a cold-blooded murderer! If tried properly and found guilty, he was to be put to death! “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.” These words are from Genesis 9:6 … clearly having been instituted long before the Law of Moses was ever penned on stone! God Himself is the Author of capital punishment … because anyone maliciously killing a “man” has terminated life, life belonging to a human being “made in the image of God!” That’s how “special” man is, at least in the Eyes of God his Creator!)

But the Cities of Refuge were for “accidental” killers!

Those who took life … without meaning to do so!

“That the slayer that killeth any person unawares and unwittingly …”

“Unawares” (in Hebrew “Shegagah”) can even mean “not knowing” one committed the tragedy! And it certainly means “without purposing” to hurt anyone!

Then “unwittingly” (spelled “daath” but here accompanied by a negative adverb “beliy”) means “without foreknowledge.” Not planning to take a person’s life!

Certainly this is NOT premeditated murder!

This “manslayer” (the term used by the King James Version in Numbers 35:6 and 35:12) needs a place to “flee” from the wrath of the next-of-kin of the dead person! Who might want to kill the (inadvertent) murderer!

IMPORTANT POINT TODAY … Note here a perfect blend of God’s Judgment (a true murderer must die) and God’s Mercy (the accidental killer must be protected) … at least until a proper trial can be conducted, until the facts can be determined!

Wow!

What a blessed truth!

Habakkuk 3:2 prays: “O Lord, in wrath remember mercy!”

That’s the idea (the Truth) behind the Cities of Refuge!

Stopping hot-headed murder!

“That the slayer that killeth any person unawares and unwittingly may flee thither: and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood.” That “avenger of blood” usually being the furious relative of the deceased!

Do remember God had already said: “To ME belongeth vengeance, and recompence ….” Deuteronomy 32:35

A Truth so important Paul repeats it in the New Testament. “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” Romans 12:9

Wow!

The Lord willing, more tomorrow on these Cities of Refuge, from the perspective of Joshua chapter 20.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

Today we begin two or three lessons (at least) focusing on Joshua chapter 20. Best I can tell (with just a quick look) it is the shortest chapter (only 9 verses) in the whole Book, which has a total of 24 chapters. (If you count the verses, 658 in all.) Interesting note: Joshua chapter 16 has only 10 verses (next to the shortest) and Joshua chapter 19 has 51 verses (the longest)!  I enjoy Bible statistics!

Our Text now, King James Version: “The LORD also spake unto Joshua, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Appoint out for you cities of refuge, whereof I spake unto you by the hand of Moses ….” Joshua 20:1-2

Sounds like they (the Jews) are here to actually DO something God had earlier instructed Moses to do … once they had entered the land of Canaan. Moses was thus the “hearer” about the Cities of Refuge. But Joshua was the “doer” of the Cities of Refuge!

The “Moses” chapter about those six Cities … Numbers 35, with its 34 verses.

Talk about studying “parallel texts,” this is a golden opportunity! (Joshua 20 alongside Numbers 35, an exciting possibility!) I already have a “Bible Portion” Booklet printed with these 2 chapters inside it! I plan on, having been led of the Lord to do so, preaching five Sermons in a Revival somewhere on the “Cities of Refuge!”

Notice this too, about today’s Text. “The LORD also spake unto Joshua, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Appoint out for you cities of refuge, whereof I spake unto you by the hand of Moses ….” What God had told Moses decades earlier, He still expected Joshua to do … God had not changed His Mind one slight iota!

He is the Same God … yesterday, today and forever! (Precisely what the New Testament says about Jesus, too! “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” Hebrews 13:8)

The verb “appoint” translates “nathan” in Hebrew, a verb meaning “to give” 1,078 different times in the Old Testament! Thus … these Cities are “gifts” from God to his people! (As we shall later see, they are also “Pictures” or “Symbols” or “Types” of our Lord Jesus Christ, also a GIFT from God to the people of earth! “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.” 2 Corinthians 9:15)

Then I’d like to mention the meaning of that little noun “Refuge.” It’s spelled “miqlat” in Hebrew, and the word carries the idea of “asylum,” a place of safety! But the etymology (history) of “miqlat” is interesting, being derived from “qalat,” the linguists tell us. That root word means “stunted, handicapped, deformed,” and is only used once in the Old Testament, there translated “lacking in its parts!” In Leviticus 22:23, used of an animal not acceptable for some sacrifices!

Clearly then, the Cities of Refuge are places of safety for people who are sinners, law-breakers (crippled by sin, diminished), although not purposefully so! Not outright rebels! Not reprobates! (Sort of like repentant sinners!)

Wow!

What little I have learned this morning just whets my appetite to learn more about these Places! I hope some of you (readers) are wanting to glean with me!

Which we shall do again tomorrow morning, the Lord willing.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

Joshua chapter 19 concludes: “These are the inheritances, which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel, divided for an inheritance by lot in Shiloh before the LORD, at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.” Verse 51 of that long chapter.

Today just notice with me WHERE the choices were made, every one of them apparently … concerning the distribution of the Land of Canaan to the Tribes of Israel!

“In Shiloh before the LORD, at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.”

A great decision making place, apparently!

“Shiloh” in Hebrew simply means “peace,” or more literally “place of rest.”

Did you ever think of that?

God’s House, as a place of peace and rest?

Tranquil!

“Before the Lord,” where again the Hebrew has it, “before the Face of the Lord!”

God is there, at His House!

Then, at the “door,” suggesting (and used this way once in the King James Bible) “breaking forth.” There would be no true Door, not to Heaven, had not Jesus’ Body been broken, His Side pierced! (Remember John 19:34. “But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.” Amazing!)

No wonder our Lord could truthfully proclaim … “I am the Door!” (John 10:9, more fully. “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” Amen!)

And “tabernacle” itself, the noun, means “tent of meeting.” A place of assembly! ( Read it carefully. “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another.” Hebrews 10:25)

Even the word “congregation” carries overtones of “solemnity!” Reverence, seriousness! A place quiet enough to hear God speak, in that precious Still Small Voice of his!

All this at least “hints” that Church, God’s House, our various Meeting Places in Christianity today are GOOD LOCATIONS to make decisions, receive wisdom, hone our discernment … all to the Glory of God!

Wow!

Remember Asaph, way back in Psalm 73?

He was tossed with doubts and fears … “Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I …” Psalm 73:17, Asaph testifying!

Yes, go to Church to learn, to fellowship, to hear the Word, to pray (and for a dozen other good reasons).

BUT ALSO GO WITH YOUR UNRESOLVED ISSUES OF LIFE … AND LET THE LORD “LEAD” YOU INTO A CLEAR ASSURANCE OF HIS WILL!

Amen!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Remember too … tomorrow is Sunday, the Lord’s Day!

 

A massive project, though a small land area.

Dividing to each Tribe of Israel their respective territories.

How was it to be done?

Joshua 18: 10 gives an example. “And Joshua CAST LOTS for them in Shiloh before the LORD: and there Joshua divided the land unto the children of Israel according to their divisions.”

Cast lots?

Like maybe drawing a stone out of a bag, with a particular color rock indicating a proper decision!

Or emptying (pouring them out) the contents of said bag onto the ground, and the way they happened to fall thereby prescribing a certain course of action!

Wow!

But … this thought must be added. It was believed by Joshua and the Jews that God Himself could (and did) control the way the stones “fell.” Read with me Proverbs 16:33. “The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD.”

So God clearly, back then (before all the Bible was complete and before the Holy Spirit’s Coming at the Day of Pentecost) God allowed this procedure, cooperated with it. He even commanded it in Numbers 26:55. “Notwithstanding the land shall be divided by lot: according to the names of the tribes of their fathers they shall inherit.”

So, I guess one might still believe that God can (and does) intervene in the so-called “chance” events of life! They really would not be “chance” situations anymore then, would they?

Even in the New Testament, the practice of casting lots continued. Including the choosing of Judas’ (the Betrayer of Jesus) successor, Matthias. “And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.” This was done under Peter’s supervision, in Acts 1:26, if you remember.

Casting lots!

The Hebrew verb “cast” (spelled “shalak”) simply means “to throw.”

And the noun “lots” (spelled “goral”) means “a pebble or small stone.” (From a root verb meaning “to be rough,” as such little rocks often are.)

BUT NOW TODAY …

With a completed Bible (all 66 Books, all 1189 Chapters, all 31,102 Verses) and with the indwelling (filling, overflowing) Holy Spirit … do we need such “blind” methods of deciding the issues of life?

I personally think not.

The Holy Spirit is now our Guide!

The Word of God our Standard!

And Jesus in Heaven our Rock, not merely a pebble either!

In God’s Will … I find I always have peace.

Outside God’s Will … doubt or turmoil or hesitance!

Colossians 3:15 says it well. “And let the PEACE of God rule in your hearts.”

And the Fruit of the Spirit is … PEACE!

 

Pastor Tim Fluty (of the Garrison Creek Baptist Church in Connersville, Indiana) owns this 1613 King James Version Bible. I asked him last night after the Revival Service if I could “hold” this little treasure in my hands! The Edition above is the first King James Bible ever printed in this smaller “quarto” size! Most were huge, “folio” size, about 12 by 18 inches!

Now today’s Bible Study Lesson …

The people of Israel are being given their respective land areas, in what was once Canaan.

Half the Book of Joshua is involved in this “survey” and resulting “real estate” allotment.

Yet I find this one statement about one of the Tribes, “But the Levites have no part among you; for the priesthood of the LORD is their inheritance.” Joshua 18:7

No land, at all?

The Levites?

Well, some cities in which to live, but no acreage! No farms! No vast domain for Levi’s children! (And even at that, only 48 cities, total!)

Why?

Because, as our Verse today says:  “The priesthood of the LORD is their inheritance.”

The Levites would live off the “tithes” given by the Israelites!

Numbers 18:24 explains: “But the TITHES of the children of Israel, which they offer as an heave offering unto the LORD, I have given to the LEVITES to inherit: therefore I have said unto them, Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.”

Two things here I’d like us to see.

First … those who serve God fully (having no other source of income) are to be sustained by the generous giving of God’s people! Pastors, evangelists, missionaries … surely these are all included in today’s Christian environment. Paul put it this way: “Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.” 1 Corinthians 9:14

Galatians 6:6 too: “Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.” Let the learners (at Church) “communicate” (occasionally meaning “give financially”) to those (preachers, pastors) who teach them the Word of God!

Paul even went so far as to teach: “Let the elders (pastors) that rule (lead) well be counted worthy of double honour (8 times in the New Testament “double price,” double pay), especially they who labour (work hard) in the word (the Scriptures) and doctrine (teaching).” 1 Timothy 5:17

Wow!

The second point … the Levites’ homes were to be evenly scattered over the Land of Israel, their little cities in which they were to reside. (Remember, at times they would be in Jerusalem working, serving at the Temple, helping Israel worship.) When “off-duty,” they would live in their houses in those little hamlets.

Joshua 21:3 tells us: “And the children of Israel gave unto the Levites out of their inheritance, at the commandment of the LORD, these cities and their suburbs.” Then are listed those 48 places, in some detail! The principle here is rather obvious. God wanted some of His men, some who (presumably) would live godly lives, setting good examples, placed throughout all Israel. Teachers on the job (serving in Jerusalem) and still teachers off the job (at home) … both places! Then surely … it must be good to spend time with/around God’s choice servants!

Proverbs 13:20 applies here: “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise.” Amen! Yet the opposite is true as well: “but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.” (That’s the entire verse now.)

Wow!

I still think the best way to train a future Pastor (God-called, of course) is to let him spend lots of time with a seasoned godly Pastor … learning his ways!

Think of Paul and Timothy!

Think of Elijah and Elisha!

The Levites … read today’s lesson again, they may be still teaching us!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell