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More Joshua commentaries
Joshua 17:1-18
Faith is the opposite of fear
Joshua 18:1-28
Delayed obedience is disobedience
Joshua 19:1-51
Work as if all depends on you but trust God
Joshua 20:1-9
Six cities of refuge
Joshua 21:1-45
Cities of the Levites
Joshua 22:1-9
Eastern tribes return home
Joshua 22:10-20
An Altar by the Jordan River
Joshua 22:21-34
A witness to all generations
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Six cities of refuge
Joshua 20:1–9
» View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway)
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. (Source Unknown).
The Lord had instructed Moses to set aside six cities as sanctuaries in the land of Canaan (Numbers 35:6). They were situated in such a way as to be readily accessible. Highways leading to them were kept in good repair and the crossroads were well marked with signposts reading “Refuge! Refuge!” These six “cities of refuge” were needed because society in that day had no police force to investigate crimes (vv. 1-9). Joshua set apart three cities of refuge on each side of the Jordan River (vv. 7-8).
In the ancient world, blood revenge was widely practiced. When a person was killed, his nearest relative took responsibility for vengeance. When a person accidentally killed someone else he could flee to the nearest city of refuge where he would be protected from his avenger until his trial could be held (vv. 4-5). Upon his acquittal and the death of the high priest then in office, he could return in safety to his own town.
We need to keep in mind that a clear distinction is made in the Old Testament between premeditated murder and accidental manslaughter (Num. 35:11-16). These cities of refuge were only a refuge for those who had killed someone accidentally. Arriving at the gate of a city of refuge, the manslayer had to present his case to the elders of the city (Deut. 21:19;22:15) who would make a provisional decision before he would be granted asylum. Then later he would stand trial, preferably before representatives of the community nearest the scene of the killing.
To be near the city of refuge would not protect you from the avenger. You had to be within the city of refuge in order to be protected. This is true of a person today when it comes to salvation. If we believe in Christ, He is our refuge and we are in Him. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (II Cor. 5:17). To be in a good church, or a certain family, or a particular denomination is not good enough. We must be in Christ. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Rom. 8:1).
Application
God is our (my) refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psa. 46:1). “ I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in Him will I trust” (Psa. 91:2).
Joshua 20:1-9 (English Standard Version)
Then the LORD said to Joshua, "Say to the people of Israel, 'Appoint the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses, that the manslayer who strikes any person without intent or unknowingly may flee there. They shall be for you a refuge from the avenger of blood. He shall flee to one of these cities and shall stand at the entrance of the gate of the city and explain his case to the elders of that city. Then they shall take him into the city and give him a place, and he shall remain with them. And if the avenger of blood pursues him, they shall not give up the manslayer into his hand, because he struck his neighbor unknowingly, and did not hate him in the past. And he shall remain in that city until he has stood before the congregation for judgment, until the death of him who is high priest at the time. Then the manslayer may return to his own town and his own home, to the town from which he fled.'" So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah. And beyond the Jordan east of Jericho, they appointed Bezer in the wilderness on the tableland, from the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead, from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan, from the tribe of Manasseh. These were the cities designated for all the people of Israel and for the stranger sojourning among them, that anyone who killed a person without intent could flee there, so that he might not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, till he stood before the congregation.
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