Numbers 35:22-28: a reflection

22“‘But if he shoved him suddenly without hostility, or hurled on him anything without lying in wait, 23or with any stone, by which a man may die, not seeing him, and cast it on him so that he died, and he was not his enemy and not seeking his harm, 24then the congregation shall judge between the striker and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances. 25The congregation shall deliver the man slayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge, where he had fled. He shall dwell therein until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil. 26“‘But if the man slayer shall at any time go beyond the border of his city of refuge where he flees, 27and the avenger of blood finds him outside of the border of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the man slayer, he shall not be guilty of blood, 28because he should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest, the man slayer shall return into the land of his possession.

The law provided cities of refuge, places a person who had killed someone accidentally could flee to and be safe from the avenger of blood. But there was a condition on their freedom: the one who had fled had to remain in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest. Only when the high priest died could he go home, free. His release was tied, strikingly, to the death of the high priest.

Notice the pattern, because it is hard not to see Christ in it. There was a refuge to flee to, a place of safety from judgment, and there was a freedom that came through the death of the high priest. We too need refuge from a judgment we cannot outrun, and we too find it not in our own innocence but in a place of safety God provides. And our full and final freedom is secured by the death of a High Priest, not one who eventually died of old age, but Christ, our great High Priest, whose death sets us free for good.

There is gospel in this ancient provision. You do not have to keep running from judgment, exposed and afraid. There is a refuge, and there is freedom, and both are found in Christ, our refuge and our High Priest, whose death has done what the death of the old high priests only pictured. Flee to him for safety, and rest in the freedom his death has won. The manslayer waited for the high priest to die; our High Priest has died, and we are free.

Lord, the manslayer found refuge in the city and freedom through the death of the high priest, a shadow of what you have done. Thank you that in Christ, my refuge and my great High Priest, I have both safety from judgment and freedom secured by his death. Let me flee to him for refuge, and rest in the freedom his death has won for me.