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.
And they hallowed Kedesh in Galilee in the hill-country of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill-country of Ephraim, and Kirjath-Arba, that is, Hebron, in the hill-country of Judah.
These three cities stood west of the Jordan. God had ordered them long before as places to run to after killing someone by accident, out of reach of the dead man's relative seeking revenge. Their names, their spacing and their hilltops all carry meaning. Commentators read them as a picture of Christ, the shelter God provides.
Kedesh lies in the north, Shechem in the centre and Hebron in the south. Three more cities stood east of the Jordan. Together they covered the whole land:
East of the Jordan the cities of refuge were Bezer, in the wilderness, in the tribe of Reuben; Ramoth in Gilead, in the tribe of Gad; and Golan, in Bashan, in the tribe of Manasseh. The distance from city to city works out at about 70 miles. So no one in any part of the land would be farther than about 35 miles from one of them.
One writer sees God's own character in that plan:
Anyone in danger from the avenger's sword always had a city within reach. This was worthy of our God. If a man who had killed someone fell into the hands of the avenger of blood, it was not because no refuge stood near. It was because he had failed to use it. God provided everything needed. He named the cities, marked them clearly and made them known to all. He made it as plain, as simple and as easy as possible. Such was God's gracious way.
Each of the three sits in hill country — Naphtali, Ephraim and Judah. A man running for his life had to see where he was going:
In the land of promise these cities stood, each on a hill, in full view of everyone. High roads led to them, laid out so that no one could have trouble finding the way. The gates of the cities of refuge always stood open, so that every manslayer could flee there (Deuteronomy 19:3).
The names themselves carry the lesson. Kedesh sits in the land of Naphtali, and both names matter:
Kedesh was in Naphtali. Kedesh means "sanctuary," and Naphtali means "wrestler-struggler." Christ is the refuge for the struggling sinner.
Shechem is the second name, and another writer works from where the city stood:
Shechem means "shoulder," the part that bears the burden, and it is an easily read picture of service. On each side of it stood mount Ebal and mount Gerizim, where the curses and blessings of the law were announced after Israel entered the land. So the city of refuge here speaks of Christ as the servant of God, doing His will and listening to the voice of the law. He listened even to the curses for breaking it, though He Himself was perfect. He magnified the law and made it honourable by submitting to a penalty which others had incurred. In this way God was glorified in the cross.
after_note: DELETE
Taken in the order the verse gives them, the three names build on each other:
All the meanings of these cities fit wonderfully with the perfect refuge God provides for confessed sinners saved through the blood of Jesus. The sanctuary (Kedesh) is the presence of God, a place of perfect safety. Then Shechem (shoulder) reminds us of the Lord Jesus carrying the lost sheep on His shoulders. That is the place of strength, of certainty, of security. Hebron (communion) then gives the added sweetness of fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ (1 John 1:3).
One writer links this command with Israel's later history:
God told Joshua to appoint cities of refuge as soon as Israel finished dividing the land. That points to God's gracious provision for Israel. They lost the land which the Lord gave them, and they were driven out of it because of their guilt. Even so, God still sustains them in great mercy, until the day comes when they will enter their inheritance again. So, though Israel did not understand it, their cities of refuge proclaimed the grace of God to them in the dark and terrible day of their crime in killing His Son. Each one proclaimed it from the height on which it stood, with the highways running towards its gates.
- Refuge near. Six cities ringed the land, three on each side of the Jordan. No one lived more than about thirty-five miles from one. God made escape as plain and easy as possible.
- Refuge seen. Each stood on a hill in open view, with prepared roads leading to it and gates that never shut.
- Refuge named. Kedesh means "sanctuary," and it sat in Naphtali, the "wrestler-struggler." Christ is the refuge for the struggling sinner.
- Refuge deepened. Sanctuary, then shoulder, then communion. First safety, then strength that carries you, then fellowship with the Father and the Son.
- Refuge foreseen. God set these shelters up long before Israel's greatest crime. They proclaimed His grace even in the day Israel killed His Son.
And beyond the Jordan from Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness, in the plateau, out of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan of the tribe of Manasseh.
Joshua 20:8 names the second set of three refuge cities — Bezer, Ramoth and Golan — all east of the Jordan, outside the land Israel had just conquered. So why did the tribes who settled short of the promised land get the same shelter as those inside it?
Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh chose land on the near side of the Jordan instead of crossing into Canaan. Commentators read God's provision for them as mercy that outruns their choice.
Here we have a lovely display of the grace of God rising, as it always does, above human weakness and failure. The two and a half tribes chose their inheritance on this side of the Jordan. In doing so they were clearly stopping short of the proper portion of the Israel of God, which lay on the other side of the river of death. But despite this failure, God in His abounding grace would not leave the poor slayer without a refuge in the day of his distress. If man cannot come up to the height of God's thoughts, God can come down to the depths of man's need. And He does so here so richly that the two and a half tribes had as many cities of refuge on this side of the Jordan as the nine and a half tribes had in Canaan.
The six cities were spread so that distance would never decide a life. One writer works out the spacing:
The distance from city to city comes to about seventy miles. So no one anywhere would be farther than about thirty-five miles from one of them.
That arrangement shifts where the blame falls if a man dies:
Suppose a slayer fell into the hands of the avenger of blood. It was not for want of a refuge near at hand. It was because he had failed to make use of it. God made all the provision that was needed. He named the cities, marked them out clearly, and made them known to everyone. Such was God's gracious way.
Bezer sat in Reuben's flat wilderness. Its name points to a walled place:
"Bezer" means "fortification," a place enclosed, sometimes a "store" or treasure so enclosed. The application to our Lord hardly needs enlarging on. God's enclosure can never be only a defence. It must be planted, like the first garden, with "every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food." … In Him, evil and the enemy are not just shut out. We are shut in with blessing.
Even the word for the plain it stood on carries weight:
Bezer is also "in the level country" — the mishor. Isaiah 11:4 and Malachi 2:6 use that same word for "equity." This is indeed how Christ has become a refuge for us — no mere escape, but righteousness.
Gad's city lay in rocky Gilead, and its name matches its terrain.
"Ramoth" means "heights," as "Gilead" means a "rocky" region. In a level country, a simple enclosure gives security, as we find in Bezer. In a rocky district, the natural place of safety is a height. … Christ our refuge is indeed raised so high that nothing on earth can attack or threaten our security in Him.
Golan stood in Bashan, and one writer reads its name in the light of that setting:
Golan has been given very different meanings. We take the one that best fits its context, since that carries the fullest significance. The idea suggested by Bashan, the kingdom of Og, we have already considered. It speaks of pleasure, in a bad sense — luxury, sensuous pleasure. … "Golan," in keeping with all this, means "joy" — even the kind that shows itself in bodily movement, "exultation". … And what could a Manassite need more, especially one who has failed in steadfast purpose, than Christ in that character as a refuge from himself?
Their number and their placing carry a message too.
These six cities were a gracious provision for anyone who had killed his neighbour without meaning to. Six marks human imperfection, falling short of the well-known Bible sign of perfection — seven. They stood three on either side of the Jordan. On both sides of the river God gave full testimony to His mercy. Look whichever way we will, we can only see our own utter sin and imperfection. Yet where sin abounds grace much more abounds, and the mercy of God extends to all.
- Grace crosses. God gave the tribes who stopped short of Canaan three cities all the same. He comes down to man's need when man will not rise to His thoughts.
- Grace measures. Cities seventy miles apart left no one more than about thirty-five miles from safety. If a man died, no refuge was missing.
- Grace encloses. Bezer, the walled place on the level plain, shuts evil out and blessing in. Its refuge is righteousness, not mere escape.
- Grace lifts. Ramoth, the heights of rocky Gilead, sets the sheltered one where nothing on earth can reach him.
- Grace gladdens. Golan, read as joy, stands in the land of soft living as refuge for a man who most needs saving from himself.
These were the cities appointed for all the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them, that whosoever smiteth any one mortally without intent might flee thither, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until he stood before the assembly.
Joshua 20 ends by stating who the cities of refuge were for and how far their protection went. Two questions follow: why did God build a shelter into a law of blood for blood, and who was allowed to use it?
The order matters. One writer lists what was already settled before the Lord ordered these cities.
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 a provision to keep His land guiltless of innocent blood. He appointed cities of refuge. A man who killed another through ignorance, without intending it, could flee there from the avenger of blood. By the custom of that part of the world, the avenger would hunt the manslayer down and kill him.
The refuge was not for Israelites only. The concern behind it was the land itself.
The cities of refuge are there so that blood should not defile the Lord's land — blood shed by an Israelite, or by the stranger living among them.
One writer sets the city beside the church:
Like the church, the city of refuge was for the Israelite, and for the stranger and sojourner among them.
"Without intent" is the hinge of the verse. The city sheltered the accidental killer. It was never a way around justice.
The city of refuge was never designed to turn judgment away from a man who was in His sight a "manslayer." Where anyone could show that he meant to kill, the image of God in which He made man left no room for pity. God had spoken on this case long before (Gen. 9), and nothing has revoked that word, and nothing can: "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image."
The man who fled was safe, but not settled. Three things still stood between him and his freedom.
Even if he reached the city of refuge, his safety and his restoration depended on all sorts of things, and that left his position very shaky. First, they depended on the avenger of blood: if the manslayer stepped outside the town's border for one moment, the avenger on watch had the right to kill him (Num. 35:26-28). Second, on the elders of the city (Joshua 20:4). Third, on the judgment of the congregation (Joshua 20:6).
The waiting did have a fixed end. Another writer names it:
The man who killed without planning it was safe. He was to flee there and stay there until the death of the high priest who had been anointed with the holy oil. Then he could return to the land of his inheritance.
Commentators also read the law as a picture of God's dealings with Israel. One writer holds holiness and grace together in it.
The holiness of God shows in this: He would not shield the guilty. When competent judges and witnesses had examined the case, the guilty man had to be handed over. The grace of God shines in this: He kept the unintentional slayer safe inside the refuge, where the avenger of blood could not lay hands on him. Here we see, in a picture, the gracious dealings of the Lord with Israel — the loved but blinded nation, which is responsible before Him for shedding the blood of Christ. He graciously regards Israel as a "slayer" rather than a "murderer," to be restored in due time to the good land, the land of their possession.
One writer carries the picture forward to now, and keeps the two groups this verse names.
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 day and night to receive him.
- Cause — blood defiled the land, so God gave cities to keep His land guiltless.
- Gift — the cities sheltered the man who killed without intent. The man who meant to kill was handed over. Grace never cancelled justice.
- Reach — the shelter covered the Israelite and the foreigner living among them — one law for both.
- Limit — safety held only inside the walls. The man waited there, out of his own inheritance, until the congregation judged his case and the high priest died.
- Result — the picture runs on to Israel, spared as a slayer and not a murderer, and to anyone today who flees to Christ, both Refuge and Priest.