Numbers

Numbers 35:1-8

The Levites would not inherit land – for the Lord was their inheritance.  However, they needed a place to live.  The children were to give the Levites cities with common land around them as pasture land for their herds.  The common land was to be about 500 yards from the city wall.  The two thousand cubits (1000 yards) on each side doesn’t work out unless the city were a point.  Some have plotted a square that would have a measurement of 500 yards from the city and then be 1000 yards to each corner from the furthest apparent corners of the city.  Each side would be 1000 yards plus the width of the city on any given side.  Thus the common land would grow with the city. 

Among the 48 cities given to the Levites, six of them will be appointed as cities of refuge.  These would be distributed among tribal land by the proportion of inheritance.

Numbers 35:9-28

We see in the bible those who sought asylum grasp the horns of the altar (1 Kings 1:50-51).  According to Milgrom, it was the idea that those grasped the altar absorbed its sanctity and were removed from the jurisdiction of the profane world.  Some liken these sanctuary cities to this idea – even to the point of suggesting there were altars in these cities.  However, this refuge was for Israel, the stranger and sojourner.

The guilty were to be punished by death at the hand of the kinsman avenger (goel).  However, if one caused the death of someone who was not their enemy or seeking the harm of that person, then asylum was available to them.  They would be kept in the city of refuge.  The punishment was to fit the crime.  As the death seemed a matter of chance, so does the death of the high priest.  It appears the death of the high priest was a substitute for the life of the manslayer.  Once the priest died, the manslayer was free to return to his land.

No wonder that, according to the Mishnah, the mother of a High Priest would personally supply food and clothing to the residents of the cities of refuge so that they should not pray for the death of her son (Mish. Mak. 2:6).

[Milgrom, J. (1990). Numbers (p. 510). Jewish Publication Society.]

Numbers 35:29-34

The life of a murderer could not be redeemed but by death.  However, the guilt must be established by two or more witnesses.  Blood defiles the land and no atonement could be made for it except the blood of the one who shed it.  In these cities of refuge we can see God’s righteousness, justice and grace at work.  The refuge of the city feels similar to being behind the blood of the lamb on the door post of the first Passover.

Where does this leave America after aborting so many babies for so many years?

© 2023 Doug Ford, Calvary Chapel Sweetwater