And Jehovah spoke to Joshua, saying,
The fighting is over. The tribes have their land. Now the Lord speaks to Joshua again — not about another campaign, but about shelter: six cities where a man who killed someone by accident can run and live.
Notice when the Lord speaks.
Israel had subdued the land (Joshua 12). The worship of the Lord stood at its centre (Joshua 18:1). Every tribe had received its inheritance. Then the Lord ordered Israel to make provision to keep His land free from the guilt of innocent blood.
Nothing here is new.
God had already said that He would appoint six cities of refuge in Israel (Num. 35:9-15). Now that Israel is settled in the land, these cities are to be named. They were to be places of safety for anyone who had killed another person by accident (v. 3). A close relative of the victim might want to avenge the death by killing him. But if he reached a city of refuge, he would be safe from that avenger.
The Lord protects two things here: His land, and the man who fled from it.
The cities of refuge are appointed (Joshua 20). The land is the Lord's, so He makes provision that it may not be defiled. He also makes provision for every man to return to his inheritance, after he had fled from it for a time because he killed someone without meaning to.
Their design preached before anyone spoke.
In the land of promise these cities stood, each on a hill, for all eyes to see. High roads led to them, laid out so that no one could have trouble finding the way. The gates of the cities of refuge were always open, so that any manslayer could flee to them (Deut. 19:3).
The city sheltered the innocent, never the guilty.
The city of refuge was never designed to turn judgment away from a man who was a "manslayer" in His sight. Where there was proof that he meant to kill, the image of God in which He had made man ruled out pity. God had already given His verdict on this case long before (Gen. 9). It has never been taken back, and it never can be: "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image."
Mackintosh puts the rule in one line: the murderer got no city at all.
But with respect to the murderer, the law was rigid and unbending: "The murderer shall surely be put to death. The avenger of blood himself shall put the murderer to death when he meets him." Numbers 35.
Kelly reads the chapter as a picture of Israel's future.
This is the shadow of God's provision for His people after they have lost the land of their inheritance through blood-guilt — guilt taken on without knowing it, and without hatred, as grace will count it in the godly remnant in the day to come, when apostates and rebels perish in their sin… The slayer returns at the end of the age, when the high priest of those days dies. The Jew returns when Christ closes that priestly work of intercession which He is now carrying on within the veil for us.
Witherby draws the same line to the chapter's placing after the land was divided up.
Having lost the land which the Lord gave them, and being driven out of the possession because of their guilt, they are nevertheless most mercifully sustained by God, until the day shall come when they shall again enter upon their inheritance.
Mackintosh names the one thing the slayer and the sinner share:
One great point they have in common: both are exposed to immediate danger, and both urgently need to flee for refuge. It would have been wild folly for the slayer to linger or hesitate for a moment before he was safely inside the city of refuge. It is wilder folly still for the sinner to linger or hesitate in coming to Christ.
Witherby widens the refuge past Israel.
The Lord Jesus is now both City of Refuge and Priest, and not for Jews only but also for Gentiles; our security and inheritance are both bound up with Him.
- God speaks first. The refuge is not Israel's idea. The Lord had already said this through Moses. He now says it to Joshua, and Israel carries it out.
- God speaks after victory. First the land is won, worship settled, every tribe given its portion. Then comes mercy — part of the finished inheritance, not an afterthought.
- God speaks to protect His land. The cities keep His land clean of blood. They also keep a man from losing his inheritance for good.
- God speaks without lowering justice. Shelter is for the man who killed by accident. For the murderer, the sentence given in Genesis 9 still stands.
- God speaks about His Son. Israel killed the Prince of life. Writers read the nation as the slayer, who comes home when the High Priest's present work ends. Anyone still outside the refuge should run now.
Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Appoint for yourselves the cities of refuge, whereof I spoke unto you through Moses,
God speaks to Joshua again once the fighting is over, and the command is one He had already given through Moses. So why cities of refuge now, and who were they for?
The order of events matters.
Israel had subdued the land (Joshua 12). The worship of the Lord stood at its centre (Joshua 18:1). Every tribe had its inheritance. Now the Lord ordered a provision to keep His land guiltless of innocent blood. He appointed cities of refuge. Anyone who killed a man through ignorance, and without meaning to, could flee there from the avenger of blood. By the custom of the East, that avenger would chase down the manslayer and kill him.
The land belongs to God, and that ownership shapes the law.
The cities of refuge are appointed (Joshua 20). The land is the Lord's, so God makes provision that it may not be defiled. He makes provision too for every man to return to his inheritance, after he had fled from it for a time because he killed someone by accident.
Refuge was not a loophole. The man had to prove his case first.
In the gate of the city — the place of judgment — he could declare his case before the elders. If they found that he was not guilty of murder, the city was to welcome him in. There the avenger of blood was not permitted to touch him (v.4). Numbers 35:16-19 makes it clear, however, that the city must give him no refuge if his case was one of actual murder. Then the avenger of blood could put him to death.
The mercy showed in two things: where the cities stood, and how long a man needed them.
There the manslayer could find sanctuary from the avenger of blood until the death of the high priest of that day. After that, he would need sanctuary no longer. The cities were spread on both sides of the Jordan. Wherever the accident happened, the manslayer would never be very far from one of them. Here again we notice the tender mercy of our God.
The way there mattered too.
In the land of promise these cities stood, each on a hill, for all eyes to see. Main roads led to them, laid out so that no one could have trouble finding the way. The gates of the cities of refuge were always open, so that any manslayer could flee to them (Deut. 19:3).
Several writers see the nation itself standing in the place of the manslayer.
The innocent blood shed is the blood of Christ. Blood guiltiness is upon the nation. They did it in ignorance, just as He prayed on Calvary's cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." This blood guiltiness keeps them out of their inheritance. Yet they have had their city of refuge, and God has preserved them until the time comes when they are set free and return to their possession in the land.
The cities spoke a message Israel would only understand later.
Israel did not understand it, but their cities of refuge proclaimed the grace of God to them. Each one stood on a height, with the highways running towards its gates. They spoke that grace in the dark and terrible day of their crime in killing His Son.
Commentators differ on how far the picture stretches to the individual believer. Some warn that the parallel breaks down at a crucial point.
If we were to take it as a picture of a sinner taking refuge in Christ, it could only fit in a very exceptional way. We would find ourselves surrounded on all sides by points of contrast, not points of similarity. For in the first place, the manslayer in the city of refuge was not exempt from judgment, as we learn from Joshua 20:6. But for the believer in Jesus there is and can be no judgment. The reason is the simplest of all: Christ has borne the judgment instead.
Others keep the application, drawing on Hebrews 6.
The Lord Jesus is now both City of Refuge and Priest. He is this not for Jews only but also for Gentiles. Our security and our inheritance are both bound up with Him. We "have fled for refuge" and "hold fast to the hope set before us." That hope is "a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain" (Hebrews 6:18-19). The sinner who repents of his sins finds the City of Refuge ready day and night to receive him.
- Blood — the land was God's, so no innocent blood could stain it. Refuge exists because that blood matters to Him.
- Provision — God spoke of these cities through Moses long before Joshua marked them out. The shelter stood ready before the first accident.
- Reach — cities on hills, on both sides of the Jordan, with open gates and clear roads. No one in danger was ever far from safety.
- Limit — the gate was a courtroom. It took in the man who killed by accident and turned the murderer away.
- Return — the manslayer waited for the high priest to die, then went home. Writers see Israel's future restoration in that, and differ over how far it pictures a sinner fleeing to Christ.
that the slayer who unwittingly without intent smiteth any one mortally may flee thither and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And he shall flee unto one of those cities and stand at the entrance of the city-gate, and shall declare his matter in the ears of the elders of that city; and they shall take him into the city unto them, and give him a place, that he may dwell among them.
A man has killed someone by accident. He runs for his life to a city of refuge. This verse shows what happens when he reaches the gate, and it raises two questions. Who decides whether a death was an accident or murder? And what shelter does God give a man with blood on his hands?
The city gate was not just an entrance. The town settled its public business there. That is why the elders meet the man at the gate and not inside.
Gates protected a city. But "in the gate" was also the place where people settled many important matters. When Boaz wanted the question about Ruth and the inheritance settled, he went up to the gate. There he debated the matter with a nearer relative, settled it, and had the elders witness it (Ruth 4:1-12; compare Joshua 20:4)... The gate should have been the place of true judgement and justice, but it was not always so.
Stating his case was not a formality. The elders tested his account first.
At the gate of the city — the place of judgment — he could state his case before the elders. If they found him not guilty of murder, the city welcomed him in. There the avenger of blood was not allowed to touch him (v.4). Numbers 35:16-19 makes it clear, however, that the city must give him no refuge if his case was one of real murder. Then the avenger of blood could put him to death.
Both sides of God's character show in that arrangement:
God's holiness shows in this: He would not shield the guilty. Once competent judges and witnesses had examined the case, they handed the guilty man over. God's grace shines out in this: He kept the man who killed by accident safe inside the refuge, where the avenger of blood could not lay a hand on him.
Once the elders took him in and gave him a place, his safety no longer rested on his feelings. It rested on God's word. One writer pictures the man saying so himself:
We cannot imagine a man inside the walls of the city of refuge speaking about safety and certainty the way many of the Lord's dear people speak. He would not think it presumption to be sure he was safe. If anyone asked him, "Are you sure you are safe?" he would say, "Sure! How could I be anything else? Was I not a slayer? Have I not fled to this city of refuge? Has not the Lord, our covenant God, given His word for it?... I had a terrible run for it — a fearful struggle. At times I felt as if the avenger had me in his grip. I gave myself up for lost. But then God, in infinite mercy, made the way so plain and the city so easy to reach that, despite all my doubts and fears, here I am, safe and certain."
Commentators see the man at the gate as a picture of Israel after the death of Christ. Was that death murder, or manslaughter? Everything turned on the answer.
Suppose God had counted Israel's national sin in crucifying their Messiah as murder. Then there would have been no hope at all. All must have fallen before the avenger of blood. But on the cross Jesus prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." It was as if He had said, "Father, count this sin of theirs as manslaughter and not murder." God heard that prayer. So there was hope even for those who brought about His death. On the Day of Pentecost, Peter preached forgiveness to all who would turn in faith to the risen and exalted Jesus. That day the heavenly city of refuge was opened, and three thousand souls fled to it.
Writers differ on how far the picture stretches. One notes that in another sense the leaders and the people were wilful murderers, knowingly rejecting God and His Christ: "This is the heir; come, let us kill him and have his inheritance" (H. L. Rossier).
The elders in this verse hold the man's life in their hands. That is where the picture falls short of Christian security.
Even if he reached the city of refuge, his safety and his restoration depended on all sorts of things, and his position was far from secure. It depended first on the avenger of blood. If the man stepped outside the town's boundary for one moment, the avenger watching for him had the right to kill him (Num. 35:26-28). It depended second on the elders of the city (Joshua 20:4), and third on the judgment of the congregation (Joshua 20:6).
So who is the refuge now, and who may come in?
The Lord Jesus is now both City of Refuge and Priest, and not for Jews only but also for Gentiles. Our security and our inheritance are both bound up with Him... The guilt of shedding the blood of Christ rests on the world. That solemn fact should always weigh on the Christian's mind. Meanwhile the sinner who repents of his sins finds the City of Refuge ready day and night to receive him.
- Gate. Refuge began in public. The man had to stand where cases were heard, not slip in unnoticed.
- Case. Refuge followed a hearing. God's holiness would not shield a murderer; His grace sheltered the man who killed by accident.
- Place. Refuge meant a home inside the city. His safety rested on God's word, not on his own nerve.
- Cross. Refuge opened wider when Christ prayed for people who did not know what they were doing. Three thousand ran in at Pentecost.
- Open. Under the law, refuge still hung on the avenger, the elders and the congregation. In Christ, one Person holds both the shelter and the inheritance, and His gate stands open day and night.
And if the avenger of blood pursue after him, they shall not deliver the slayer up into his hand; for he smote his neighbour unwittingly, and hated him not previously.
The manslayer has reached the gate and told his story, and now the pursuer arrives at the wall. This verse is the city's answer. It refuses to hand him over — not because he is innocent of the death, but because he is innocent of intent.
The city does not shelter a man just because he asks. It shelters him only after the elders hear his case.
At the gate of the city — the place of judgment — he could state his case before the elders. If the elders found that he was not guilty of murder, they were to welcome him into the city. There the avenger of blood was not permitted to touch him. Numbers 35:16-19 makes it clear, however, that the city must give him no refuge if his case was one of actual murder, and the avenger of blood could put him to death.
The same law that protects the accidental killer hands over the deliberate one. The city was never a loophole.
The law demands the greatest care to prevent any abuse of the cities of refuge. A murderer must find no opening for permanent shelter there. If a man shed blood intentionally and deliberately, the elders of his city had to send and fetch him from there. They had to hand him over to the avenger of blood, so that he might die.
Commentators apply the same two-way test to Israel after the death of Christ.
Israel, then, through the marvellous grace of God, will be treated as a slayer and not as a murderer. "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." These powerful words rose to the ear and to the heart of the God of Israel. They were heard and answered... Israel is now under God's keeping. They are exiles from the land and the home of their fathers... The manslayer must remain out of his possession until the appointed time. But he is not to be treated as a murderer, because he did it unknowingly. "I received mercy" — says the Apostle Paul, speaking as a pattern to Israel — "because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief." "And now, brothers," says Peter, "I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers."
Rossier reads the same picture, but he finds a second side to it.
The involuntary killer pictures Israel, who murdered Christ "in ignorance"... But in another sense both the leaders of the Jews and the people were murderers on purpose. Yes — they deliberately and knowingly rejected God and His Christ. "This is the heir," they said. "Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance." ... It is also said that the deliberate murderer must be put to death.
Once the gates closed behind him, his safety did not depend on how he felt about it. The elders' refusal to surrender him was a promise he could rest on.
The moment he found himself inside the gates, he was safe, and he knew it. How did he know it? By his feelings? By his evidences? By his experiences? No; simply by the word of God. No doubt he had the feeling, the evidence and the experience. They would be very precious to him after his tremendous struggle and conflict to get in. But these things were in no way the ground of his certainty or the basis of his peace. He knew he was safe because God told him so. The grace of God had made him safe, and the word of God made him sure.
Commentators differ on how far to take this picture.
The types of the Old Testament, applied to the Christian, often form contrasts rather than similarities. So it is with the cities of refuge. To apply them only to the cross of Christ would be to grasp their meaning very poorly and imperfectly. The immediate application of the type is mainly historical and prophetical.
Witherby still brings the picture into the present day.
The Lord Jesus is now both City of Refuge and Priest, and not for Jews only but also for Gentiles. Our security and our inheritance are both bound up with Him... The sinner who repents of his sins finds the City of Refuge ready to receive him day and night.
- Heard — the elders try the case at the gate first. The city opens on examined grounds, not on a claim.
- Motive — the city keeps him because the blow was unknowing and no hatred lay behind it.
- Limit — deliberate blood found no shelter; the elders had to fetch such a man out and hand him over.
- Nation — commentators apply this to Israel's part in the death of Christ. Israel is judged as a slayer, not a murderer. Rossier adds that the deliberate rejecters still face the murderer's sentence.
- Certainty — the fugitive's peace rested on God's word, not his feelings. The refuge now named is Christ Himself, open day and night.
And he shall dwell in that city, until he have stood before the assembly in judgment, until the death of the high-priest that shall be in those days; then shall the slayer return, and come unto his own city, and unto his own house, unto the city from whence he fled.
A man who killed someone by accident had to wait for two things before he could go home: a public hearing, and the death of the high priest then serving. Why should an innocent man wait at all, and why should his freedom hang on another man's death?
Reaching the city kept the slayer alive, but it did not settle his case. He still had to face the assembly, and the hearing could go either way. Two sides of God's character meet here:
God's holiness shows in this: He would not shield the guilty. Qualified judges and witnesses looked into the case, and the guilty man was to be handed over. And God's grace shines out in keeping the unintentional slayer safe inside the refuge, so that the avenger of blood could not lay hands on him.
The whole verse rests on one distinction: the man did not mean to kill. Commentators read this rule as a picture of how God deals with Israel over the death of Christ. The plea from the cross puts the nation in the slayer's place, not the murderer's.
Israel, then, through the wonderful grace of God, will be treated as a slayer and not as a murderer. "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." These powerful words reached the ear and the heart of the God of Israel. God heard them and answered them… The manslayer must stay out of his possession until the appointed time. But he is not to be treated as a murderer, because he did not mean to do it.
A clear verdict did not give the man his land back. He lived, but he lived away from home, and his wait had a fixed end.
When the slayer reached the shelter of the city of refuge, the judges were to hear his case at the gate, the recognised place for justice. If they found that he had not struck his neighbour on purpose, and had not hated him beforehand, the slayer found safety inside the walls. This kept the manslayer alive, but he lost his inheritance for as long as he lived in the city of refuge. He was only a refugee under protection. Everything changed at "the death of him who is high priest at the time." Once another high priest took his place, the slayer received full forgiveness for the blood he had shed, complete freedom, and his inheritance back.
Commentators tie this moment to a change in the work Christ is doing now:
The return of the slayer takes place at the end of the age. The Jew returns when Christ closes the priesthood of intercession that He is now carrying on within the veil for us.
This is where the picture and the reality part ways:
But the time is coming when they will be restored to their own land — not by the death of the high priest. Blessed be His deathless name, He can never die! He will leave His present position and come forth in a new character, as the Royal Priest, to sit on His throne. Then the exile will return to his long-lost home and his forfeited inheritance. But not before then. That would ignore the fact that they killed the Prince of life, and that could never be.
Commentators name the pattern His present work follows, and the one that comes after:
Our Lord Jesus has two kinds of priesthood, and it is important to keep both in mind: the priesthood of Aaron, and the priesthood of Melchizedek. He is not a priest of Aaron's order, because His priesthood cannot be handed on to anyone else. But Aaron's duties picture what He is doing now for His saints in the sanctuary above. That work will come to an end. Then the Melchizedek priesthood will follow, and it is tied directly to the remnant of Israel.
The believer's position is not a copy of the manslayer's but a contrast to it:
Suppose we take this as a picture of a sinner taking refuge in Christ. It would fit only in a very unusual way, because contrasts meet us on every side, not likenesses. Take the first one. The manslayer in the city of refuge was not exempt from judgment, as we learn from Joshua 20:6. But for the believer in Jesus there is and can be no judgment. The reason is the simplest of all: Christ has borne the judgment instead.
The offer stands open now to anyone:
All mankind is responsible for the death of the Lord Jesus. All who receive Him now will find that His death is the very means of their salvation. But those who keep up a hateful attitude of refusing Him will find no refuge, only a fearful expectation of judgment.
- Cause. The man did not mean to kill. That makes him a slayer, not a murderer — though God would not shield the guilty.
- Gift. The city gave life, not land. He lived there as a refugee under protection, with his inheritance out of reach.
- Wait. His freedom waited on the high priest's death — the close of one priesthood and the start of another.
- Reach. Commentators apply this to Israel: kept out of the land while Christ intercedes within the veil, restored when He comes forth as the Royal Priest.
- Result. The believer's case goes further still: no judgment left to face, because Christ bore it.