I hope each one of you were able to plow through the distribution of land chapters…
It was a slog, but I hope you made it to the end because chapter 20 became very interesting!
The six cities of refuges.
Six thoughts I noted as I read about these six cities:
- They were established to spare life. The justice for bloodshed is not always further bloodshed.
- They were established so that the person could receive a fair hearing/trial.
- These cities were for both Israelites and refugees (strangers) in the land. Everyone was deserving of the protection of the land.
- The city was always there but if an unintentional killing (sin) had taken place one had to go to the city to receive mercy (there is a sermon that will preach).
- In order to remain safe you had to stay within the confines of the city (there is another sermon that will preach).
- If the perpetrator of the act is found innocent they are to live in the city ‘till the High Priest dies then they are able to go home. Interesting that the death of the High Priest is an act of amnesty (will that also preach?
These cities so intrigued me I did a little more research—
No place in the land was more than a day’s journey from one of these cities. All six of these cities are mentioned again in the next chapter, since they also were Levitical cities. Despite their importance here and in the Pentateuch, however, they do not appear again in the Old Testament.
Tomorrow’s Reading: Psalm 9-11