Cities of Refuge

Passage: Deuteronomy 4:41-43; Numbers 35:6-33

Deuteronomy 4 makes brief reference to the implementation of a practice God details for the Israelites in Numbers 35. In the latter, God provides detailed instructions for how to deal with people who have killed other people. In this discourse God institutes the provision of “Cities of Refuge” – cities ruled by Levites that represent safe haven for those who have killed inadvertently. At first glance this provision appears to be merely a statement of God’s mercy. Those who have accidentally killed another person are spared the requisite punishment for murderers: death at the hands of a designated avenger. The provision protects the accidental killer from the family and friends of the victim by allowing the killer safe passage to one of the predetermined cities of refuge.

However, there’s a catch. The accidental killer has to stay in the city of refuge indefinitely. If he or she sets foot outside the city, the designated avenger is allowed to take the killer’s life.

This series of regulations is somewhat difficult to understand until we recognize this principle: God takes life and death very seriously. Every human life is precious in God’s sight. God demands that his people never take killing lightly; that they do so only at his direct command; and that they do so not out of principle rather than passion. When one of God’s people dies at the hands of another, vengeance isn’t meted out immediately. Time is taken to determine whether the death has been accidental or the result of a deliberate act. Time is taken to appoint an avenger of blood from within the deceased’s family. Time is taken to pronounce a sentence, and to allow the killer safe passage to a city of refuge should the death be ruled an accident. If the death is ruled a murder, even the execution is pursued not as an act of anger but an act of justice. The avenger finds motivation to kill not from his own hatred but from this God-given principle: Life must be given in exchange for life.

The city of refuge may seem a favorable alternative to death. But it also represents the end of a life. The accidental killer must pick up and leave everything behind. He or she must live out the remainder of his or her life confined to the limits of a small city populated only by ministers and other killers (weird thought). This is still a sentence - a sentence that reflects the severity of the inciting event. A life has been taken. A family and a community have been changed irrevocably. The one responsible party, though protected, is sentenced to live out a daily reminder of the consequences of his actions. Death cannot be undone; death changes everything. God demands that his people hold life in the highest regard, and mark death with profound respect.

God continues to demand this of his people today. Life is to be held in the highest regard. We are held to account for the lives and the deaths for which we’re responsible. Live with care, and treat every life as God’s treasured possession.