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Context No. 2054 of 4322 · Deuteronomy

Context · Reflection

Deuteronomy 4:41-49: in context

41Then Moses set apart three cities beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise, 42that the man slayer might flee there, who kills his neighbor unintentionally and didn’t hate him in time past, and that fleeing to one of these cities he might live: 43Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, for the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites. 44This is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel. 45These are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances which Moses spoke to the children of Israel when they came out of Egypt, 46beyond the Jordan, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel struck when they came out of Egypt. 47They took possession of his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise; 48from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, even to Mount Siyon (also called Hermon), 49and all the Arabah beyond the Jordan eastward, even to the sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah.

Moses sets apart three cities east of the Jordan as places of refuge. Their purpose is specific: that the one who kills a neighbor unintentionally, without having hated him beforehand, might flee to one of these cities and live. In the culture of the time, a death would bring the avenger of blood seeking the killer's life; but the one who had killed by accident, without malice, needed protection from that vengeance. God provided cities of refuge where such a person could flee and be safe, distinguishing the accidental from the malicious.

The cities of refuge reveal the mercy woven into God's law. God distinguishes between the one who kills with malice and the one who kills unintentionally, and he provides for the second a refuge, a place to flee where the pursuing avenger cannot reach. The one who had done wrong, but not out of hatred, was not simply abandoned to vengeance; God made a way of escape, a place of safety, a refuge to flee to. His justice does not blur the difference between malice and accident, and his mercy provides a shelter for the one who needs it. And this provision of a refuge points beyond itself. Scripture takes up the image and applies it to our refuge in God. We have fled for refuge, Hebrews says, to take hold of the hope set before us; the language of the cities of refuge becomes a picture of fleeing to God, and ultimately to Christ, for safety from judgment. As the manslayer fled to the city of refuge to escape the avenger and live, so we flee to God, to Christ, as our refuge from the judgment our sin deserves, finding in him a place of safety where we are secure. There is comfort here for the guilty who flee to God. The city of refuge was for the one who had done wrong, who needed shelter; and God is a refuge for sinners who flee to him, not a fortress reserved for the innocent but a shelter for those who run to him for safety. God is our refuge and strength, the psalm says, a very present help in trouble. When we are pursued by guilt, by the just consequences of our sin, by the fear of judgment, there is a refuge to flee to: God himself, and Christ, in whom we find safety. The cities of refuge, provided for the one who needed to flee, are a small picture of the refuge God provides for all who run to him; and the call is to flee, as the manslayer fled, to the refuge God has appointed, taking hold of the safety and hope set before us in Christ.

When I am pursued by guilt, by the consequences of my sin, or by the fear of judgment, do I imagine there is no shelter for me, or can the cities of refuge God provided for the one who needed to flee remind me that God has appointed a refuge, and that in Christ I have a place to flee for safety, so that I run to him as my refuge and take hold of the hope set before me?

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